known as the Liberator
born Aug. 6, 1775, near Cahirciveen, County Kerry, Ire.
died May 15, 1847, Genoa, Kingdom of Sardinia
Irish nationalist leader.
A lawyer, he gradually became involved in the struggle for Catholic Emancipation , organizing nationwide "aggregate meetings" of Irish Catholics to petition for their legal rights. In 1823 he cofounded the Catholic Association, which won support from Irish political and church leaders. After helping win passage of the 1829 Emancipation Act, which allowed Irish Catholics to serve in the British Parliament, he was elected to the House of Commons. He supported the Whig Party in return for Irish reform measures but became disenchanted with the administration's inaction. In 1839 he formed the Repeal Association to dissolve the Anglo-Irish Act of Union . A series of illegal mass meetings in Ireland led to his arrest for sedition in 1843. After his release in 1844, he faced dissension from William Smith O'Brien 's radical Young Ireland movement.