View source for Maurice Charles O'Connell

{{Short description|Civil servant in Australia}}
{{for|his son, the Australian politician|Maurice Charles O'Connell (Australian politician)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2016}}
{{Use Australian English|date=November 2016}}
[[File:StateLibQld 1 46511 Sir Maurice Charles Philip O'Connell.jpg|thumb|Sir Maurice Charles Philip O'Connell]]
'''Sir Maurice Charles Philip O'Connell''' [[Knight Commander of the Royal Guelphic Order|KCH]]  (1768 – 25 May 1848) was a commander of forces and [[Lieutenant Governor of New South Wales|lieutenant-governor]] of colonial [[New South Wales]].<ref name="adb">{{Australian Dictionary of Biography |title=O'Connell, Sir Maurice Charles Philip (1768–1848) |id2=oconnell-sir-maurice-charles-philip-2517 |year=1967 |first=|last=|accessdate=15 July 2012}}</ref>

==Early life==
Maurice Charles O'Connell was born in Ireland in 1768. He had had a distinguished career in the army.  His family the Tarmon branch of the O’Connell clan of Kerry, Munster were cousins to the Derrynane O’Connell family, such as Daniel O’Connell MP.{{Citation needed|date=August 2024}}

==New South Wales==
In 1809, he came with the newly appointed [[Governor of New South Wales]] [[Lachlan Macquarie|Macquarie]] to [[Sydney]] in charge of the [[73rd (Perthshire) Regiment of Foot|73rd Regiment of Foot]]. There, in May 1810, O'Connell hastily married widow [[Mary Putland]], the daughter of the deposed former governor [[William Bligh]], shortly before Bligh's return to England.

O'Connell also had a commission as [[Lieutenant-Governor]], and so acted when Macquarie was absent in [[Tasmania]] in the latter part of 1812. O'Connell was then on good terms with Macquarie, who, in November of that year, strongly recommended that his salary should be considerably increased.

Although William Bligh had departed, his daughter, now Mary O'Connell, had not forgiven those who had deposed her father, creating tensions between her husband and others in the colony. O'Connell became involved in the quarrel and in August 1813 Macquarie in a dispatch to [[Henry Bathurst, 3rd Earl Bathurst|Lord Bathurst]] stated that, ''"though lieutenant-colonel O'Connell is naturally a very well disposed man . . . it would greatly improve the harmony of the country . . . if the whole of the officers and men of the 73 regiment were removed from it"''.

On 26 March 1814 O'Connell and his regiment were transferred to [[Ceylon]]. He attained the rank of major-general in 1830 and was knighted in 1835.

== Return to New South Wales==
In 1838, Maurice O'Connell returned to Sydney in command of the forces and was appointed a member of the [[New South Wales Legislative Council]].<ref name="NSW Parl">{{Cite NSW Parliament |id=207 |name=Sir Maurice Charles Philip O'Connell, K.C.H. (1768 - 1848) |former=Yes |access-date=12 April 2019}}</ref> He was senior member of the executive council when, the question of the rights of Bligh's daughters to certain land granted to Bligh in 1806 having been again raised, [[George Gipps|Governor Gipps]] found himself in an extremely delicate position. The matter was settled by compromise in 1841.

O'Connell was acting-governor of New South Wales from 12 July to 2 August 1846.

==Later life==
Maurice O'Connell died in Sydney on 25 May 1848,<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article31756848 |title=Death of Sir Maurice O'Connell |newspaper=[[Sydney Chronicle]] |date=27 May 1848 |accessdate=16 April 2019 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> and received a full military funeral at [[St James' Church, Sydney|St James' Church]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article12903112 |title=Funeral of Sir Maurice O'Connell |newspaper=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]] |date=30 May 1848 |accessdate=17 January 2014 |page=2}}</ref>

==Legacy==

[[O'Connell, New South Wales]] was named after him by [[George Evans (explorer)|George Evans]], when Evans followed the route of [[Gregory Blaxland|Blaxland]], [[William Lawson (explorer)|Lawson]], and [[William Wentworth|Wentworth]] in crossing the [[Blue Mountains (New South Wales)|Blue Mountains]]<ref>[http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks13/1300271h.html  ''Two Journals of Early Exploration in New South Wales''] by George William Evans. Entry for Wednesday, Decr. 6th, 1813. Retrieved 7 March 2014</ref> as were streets in [[Sydney]], [[Melbourne]] and [[North Adelaide]].

His son, Sir [[Maurice Charles O'Connell (Australian politician)|Maurice Charles O'Connell]], was also a member of the Legislative Council (1845-1849) and then a member of the [[Queensland Legislative Council]] (1860-1879).<ref name="Son NSW Parl">{{Cite NSW Parliament |id=386 |name=Sir Maurice Charles O'Connell, Kt (1812 - 1879) |former=Yes |access-date=12 April 2019}}</ref>

==External links==
* [http://dictionaryofsydney.org/entry/oconnell_maurice OConnell, Maurice] at the [[Dictionary of Sydney]].

==References==
{{commons category|Maurice Charles Philip O'Connell}}
{{reflist}}
*{{Dictionary of Australian Biography|First=Maurice Charles|Last=O'Connell|shortlink=0-dict-biogN-O.html#o'connell1}}
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{{succession box |title= [[Lieutenant Governor of New South Wales]] | before=[[Joseph Foveaux]] | after=[[George Molle]]| years=1810–1814}}
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{{s-bef|before= Sir [[John Waters (British Army officer, born 1774)|John Waters]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=Colonel of the [[81st Regiment of Foot (Loyal Lincoln Volunteers)]] | years=1842–1844}}
{{s-aft|after=Sir [[George Berkeley (British Army officer)|George Henry Frederick Berkeley]]}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:O'Connell, Maurice Charles}}
[[Category:1768 births]]
[[Category:1848 deaths]]
[[Category:Lieutenant-governors of New South Wales]]
[[Category:Members of the New South Wales Legislative Council]]
[[Category:O'Connell family|Maurice]]
[[Category:Irish emigrants to colonial Australia]]