History1

Below is an account of the history of the O’Higgins of Sligo, specifically the branch who were located at Ballynary on Lough Arrow. In developing this account we have drawn on a number of sources including ancient manuscripts such as the Annals of the Four Masters, later documents from the National Genealogical Office of Ireland, bibliographies of different academic standards, tombstones, records from local churches and from the National Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths in Dublin, as well as family and local oral tradition which continuously surprised us in how accurate it was when checked against available documentary sources. We have also consulted and sought the advice of professional genealogists, the Office of the Chief Herald of Ireland, the Meath Heritage Centre and the Reformed Church Board Library in Dublin.

Not withstanding the need for accuracy in historical evidence, the account given below is essentially the story of one family and how we came to be who we are today. This story is characterised by people of great ability and notoriety in their field as well as those who lived lives almost unnoticed by anyone outside their immediate relatives. The story also contains reference to times when the family were clearly quite wealthy and powerful and other times when, mainly as a result of the English occupation of Ireland, the family lived in very modest surroundings and eked out a living on land owned by others.

Fundamentally, this is the story of the O’Higgins, a family who’s nobility arises not merely out of their Gaelic origins or their titles and position in society, but mostly out of their commitment to Ireland and its culture in the past and today.

The O'Higgins claim descent from Uigín, meaning Norse "sea man" or "Viking" (MacLysaght, 1998). While nothing is known as to why he was called this name, Uigín was a son of Fiach and grandson of Niall of Tara, the 4th Century High King of Ireland and founder of the powerfil Uí Neill Clan. It is not known when members of the family first became filí or poets to the princes of Ireland but we know from the Annals of Ireland and a number of other Gaelic texts that the sept continued to produce a sucession of celebrated poets until the fall of the Gaelic order in the 17th century (MacDermott, 1989). So highly esteemed was the poetic art in Ireland that Keating (1580-1645) in his history written about 1630 tells us that at one time no less than a third of the patrician families of Ireland followed that profession. The role of Ollamh or professor was the highest of seven levels of file and it took a minimum of twelve years to achieve this honour. Bards on the other hand were organised into sixteen levels forming a separate but related lower occupation. During the wars with the Norsemen in the 9th and 10th centuries the bards suffered greatly in their number and from this time onwards the lines of distinction between poet and bard were less distinct. For the most part it seems that the file would employ a bard to announce his poems and satires at the Chief's court reserving for himself the recitation of family genealogies at royal inaugurations.

It has been constant Irish tradition that a serious crisis arose in the middle of the 6th century as a result of the Gaelic Chiefs having to support both the bishops of the newer Christian religion while continuing to support the druidic poets of the older Gaelic pagan religion. Apart from the schisophrenia this situation caused in society, it resulted in a serious economic burden on the Chiefs who had to provide both bishop and poet with grants of lands, titles and protection. According to the Book of Rights written sometime between the 7th and 11th century, a poets household was quite considerable in size comprising his family, clan relations and many of his students. While "schools" of peotry existed in Ireland from ancient times they were located wherever the Ollamh (professor) decided to impose himself on a Chief or wealthy landowner who was obliged to support him. These constituted a heavy drain on the resources of the country, and at three different periods in Irish history the people tried to shake off their burden. However, despite Columcille, who was a poet himself, befriending them, in 590 AD at the Synod of Drum Ceat, their numbers were reduced and they were shorn of many of their prerogatives. On the other hand, public lands were set apart for their schools, and these continued until the later English conquest, when those who survived the reign of Elizabeth I fell beneath the scourge of Cromwell. Arising from the Synod of Drum Ceat, the occupation of poet was regarded as the hereditary right of a small number of families including the O'Higgins. Thense, we can trace the tradition of members of the O'Higgins as public servants to before the Synod of Drum Ceat in the 6th century.

It seems that the family were originally a branch of the Cenél Fiachach who were a group of septs claiming a common descent from Fiach one of the sons of Niall of Tara. The other septs who belonged to this grouping were the MacGeoghans, the O'Tooles, the O'Brennans, and the O'Molloys, all of whom occupied the lands of ancient Mide and Brega which are represented today by the Irish counties of Meath and Westmeath. We know from the Annals that the O'Higgins were originally associated with the area of Uisneach in Westmeath which was believed to be the spiritual and geographical center of Ireland and the site of royal inaugurations for local Gaelic families. By the 12th century, a branch of the O’Higgins had moved westward into Connacht and were located in the southern region of County Sligo on the border with Roscommon. Here, as a result of their service particularly to O’Conor, MacDermott, McDonagh princes and MacWilliam Uachtar they acquired many estates and lands including those in the Barony of Leyney at Dooghorne near Kilmacteige and in the Barony of Tirerill at Ballynary.[1] [2]

Ballynary on Lough Arrow in Co. Sligo, ancestral seat of the O'Higgins, Lords of Ballynary.

Throughout the 14^th to the 17^th century there were many O’Higgins who considered themselves to have inherited poetry as their birthright [6] [7]and were recognised as such by their patrons who included The O'Conor Don of Sligo,The MacDermott Prince of Moylurg and Coolavin, The MacDonagh's, Lords of Corran and Tirerill, The O'Doherty Princes of Inishowen, The O'Gara and other notable Connacht clans.

One of the earliest of the O’Higgins poets from Sligo that we know of was Tadhg Mór O’Higgins who died in 1315. Donnell O’Higgins who died in 1501 was the “Chief Preceptor of the schools of Ireland in poetry”.[4] Another was Tadhg Dall O’Higgins of Dooghorne in Leyney who had his tongue cut out and died in 1595 in revenge as a result of a satire he had composed against the O’Hara’s of Cashel Carragh, in the Parish of Kilmacteige. His son, Tadhg Óg, who was 12 years old when his father was killed by the O’Hara’s, inherited his father’s lands at Dooghorne in Achonry. In one of his less controversial poems written for Donegal Chief Cahir O'Doherty Tadhg Dall O'Higgins described Inishowen as 'Parthas Éireann' or Ireland's Paradise, a description which has been immortalised in the armorial bearings of the Town Council of Buncranna, the ancient seat of The O'Doherty.

As members of the Gaelic aristocracy the O’Higgins’ suffered under more than one English regime in Ireland. For example, in 1414 John Stanley, the Deputy of the King of England, arrived in Ireland, a man whom we are told “gave neither mercy nor protection to clergy, laity, or men of science, but subjected as many of them as he came upon to cold, hardship, and famine”.[8] It was he who plundered Niall, the son of Hugh O’Higgins, at Uisneach, near modern day Mullingar in Westmeath. However, Henry Dalton, a Gaelic-Norman Lord, then “plundered James Tuite and the King's people, and gave the O'Higgins out of the preys then acquired a cow for each and every cow taken from them, and afterwards escorted them to Connaught. The O'Higgins, with Niall, then satirized John Stanley, who lived after this satire but five weeks, for he died of the virulence of the lampoons. This was the second poetical miracle performed by this Niall O’Higgins, the first being the discomfiture of the Clann Conway the night they plundered Niall at Cladann; and the second, the death of John Stanley.”[9]

Ail na Míreann (Stone of Division) on the Hill of Uisneach, Westmeath, Ancient Ceremonial Seat of the Kings of Meath and location of the battle between the O'Higgins and the English in 1414 (Photo: courtesy of www.lookaroundireland.com)

Later on, under the Cromwellian Settlement of Ireland (1654) the resident Catholic landowners of Connacht such as the O’Higgins came within the category of ‘transplanter’ which meant that they had their holdings reduced and were often transplanted from one parish to another in order to make room for those who had been transplanted from across the river Shannon. The result of this was that by the time the Cromwellian Settlement of Ireland had finished most of the prominent Gaelic families including the O’Higgins just disappeared from their ancestral lands in Sligo.[10] We know that a related branch in Kilbeg in Co. Westmeath continued at least until 1638 when John O'Higgins recorded his father's death in the Funeral Entries of the Ulster King of Arms in Dublin. His father Tadhg O'Higgins, who was married to a daughter of The O'Brennan, died at Kilbeg in Co. Westmeath in 1633 and was buried in the Parish Church of Ardnorroghire.

After the restoration of King Charles II of England (1660) other lands in Galway and Roscommon were granted to the O'Higgins in 1677 at Carropaden, Beagh and Keelogue in consideration of those that they had previously lost in Westmeath under Cromwell. But by 1690 the O'Higgins had lost their lands again as a result of their support for James II of England against William of Orange and as a result the Kilbeg line became obscured.

The O’Higgins who were Gaelic Lords of Ballynary in Sligo were the only branch of the family to maintain their succession to present times mainly because they moved and adapted to a new and more lowly life in Summerhill, Co. Meath and remained there for over two hundred years from about 1722 to 1947. The title of Lord of Ballynary, which was held in this family, was a Gaelic territorial title that would have been acquired by an early member of the family who had received custody of his land at Ballynary from the local sovereign, possibly the O’Conor Don, King of Connacht who’s seat was located nearby at Ballintuber and later at Clonalis. Ballynary is located on the shores of Lough Arrow in the most south-eastern part of County Sligo. The last recorded O’ Higgins that we know of from Gaelic times to hold the title Lord (Tiarna) or Baron of Ballynary was Shean Duff O’Higgins[11] although it is likely that the title was in the family for many generations prior to this given that the O’Higgins were in this area of Sligo for some time. The nobility of this line of the family was confirmed when the Ulster King of Arms allowed the O’Higgins Arms to Shean Duff's great-grandson Don Ambrose O’Higgins in 1788. Based on the ages of those whom we know and working backwards, it is estimate that Shean Duff O’Higgins was born about 1600 AD. The Ballynary line of the O'Higgins is the only branch of the family ever to have been recognised as armigerous.

Not surprisingly Shean Duff O’Higgins was married to a daughter of a person of noble status. His wife was a daughter of the O’Conor of the Royal family of Ballintuber.[13] This line of the O’Conor can be traced back to Cathal Crovedearg O’Conor, who was inaugurated as King of Connacht in 1201 when he succeeded his half brother Rory O’Conor who had been the last High King of Ireland. Cathal was a successful leader who strengthened his kingdom and built the Abbey at Ballintuber in Mayo in 1216 where the O'Conor's held their main seat until the 18th century.[14] Now uninhabited, Balintuber Castle still belongs to the Royal O'Conor family.

Ballintuber Castle established by Hugh O'Conor, King of Connacht and main seat of the O'Conor Don until it was lost to the family in 1652.

Shean Duff O’Higgins’ son was Roger O’Higgins (b. abt. 1635), Lord of Ballynary and he was married to Margaret Brehan who was the daughter of an esquire. We know little of Roger except that he lived at Ballynary on Lough Arrow near the border of Sligo and Roscommon. Roger lived through the period of time immediately after Cromwellian Settlement of Connacht so he may have been incumbant when the lands at Ballynary were lost. After the Cromwellian intrustion into Connacht, the O'Higgins lands at Ballynary were granted to soldiers and/or families who had supported Cromwell including the King family of Boyle. This had a major impact on the O’Higgins of Ballynary who were reduced to work as labourers on the land they had previously owned. Eventually, after centuries living in southeast Sligo they were forced to move away, settling in Summerhill, Co. Meath around 1721. Despite the loss of the original lands attached to the family title, the dignity of the title was in no way undermined and continued to be passed through the male line up to the present time.

Roger O’Higgins’ son Charles O’Higgins (born abt. 1680), Lord of Ballynary left Sligo with his wife Margaret and moved to Summerhill in Co. Meath around 1720. Margaret was an O’Higgins by birth herself, her father being William O’Higgins of “Lougharough and Bardroe”, her mother being Winifred O’Fallon whose ancestors were founded from Muredeach 16^th King of Connacht from 697-702AD.[15] It seems that Charles despite being the son of the Lord of Ballynary from Sligo at this stage became a tenant and labourer on the Summerhill estate at Rathmór (pronounced rahoor) in Clondoogan in Co. Meath.

We are not sure why it was Summerhill that Charles and Margaret moved to, but we do know that Sir Hercules Langford who owned the Summerhill estate, in Co. Meath, also had acquired much land in north Connacht in the seventeenth century, and it is possible that Charles and Margaret moved to Summerhill because of Langford's connection with both places. Furthermore, the fact that a relative Fr. Thomas Higgins was created Parish Priest of Summerhill in 1720 may have been an influencing factor. Fr. Higgins served as Parish Priest of Summerhill for 40 years until he died in 1760 aged 97. [16] He was buried in the Moy cemetery in Summerhill with his father and other members of his family. The headstone was erected by his sister Mary O'Hara and it is the only headstone in the cemetery which faces the direction of the parish in which he served. Whatever the reason for moving to Summerhill, once Charles and Margaret arrived in there they continued to raise their family and to put down roots in this area that would last for over two hundred years. It was during this time, due to the Penal Laws and some convenience, that members of the family started to drop the "O" from their name. Still today some members of the family use the "O" while others do not.

A Scene from Ardrums, one of several farms on which the O'Higgins settled in Summerhill, Co. Meath

There is some confusion about the succession of the title to the immediate generation after Charles O'Higgins. It seems that his eldest son was Michael Higgins and he would presumably have inherited his father’s title as Lord of Ballynary. However, there are no written records of his life and we know nothing about him except that he did have one son Thomas who is said to have died in a shipwreck off Cadiz in Spain in 1800 enroute to Ireland with a treasure of indigo which was a gift from Ambrose O'Higgins (see below) to his relatives in Summerhill. Whether this story is true or not this Michael left no heirs and the title passed through his uncle Charles and so we count him as the next Lord of Ballynary. He was married to a Catherine O'Higgins (d. 1802) who is buried in Agher cemetery, Summerhill, Co. Meath.

A third son of Charles and Margaret O'Higgins was Ambrose O’Higgins (1720-1801) who left Ireland to be educated in Cadiz in Spain where his younger brother William had begun training for the priesthood. When he arrived in Spain he worked for a merchant firm owned by the Butler family. After sometime in Spain he went to the South American colonies and achieved high office in Chile and Peru. He became very ‘successful’ as an administrator for the Spanish Crown in Peru and Chile exercising great control over the indigenous population. He was so successful that he rose to the highest office in the land as the Spanish King's Vice-Roy (1796) to Peru and as Governor of Chile.

Don Ambrose O'Higgins, Barón de Ballinar, Marquis de Osorno,and Viceroy of Peru 1796-1801

In 1788 Ambrose sent a nephew to Ireland to research his pedigree and presumably this nephew would have met or known of his relatives in Summerhill, Co. Meath where the family were now based. This may have been how it became reported that money was later sent to them after Ambrose’s death in 1801, although it seems it did not arrive until some time after 1808.[17] We know that a solicitor in London was engaged to handle the transaction and that he in turn made contact with Rev. Kellett who was the Rector of the local Church of Ireland parish in Summerhill. While the varacity of this connection has often been questioned by historians due to the fact that Rev. Kellett was Protestant and the O'Higgins were Catholics, a simple visit to the cemetery in Agher clears the matter up. The O'Higgins family are buried in the cemetery there and there is a headstone erected around the time that the money is said to have been sent from Chile via London. It was not unusual for Catholics to be buried in Protestant cemeteries in those times due to the restrictions arising from the Penal Laws and the fact that the so many of the Catholic population worked for the Protestant landowners and gentry.

Monument to Don Ambrose O'Higgins, Viceroy of Peru and Chile, at his birth place in Ballynary, Co. Sligo.

Either way, based on the research presented at the time, in 1788 the then Ulster King of Arms in Dublin recognised Ambrose and his family in Summerhill as being of the same line as Shean Duff O’Higgins of Ballynary and consequently, he was granted the O’Higgins Arms which has remained in the family since then. Some have suggested that the Arms granted in 1788 was an existing so called "sept arms", however, there is no documentary evidence that such an arms already existed and it is an argument rejected by the current Chief Herald of Ireland, Dr. Fergus Gillespie.

In the same year, in return for his efforts in South America, King Carlos III of Spain created Ambrose as 1st Barón de Ballinar a title of the Spanish Crown not to be confused with the family's existing Gaelic title Lord of Ballynary. He was also later made the 1^st Marquis de Osorno in 1792 by King Carlos IV. Osorno was the province in Chile that he governed in addition to being Vice-Roy to Peru.[18]

When Ambrose died in 1801 he left one son, Bernardo (1778-1842) whom he had fathered with Isabelle Riquelme. Under the rules of Spanish succession an heir must request the permission of the King to assume his father’s titles and when Bernardo applied for permission to use his father’s noble titles and name he was refused. This was probably due his association with nationalist ideas in Chile. Bernardo did however assume his father’s O’Higgins name and went on to lead Chile to independence from Spain and to become the first Head of State of Chile in 1818 when he set about writing the country’s first democratic constitution.[19]

During his time as ‘Supreme Governor’ Bernardo pursued republican ideas, tolerance of all religions, separation of Church and State, free education for all children and abolished the nobility. This brought him into conflict with the Church and the Creole aristocracy. In 1823 he faced strong opposion and in order to avoid a civil war he resigned from office. We know that Bernardo intended on travelling to Ireland with his mother, sister and two children but when he arrived in Peru he was invited to assist in the independence movement there and remained in Peru until his death in1842. Many years later Bernardo’s body was brought back to Chile where it was interred in an altar of honour in the capital city of Santiago. Today Bernardo is recognised as the father of the Chilean nation and is honoured in the names of airports, streets, schools and buildings. He is also honoured in Dublin where there is a statue of him in Archbishop Ryan Park, Merrion Square, in the vicinity of Dáil Éireann, the Irish House of Representatives.

After Bernardo was refused permission to assume his father’s titles, it would have been expected that the next closest male relative would have applied to the King of Spain for permission to assume Don Ambrose’s titles. However, Ambrose’s brother Charles O’Higgins[20] (b.1722) Lord of Ballynary, lived in relative poverty in Summerhill, Co. Meath, Ireland and probably would not have had the means or possibly the ambition to make such an application. Not withstanding the fact that there is no record of Charles’ application to use his brother’s titles he would have presumably become the 2^nd Barón de Ballinar and 2^nd Marquis de Osorno. Charles was married to Catherine O’Higgins who died in 1802 and they are buried in Agher Cemetery, Summerhill, Co. Meath.

Charles and Catherine had a son, John Higgins (abt.1759- abt.1839) Lord of Ballynary[21] who was married to Mary Higgins and they lived in Summerhill, Co. Meath where they were tenant farmers and servants on the local Protestant estates. We know that Mary Higgins died in 1805 and she is also buried in the family grave in Agher Cemetery, Summerhill, Co. Meath. In the late 1790s arising out of the compulsory tithes on every potato patch which had to be paid for the upkeep of the Protestant clergy, many of the men of Meath were preparing to support a rebellion against the English and the men of Summerhill were no exception. There was wide scale abuse of rack-rents, evictions and labour disputes. The government formed a militia as a local defence force by a type of conscription in which they involved the local Catholic clergy in submitting names of suitable subjects who were trained in the use of arms and marched off to other areas where they were provided with housing previously belonging to those who had been evicted. Martial Law was declared in Meath and the local military with the co-operation of the Protestant clergy acting as magistrates administered the law as they saw fit without any obligation to use due process or courts. Trim jail had in access of 150 prisoners at one time with as many as a dozen public executions per day.

Lawrence O'Connor was the local school master and parish clerk. He was well versed in Gaelic, Latin and English and ran a hedge school at the Moy in Summerhill where the local Catholic Pastor Fr. Cregan was located. On the 12th July 1795, O'Connor was arrested and charged with High Treason for swearing a Mayo Militiaman into the United Irishment . In September 1795, O'Connor was hanged in Naas without trial and while still alive the "court" ordered that his intestines be drawn and that he be quartered. His head was put on a spike over the gates of the jail in Naas. Furthermore, as a punishment for what O'Connor had done, on the 21st of July 43 men and women of nearby Kilcock were belittled and insultingly forced to swear allegiance to the King. Consequently, by the time 1798 came there were many local men from Summerhill and surrounding townlands who were ready to fight with the men of Wexford at Tara. Without rehearsing what has been written elsewhere, this campaign was mostly unsuccessful. With many deaths on the nationalist side it would be another 125 years before the people of Meath and Ireland would gain control of their own country.

It is constant oral tradition, that during these troubles in the late 1790s both the Higgins and neighbouring Butler families were evicted from their cabins which were set on fire at Clondoogan and forced to live on the bog lands at the edge of the Ardrums estate in Summerhill. John Higgins took up employment with the Royal Canal Company who were building a new canal connecting Dublin with the river Shannon and passing through these lands on the southern boundary of the Ardrums estate. As part of his payment John Higgins was allowed to build a small cottage on a section of bog land on the northern bank of the Royal Canal on the Meath and Kildare border. This cottage has been recorded on maps of the area from 1836 onwards and remained the home of John's descendents until 1947.

John and Mary’s son was Thomas Higgins (1790-1870) Lord of Ballynary, and he was married to Catherine Butler Higgins, and they also lived on the Ardrums estate, Summerhill, Co. Meath where they were simple tenant farmers. As mentioned above, there is significant evidence to show that Bernardo O’Higgins was aware of his cousin and other relations in Summerhill who lived in relative poverty, as a result of the Penal Laws imposed by the English, in that financial assistance was sent to them from Chile after 1808 through the local Protestant Rector, a Rev. Kellett (1763-1848), in Agher Church.[22] It is not clear how this money came to be sent from Chile and why it was sent through the Church of Ireland Rector, as the family were Catholic. One theory suggests that as some of the O’Higgins family worked on the local Protestant estates in Summerhill, it is possible that Rev. Kellett knew them and wrote to the O’Higgins of Chile on their behalf or that the family were neighbours of Rev. Kellett and he was someone they trusted to act on their behalf. Certainly, members of the O'Higgins family were buried in Agher Church cemetery while Rev. Kellett ministered there (1809-1842). Either way the story of the money coming from Chile confirms the link between Bernardo, his father Ambrose and the O’Higgins of Summerhill, all of whom traced their lineage back to Ballynary in Sligo.

The next person to succeed to the O’Higgins family title was Thomas and Catherine’s son John Higgins (1825-1901) Lord of Ballynary. He was married to Mary Benson. The records for Kilcock Catholic Parish on the border of Meath and Kildare show that at the time of their children’s births John and Mary also lived on the bog beside the canal.They had two children, a son Thomas born in 1872 and a daughter Mary born in 1873.

Thomas Higgins (b.1872) Lord of Ballynary lived and worked at Ardrums in Summerhill Co. Meath. He was childless and was succeeded by his first cousin Patrick O’Higgins (1877-1946), son of Thomas Higgins and Julia Barber. It seems that the Patrick O'Higgins actually inherited the family home at Ardrums on the death of his mother Julia in the early 1900s but that he allowed his sister Brigid Higgins to live there with her husband Joseph Purcell while he lived in Dublin with his wife and only son Patrick Joseph where they ran a guest house on Eustace Street in modern day district of Temple Bar. During the period 1910 to about 1946 Patrick and his family spent the summers on the O’Higgins farm in Ardrums. Patrick's wife was Mary Power who came from Tramore in Co. Waterford and was an active supporter of Cuman na mBán (Women's Army) during the 1916 Rising and the War of Independence.

While his wife Mary Power, Madam O'Higgins was noted for her support of the nationalist cause, Patrick O'Higgins was noted more for the practice of his Catholic faith and would often attend several masses in the same day. His Tanist was his only son Patrick Joseph (PJ) O’Higgins (1907-1974) who became Lord of Ballynary on the death of his farther in January 1946. He had a brief education at O’Connell’s School in Dublin after which he entered business and eventually worked as a Supervisor with the Electricity Supply Board. He served his country twice in his life, firstly as a boy during the Irish War of Independence between 1916-1921 as a "runner" and again he served in the Reserve Army (LDF) during the second World War for which he received the National Service Medal.. He was keenly aware and proud of his O’Higgins heritage and often spoke of the family connection with Don Bernardo O’Higgins in Chile and of how the family had lost the lands in Sligo under Cromwell. He married Mary Brogan of St. Agatha’s Parish, Dublin and they had eight children who survived. After he married his wife they continued to spend summers at Ardrums and in the winter supplies would be sent from the O'Higgins farm in Ardrums to Dublin. The food would be sent directly from the farm by barge on the Royal Canal to the 12^th Lock in Castleknock, Dublin where it would be collected and brought by car to the family home off the Old Cabra Road .However, after the death of Brigid Higgins-Purcell in 1947 and her husband Joseph in the early 1950s the O'Higgins' home on the canal bank in Ardrums fell into disrepair and became uninhabitable.

Copy of a National Service Medal Awarded to PJ O'Higgins for his service in the Reserve Army 1939-1946.

In 1964 PJ O'Higgins made his final trip to his family seat in Ardrums, Summerhill with his eldest son Christopher Thomas (known as Thomas) where he presented him with a stone from the walls of the O’Higgins family home. In this symbolic action Patrick O’Higgins identified his son Thomas as his Tanist and he succeeded his father on his death in January 1974. Today he is recognised by his "clan" as head of the modern O'Higgins and uses the courtesy title of Chief of The O’Higgins, Lord of Ballynary.[23] The Hon. Thomas O'Higgins NSC, Lord of Ballynary is married to the former Oonagh O’Meara, Madam O'Higgins of Ballynary and they live in Cheshire, England. The O'Higgins is a hereditary member of the Noble Society of Celts and a member of the Manorial Society of Great Britain. He has two sons the Hon. Graham O’Higgins, Rídhamhna of Ballynary, and the Hon. Karl O’Higgins, Rídhamhna of Ballynary. The current O'Higgins of Ballynary has yet to name his Tanist.

While the O’Higgins were dispersed from their ancestral lands in Sligo in the mid 1600s the Ballynary branch re-established the family seat at Summerhill in County Meath where they lived for over two hundred years from about 1720 to 1947. From earliest times the O’Higgins have been a noble and literary people who contributed much to the development and maintenance of Irish culture. This contribution continues today through their involvement in education, law, theology, healthcare, linguistics, engineering, commerce, art and music and community development.

While the family title has limited use in a modern democracy, it is a piece of property that links us with our ancestors and Gaelic culture, so for the sake of history and continuity it is important that we maintain its use in some limited form.

Prior to the early 1600s when the Gaelic order was ending, the Chief’s of Gaelic families were elected through the system of tanistry which allowed for all of the males of the same name to elect their leader as Clan Chief for life and for that Chief to then choose his heir or Tanist who although a member of the Clan might not necessarily be the son of the Clan Chief. Furthermore, each Tanist had to be approved by a Derbfhine (representative assembly) of the Clan.

By the time the Norman invasion of Ireland began in 1171-72 King Henry II of England established new fiefdoms and consolidated the feudal system of nobility, which was based on primogeniture; that is the right of the eldest male to inherit his father’s titles and property. Many of the existing Gaelic Chiefs managed to hold onto their lands and much of their status including their Gaelic titles by taking on new Norman noble titles such as The O’Brien of Munster who for example became the Earl of Thomand. However, by the 1600s, as a consequence of the need to pass on feudal property, the Gaelic families were really forced to use primogeniture over tanistry even for their Gaelic titles. This meant that the eldest male of the name inherited his father’s titles and position.

Regarding Gaelic titles today, there has been in recent times some disagreement about whether the holder of such positions today should be decided by tanistry or primogeniture. Some recent genealogical and heraldic scholars now seem to favour primogeniture as the most practical system[24]while some of the current Gaelic Chiefs favour the system of tanistry and other clan societies simply elect members as honourary Chiefs in the abscence of any known claimants for the position of Chief. For the last four hundred years it seems that the O'Higgins title Lord of Ballynary has passed through the senior male line, however, in more recent times tanists have been named by incumbants. Furthermore, the modern O'Higgins Clan recognises the Ballynary line as the most senior line of the O'Higgins and as such honoury Chief of the O'Higgins. This should not be confused with the title "Chief of the Name" which can no longer be validated under Irish Law.

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References

[1]O’Rorke, T. (1889) “The History of Sligo Town and County Vol. II – Conclusion” (Dublin: Duffy & Company).

[2] The National Genealogical Office (Dublin), MS 165. p. 396.

[3] The O’Higgins received their lands in Dooghorne from the Nunnery in Kilcreunat, Co.Galway.

[4] The Annals of the Four Masters, Book V.

[5] Entry in the records of the Chief Herald’s Office reports the first recorded use of the O’Higgins Arms at the funeral of Tadhg Óg in 1633 at Kilbeg in Co. Westmeath..

[6]O’Rorke, T. (1889) “The History of Sligo Town and County Vol. II – Conclusion” (Dublin: Duffy & Company).

[7]The Annals of the Four Masters, Book IV.

[8]Annals of the Four Masters, Book IV

[9]The Annals of The Four Masters, Book IV.

[10]See McLysaght, E. (1935) “A Short Study of a Transplanted Family in the Seventeenth Century” (Dublin).

[11] The National Genealogical Office (Dublin), MS 165. pp. 396-399.

[13]The National Genealogical Office (Dublin) MS 165, pp. 396-399.

[14]From a talk given by Pyers O'Conor-Nash in the Casino Club, Chicago in September 2001.

[15]The National Genealogical Office (Dublin) MS 165. pp. 396-399.

[16] See The Mayo Book of Survey & Distribution 1636-1703 and Records for The Moy Cemetery, Summerhill, Co. Meath.

[17] Dictionary of National Biography 1885 and 1900.

[18] Ricardo Donoso, (1941) “El Marquis de Osorno, Don Ambrosio Higgins” (Santiago: University of Chile Press).

[19]The Constitution of the Republic of Chile, 1980 - Although this present constitution was not directly written by Bernardo O'Higgins, it reflects many of his original ideas dating back to the early 1820's.

[20] So far no written documentation has been found for this man. However, from local oral tradition we know he is buried with his wife in Agher Cemetery in Summerhill, Co. Meath.

[21] So far no written documentation has been found for this man. However, from local oral tradition we know he is buried with his wife in Agher Cemetery in Summerhill, Co. Meath.

[22]Dictionary of National Biography 1885 and 1900. Fr. Kellett died in 1842 not long before this source was written.

[23]He was the first Lord of Ballynary to assume the leadership of the Clan without inheriting the family home, which had fallen into disrepair between 1947-1962. It was subsequently sold by the Land Commission.

[24]See article by Seán J. Murphy in Burke’s Peerage & Gentry http://www.burkes-perage.net/sites/common/ejournals/at0202-4.asp

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