O'Shaughnessy

This article is about the Irish surname; for other versions, see Shaughnessy (disambiguation).

Sir Roger Gilla Dubh Ó Seachnasaigh

Ó Seachnasaigh, O'Shaughnessy, collectively Uí Sheachnasaigh, clan name Cinél nAedha na hEchtghe, is a family surname of Irish origin.

The name is found primarily in County Galway and County Limerick. The town of Gort, Ireland, was the main residence of the family since at least the time of their ancestor, King Guaire Aidne mac Colmáin of the Ui Fiachrach Aidhne dynasty. Up until the late 17th century the Ó Seachnasaigh's held the sub district of Uí Fiachrach Aidhne known as Cinéal nAedha na hEchtghe meaning "kindred of Aedh of the Slieve Aughty", which was also their clan name. Cinéal nAedha na hEchtghe / Kinelea consisted roughly of the civil parishes of Beagh, Kilmacduagh and Kiltartan and also parts of the civil parishes of Kibeacanty and Kilthomas. Their closest related kinsmen were the Ó Cathail / O Cahill clan, originally chiefs of eastern Kinelea, and the other clans of Uí Fhiachrach Aidhne the most prominent of which were the Ó hEidhin / O Hynes, Ó Cléirigh / O Cleary and Mac Giolla Cheallaigh / Kilkelly septs. Up until the mid 17th century the O'Hynes clan were still styled lords of Uí Fhiachrach Aidhne even though the Ó Seachnasaigh's had become more powerful than their kinsmen during this century. In the 1690s Captain Roger O'Shaughnessy had his lands confiscated for supporting the Jacobite cause against William of Orange with the lands going to Sir Thomas Prendergast, 1st Baronet. A legal battle raged on into the first half of the 18th century between the Ó Seachnasaigh and the Prendergasts, the family who were granted the lands, with the Ó Seachnasaigh eventually losing the case. The senior line of the Ó Seachnasaigh's may have died out in the 1780s.

The last "de facto" Ó Seachnasaigh lord of Kinelea died at Gort after returning home from the Battle of Aughrim on 12th July 1691. Thousands of bearers of the name still survive both in their homeland and further abroad. Notable people with this surname include:

• Sir Dermot O'Shaughnessy of Kinelea - knighted by Henry VIII of England
• Sir Roger O'Shaughnessy of Kinelea
• Sir Roger O'Shaughnessy II of Kinelea -
• Roger O'Shaughnessy - Captain in the Army of James II of England
• William O'Shaughnessy - Major-General and Chief of the Name
• Arthur O'Shaughnessy - poet
• Baron Shaughnessy
• Eileen O'Shaughnessy - wife of George Orwell
• James O'Shaughnessy - author and investor
• Margaret Heckler (born Margaret Mary O'Shaughnessy) - US lawyer and politician
• Nicholas O'Shaughnessy - professor, author and political commentator
• Thomas O'Shaughnessy - Last Recorder of Dublin
• William Brooke O'Shaughnessy - toxicologist and chemist
• Michael O'Shaughnessy - Chief engineer for the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir near San Francisco, California
• Andrew O'Shaughnessy (hurler)
• Max Shaughnessy - Famous Chemist
• Andrew O'Shaughnessy (politician) - Industrialist
• Darren O'Shaughnessy - Author, nom de plume Darren Shan

See also

• Uí Fiachrach Aidhne
• Irish nobility

Notes

References

• John O'Donovan, "The Descendants of the Last Earls of Desmond", Ulster Journal of Archaeology, Volume 6, 1858. (contains passage regarding the knights O'Shaughnessy of Kinelea)
• John O'Donovan. The Genealogies, Tribes, and Customs of Hy-Fiachrach. Dublin: Irish Archaeological Society. 1844. Pedigree of O'Shaughnessy, pp. 372–91
• Robert S. Rait. The Story of an Irish Property. Oxford: The University Press. 1908. Chapter III: The O'Shaughnessys, pp. 42–65