O'Shaughnessy Family History / Coat of Arms

The O'Shaughnessys (in Irish O Seanchnasaigh) were a sept of considerable importance in that part of Co. Galway known as the barony of Kiltartan; indeed we may say are, rather than were, for around that area the greater number of persons of the name are still concentrated. They have an illustrious origin, being of the southern Ui Fiachrach, descended from the famous King Daithi, the last pagan King of Ireland. In the eleventh century the supplanted their kinsmen the O'Cahills and also the O'Clerys as the principal sept of Ui Fiachra Aidhne which was Co-extensive with the diocese of Kilmacduagh: they are recorded as chiefs there from 1100 onwards and their territory is described in the "Composition Book of Connacht" (1585) as O'Shaughnessy's Country. They do not figure prominently in the history of the country until the seventeenth century. Sir Dermot O'Shaughnessy whose great-great-grandfather had, as Chief of the Name, so far forsaken the Gaelic order as to fall in with the policy of "Surrender and regrant" and accept a knighthood from Henry VIII, joined the Confederation of Kilkenny. As a result his estates were confiscated under the Cromwellian regime. Though possession of a considerable portion was regained at the Restoration much of it was once more lost in the Williamite forfeitures, for the chief of the day was again found on the Irish side. However, the O'Shaughnessy influence remained strong in south Galway for at least another generation for we find in a case relating to O'Shaughnessy lands in 1731 their opponents appealing for a transfer of venue on the grounds that no jury in Co. Galway would give a verdict unfavourable to that family. As was the case in so many of the great Irish families the last Chief of the Name, William O'Shaughnessy (1674-1744), served in the Irish Brigade: he was colonel of Clare's regiment and died in France, having attained the rank of marshal after almost fifty years of active service, which began in King James's army at the Boyne. A branch of the Kiltartan O'Shaughnessys settled in Co. Limerick in the sixteenth century where their descendants are still living. One family of this branch changed their name temporarily to Sandys. Sir John c("Big John") O'Shannassy (1818-1883), distinguished himself as an Australian statesman and ardent Catholic: while Sir William Brooke O'Shaughnessy (1809-1889) of the Limerick branch, was a pioneer of telegraphy as well as an eminent surgeon. The sacred crozier of St. Colman, reputed to be used as a means of inducing defrauders to give up illicitly acquired goods to their rightful owners, was in the possession of the O'Shaughnessy family from the time of Bishop O'Shaughnessy of Kilmacduagh (d. 1223) for several centuries: it is now in the collection of the National Museum of Ireland