Francis Burdett O'Connor

De la Orden de Libertadores de Venezuela, Cundinamarca y el Peru

Coronel de los Ejercitos de Colombia

General de Brigada de los Ejercitos del Peru

General de División de los Ejercitos de Bolivia

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O'Connor, Francisco Burdett [Frank] (1791-1871), officer in the Irish Legion of Simón Bolívar's army in Venezuela, later chief of staff to Antonio José de Sucre and minister of war in Bolivia. Francisco Burdett O'Connor was born on 12 June 1791 in Cork City, to a landowning Protestant family from England (originally named Conner), son of Roger O'Connor and Wilhamena Bowen, brother of the MP and Chartist leader Feargus O'Connor (1794-1855), and nephew of Arthur O'Connor (1763-1852), MP and hard-line leader of the United Irishmen, who was deported to France. Frank O'Connor's godfather was Sir Francis Burdett, a baronet and radical member of the English parliament.

In July 1819, the lieutenant-colonel of the Tenth Lancers Francisco Burdett O'Connor boarded the Hannah in Dublin together with 100 officers and 101 men of the Irish Legion in Simón Bolívar's army of independence. The commanding officer of the Tenth Lancers, Colonel William Aylmer, was also second in command of the Irish Legion. They arrived in September 1819 on the island of Margarita off the coast of Venezuela. No preparations had been made to receive them, and hardships were experienced by the men of the Irish Legion suffering the combined effects of the officers' lack of experience, scarce victuals, and deficiency of buildings. Many of the officers died and others refused to remain and returned to Ireland.

In December 1819 the Irish Legion was reorganised and O'Connor was appointed commandant of a regiment formed by mixed forces. In March 1820 the regiment sailed for the mainland to attack the city of Riohacha together with other units. O'Connor's lancers hauled down the Spanish royal ensign and raised in its place their own standard, displaying the harp of Ireland in the centre. When, on 20 March 1820, the enemy attacked the patriots near Laguna Salada, O'Connor's lancers were the only soldiers to rush out of their barracks and storm the royalist forces, forcing them to withdraw in flight. One hundred and seventy soldiers, supported by a company of sharpshooters and one small field gun defeated 1,700 royalists.

As the division was marching out of Riohacha the advance guard walked into an ambush. O'Connor was slightly wounded in the right shoulder when he and his lancers charged upon the enemy with a terrible 'hurrah'. After a mutiny, the Irish Legion was dispatched to Jamaica but some hundred of the lancers whose loyalty O'Connor had managed to retain disembarked again on the mainland and played an important part in the siege of Cartagena and the campaign against Santa Marta.

Bolívar had quickly developed a high regard for the young Irish colonel, whom he appointed chief of staff of the United Army of Liberation in Peru within six months of his joining it from Panama early in 1824. It was O'Connor who kept the patriot forces coordinated and supplied as they manoeuvred under Sucre's command in distinctly hostile territory to bring the last Spanish viceroy in mainland America to battle and defeat. At the battle of Junín in August 1824, O'Connor was chief of staff of the patriot army with 1,500 men against the viceroy's 7,000 troops and nine artillery pieces. The engagement was confined to cavalry charges and ended within an hour with not a single shot fired.

Once established in present-day Bolivia, almost fifteen years later O'Connor rejoined forces with Otto Braun, ex-commander of the grenadiers at the battle of Junín, to aid the Peruvian-Bolivian army. On 24 June 1838 they inflicted a defeat on the invading Argentine army at the battle of Montenegro (known as Cuyambuyo by the Argentines). The battle of Montenegro consolidated the present southwestern border of Bolivia as well as allowing O'Connor to retire from military service and dedicate himself to his farms.

From 1825 O'Connor regularly contributed to El Condor of Chuquisaca (Sucre). In June 1827 he published a proclamation encouraging Irish people to settle in the 'New Erin' of Tarija, 'where the poor of my flesh and blood will be received with open arms.' O'Connor's memoirs were published in 1895 by his grandson Tomás O'Connor d'Arlach with the title Independencia Americana: Recuerdos de Francisco Burdett O'Connor. They are an essential contemporary account of the South American wars of independence.

In 1826 Francisco O'Connor was appointed military governor of Tarija. The congress of Bolivia awarded him 5,000 pesos as a 'liberator', but he himself never used that title despite the rare honour it bestowed. In 1827 he married Francisca Ruyloba, the seventeen-year-old daughter of a family of clerks and priests. Francisco Burdett O'Connor died in Tarija on 5 October 1871 at eighty-one years of age. An atheist while in Ireland, he became a devout Catholic in South America and died with the last rites.

Although only one of his children survived - a daughter, Hercilia - O'Connor d'Arlach is still a recognised family name in southern Bolivia, and one of the provinces of the department of Tarija carries the name of O'Connor.

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Gral de Brigada (Brigadier Gral.) Francisco Burdett O'Connor (12 June 1791 - 5 October 1871)

Regimiento de Husares de Junin

Regimiento de la Caballeria del Peru

Coraceros de Lambayeque (before the Battle of Junin, August 06th, 1824)

(born Francis Burdett O'Connor) was an officer in the Irish Legion of Simón Bolívar's army in Venezuela. He later became chief of staff to Antonio José de Sucre and minister of war in Bolivia.[1]

Francis Burdett O'Connor was born in Cork, Ireland, into a prominent Protestant family. His parents were Roger O'Connor and Wilhamena Bowen. His uncle Arthur O'Connor (1753-1852) was the agent in France for Robert Emmet's rebellion of the United Irishmen. His brother was the MP and Chartist leader Feargus O'Connor (1794-1855).[2] He spent much of his childhood in Dangan Castle, former childhood home of Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington.
O'Connor's father Roger was known for his eccentricities. After his wife died in 1806, he became increasingly erratic. Matters worsened in 1809 when there was a serious fire that destroyed part of the house. Francisco wrote in his autobiography 60 years later that he had accidentally started the fire himself when melting lead to create bullets.[3] In 1817 his father was arrested for allegedly organising a mail robbery. He was acquitted, but local rumours continued to blame him for the crime. The family no longer felt welcome in the area. Francis and his brother Feargus decided to leave, stealing horses from their brother Roderic, travelling to London and asking to be taken in by family friend M.P. Francis Burdett. Burdett looked after them, and Francisco later added his name to his surname.

In 1819, Francis O'Connor enlisted in the Latin American independence cause of Simon Bolivar, and sailed from Dublin with 100 officers and 101 men of the Irish Legion under the command of Colonel William Aylmer. The force arrived at Margarita Island off the coast of Venezuela in September 1819 to find that conditions were squalid and nothing was prepared.[1] After losses through death and desertion, in March 1820 the force attacked the city of Riohacha on the mainland, which they temporarily occupied. Later the force was involved in the siege of Cartagena and the campaign against Santa Marta. However, the Irish soldiers became demoralized by the cautious and inept conduct of the war by General Mariano Montilla and indiscipline evolved into mutiny. In June, 1820 the force was disarmed and shipped to Jamaica.[4]

O’Connor joined the United Army of Liberation in Peru in 1824, and six months later Bolívar appointed him chief of staff. He fought at the Battle of Junín in August 1824 against heavy odds and chose the site of the Battle of Ayacucho. In 1825 Antonio José de Sucre chose him to direct the Campaign in Upper Peru, the final operation of the war, the pursuit and elimination of general Pedro Antonio Olañeta, the last royalist commander to offer resistance.[5] In 1826 Francisco O'Connor was appointed military governor of Tarija. In 1827, he published a proclamation encouraging Irish people to settle in the 'New Erin' of Tarija. He was involved in the later wars between the successor states in South America, helping to defeat an Argentine army at the Battle of Montenegro in Bolivia on 24 June 1838. He died in Tarija on 5 October 1871 at eighty years of age.[1] His memoirs entitled Independencia Americana: Recuerdos de Francisco Burdett O'Connor were published in 1895.[6] References

 James Dunkerley (2000). Warriors and scribes: essays on the history and politics of Latin America. Verso. ISBN 1-85984-754-4. 1. ^ Graham Wallas (1895). "O'Connor, Feargus" . In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. 41. London: Smith, Elder & Co. p. 400. 2. ^ Francisco Burdett O'Connor, Recuerdos (1895) (La Paz, 1972), p. 5. 3. ^ Brian McGinn (November 1991). "Venezuela's Irish Legacy". Irish America Magazine (New York) Vol. VII, No. XI. pp. 34–37. Retrieved 2009-05-10. 4. ^ James Dunkerley (2000). Americana: the Americas in the world around 1850 (or 'seeing the elephant' as the theme for an imaginary western. Verso. p. 461ff. ISBN 1-85984-753-6. 5. ^ Mary N. Harris. "Irish Historical Writing on Latin America, and on Irish Links with Latin America" (PDF). National University of Ireland. Retrieved 2009-05-09.

text by P.L. Baldo D. April 23rd, 2019

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francisco_Burdett_O%27Connor