William Smith O'Brien - O'Connell Street, Dublin, Ireland
N 53° 20.895 W 006° 15.574
29U E 682408 N 5914512
This statue of William Smith O'Brien stands in the centre of O'Connell Street in Dublin. The statue was erected in 1870 and was designed by Thomas Farrell. The statue was originally at the south side of the O'Connell bridge in D'Olier Street.
Waymark Code: WMQY2G
Location: Dublin, Ireland
Date Posted: 04/13/2016
Views: 6
The plinth has an interesting inscription in Irish and English with the English part reading:
William Smith O'Brien
Born
17th October 1803
Sentenced to death for
high treason
on the
9th October 1848
Died
16th June 1864
The Buildings of Ireland website tells us about the monument:
Description
Freestanding figurative Portland limestone statue of William Smith O'Brien, erected 1870, designed by Thomas Farrell. Depicted in mid-nineteenth-century attire and facing south set on granite pedestal with recessed inscribed panel to south face, on granite plinth and four-tier stepped granite base. Located on pedestrian median of O'Connell Street.
Appraisal
This detailed and well-executed stone memorial to the Young Irelander William Smith O'Brien (1803-64) was created by Thomas Farrell. Initially erected on D'Olier Street, the monument was moved to this more prominent location in 1929. With Gaelic and English scripts the noble figurative monument is of artistic, historic and cultural importance while adding to the great collection of monuments on O'Connell Street.
The Discover Ireland website adds:
William Smith O'Brien (1803 – 1864) is usually remembered as leader of the 'Rebellion' at Ballingarry, County Tipperary, in July 1848. For his part in it he was convicted of high treason and transported to Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) where he spent five years.
It is said that he was a descendant of Brian Boru. O'Brien spent seventeen years of his life fighting for Irish interests in the British House of Commons. He was a representative figure of public opinion in Ireland in the first half of the nineteenth century, although overshadowed by Daniel O'Connell.
After O'Connell, he was the most celebrated figure in Irish public life at the time. But he was aloof in manner and spoke with an English accent so never enjoyed the adulation of the people as did the older man.
There is a monument dedicated to him on O'Connell Street, Dublin.
The Come Here to Me website has a picture showing the statue in its original location. The statue has been circled in red.