Sir John O'Sullivan

Alfred Webb

A Compendium of Irish Biography

1878

O'Sullivan, Sir John, Colonel in the French service, was born in Ireland early in the 18th century. Intended for the priesthood, he was educated at Paris and Rome. On the sudden death of his father he returned to Ireland; but not being able, owing to the Penal Laws, to hold his parental estate without renouncing his religion, he sold out and emigrated to France. He entered the army, rose rapidly, and was coadjutor of Maillebois in the atrocious suppression of liberty in Corsica in 1739. There and on the Rhine he earned the reputation of an able captain in guerrilla warfare. This probably led to his being chosen to accompany Prince Charles as Adjutant and Quartermaster-General in his descent upon Scotland in 1745. From his landing at Lochnanuagh, on the 5th August 1745, to his escape in a French frigate, on 1st October 1746, Colonel O'Sullivan was one of his most trusted advisers, and the Prince's escape was due in a great measure to his energy and tact. For these services he was knighted by "James III." in 1747. The date of his death is not known. [His son Thomas, an officer in the Irish Brigade, removed to America and entered the British service, which he ultimately exchanged for the Dutch: he died a major at; the Hague in 1824.]

Sources

189. Irish Parliamentary Debates.

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