• Proposals for the Printing by Subscription, Ogygian Tales, or a Curious Collection of Irish Fables, Allegories, and Histories (Dublin: Oliver Nelson 1743) [Stowe MS; see under DNB notice in Commentary - as infra].
• Counter Appeal to the People of Ireland against the Appeal [ ...] of Sir Richard Cox (Dublin n.pub. 1749), 14pp. [num. UL copies incl. Goldsmiths’, UL rep. Michigan: Gale 2003].
• [ed. and intro.,] The Earl of Castlehaven’s Memoirs (Waterford: J. Caldwell 1753) [Touchet, 3rd Earl of Castlehaven; orig. publ. 1680.]
• Dissertations on the Antient History of Ireland (Dublin: James Hoey 1753), published with 607 subscribers; Do., revised edn., as Dissertations on the History of Ireland. To which is subjoined a Dissertation on the Irish Colonies Established in Britain with Some Remarks on Mr. MacPherson’s Translation of “Fingal” and “Temora” (Dublin: G. Faulkner 1766) [extract], and Do., reissued as Dissertations on the History of Ireland, in which an account is given of the origin, Government, Letters, Sciences, Religion, Manners and Customs. To which are added a dissertation on Irish colonies established in Britain, with Ptolemy’s Map (Dublin: Christie 1812).
• As anon., Seasonable Thoughts relating to our civil and ecclesiastical constitution (Dublin: [n. pub.] MDCCLIII. [1753]), and Do. [rep.] (Dublin: Printed in the year MDCCLIV [1754]), 51, [1]pp.
• Seasonable Thoughts Relating to our Civil and Ecclesiastical Constitution, Wherein is Considered the Case of the Professors of Popery (Dublin: George Faulkner 1751) [var. 1753], and Do. [another edn.] (Dublin: Faulkner 1754).
• A Cottager’s Remarks on ‘The Farmer’s Spirit of Party’ [by Henry Brooke] (Dublin [n.pub.]  MDCCLIV [1754]), 16pp.
• The Protestant Interest Considered Relative to the Operation of the Popery Laws in Ireland (Dublin: Patrick Lord 1756).
• as anon., The Case of the Roman Catholics of Ireland, wherein the principles and conduct of that party are fully explained and vindicated (Dublin: Patrick Lord MDCCLV [1755]), 80pp. [Gale rep. 2003].
• A Vindication of A Pamphlet Lately Entitled ‘The Case of the Roman Catholics of Ireland’ (Dublin: P. Lord 1755).
• The Principles of the Roman Catholics, Exhibited (Dublin: Patrick Lord, bookseller, at the Angel and Bible in Cook-street MDCCLVI [1756]) [answering Robert Clayton, Matter of Fact], 104pp., 8o. [Gale rep.]
• Maxims Relative to the Present State of Ireland. Humbly submitted to the Legislative Powers (Dublin [n.pub.] 1757).
• Essay on the Ancient and Modern State of Ireland with Various Important Advantages Thereunto Derived under the Auspicious Reign of His Most Sacred Majesty, King George the Second (Dublin: Patrick Lord 1760).
• ‘A Letter to David Hume, on Some Misrepresentations in his History of Great Britain’ [dated 30 March 1762], in Gentleman’s Museum (April-May 1763), pp.56-64; 64-78.
• The Dangers of Popery to the Present Government Examined (Dublin: G. Faulkner 1761).
• A Dissertation on the First Migrations and Final Settlement of the Scots of North-Britain. With occasional observations on the Poems of Fingal and Temora (Dublin: George Faulkner 1766).
• Vindication of Lord Taaffe’s Civil Principles in a Letter to the Author of the Pamphlet Entitled ‘Lord Taaffe’s Observations on the Affairs of Ireland Examined and Confuted (Dublin: George Faulkner 1768).
• ‘Remarks on an Essay on the Antiquity of the Irish Language ... Addressed to the Printer of the London Chronicle ... in 1772’, printed with Charles Vallancy, An Essay [ ... &c.] (3rd. edn. London. n.pub. 1818).
• with John Curry, Observations on the Popery Laws (Dublin: Thomas Ewing 1771; 1772).
• Statistical Account of the Parish of Kilronan in Ireland and of the Neighbouring District (Dublin: [n.pub.] 1773; Edinburgh: [n.pub.] 1798), 8o.
• Preface to The Speech Delivered by R. Jephson ... in the Debate on the Committing of head of a Bill for the ‘Better Encouragement of Persons Professing the Popish Religion to Become Protestants (Dublin n.pub. 1774).
• ed., The Ogygia Vindicated against the Objections of Sir George Mackenzie (Dublin: G. Faulkner 1775), lxxxii, [2],299pp.[see details].
• Reflexions on Our Present Critical Situation in a Letter from a Landed Proprietor (Dublin: Pat Wogan; London: J Caddell 1777).
• dedication ‘To the Lords and Gentlemen of the Volunteer Associations of Ireland’, in Thomas Sheridan, A General Dictionary of the English Language (Dublin: Pat Wogan 1784).

• ‘Reflexions on the History of Ireland during the Times of Heathenism, with Observations on Some Publications on that Subject’, in Vallancey, ed., Collectanea de Rebus Hibernicis (Dublin: Charles Vallancey 1770), reprinted in Collectanea, Vol. 4 (1783).
• ‘On the Heathen State and Ancient Topography of Ireland’, in Collectanea de Rebus Hibernicis (Dublin: Charles Vallancey 1783).
• ‘Third Letter on the Pagan State of Ireland ...’, in Collectanea [ ...&c.] (Dublin: Charles Vallancey 1786).

• Charles O’Conor, Memoirs of the life and writings of the late Charles O’Conor of Belanagare (Dublin: J. Mehain 1796)

• Also John Gilbert, ‘Correspondence and MS of Charles O’Conor of Belanagare, Co. Roscommon - The O’Conor Don, D.L., Clonalis, Co. Roscommon’, in Appendix to the Eight Report (London: Royal Comm. on Hist. MSS 1881).
• Robert E. Ward, John F. Wrynn & Catherine Coogan Ward, eds., The Letters of Charles O’Conor of Belanagare, Vol. I, 1731-1771; Vol. II, 1772-1790 (Michigan: Irish-American Cult. Inst. 1980); Do. [in one vol.], ed. Robert E. Ward, John F. Wrynn, S.J., and Catherine Coogan Ward (Cath. Univ. of America Press 1988), xxxiv, 537pp. [details]; also as microfilm, viz., C. C. and R. E. Ward, eds., Letters of Charles O’Conor, 2 vols. (Ann Arbor Michigan: Irish American Cultural Inst./University Microfilms 1980).
• Gareth Dunleavy and Janet Dunleavy, The O’Connor Papers, A Descriptive Catalog and Surname Register of the Materials at Clonalis House (Univ. of Winsconsin Press 1977).

• The Touchstone of Patriotism, in a series of interesting queries to the publick (Dublin: G. & A. Ewing 1756); Dangers of Popery (Faulkner 1761); [prob.,] Observations on the Popery Laws (Dublin: T. Ewing 1771).

Note: the foregoing pamphlets identified and described in David Berman ‘A Note on Berkeley and his Catholic Coutrymen’, Long Room, Nos. 16 & 17 (Spring-Autumn 1978), pp.26-36.

A poem dedicated to Sir Richard Cox and transcribed in the hand of Charles O’Conor of Belanagare (1710-1790) - who names the author at Cormac Ó Luinn in the MS - is held in Clonalis, the residence of the O’Conor Don at Castlereagh, Co. Roscommon. A digital copy has been produced for the Irish Script on Screen Project [ISO] at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies - online. A copy can be reached under Cox, q.v. - or viewed as an attachment.]

• Sir John Gilbert, ‘Correspondence and MSS of Charles O’Conor of Belanagare, Co. Roscommon, The O’Conor Don, DL, Clonalis, C. Roscommon’, Appendix to the Eight Report (London: Royal Commission on Historical Manscripts 1881).
• [q. auth.,] ‘The Streets of Dublin’, in Irish Quarterly Review, 2 (June 1852), pp.284-347; 3 (March 1853), pp.17-50; [3] (Sept. 1853), & pp.541-625.
• Charles Owen O’Conor, The O’Conors of Connaught, An Historical Memoir, compiled from a MS of the late John O’Donovan with adds. from the state papers and public records (Dublin: Hodges, Figgis, & Co. 1891).
• Charles O’Conor, S.J., “The Early Life of Charles O’Conor 1710-1791 of Belanagare and the beginning of the Catholic revival in Ireland in the Eighteenth Century” [unpublished typescript dated 1930 in the Nat. Lib. of Ireland] (1930).
• ‘Charles O’Conor of Belangare, An Irish Scholar’s Education’, in Studies 23 (1934), pp.124-43; ‘Part Two, A Visit to Dublin’, [idem.,] pp.455-469.
• Giovanni Costigan, ‘The Tragedy of Charles O’Conor, and Episode in Anglo-Irish Relations’, in American Historical Review, 49 (Oct. 1943-July 1944), pp.32-54.
• Charles O’Conor, SJ, ‘Origins of the Royal Irish Academy’, in Studies, 38 (1949), pp.325-37.
• Síle Ní Chinnéide, ‘Dhá Leabhar Nótaí le Séarlas Ó Conchubhair’, in Galvia, I (1854), pp.32-41.
• Ní Chinnéide, ed., ‘Dialann I Chonchúir’, in Galvia, I (1954), pp.32-41; IV (1957). pp.4-17.
• C. A. Sheehan, ‘The Contribution of Charles O’Conor of Belnagare to Gaelic Scholarship in Eighteenth-Century Ireland’, in Journal of Celtic Studies, II (1958), pp.219-37.
• G. & J. Dunleavy, eds., The O’Conor Papers: A Descriptive Catalog and Surname Register of the Materials at Clonalis House (Madison: Wisconsin UP 1977).
• Ann de Valera,’ Antiquarian and historical investigations in Ireland in the eighteenth century’ (MA thesis UCD 1978).
• R. E. & C. C. Ward, ‘The Catholic Pamphlets of Charles O’Conor 1710-1790’, in Studies, 68 (1979), pp.259-64.
• Robert Ward, ‘Friendship and an Eighteenth Century History of Ireland’, in Éire-Ireland, 7 (Autumn 1972), pp.56-612 [concern O’Conor’s contrib. to Lord Lytton’s History].
• C[atherine] C[oogan] and R[obert] E. Ward, ‘The Ordeal of Charles O’Conor’, in Éire-Ireland XIV [14.2] ([Summer] 1979), pp.6-14 [var. 14.4, Winter 1979].
• Padraig Ó Macháin, DIAS, supplies references to W. D. Love, ‘Hibernian Antiquarian Society, a forgotten predecessor to the RIA’, in Studies, 51 (1962), pp.419-31.
• Donal O’Sullivan, Carolan, The Life and Times and Music of an Irish Harper, 2 vols. (London 1958).
• [...]
• Elizabeth Butler Cullingford, Ireland’s Others: Gender and Ethnicity in Irish Literature and Popular Culture [Critical Conditions Ser.] (Cork UP/Field Day 2001), q.pp.
• Nollaig Ó Muraíle, ‘Keeping the Embers Alive: The Role of Charles O’Conor of Bellanagare Near the Close of the Irish Manuscript Tradition’ - paper to Irish Script on Screen - The Book of the O’Conor Don [DIAS Conference, 16 May 2009; details online].

See also copious notes in C. C. and R. E. Ward, eds., Letters of Charles O’Conor, 2 vols. (Ann Arbor Michigan: Irish American Cultural Inst./University Microfilms 1980); Patrick O’Connor, The Royal O’Connors of Connaught (Swinford 1997), 80pp. [distilled from The O’Conors of Connaught, 1891].

For further resources, see Hayes, Sources for ... Irish Civilisation [periodicals & MSS], and Gaelic MSS catalogues (particularly at the RIA - probably covered in Hayes); see also the card-catalogue of the UCD Folklore Dept. [Letter from Robert Ward of 14 Sept. 1992.]

Irish Manuscripts On Screen (Project of DIAS) —Notice on Clonalis House

Clonalis House holds an important archive of books, pamphlets and manuscripts relating to the affairs of the family of O’Conor Don, Co. Roscommon, from the late 16th century onwards. Included among this material are papers and letters of the great eighteenth-century man of letters Charles O’Conor of Bellanagare (1710-1791). Many of his Irish manuscripts were transferred to Stowe by his grandson, Fr Charles, from where they eventually reached the Royal Irish Academy in the 1880s. A small few such as the Book of Magauran and the Book of the O’Conor Don were kept at Clonalis. Other Irish language material associated with Charles O’Conor, such as his memorandum books, also survived at Clonalis.

Bibl.:

Gareth W. Dunleavy and Janet E. Dunleavy, The O’Conor Papers: A Descriptive Catalog and Surname Register of the Materials at Clonalis House (Madison; University of Wisconsin Press 1977). Catherine Coogan Ward & Robert E. Ward, The Letters of Charles O’Conor of Belanagare (Ann Arbour, Michigan 1980).

Photo-images of the MSS accompanied by “transcribed text” from the The Book of the O’Conor Don and other MSS now or formerly in the possession of the O’Conor family have been supplied by OSIS - via “Index in English” > “Collections” > “Clonalis House” > online - viz.,

Book of the O’Connor Don (spine)	Book of the O’Connor Don (folio 1)	Book of the O’Connor Don (plate)

O’CONOR, CHARLES (1710-1791), Irish antiquary, eldest son of Denis O’Conor, was born on 1 Jan. 1710 at Kilmactranny, co. Sligo. His mother was Mary, daughter of Tiernan O’Rourke, a colonel in the French service who was killed at the battle of Luzara in 1702. The confiscation of his paternal estate had reduced his father to such poverty that he had to plough with his own hands, and used to say in Irish to his sons, “Boys, you must not be impudent to the poor; I am the son of a gentleman, but ye are the children of a ploughman.” The trustees of forfeited estates in 1703 restored part of his estate to Denis O’Conor, but he did not regain possession of this till 1720. Charles was taught to read and write Irish by a Franciscan of the convent of Crieveliagh, co. Sligo, who knew no English, and who began to teach him Latin on 30 Sept. 1718, and continued his education till 1724. His father moved to the restored family seat of Belanagare, co. Roscommon, and his brother-in-law, Bishop O’Rourke of Killala, formerly chaplain to Prince Eugène, thenceforward directed his education, instructed him in English and Latin literature, and urged him to cultivate Irish.

He translated as an exercise the Miserere into Irish. The bishop was delighted with the version, and read it aloud. Torlogh O’Carolan [q.v.] the harper, a frequent guest at Belanagare, wept on hearing it, and, taking his harp, at once began to compose and sing his lay, “Donnchadh MacCathail oig,” in which the fall of the Milesian families is lamented, and the goodness of O’Conor of Belanagare celebrated. Charles preserved throughout life the harp upon which O’Carolan sang, and himself became a skilful harper. Cathaoir MacCabe [q.v.], the poet, and Major MacDermot, the “broken soldier” of Goldsmith’s “Traveller,” were other friends of his youth, and the Rev. Thomas Contarine, Goldsmith’s relative, was his first literary correspondent. After some further education from a priest named Dynan, he went to Dublin in 1727, and resided with another priest, Walter Skelton, who ingeniously demonstrated the refraction of rays of light by the aid of a partly filled punchbowl, and led him to take an interest in natural philosophy.

He married in 1731 Catherine, daughter of John O’Fagan, who had sufficient fortune to enable them to settle on a farm in Roscommon, till, on his father’s death in 1749, he went to live at Belanagare. Such was the rigour of the laws against priests that, in the year after his marriage, he was obliged to attend mass in a sort of cave, thence called Pol an aiffrin. His devotion to his religion, his musical and Irish literary attainments, made him popular with the peasantry, and he used to delight them with stories of the adventures of the survivors of the battle of Aughrim. He began to write a book on Irish history called “Ogygian Tales,” which was lent to Henry Brooke (1703?-1783) [q. v.], who seems to have thought of publishing it as part of a contemplated Irish history of his own; but the author recovered it, and it was the basis of his “Dissertations on the Ancient History of Ireland,” which was published in 1753, and in an enlarged edition, with added remarks on Macpherson’s “Ossian,” in 1766. It shows considerable reading in Irish literature, and is based upon the “Ogygia” of Roderic O’Flaherty [q.v.]; but its style is not interesting, nor does it exhibit much critical judgment. In 1753 he also published anonymously a preface to the “Earl of Castlehaven’s Memoirs.” The British Museum copy, which has his own book-plate on the back of the title, has the inscription “by Charles O’Conor of Belanagare” over the preface in his own hand (see Henry Bradshaw’s copy of Ware’s “Ireland” in the Cambridge University Library). He also wrote a biographical preface to the “History of the Civil Wars of Ireland,” by Dr. J. Curry, who was his intimate friend.

His preface and terminal essay to “The Ogygia Vindicated” of Roderic O’Flaherty are perhaps his best works, and contain interesting statements about O’Flaherty and Duald MacFirbis [q.v.] He published in Vallancey’s “Collectanea” between 1770 and 1786 three letters “On the History of Ireland during the Times of Heathenism.” All these were published in Dublin. In 1773 he wrote “A Statistical Account of the Parish of Kilronan,” which was printed in Edinburgh in 1798. The parish is in co. Roscommon, and is famous as containing the grave of O’Carolan; but the account only deals with its agricultural condition, and almost the only facts of general interest related are that only two families had ever emigrated thence to America, and that the favourite occupation of the inhabitants was distilling whisky. He collected an Irish library, and in 1756 had already nine ancient vellum folios, six quarto manuscripts on vellum, and twelve folio manuscripts on paper, besides two large quarto volumes of Irish extracts in his own hand. He borrowed and read the manuscript annals of Tighernach and of Inisfallen. He was one of the founders of the Roman catholic committee formed in 1757 to work for the abolition of the political disabilities of Roman catholics, and published many letters and pamphlets on the subject.

In 1749 there appeared his “Two public Letters in reply to Brooke’s Farmer” and “A Counter Appeal,” in reply to Sir Richard Cox, both signed “Rusticus.” His “Seasonable Thoughts relating to our Civil and Ecclesiastical Constitution,” published in 1753, was so moderate in tone that some readers thought it the work of a large-minded protestant; and “The Case of the Roman Catholics,” which appeared in 1755, was even commended by Primate Hugh Boulter [q. v.] (Memoirs of O’Conor, p. 238). In 1756 he published “The Principles of the Roman Catholics”; in 1771 “Observations on the Popery Laws,” and in 1774 “A Preface to a Speech by R. Jephson.” He was a great letter-writer, and corresponded with his brother Daniel, an officer in the French service, with Dr. J. Curry the historian, with Charles Vallancey [q. v.], with Bryan O’Conor Kerry the historian (Anthologica Hibernica, 1790, p. 124), and with other learned men of his time. Dr. Johnson (Boswell, Life, edit. 1811, i. 291) wrote to him, on 9 April 1757, a kindly and discerning letter, after reading his “Dissertations” of 1753, encouraging him to “continue to cultivate this kind of learning;” and again wrote on 19 May 1777 (ib. iii. 310) to urge him “to give a history of the Irish nation from its conversion to Christianity to the invasion from England.” His wife died in 1750, leaving him two sons and two daughters; and when his eldest son married in 1760, he gave him the house of Belanagare, and went to live in a cottage in the demesne where he kept his books, and continued his studies till his death on 1 July 1791. His means had been much reduced by a form of extortion not rare in Ireland in the middle of the eighteenth century.

His youngest brother became a protestant, and filed a bill in chancery “for obtaining possession of the lands of Belanagare as its first protestant discoverer.” The law would have dispossessed him, and he had, after long litigation, to compromise the action by a large money payment. His portrait, at the age of 79, forms the frontispiece of his biography by his grandson, Charles O’Conor (1760-1828) [q. v.], and shows him to have had fine features and a gracious and dignified expression. The defects of his education alone prevented him from being a great Irish scholar, and it must be remembered that he lived at a period when the difficulties of study in mediæval Irish literature were very great. That he speaks with enthusiasm of the vain and shallow writings of Vallancey is a sign, not of his own ignorance, but of his warm satisfaction in the study of the then despised history and literature of Ireland by a person whose general learning he believed to be profound, and whose external position seemed to give his remarks the authority of an impartial judge awarding commendation where praise was almost unknown and contempt usual. O’Conor’s devotion to his subject deserves more praise than his additions to knowledge.

[Bibl. cit.: O’Conor’s Memoirs of the Life and Writings of the late Charles O’Conor of Belanagare, Esq. 1796; O’Conor Don’s O’Conors of Connaught, Dublin, 1891; Gent. Mag. Aug. 1791; Works.]

Richard Ryan, Biographia Hibernica: Irish Worthies, Vol.II [of 2] (London & Dublin 1821) - Charles O’Connor [sic]

Was an antiquary of some respectability, a member of the Royal Irish Academy, and an author of many different works. He was lineally descended from the last unfortunate native prince who ruled that island. He possessed but a small estate, the vast possessions of his {454} family being lost by successive forfeitures to the crown in the two last centuries, in consequence of what was then called rebellion, but which, in the present age, would be deemed by all - resistance to oppression. He was a man fully meriting the epithet Worthy and Dr. Campbell styles him the fond advocate for the Pagan antiquities of Ireland. He died July 1, 1796 at his seat in the county of Roscommon, in his eighty-second year.