John O'Neill, 1st Viscount O'Neill

John O'Neill, 1st Viscount O'Neill PC (16 January 1740 – 18 June 1798) was an Irish politician.

O'Neill was the son of Charles O'Neill, Member of Parliament for Randalstown, by Catherine Brodrick, daughter of St John Brodrick, of Midleton, County Cork.

He was returned to the Irish House of Commons for Randalstown in 1760, a seat he held until 1783, and then represented County Antrim between 1783 and 1793.[1] He was sworn of the Irish Privy Council in 1781.[2]

In February 1782, he had been a delegate for Co. Antrim to the Ulster provincial Volunteer convention in Dungannon, and in November 1793 one of the five Co. Antrim delegates to the national Volunteer convention in Dublin that sought to build on the legislative independence secured for Ireland the previous year, with parliamentary reform.[3]

In 1793, raised to the Peerage of Ireland as Baron O'Neill, of Shane's Castle in the County of Antrim.[4] In 1795 he was further honoured when he was made Viscount O'Neill, of Shane's Castle in the County of Antrim, in the Irish peerage.[5]

Lord O'Neill married the Honourable Henrietta Boyle, daughter of Charles Boyle, Viscount Dungarvan, in 1777. He was killed in the Battle of Antrim during the Irish Rebellion of 1798[6][3] at the age of 58 and was succeeded in the viscountcy by his son Charles, who was created Earl O'Neill in 1800.

References

1. "leighrayment.com Irish House of Commons 1692-1800". Archived from the original on 1 June 2009. Retrieved 25 January 2012.
2. leighrayment.com Privy Counsellors - Ireland^[usurped]
3. Hourican, Bridget (2009). "O'Neill, John | Dictionary of Irish Biography". www.dib.ie. Retrieved 30 March 2024.
4. "No. 13589". The London Gazette. 2 November 1793. p. 974.
5. "No. 13821". The London Gazette. 10 October 1795. p. 1052.
6. Macdonald, D L; McWhir, Anne (2010). The Broadview Anthology of Literature of the Revolutionary Period 1770-1832. Broadview Press. p. 358. ISBN 978-1551110516.

Parliament of Ireland
Preceded by Charles O'Neill Sir Kildare Borrowes, Bt	Member of Parliament for Randalstown 1760–1783 With: Charles O'Neill 1760–1761 St John O'Neill 1761–1771 James St John Jeffereyes 1771–1781 Lord Rawdon 1781–1783	Succeeded by Michael Smith John Dunn
Preceded by Hon. Henry Seymour-Conway James Willson	Member of Parliament for County Antrim 1783–1793 With: Hon. Hercules Rowley 1783–1792 Edward Jones-Agnew 1792–1793	Succeeded by Edward Jones-Agnew Hugh Boyd
Peerage of Ireland
New creation	Viscount O'Neill 1795–1798	Succeeded by Charles Henry St John O'Neill
	Baron O'Neill 1793–1798