O’Brien [family name]

Members of the historic O’Brien family listed in the (Old) Dictionary of National Biography - many listed separately here.

  • Tighearhach O’Brien [O’Braien] (d.1088), annalist and abbot of Clonmacnoise.
  • Barnabas O’Brien (d.1657), 6th Earl of Thomond.
  • Brian Ruadh O’Brien (d.1276), king of Thomond.
  • Charles O’Brien (d.1706), fifth Viscount Clare.
  • Charles O’Brien (1699-1761), sixth Viscount Clare.
  • Conchobar O’Brien (d.1267), kind of Thomond.
  • Conor O’Brien (d.1539), prince of Thomond, succeeded 1528.
  • Conor O’Brien (1534-1581), third Earl of Thomond.
  • Daniel O’Brien (1577-1663), first Viscount Clare.
  • Daniel O’Brien (d.1690), third Viscount Clare.
  • Domhnall O’Brien (d.1194), king of Munster.
  • Donat Hency O’Brien (1785-1857), rear-admiral.
  • Donogh Cairbrech O’Brien (d.1242), king of Thomond.
  • Donough O’Brien (d.1064), king of Munster, deposed and died in Rome.
  • Donough O’Brien (d.1624), Baron of Ibrickan and fourth Earl of Thomond.
  • Edward O’Brien (1808-1840), br. William Smith O’Brien [see infra].
  • Henry O’Brien (1808-1835), author of The Round Towers of Ireland (1834) [see infra].
  • James O’Brien (1769-1855), third Marquis of Thomond and seventh Earl of Inchiquin.
  • James Bronterre O’Brien (1805-1864), Chartist.
  • James Thomas O’Brien (1792-1874), Protestant bishop of Ossory, Ferns, and Leighlin.
  • John O’Brien (d.1767), Catholic vicar-gen. of Cork, Cloyne and Ross.
  • Sir Lucius Henry O’Brien (d.1795), free-trade MP in Irish Parliament.
  • Matthew O’Brien (1814-1855), mathematical lecturer at King’s College, London.
  • Murrough O’Brien (1614-1674), first Earl of Inchiquin and sixth Baron Inchiquin, ‘of the conflagrations’, accompanied Strafford into Leinster, 1641.
  • Murtogh O’Brien (d.1?19), king of Munster.
  • Patrick O’Brien [under Cotter].
  • Paul O’Brien (?1750-1820), prof. of Irish, Maynooth.
  • Terence [or Toirdhelbhach] O’Brien (d.1460), bishop of Killaloe.
  • Terence Albert O’Brien (1600-1651), bishop of Emly, party of Rinuccini, nursed sufferers in Limerick, hanged by Ireton.
  • Turlough O’Brien (1009-1086), king of Munster.
  • William O’Brien (1638-1692), second Earl of Inchiquin, headed Munster Protestants against Catholics, 1689; governor of Jamaica.
  • William O’Brien (d.1815), actor and dramatist.
  • William Smith O’Brien (1803-1864), Young Ireland rising leader, 1848.

Bibl: John O’Donoghue [1812-1893], Historical Memoir of the O’Briens; Origin and history of the O'Brien Clan (Dublin: Hodges, Smith & Co. 1860), and Do. [rep. edn.] (Ruan, Co. Clare: M. Breen [2002]), xxxii, 551, xvi p., [32] p. of plates : ill. [some col.; ports, geneal. tables; 24 cm.]

[ top ]