Career
Born near Bandon, County Cork, O'Connor embraced the Republican movement early on as he was encouraged by the American Revolution overseas. The Irish House of Commons was part of the colonial parliament that sat in College Green. His two other brothers were pro-British loyalists.
He and Lord Edward Fitzgerald petitioned for aid in support of an Irish revolution. While traveling to he was arrested alongside Father James Coigly, a Catholic priest, and three other Coigly, who found to be carrying an incriminating letter, was hanged, whereas O'Connor was acquitted. On his way to confinement, he distributed a poem, which, seeming to recant his republican beliefs, with verses re-ordered, was instead a ringing re-affirmation of them:
O'Connor was released in 1802 under the condition of "banishment".
He travelled to Paris, where he was regarded as the accredited representative of the by Napoleon who, in February 1804, appointed him General of Division in the French army. General Berthier, Minister of War, directed that O'Connor was to join the expeditionary army intended for the invasion of Ireland at Brest. When the plan fell through, O'Connor retired from the army.
The couple had a son, Daniel O'Connor (1810-1851). He referred to himself as Arthur Condorcet O'Connor in his subsequent writings. He offered his services to Napoleon during the Hundred Days.
After Napoleon's defeat he was allowed to retire, becoming a naturalised French citizen in 1818. He supported the 1830 revolution which created the July Monarchy, publishing a defence of events in the form of an open letter to General Lafayette. After the revolution he became mayor of Le Bignon-Mirabeau.
The rest of his life was spent composing literary works on political and social topics.
