O’Connell, Daniel (1775-1847), an Irish statesman, helped lead the struggle of Roman Catholics to gain political rights in the United Kingdom. This struggle resulted in the passing of the Catholic Emancipation Act of 1829. That act gave Catholic men the right to serve in the British Parliament and to hold most other public offices. Previously, Catholics were denied these rights in the primarily Protestant United Kingdom. The new law had a major effect in Ireland, a part of the United Kingdom where most of the people were Catholics. O’Connell, called “the Liberator,” became the first Irish Catholic to win election to the British House of Commons. He served there from 1829 to 1847.
O’Connell was born on Aug. 6, 1775, in Cahirciveen, County Kerry. He became a lawyer in 1798. O’Connell formed the Catholic Association in 1823 to seek the political rights of Catholics. In Parliament, he played a key role in the passing of the Reform Act of 1832, which gave most men of the middle class the right to vote. He was arrested in 1843 for supporting a campaign demanding Ireland’s complete independence from the United Kingdom. In 1844, he was convicted of plotting against the government and spent 14 weeks in jail. He died on May 15, 1847.
