Turlough McHenry O'Neill

Sir Turlough MacShane O'Neill (died 1608) was an Irish landowner. He was part of the powerful Gaelic O'Neill Dynasty of Ulster. He was a great grandson of Shane O'Neill, who had once been chief of the O'Neills before his death in 1567. Turlough's branch of the family had served on the Crown's side against their cousin Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone during Tyrone's Rebellion (1594-1603). They were rewarded with land around Kinnaird in County Tyrone.

In 1608 he and his father Henry MacShane O'Neill were both killed during O'Doherty's Rebellion. Sir Cahir O'Doherty had like them been a loyalist to the Crown, but angered at his treatment by local officials he rebelled and burned Derry. His forces rampaged across Ulster destroying the lands of those who wouldn't join him. His men attacked Kinnaird and destroyed it but were eventually defeated at the decisive Battle of Kilmacrennan.

Sir Turlough was succeeded by his young son Sir Phelim O'Neill. His widow Catherine remarried to Robert Hovendon a Catholic of recent English origin who was stepfather to Sir Phelim. Their son, also known as Robert Hovenden joined Sir Phelim, when he launched the Irish Rebellion of 1641. Turlough O'Neill was another brother, who also joined the rebellion.

Bibliography

• Casway, Jerrold. Owen Roe O'Neill and the Struggle for Catholic Ireland. University of Pennsylvania Press, 1984.