Sir Phelim O’Neill of Kinard (1604-1653) was an Irish nobleman, and the eldest son of Turlough MacShane O’Neill. His grandfather had fought for Hugh O’Neill during the Nine Years’ War and both his grandfather and father had been killed fighting against Cahir O’Doherty, who was the father-in-law of Owen Roe O’Neill. Phelim was a member of the Irish Parliament, studied law in London and was a prominent landowner in Kinard (modern-day Caledon in County Tyrone). In 1641, Phelim along with several other Gaelic Irish conspirators, fearing a plot from the Scottish Covenanters and English Parliamentarians to invade Ireland and eager to reverse the plantations, issued the Proclamation of Dungannon, which sparked the 1641 rebellion. Phelim would fight in the Confederate Wars under his kinsman Owen Roe, yet eventually left the Ulster Army as factional disputes raged. Following Cromwell’s successful conquest of Ireland, Phelim was captured and executed for his role in the rebellion in 1653.
Writings
Proclamation of Dungannon (1641)