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Motto: Virtue is the only nobility.
The Dwyers are descendants of the O' Duibhir sept. O' Duibhir in Irish means descendant of Duibhir. They were an important sept in Co. Tipperary, and their territory, Kilnamanagh, lay between the town of Thurles and the Limerick border.
They have always resisted English aggression. Michael Dwyer (1771-1825), evaded the English for many years but was transported to Australia after he surrendred voluntarily, and became a policeman there.
Yes I have a number of Dwyer's who were in the British military and navy.
The Most Rev. Edward O Dwyer (1842-1917), the Bishop of Limerick was very popular with the people when he supported the stand taken by Sinn Fein and the men of 1916.
Many Dwyers emigrated and became prominent in the social, cultural and political life of the country they settled in. In the 19th-century, Joseph O Dwyer was a poineer physician, particularly in regard to the treatment of diphtheria.
William O Dwyer (b. 1890) started out from Co Mayo, to become a labourer in America. He went on to become Mayor of New York and a well known ambassador for the United States of America.
Widespread reassumption of the prefix "O" in this century has resulted in the O Dwyers outnumbering the Dwyers. They are to be found in Co. Tipperary and have also spread to the neighbouring counties of Limerick, Cork and Kilkenny.