The Hon
Sir Maurice O'Connell
Maurice Charles O'Connell in 1860
President of the
Queensland Legislative Council
In office
27 August 1860 – 23 March 1879
Preceded bySir Charles Nicholson
Succeeded bySir Joshua Peter Bell
Member of the New South Wales
Legislative Council
In office
1 August 1845 – 20 June 1848
Member of the
Queensland Legislative Council
In office
1 May 1860 – 23 March 1879
Personal details
Born
Maurice Charles O'Connell

(1812-01-13)13 January 1812
Sydney, Australia
Died23 March 1879(1879-03-23) (aged 67)
Parliament House, Brisbane, Australia
Resting placeToowong Cemetery
SpouseEliza Emiline Le Geyt (m.1835 d.1903)
RelationsSir Maurice O'Connell (father), Mary Bligh (mother), William Bligh (grandfather), William O'Connell (nephew)
OccupationArmy officer
Known forPresident of the Queensland Legislative Council

Sir Maurice Charles O'Connell (13 January 1812 – 23 March 1879),[1] was a Queensland pioneer and president of the Queensland Legislative Council.

Early life

O'Connell was born at Sydney in 1812. His father was Sir Maurice Charles O'Connell, his mother was Mary (née Bligh, formerly Putland) a daughter of Governor William Bligh.[2] He was educated at the high school, Edinburgh; Dublin and Paris.[3][4]

Army career

O'Connell entered the army as an ensign at 16 and joined the 73rd Regiment at Gibraltar.[3] In 1835 he volunteered for foreign service as colonel with the British Legion in Spain, which he himself had raised in the county of Cork and other parts of Munster, to sustain the cause of the Spanish Queen and constitution against the insurgent Carlists.[3] Later on he became Deputy Adjutant-General, and ultimately succeeded Sir De Lacy Evans as general of brigade in command of the British Auxiliary Legion in Spain. The Legion was disbanded on 8 December 1837, after taking heavy casualties during the battle of Andoain.[5] Sir Maurice O'Connell was rewarded for his services by having the knighthood of several Spanish orders conferred upon him.[3]

On his return to England he was appointed to the 51st Regiment, and afterwards becoming captain in the 28th, was appointed military secretary on the staff of his father in New South Wales in 1835. When the 28th was recalled to England, Sir Maurice sold out, and engaged in pastoral pursuits.[3] He afterwards resigned from the army and took up land.

Monument at the grave of Maurice Charles O'Connell.

Political career

O'Connell was elected a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council in August 1845 for the electoral district of Port Phillip.[6] He was appointed commissioner of crown lands for the Burnett district in 1848, became government resident at Port Curtis (now Gladstone) in 1854, and held this position until 1860.

He was nominated as one of the original members of the Queensland Legislative Council in 1860,[7] was a minister without portfolio in the first ministry under Herbert, and introduced in July of that year a bill to provide for primary education in Queensland. Shortly afterwards he was elected president of the legislative council and retained this position until his death.

In 1863, O'Connell was one of the founders and original trustees of the Queensland Turf Club, having arranged a land grant of 322 acres of land at Eagle Farm in Brisbane for the purpose of horse racing, now known as the Eagle Farm Racecourse. The other trustees were John Frederick McDougall and George Harris (all three were Members of the Queensland Legislative Council).[8]

In 1865 O'Connell, Augustus Charles Gregory and John Douglas applied for a special grant of land to erect a Masonic Hall in Brisbane. This was granted on 15 January 1865.[9]

Late life and legacy

O'Connell was knighted in 1871. He was commandant of the local military forces, and on four occasions was acting-governor of Queensland and showed tact and ability in this position. He was president of the Australasian Association, and of the Queensland Turf Club, and was a vice-president of the National Agricultural Association.

O'Connell died of cancer in Brisbane on 23 March 1879 at Queensland Parliament House.[1][4][6] He was buried in Toowong Cemetery.[10]

Family

O'Connell married in 1835 Eliza Emeline Le Geyt, daughter of Colonel Philip Le Geyt. Lady O'Connell died in Brisbane on 8 January 1903.[11]

References

  1. 1 2 "O'Connell, Sir Maurice Charles (1812–1879)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISSN 1833-7538. Retrieved 20 February 2013.
  2. ↑ "Sir Maurice Charles Philip O'Connell, KCH (1768 - 1848)". Former members of the Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 12 April 2019.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Mennell, Philip (1892). "O'Connell, Hon. Sir Maurice Charles" . The Dictionary of Australasian Biography. London: Hutchinson & Co – via Wikisource.
  4. 1 2 "Queensland Death Index". Queensland Government. Retrieved 5 March 2015.
  5. ↑ "Legión Auxiliar Británica — Museo Zumalakarregi". www.zumalakarregimuseoa.eus (in Spanish). Retrieved 9 May 2017.
  6. 1 2 "Sir Maurice Charles O'Connell, Kt (1812 - 1879)". Former members of the Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 12 April 2019.
  7. ↑ "Part 2.15 – Alphabetical Register of Members of the Legislative Assembly 1860–2017 and the Legislative Council 1860–1922" (PDF). Queensland Parliamentary Record 2015–2017: The 55th Parliament. Queensland Parliament. Archived from the original on 26 April 2020. Retrieved 27 April 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  8. ↑ "Eagle Farm not Ascot". The Courier-Mail. Brisbane. 17 February 1938. p. 8. Retrieved 11 May 2014 – via Trove.
  9. ↑ "Masonic Records in the Archives". Stories from the Archives. Queensland State Archives. 27 September 2018. Retrieved 10 March 2020.
  10. ↑ "Brisbane City Council – Online – Grave Location Search". Brisbane City Council. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 28 October 2011.
  11. ↑ "Deaths". The Times. No. 36980. London. 17 January 1903. p. 1.

 

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