Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 42.djvu/69

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O'Hara
63
O'Hara

1755, to the colonelcy of the 2nd (Coldstream) foot-guards. He became general on 7 March 1761, and field-marshal on 10 June 1763, and was also governor of Portsmouth.

In 1752 he returned to Portugal as ambassador, and was also governor of Minorca until 1756, when he was sent out on the Gibraltar expedition (Walpole, Letters, iii. 19, George II, ii. 190, 216). On 14 Dec. 1757 he was president of the court-martial on Sir John Mordaunt (1697-1780) [q. v.] (Walpole, ib. iii. 78), having been relieved at Gibraltar on 16 April 1757. In 1758 an attempt was made by Lord George Sackville and Sir J. Philipps to censure him in the House of Commons for his expenditure on works at Gibraltar. Tyrawley demanded to be heard at the bar, and prepared a memorial, on which Lord George took fright, and procured a secret report. Tyrawley appeared before a committee of the house, which he treated with great freedom, and so browbeat his accusers that the house declared itself satisfied of 'the innocence of a man who dared to do wrong more than they dared to censure him' (ib. iii. 108-9). Walpole characterises him as 'imperiously blunt, haughty, and contemptuous, with an undaunted portion of spirit,' and attributes to him a 'great deal of humour and occasional good breeding.' Tyrawley professed not to know where the House of Commons was; and his 'brutality' was again exhibited when he was president of the court-martial on Lord George Sackville in 1760.

When a Spanish invasion of Portugal was threatened in 1762, Tyrawley was appointed plenipotentiary and general of the English forces (Walpole, Letters, iv. 23; Chatham Corresp. ii. 174), but was soon superseded as too old, and returned to England disgusted in 1763 (Walpole, George III, i. 44). He does not appear to have held any important post after this, though he was sworn of George III's privy council on 17 Nov. 1762. Lord Chatham, with whom he had long been on friendly terms (Chatham Corresp. i. 218, ii. 174), writes to Lady Chatham to make a 'How-do-you call' on his 'fine old friend Lord Tyrawley' in 1772, and a note acknowledging the visit is preserved (ib. iv. 208). Tyrawley, who had a seat at Blackheath (Lodge, l.c), died at Twickenham on 14 July 1773, and was buried at Chelsea Hospital.

Tyrawley married Mary, only surviving daughter of Lieutenant-general Sir W. Stewart, second viscount Mountjoy, but left no legitimate issue. He was considered 'singularly licentious, even for the courts of Russia and Portugal' (Walpole, George III, i. 144) ; and 'T——y's crew 'is coupled with 'K[innou]l's lewd cargo' by Pope (Imitations of Horace, Epistles, i. 6, 201). An illegitimate son Charles (1740?-1802) [q. v.], who was much with him, rose to distinction in the army. A large mass of his official despatches of various periods from Ireland, Minorca, Portugal, Russia, and Gibraltar is in the British Museum (Tyrawley Papers, Addit. MSS. 23627-23642; see also Newcastle Papers, 32697-32895).

[Lodge's Peerage of Ireland; Cannon's Historical Records of the British Army, 7th Foot, 10th Foot, 4th Dragoon Guards, &c.; Walpole's Works and Chatham Correspondence, as above; Ann. Reg. and Gent. Mag. 1773; Tindal's Rapin, iv. 10 n.; dates can be checked by the lists of Brit. Mus. Cat. Addit. MSS.]

H. E. D. B.

O'HARA, KANE (1714?–1782), writer of burlesques, born about 1714, came of an old Sligo stock famous for their musical taste. He was youngest son of Kane O'Hara of Temple House, co. Sligo, who in his will, dated 28 March 1719, named a sum to be expended on his younger sons, Adam and Kane, during their minorities. Kane, the younger, entered Trinity College, Dublin, and graduated B.A. in 1732 and M.A. in 1735. He subsequently resided in Dublin, and interested himself in music. The musical academy at Dublin was founded in 1758 mainly by his exertions. Meanwhile the Italian burletta had been introduced into Ireland by a family of musicians and actors called D'Amici. Dublin ran mad after the new form of entertainment, and in 1759 O'Hara undertook a travesty of it at the instance of Lord Mornington, father of the Duke of Wellington. The result was an English burletta entitled 'Midas,' which he composed at the seat of William Brownlow, M.P., on Lough Neagh.

O'Hara then lived in King Street, Dublin, where the Gaiety Theatre now stands, and John O'Keeffe states that he was present in this house with Lord Momington and Brownlow when the latter, with a harpsichord, helped to settle the music for 'Midas.' The piece was played at Oapel Street Theatre, Dublin, in 1761. It was repeated at Covent Garden, with Shuter as Midas, on 22 Feb. 1764, when it was published. It was constantly revived in London, and was performed at the Haymarket as late as 23 July 1825.

O'Hara followed up this success with a similar effort, entitled 'The Golden Pippin,' a burlesque on the story of Paris and the three goddesses, which was first acted at Covent Garden on 6 Feb. 1773, with Miss Catley in