Thomas O'Hagan, 1st Baron O'Hagan
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Thomas O'Hagan, 1st Baron O'Hagan, KP (29 May 1812 – 1 February 1885) Lord Chancellor of Ireland, was born in Belfast, the son of a trader. He was educated at Royal Belfast Academical Institution, and was called to the Irish Bar in 1836. Between 1838 and 1841 he was the editor of the Newry Examiner.[1] In 1840 he removed to Dublin, where he appeared for the repeal party in many political trials, becoming an Irish Queen's Counsel in 1849.
His advocacy of a continuance of the Union with Great Britain, and his appointment as Solicitor-General for Ireland in 1860 and Attorney-General in the following year, lost him the support of the Nationalist party, but he was returned to Parliament as Liberal Member of Parliament (MP) for Tralee in 1863. In 1865 he was appointed a judge of common pleas, and in 1868 became Lord Chancellor of Ireland in William Gladstone's first ministry.
He was the first Roman Catholic to hold the chancellorship since the reign of James II, an Act of Parliament throwing open the office to Roman Catholics having been passed in 1867. In 1870 he was created Baron O'Hagan, of Tullahogue in the County of Tyrone, and held office until the resignation of the ministry in 1874. In 1880 he again became Lord Chancellor on Gladstone's return to office, but resigned in 1881.
On his retirement from office Lord O'Hagan was in 1882 appointed a Knight of St Patrick, having become Vice Chancellor of the Royal University of Ireland the previous year.
He died at Hereford House, London, in 1885, and was buried in Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin. He was succeeded as second Baron O'Hagan by his eldest son, Thomas Towneley O'Hagan (1878 - 1900), and then as third Baron by another son, Maurice Herbert Towneley Towneley-O'Hagan (1882 - 1961).
The Liberal Unionist editor of the Belfast NORTHERN WHIG, Thomas MacKnight, who had been a personal friend of O'Hagan, states in his memoir ULSTER AS IT IS (London, 1896) that he believed O'Hagan would have opposed Gladstone's conversion to Home Rule had he not died when he did.
O'Hagan's sister Mary was Abbess of the Poor Clare convent at Newry and later at Kenmare. Her biography was written by her protege MF Cusack "the Nun of Kenmare".
[edit] References
- ^
"Thomas O'Hagan". Catholic Encyclopedia. (1913). New York: Robert Appleton Company.
- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
- Leigh Rayment's Peerage Page
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Daniel O'Connell, Jnr |
Member of Parliament for Tralee 1863–1865 |
Succeeded by Daniel O'Donoghue |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by Abraham Brewster |
Lord Chancellor of Ireland 1868–1874 |
Succeeded by (in commission) |
| Preceded by John Thomas Ball |
Lord Chancellor of Ireland 1880–1881 |
Succeeded by Hugh Law |
| Peerage of the United Kingdom | ||
| Preceded by (new creation) |
Baron O'Hagan 1870–1885 |
Succeeded by Thomas Towneley O'Hagan |
