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Nicholas O'Conor

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Sir
Nicholas O'Conor
GCB GCMG PC
Born
Nicholas Roderick O'Conor

3 July 1843
Dundermott, County Roscommon, Ireland
Died19 March 1908
Constantinople, Turkey
Occupation(s)Diplomat, ambassador
Spouse(s)Minna, Lady O'Conor (née Minna Margaret Hope-Scott)
Children3
Parent(s)Patrick A.C. O'Conor and Jane French

Sir Nicholas Roderick O'Conor GCB GCMG PC (Irish: Nioclás Ruairí Ó Conchobhair Donn; 1843 – 19 March 1908) was an Anglo-Irish diplomat. When he died, Sir Nicholas was the British Ambassador to Turkey.[1]

Early life

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He was born, the youngest of three sons, to Patrick A. C. O'Conor and Jane (née French),[2] into a cadet branch of the Catholic O'Conor Don family of County Roscommon. He was raised on his family estate, Dun Dermot, on the Roscommon-County Galway border. He was educated at Stonyhurst College.[2]

Career

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Nicholas Roderick O'Conor. Russia, Saint-Petersburg, 1895-1898

O'Conor entered the diplomatic service in 1866. In his early years, he was attached to the Embassy in Berlin, achieving the rank of Third Secretary in 1870. He served as Secretary at the Hague, Madrid. Rio de Janeiro, and Paris. He was trained in the diplomatic service by Richard Lyons, 1st Viscount Lyons,[3] and was a member of the Tory-sympathetic 'Lyons School' of British diplomacy.[4] He was Secretary and Chargé d'Affaires at Peking and Washington, Political Agent and Consul-General in Bulgaria.[5]

Head of Mission

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O'Conor's first ministerial appointment was at the British Legation at Peking.[1]

  • 1892: In Seoul, O'Conor was the British Minister to the Korea.[6]
  • 1895: In St. Petersburg, he was Ambassador of His Britannic Majesty in the Imperial court of the Russian Czar.[7]
  • 1898: In Constantinople, he was Ambassador to the Court of the Sublime Porte of the Ottoman Empire.[1]

In 1896, O'Conor was made a Privy Counsellor.

O'Conor died in Constantinople following a hemorrhage of the stomach. He was the first British Ambassador to die in post in Turkey since Sir Edward Barton, Ambassador of Queen Elizabeth I to Sultan Mehmet III, died in 1598 at the Panagia Apsinthiotissa (now in Cyprus).[8]

Family

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He was married to Minna Margaret Hope-Scott (1862-1934), daughter of James Robert Hope-Scott, Q.C. (1812–1873) and Lady Victoria Hope-Scott (1840–1870).[2][9] They had three daughters:

Eldest daughter: Fearga Victoria Mary O'Conor (b. 1892, d. 22 March 1969), married her half first cousin, Rear-Admiral Malcolm Raphael Joseph Constable-Maxwell-Scott, son of Hon. Joseph Constable-Maxwell-Scott and Mary Monica Hope-Scott, on 6 September 1918. She died on 22 March 1969. They had three children:

  1. Sir Michael Fergus Constable-Maxwell-Scott, 13th Bt. of the Constable Maxwell-Scott baronets (b. 23 Jul 1921, d. 29 Nov 1989)
  2. Elizabeth Mary Constable-Maxwell-Scott (b. 28 May 1924, d. 1991)
  3. Ian Malcolm Constable-Maxwell-Scott (b. 18 July 1927, d. 27 November 1993)

Middle daughter: Muriel Margaret Minna O'Conor (b. 1894), married Charles Joseph Nevile, son of Ralph Henry Christopher Nevile, on 21 April 1919.

Youngest daughter: Eileen Winifred Madeleine O'Conor (1897-1963), married, in 1918, at the Brompton Oratory, to Romanian Prince Matyla Ghyka (1881–1965).

Arms

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Coat of arms of Nicholas O'Conor
Notes
Granted on 4 September 1890 by Sir John Bernard Burke, Ulster King of Arms.
Crest
On a wreath Argent and Vert out of an Irish crown as in the arms an arm embowed in armour the hand grasping a sword all Proper.[10]
Escutcheon
Argent an oak tree eradicated Proper supported by two lions rampant combatant Sable in chief an ancient Irish crown Or and in base three lizards passant to the sinister barwise Vert.
Motto
(The Valiant Hand Of Ireland)

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Sir Nicholas O'Conor Dead," New York Times. 20 March 1908.
  2. ^ a b c Geoghegan, Patrick M. (1 October 2009). "O'Conor, Sir Nicholas Roderick". Dictionary of Irish Biography. doi:10.3318/dib.006658.v1.
  3. ^ Otte, T. G. (2011). The Foreign Office Mind: The Making of British Foreign Policy: 1865 – 1914. pp. 138–139.
  4. ^ Otte, T. G. (2011). The Foreign Office Mind: The Making of British Foreign Policy: 1865–1914. pp. 155–156.
  5. ^ Obituary, Roscommon People (March 1908)
  6. ^ Korean Mission to the Conference on the Limitation of Armament, Washington, D.C., 1921-1922. (1922). Korea's Appeal, p. 32., p. 32, at Google Books
  7. ^ "Turkey and the Powers," New York Times. 13 October 1895.
  8. ^ "Obituary: Death of Sir Nicholas O'Conor". The Times. 20 March 1908. p. 13.
  9. ^ "Collection: The Papers of Sir Nicholas and Lady (Minna) O'Conor | ArchiveSearch". archivesearch.lib.cam.ac.uk. University of Cambridge. Retrieved 30 July 2024.
  10. ^ "Grants and Confirmations of Arms, Vol. H,". National Library of Ireland. p. 218. Retrieved 17 August 2022.
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Diplomatic posts
Preceded by British Ambassador to Russia
1896 – 1898 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire
1898 – 1908 		Succeeded by
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