The Clare Young Irelander

A background of birth at Dromoland Castle and then education at Harrow and Cambridge is not what you would expect of the leader of a rebellion.
Indeed, William Smith O’Brien – he adopted his mother’s surname Smith when he inherited his grandfather’s estate in County Limerick – started out life as a typical landed gentleman of the 19th century. He was descended from the Earls of Thomond and his father was Baron of Inchiquin.
He became Conservative MP for Ennis and later Limerick County. He believed in British Rule in Ireland, sought liberal reform for Ireland and supported Catholic Emancipation. During the 1840s he worked hard for famine relief. His experience in Westminster, however, changed his attitude. He became convinced that Ireland would not get justice under the Union so he joined O’Connell’s Repeal Movement, even acting a temporary leader while O’Connell was in jail.
O’Connell’s firm rejection of physical force alienated many of his younger followers. While they had no plans for revolution, many of them, including Smith O’Brien, turned from O’Connell and founded the Irish Confederation. They were called the Young Irelanders, sometimes insultingly, to distinguish them from the more traditional supporters of O’Connell – the Old Irelanders. Young Irelanders is the name that has stayed with them down the years. They mainly consisted of middle-class Protestants and Catholics and had little support outside Dublin. Their main influence on future generations sprang from their newspaper The Nation, founded by Charles Gavin Duffy and Thomas Davis. Through its poetry and songs, the paper fostered a sense of romantic nationalism. Many of the songs they published, such as A Nation Once Again, are still popular today.
1848 was a year of revolution all over Europe and O’Brien proposed the formation of a National Guard.
The country was in ruins following the Famine, they had no real preparations made but they still decided to go ahead that summer. The rising that eventually took place could hardly be called that. O’Brien led a group which clashed with a force of policemen at Ballingarry in Tipperary. The skirmish was over almost as soon as it started and was jokingly referred to as the Battle of Widow McCormack’s Cabbage Patch. O’Brien was arrested and taken to Clonmel Gaol.
O’Brien was found guilty of  high treason and sentenced to be hanged. This was commuted to transportation. He was held on Spike Island for nine months and then, along with Thomas Francis Meagher and others, sent to Van Diemens Land. Meagher escaped and went to America. After five years, O’Brien was given a conditional pardon and allowed to return to Europe. He settled in Brussels and later, when he got a full pardon, he was able to come back to Ireland.
He led a quiet life and avoided politics. His only involvement was to contribute articles to The Nation. He also toured the rest of Europe and North America. He returned to England and Wales, hoping to restore his failing health but died in Bangor in North Wales.
William Smith O’Brien, descendent of marquis and earls, Young Irelander and possibly the only Clareman ever to lead a rebellion, died on June 16, 1864 – 146 years ago this week.