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{{short description|Hereditary Chief of the Name in Ireland}}
{{BLP unsourced|date=May 2013}}
{{Unreferenced|date=April 2008}}
{{More citations needed|date=September 2014}}
{{use dmy dates|date=February 2022}}
{{use Hiberno-English|date=February 2022}}
'''Denis Armar O'Conor, O'Conor Don''' ({{langx|ga|Donnchadh Ó Conchubhair Donn}}; 1912–10 July 2000) was hereditary [[O'Conor Don|Chief of the Name O'Conor]], and is a direct descendant of [[Tairrdelbach Ua Conchobair]], the last [[High King of Ireland]] with a surviving male-line lineage and was seen by some as a nominal claimant{{citation needed|date=August 2018}} to that defunct position.<ref>Curley, W.; Vanishing Kingdoms.</ref><ref name="Obit">{{Cite news |date=21 July 2000 |title=The O'Conor Don (obituary) |page=31 |work=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1349558/The-OConor-Don.html}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=22 July 2000 |title=Clan chief who embodied both Irish traditions |newspaper=[[The Irish Times]] |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/clan-chief-who-embodied-both-irish-traditions-1.295429}}</ref>


==Early years==
'''Denis Armar O'Conor Don''', (1912–10 July 2000) was hereditary chief of the [[O'Conor Don]] sept and principal claiment to the High Kingship of [[Ireland]].<ref>Curley, W. Vanishing Kingdoms.</ref>
Denis Armar O'Conor was born in [[London]] in January 1912. His father Charles William O'Conor, the son of [[Denis Maurice O'Conor]] (younger son of [[Denis O'Conor|Denis O'Conor, O'Conor Don]]), and Ellen Isabella Kevill-Davies daughter of Rev. William Trevalyan Kevill-Davies of Croft Castle. His father was the nephew of [[Charles Owen O'Conor|Charles Owen O'Conor, O'Conor Don]].<ref name="Obit"/> Charles William lived at Ashley Moor house close to his mothers family home of [[Croft Castle]] in [[Herefordshire]].{{cn|date=March 2024}}


His mother Evelyn Lowry-Corry was the daughter of [[Admiral]] Hon. Armar Lowry-Corry, (a younger son of the [[Armar Lowry-Corry, 3rd Earl Belmore]]) and Geraldine King-King daughter of [[James King King]] of [[Staunton on Arrow|Staunton Park House]], [[Herefordshire]]. His grandmother Geraldine was also a niece of [[Colin Mackenzie (Indian Army officer)|Lieutenant General Colin MacKenzie]].{{cn|date=March 2024}}
Born in [[London]] in 1912 to Charles William O'Conor and Evelyn Lowry-Corry, he inherited his title in 1981 from his second cousin Fr. Charles O'Conor, a [[Jesuit]] priest. He used his position to promote an interest in Irish heritage from genealogy, local history to archaeology. He became President of the [[Dún Laoghaire]] Genealogical Society in 1991 and President of the [[Genealogical Society of Ireland]] in 1999. He was also Deputy Chairman of the [[Standing Council of Irish Chiefs and Chieftains]].


The young Denis won a classical bursary to [[Downside School|Downside]] where he was captain of [[boxing]].<ref name="Obit"/>
He married Elizabeth Marris and they had a son, Desmond. With his second wife, Rosemay (née O'Connell Hewett), he had two sons: Kieran and Rory. A daughter, Gail, died aged thirteen.


==Life==
His eldest son, Desmond, inherited his title of O'Conor Don.
He went to the [[Royal Military Academy Sandhurst]] in 1930. He continued to [[Boxing|box]] there and was also noted for his [[horsemanship]],<ref name="Obit"/> originally learned from his father and honed while [[Fox Hunting|hunting]] in [[Ireland]] and [[Herefordshire]]. Despite the harsh discipline at Sandhurst, he managed to lead a hectic social life in [[London]].<ref name="Obit"/>
== References ==
{{reflist}}


In 1931, he was commissioned to the [[Lincolnshire Regiment]] and served in [[India]] and [[China]]. India especially gave him the opportunity to [[Fox Hunting|hunt]], play [[polo]], go [[pig-sticking]] and [[Game (hunting)|shoot]].<ref name="Obit"/> He had one of the highest handicaps at polo in India and China during his time there,<ref name="Obit"/> and played against the [[American army]] in the [[Philippines]];<ref name="Obit"/> in China he owned and trained horses, one of which, Kilrea, won several races in Hong Kong.<ref name="Obit"/> A wild and spirited young man with an eye for the girls, he enjoyed Army life in the East "to the limit and often beyond".<ref name="Obit"/>

In the [[Second World War]], O'Conor saw action at the [[Battle of Dunkirk]], however he saw no further action due to a training accident involving a grenade. However, he continued in the military in a training and administrative capacity. He retired with the rank of [[Major (rank)|Major]] in 1946 and moved to live in [[Roundwood]], [[County Wicklow]], where his father had bought a farm.<ref name="Obit"/> He was not well off and he abandoned farming to become a representative for a firm that sold tractors to farmers. Later he became an inspector for the [[Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals]].<ref name="Obit"/>

Field sports were an important to him all his life.<ref name="Obit"/> He hunted [[foxhounds]], [[beagles]], [[Otterhound]] and [[Basset Hound]] at various times. He was a former [[Fox hunting#People|Master]] of [[Delgany]] [[Beagling|Beagles]], a popular pack among university students (whose real interest lay in courting, not [[Beagling|hunting]]).<ref name="Obit"/> He became an acknowledged expert on hounds of all types - and was asked to judge at various shows throughout Ireland and occasionally in England. His love of dogs and his way with them was legendary.<ref name="Obit"/> In the early 1970s, he moved to [[Dún Laoghaire]] in [[Dublin]].<ref name="Obit"/>

O'Conor succeeded as O'Conor Don on the death in 1981 of his second cousin, Father Charles O'Conor, the former provincial of the [[Jesuit Order]] in Ireland. Whereas the Jesuits in their austere way had insisted that Fr. O'Conor not call himself O'Conor Don, Denis O'Conor acclaimed the title with relish, and enjoyed its prerogatives to the full.<ref name="Obit"/> However, Denis was not to inherit the family estate of [[Clonalis House|Clonalis]] outside [[Castlerea]], [[County Roscommon]].<ref name="Obit"/>

He became chairman of historical and genealogical societies, a regular presiding presence at community events and was even involved in tourist promotion. He was founding member of the [[Council of Irish Chieftains]], consisting of the descendants of the few princely families whose pedigrees have been authenticated by the [[Chief Herald of Ireland]].

He used his position to promote an interest in Irish heritage from genealogy, local history to archaeology. He became president of the [[Dún Laoghaire]] Genealogical Society in 1991 and President of the [[Genealogical Society of Ireland]] in 1999. He was also deputy chairman of the [[Standing Council of Irish Chiefs and Chieftains]].<ref name="Obit"/>

Because he was divorced, O'Conor was precluded from following the family tradition of becoming a member of the [[Order of Malta]] but he joined and eventually became Grand Prior of the Irish priory of the Oecumenical [[Order of Saint Lazarus|Order of St Lazarus of Jerusalem]], which contributes to the relief of leprosy. His also taught disabled children to ride.{{cn|date=March 2024}}

==Personal life==
He married, in 1936, Elizabeth Marris, daughter of Rev. Stanley Punshon Marris, and had issue:
*Desmond Roderic O'Conor (b. 22 September 1938), a [[banker]], formerly of [[Schroders]] and then regional director of [[Kleinwort Benson]] for [[South America]], who was married on 23 May 1964 to Virginia Williams, daughter of British [[diplomat]] [[Michael S. Williams]] and had issue;
**Emma Joy O'Conor (b.17 Apr 1965)
**Philip Hugh O'Conor (b. 17 Feb 1967), married Rebecca Eagan daughter of Michael Francis Eagan on the 3 April 1993 and had issue;
***Eochy Jack O'Conor (b. 28 Dec 1993)
***[[Piers O'Conor|Piers Montgomery O'Conor]] (b. 28 Aug 1995)
***Adelaide Grace O'Conor (b. 24 Jul 1998)
***Barley Josh O'Conor (b. 5 Sep 2006)
**Denise Sarah O'Conor (b. 8 Dec 1970)

Denis O'Conor's marriage to Elizabeth did not long outlast the birth of their only son. Elizabeth subsequently married [[James Cameron (journalist)|James Cameron]].

In 1943, O'Conor married Rosemary O'Connell-Hewett, daughter of former [[British Indian Army|Indian Army]] [[Officer (armed forces)|officer]] Capt. James Pearse Bowen O'Connell-Hewett, and a direct descendant of [[Daniel O'Connell]], the 19th-century Irish Liberator, through his daughter [[Ellen O'Connell]], and had a daughter and two sons.

*Gail O'Conor (b.1943 - d.1957), died aged thirteen.
*Kieran Denis O'Conor (b. 28 October 1958), a [[senior lecturer]] in [[Archaeology]] at the [[University of Galway]], who was married on 26 August 1988 to Karena Mary, daughter of Roderick Morton of [[Ranelagh]], [[Dublin]] by his wife Teresa Winifred O'Shee daughter of [[J. J. O'Shee]] and had issue;
**Eoin Roderic O'Conor (b. 14 Mar 1992)
**Hugh Armar O'Conor (b. 6 Apr 1996)
*Rory Dominic O'Conor (b. 1 January 1963), who was married on 21 August 1999 to Cecilia Emily Gleeson daughter of David Gleeson.

The O'Conor Don died on 10 July 2000 aged 88 and was buried at the family plot at St. Joseph's Cemetery in [[Castlerea]] on the edge of the family estate.<ref name="Obit"/> His eldest son, Desmond, who lives in [[Sussex]], succeeded as O'Conor Don.

==Ancestry==
{{ahnentafel
|collapsed=yes |align=center
|boxstyle_1=background-color: #fcc;
|boxstyle_2=background-color: #fb9;
|boxstyle_3=background-color: #ffc;
|boxstyle_4=background-color: #bfc;
|boxstyle_5=background-color: #9fe;
|1=1. '''Denis Armar O'Conor Don'''
|2=2. Charles William O'Conor
|3=3. Evelyn Lowry Corry
|4=4. [[Denis Maurice O'Conor]]
|5=5. Ellen Isabella Kevill Davies
|6=6. Admiral Hon. Armar Lowry Corry [[Royal Navy]]
|7=7. Geraldine King King
|8=8. [[Denis O'Conor]]
|9=9. Mary Blake of Tower Hill
|10=10. Rev W.T Kevill Davies [[Esquire|Esq]] of Croft Castle
|11=11. Ellen Martha O'Brien
|12=12. [[Armar Lowry-Corry, 3rd Earl Belmore]]
|13=13. Emily Louise Shepard
|14=14. [[James King King]] of Staunton Park
|15=15. Mary Cochrane Mackenzie
|16=16. [https://www.dib.ie/biography/oconor-owen-oconor-don-a6659 Owen O'Conor, O'Conor Don]
|17=17. Jane Moore of Mount Browne
|18=18. Major Maurice Blake of Tower Hill
|19=19. Maria O'Connor
|20=20. Rev. James Kevill
|21=21. Anne Isabella Davies
|22=22. Matthew O'Brien of Newcastle, Co Limerick
|23=23. Sophia Richards
|24=24.[[Somerset Lowry-Corry, 2nd Earl Belmore]]
|25=25.[[Henry Butler, 2nd Earl of Carrick|Lady Juliana Butler]]
|26=26. William Shepard of Brabourne
|27=27. Anne Lovel Dawson of Edwardstown Hall
|28=28. James Simpkinson King
|29=29. Emma Vaux
|30=30.[[Clan Mackenzie|Kenneth Francis Mackenzie]]
|31=31.Anne Townshend


{{Persondata <!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Persondata]]. -->
| NAME = Oconor Don, Denis
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES =
| SHORT DESCRIPTION = Hereditary chief
| DATE OF BIRTH = 1912
| PLACE OF BIRTH =
| DATE OF DEATH = 2000
| PLACE OF DEATH =
}}
}}

==Descent from High King of Ireland==
Denis O'Conor Don is reputedly descended from the [[High King of Ireland]] via the following line of descent:<ref>{{cite book |last=O'Hart |first=John |date=1892 |title= Irish Pedigrees or the Origin and Stem of the Irish Nation |url=https://archive.org/stream/irishpedigreesor_01ohar#page/636 |location=Dublin|publisher=James Duffy and Co. Limited |isbn=9781376251142 }}</ref>{{fv|reason=The subject was reputedly born in 1912. This book was published in 1892. 20 years before the subject was born. Without OR and SYNTH, how can it possibly contain a confirmed lineage for the subject|date=March 2022}}
* Denis O'Conor Don
* Charles William O'Conor
* [[Denis Maurice O'Conor]]
* [[Denis O'Conor|Denis O'Conor Don]]
* Owen O'Conor, O'Conor Don<ref name="DIB_OwenOCD">{{Cite web|url=https://www.dib.ie/biography/oconor-owen-oconor-don-a6659|title=O'Conor, Owen (O'Conor Don) &#124; Dictionary of Irish Biography|website=www.dib.ie}}</ref>
* Denis O'Conor<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.dib.ie/biography/oconor-denis-a6653|title=O'Conor, Denis &#124; Dictionary of Irish Biography|website=www.dib.ie}}</ref>
* [[Charles O'Conor (historian)|Charles O'Conor]]
* Denis O'Conor
* Cathal Oge O'Conor
* Cathal O'Conor
* Sir Hugh O'Conor Don
* Dermod O'Conor Don
* Carbery O'Conor, O'Conor Don<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=https://www.dib.ie/|title=Dictionary of Irish Biography|website=www.dib.ie}}</ref>
* Owen Ceach O'Conor, O'Conor Don<ref name="auto"/>
* [[Fedlim Geancach Ó Conchobair|Fedlim Geancach Ó Conchobair Donn]], [[King of Connacht]]
* [[Toirdhealbhach Óg Donn Ó Conchobair]], [[King of Connacht]]
* [[Aedh mac Tairdelbach Ó Conchobair]], [[King of Connacht]]
* [[Toirdelbach Ó Conchobair]], [[King of Connacht]]
* [[Aedh Ó Conchobair|Hugh O'Conor]], [[King of Connacht]]
* Eoghan MacRuaidrí O'Conor
* Ruaidrí MacAedh O'Conor
* [[Aedh Ua Conchobair|Hugh O'Conor]], [[King of Connacht]]
* [[Cathal Crobhdearg Ua Conchobair|Cathal Crobhdearg O'Conor]], [[King of Connacht]]
* [[Tairrdelbach Ua Conchobair]], [[King of Connacht]], [[High King of Ireland]]

==Distinctions==
* [[Order of Saint Lazarus (statuted 1910)]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}
{{Ó Conchobhair}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oconor Don, Denis}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oconor Don, Denis}}
[[Category:1912 births]]
[[Category:1912 births]]
[[Category:2000 deaths]]
[[Category:2000 deaths]]
[[Category:O'Conor dynasty]]
[[Category:O'Conor dynasty|Denis]]
[[Category:British Army personnel of World War II]]

[[Category:Royal Lincolnshire Regiment officers]]

{{ireland-bio-stub}}

Latest revision as of 09:37, 5 December 2024

Denis Armar O'Conor, O'Conor Don (Irish: Donnchadh Ó Conchubhair Donn; 1912–10 July 2000) was hereditary Chief of the Name O'Conor, and is a direct descendant of Tairrdelbach Ua Conchobair, the last High King of Ireland with a surviving male-line lineage and was seen by some as a nominal claimant[citation needed] to that defunct position.[1][2][3]

Early years

[edit]

Denis Armar O'Conor was born in London in January 1912. His father Charles William O'Conor, the son of Denis Maurice O'Conor (younger son of Denis O'Conor, O'Conor Don), and Ellen Isabella Kevill-Davies daughter of Rev. William Trevalyan Kevill-Davies of Croft Castle. His father was the nephew of Charles Owen O'Conor, O'Conor Don.[2] Charles William lived at Ashley Moor house close to his mothers family home of Croft Castle in Herefordshire.[citation needed]

His mother Evelyn Lowry-Corry was the daughter of Admiral Hon. Armar Lowry-Corry, (a younger son of the Armar Lowry-Corry, 3rd Earl Belmore) and Geraldine King-King daughter of James King King of Staunton Park House, Herefordshire. His grandmother Geraldine was also a niece of Lieutenant General Colin MacKenzie.[citation needed]

The young Denis won a classical bursary to Downside where he was captain of boxing.[2]

Life

[edit]

He went to the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in 1930. He continued to box there and was also noted for his horsemanship,[2] originally learned from his father and honed while hunting in Ireland and Herefordshire. Despite the harsh discipline at Sandhurst, he managed to lead a hectic social life in London.[2]

In 1931, he was commissioned to the Lincolnshire Regiment and served in India and China. India especially gave him the opportunity to hunt, play polo, go pig-sticking and shoot.[2] He had one of the highest handicaps at polo in India and China during his time there,[2] and played against the American army in the Philippines;[2] in China he owned and trained horses, one of which, Kilrea, won several races in Hong Kong.[2] A wild and spirited young man with an eye for the girls, he enjoyed Army life in the East "to the limit and often beyond".[2]

In the Second World War, O'Conor saw action at the Battle of Dunkirk, however he saw no further action due to a training accident involving a grenade. However, he continued in the military in a training and administrative capacity. He retired with the rank of Major in 1946 and moved to live in Roundwood, County Wicklow, where his father had bought a farm.[2] He was not well off and he abandoned farming to become a representative for a firm that sold tractors to farmers. Later he became an inspector for the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.[2]

Field sports were an important to him all his life.[2] He hunted foxhounds, beagles, Otterhound and Basset Hound at various times. He was a former Master of Delgany Beagles, a popular pack among university students (whose real interest lay in courting, not hunting).[2] He became an acknowledged expert on hounds of all types - and was asked to judge at various shows throughout Ireland and occasionally in England. His love of dogs and his way with them was legendary.[2] In the early 1970s, he moved to Dún Laoghaire in Dublin.[2]

O'Conor succeeded as O'Conor Don on the death in 1981 of his second cousin, Father Charles O'Conor, the former provincial of the Jesuit Order in Ireland. Whereas the Jesuits in their austere way had insisted that Fr. O'Conor not call himself O'Conor Don, Denis O'Conor acclaimed the title with relish, and enjoyed its prerogatives to the full.[2] However, Denis was not to inherit the family estate of Clonalis outside Castlerea, County Roscommon.[2]

He became chairman of historical and genealogical societies, a regular presiding presence at community events and was even involved in tourist promotion. He was founding member of the Council of Irish Chieftains, consisting of the descendants of the few princely families whose pedigrees have been authenticated by the Chief Herald of Ireland.

He used his position to promote an interest in Irish heritage from genealogy, local history to archaeology. He became president of the Dún Laoghaire Genealogical Society in 1991 and President of the Genealogical Society of Ireland in 1999. He was also deputy chairman of the Standing Council of Irish Chiefs and Chieftains.[2]

Because he was divorced, O'Conor was precluded from following the family tradition of becoming a member of the Order of Malta but he joined and eventually became Grand Prior of the Irish priory of the Oecumenical Order of St Lazarus of Jerusalem, which contributes to the relief of leprosy. His also taught disabled children to ride.[citation needed]

Personal life

[edit]

He married, in 1936, Elizabeth Marris, daughter of Rev. Stanley Punshon Marris, and had issue:

  • Desmond Roderic O'Conor (b. 22 September 1938), a banker, formerly of Schroders and then regional director of Kleinwort Benson for South America, who was married on 23 May 1964 to Virginia Williams, daughter of British diplomat Michael S. Williams and had issue;
    • Emma Joy O'Conor (b.17 Apr 1965)
    • Philip Hugh O'Conor (b. 17 Feb 1967), married Rebecca Eagan daughter of Michael Francis Eagan on the 3 April 1993 and had issue;
      • Eochy Jack O'Conor (b. 28 Dec 1993)
      • Piers Montgomery O'Conor (b. 28 Aug 1995)
      • Adelaide Grace O'Conor (b. 24 Jul 1998)
      • Barley Josh O'Conor (b. 5 Sep 2006)
    • Denise Sarah O'Conor (b. 8 Dec 1970)

Denis O'Conor's marriage to Elizabeth did not long outlast the birth of their only son. Elizabeth subsequently married James Cameron.

In 1943, O'Conor married Rosemary O'Connell-Hewett, daughter of former Indian Army officer Capt. James Pearse Bowen O'Connell-Hewett, and a direct descendant of Daniel O'Connell, the 19th-century Irish Liberator, through his daughter Ellen O'Connell, and had a daughter and two sons.

  • Gail O'Conor (b.1943 - d.1957), died aged thirteen.
  • Kieran Denis O'Conor (b. 28 October 1958), a senior lecturer in Archaeology at the University of Galway, who was married on 26 August 1988 to Karena Mary, daughter of Roderick Morton of Ranelagh, Dublin by his wife Teresa Winifred O'Shee daughter of J. J. O'Shee and had issue;
    • Eoin Roderic O'Conor (b. 14 Mar 1992)
    • Hugh Armar O'Conor (b. 6 Apr 1996)
  • Rory Dominic O'Conor (b. 1 January 1963), who was married on 21 August 1999 to Cecilia Emily Gleeson daughter of David Gleeson.

The O'Conor Don died on 10 July 2000 aged 88 and was buried at the family plot at St. Joseph's Cemetery in Castlerea on the edge of the family estate.[2] His eldest son, Desmond, who lives in Sussex, succeeded as O'Conor Don.

Ancestry

[edit]

Descent from High King of Ireland

[edit]

Denis O'Conor Don is reputedly descended from the High King of Ireland via the following line of descent:[4][failed verification]

Distinctions

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Curley, W.; Vanishing Kingdoms.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t "The O'Conor Don (obituary)". The Daily Telegraph. 21 July 2000. p. 31.
  3. ^ "Clan chief who embodied both Irish traditions". The Irish Times. 22 July 2000.
  4. ^ O'Hart, John (1892). Irish Pedigrees or the Origin and Stem of the Irish Nation. Dublin: James Duffy and Co. Limited. ISBN 9781376251142.
  5. ^ "O'Conor, Owen (O'Conor Don) | Dictionary of Irish Biography". www.dib.ie.
  6. ^ "O'Conor, Denis | Dictionary of Irish Biography". www.dib.ie.
  7. ^ a b "Dictionary of Irish Biography". www.dib.ie.
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