Page:Dictionary of National Biography, Second Supplement, volume 3.djvu/46

 a distance of 328 miles. O'Connor visited England in 1897 on business connected with this and other work for the colony, and while at home he was made a C.M.G. The execution of works of this magnitude threw on O'Connor heavy labour and responsibility for which his professional ability and high principle well fitted him, but conflicting influences in the administration and polity of the new colony caused him at the same time anxieties and worries, which ultimately destroyed his mental balance. On 10 March 1902 he shot himself through the head on the beach at Robb's Jetty, Fremantle. He married in 1875 a daughter of William Ness of Christchurch, New Zealand. She survived him, with seven children.

O'Connor was elected a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers 6 April 1880. He wrote numerous reports on engineering matters in the colony, among which may be mentioned two on the Coolgardie water-supply scheme (Perth, 1896) and the projected Australian trans- continental railway (Perth, 1901). The Fremantle harbour works and the Coolgardie water-supply were described in the 'Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers' (clxxxiv. 157 and clxii. 50) by O'Connor's successor, Mr. C. S. R. Pahner.

A bronze statue of O'Connor by Pietro Porcelli was erected at Fremantle in 1911.

 O'CONNOR, JAMES (1836–1910), Irish journalist and politician, was born on 10 Feb. 1836 in the Glen of Imaal, co. Wicklow, where his father, Patrick O'Connor, was a farmer. His mother's maiden surname was Kearney. After education at an Irish national school, he entered early on a commercial career. He was one of the first to join the Fenian organisation, and when its organ, the 'Irish People,' was established in 1863, he joined the staff as book-keeper. With John O'Leary [q. v. Suppl. II], Thomas Clarke Luby [q. v. Suppl. II], O'Donovan Rossa, andC. J. Kickham [q.v.], and the other officials and contributors, O'Connor was arrested on 15 Sept. 1865 at the time of the seizure and suppression of the paper. Convicted with his associates, he was sentenced to seven years' imprisonment. After five years, spent chiefly in Millbank and Portland prisons, he was released, and became sub -editor to the 'Irishman' and the 'Flag of Ireland,' advanced nationalist papers conducted by Richard Pigott [q. v.]. When Pigott sold these papers to Parnell and the Land League in 1880 and they were given up, O'Connor was made sub-editor of 'United Ireland,' which was founded in 1881. In December of that year O'Connor was imprisoned with Parnell and other political leaders in Kilmainham.

After the Parnellite split in 1887, 'United Ireland,' which opposed Parnell, was seized by the Irish leader and O'Connor left. He was shortly after appointed editor of the 'Weekly National Press,' a journal started in the interests of the anti-Parnellites. In 1892 he became nationalist M.P. for West Wicklow, and he retained the seat till his death at Kingstown on 12 March 1910.

Though an active journalist, O'Connor published little independently of his newspapers. A pamphlet, 'Recollections of Richard Pigott' (Dublin, 1889), supplies the most authentic account of Pigott's career.

O'Connor was married twice; his first wife with four children died in 1890 from eating poisonous mussels at Monkstown, co. Dublin. A public monument was erected over their grave in Glasnevin. By his second wife, whose maiden name was McBride, he had one daughter.

 O'CONOR, CHARLES OWEN, styled (1838–1906), Irish politician, born on 7 May 1838 in Dublin, was eldest son of Denis O'Conor of Belanagore and Clonallis, co. Roscommon, by Mary, daughter of Major Blake of Towerhill, co. Mayo. His family was Roman catholic. A younger son, Denis Maurice O'Conor, LL.D. (1840-1883), was M.P. in the liberal and home rule interest for Sligo county (1868-83).

Charles Owen, after education at St. Gregory's College, Downside, near Bath, matriculated at London University in 1855, but did not graduate. He early entered public life, being elected M.P. for Roscommon county as a liberal at a bye-election in 1860. He sat for that constituency till the general election of 1880. In 1874 he was returned as a home ruler, but, refusing to take the party pledge exacted by Parnell, was ousted by a nationalist in 1880. In 1883 he was defeated by Mr. William Redmond in a contest for Wexford. An active member of parliament, he was an effective though not an eloquent speaker and a leading 