Background
Cahir was the son of Sir John O'Doherty, the head of the O'Doherty's and effective ruler of Inishowen.
Cahir was the son of Sir John O'Doherty, the head of the O'Doherty's and effective ruler of Inishowen.
O'Doherty was a noted loyalist during Tyrone's Rebellion and became known as the Queen's O'Doherty for his service on the Crown's side during the fighting. After the war O'Doherty had ambitions to become a courtier and applied for a position in the household of Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales, but he increasingly came into dispute with Irish-based officials such as the Viceroy Arthur Chichester and the Governor of Derry George Paulet. In 1608 he launched , seizing Derry from Paulet and burning it to the ground.
O'Doherty was subsequently killed in a battle at Kilmacrennan, and the rebellion swiftly collapsed. Cahir's younger sister was Rosa O'Doherty who first married Cathbarr O'Donnell and later Owen Roe O'Neill. He was fourteen when his father died and had to spend the next few years gaining control of his lordship.
Cahir's foster father was Phelim Reagh MacDavitt (Mac Daibhéid). Cahir was knighted by Lord Mountjoy, and for a time seemed prepared to work amicably with the English authorities: he found a strong supporter in Sir Henry Docwra, the first Governor of Derry. Caught up in conspiracies caused by the Flight of the Earls and angered by the confiscation of his lands for the Plantation of Ulster, in 1608 Sir Cahir sacked and burned the town of Derry and Cahir's foster-father Felim Riabhach McDavitt (Mac Daibhéid) killed Docwra's successor as Governor, Sir George Paulet, with whom Cahir had repeatedly quarreled.
Paulet was accused by some of goading O'Doherty into rebellion by a series of insults, and was also said to have assaulted him. Niall Garve O'Donnell, previously a loyal supporter of the English Crown, was also accused of supporting the rebellion. O'Doherty's precise motives for the rebellion are unclear, and its timing is also something of a puzzle, especially as the Privy Council of Ireland had just ordered that the remainder of his lands be restored to him.
Taking revenge on Paulet was perhaps a sufficient motive in itself. O'Doherty was killed near Kilmacrennan following a skirmish with a counter-attacking force under Lord Powerscourt His severed head was apparently displayed in Dublin for some time afterwards.