William Smith O'Brien
The Hon. William Smith O'Brien | |
|---|---|
Portrait by George Francis Mulvany | |
| Born | 17 October 1803 |
| Died | 18 June 1864 (aged 60) |
| Resting place | Rathronan Cemetery, Ardagh, County Limerick, Ireland 52°30′25″N 9°04′21″W / 52.506997°N 9.072535°W |
| Education | Trinity College, Cambridge |
| Known for | Irish nationalist MP, leader of the Young Ireland movement |
William Smith O'Brien (Irish: Liam Mac Gabhann Ó Briain; 17 October 1803 – 18 June 1864) was an Irish republican who, in the course of Ireland's Great Famine, had been converted to the cause of national independence while sitting as a unionist Member of the United Kingdom Parliament. Returning from revolutionary Paris (the Second French Republic) with the first Irish tricolour, in 1848 he attempted an armed rebellion. With fellow "Young Irelanders" he was convicted of sedition and transported to Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania). Pardoned, in 1856 he returned to Ireland, were he published an unrepentant memoir and, through Ossianic Society, promoted the study and revival of the Irish language.