James O'Hara, 2nd Baron Tyrawley

Field Marshal James O'Hara, 2nd Baron Tyrawley and 1st Baron Kilmaine, PC (1682 – 14 July 1774) was a British army officer. After serving as a junior officer in Spain and the Low Countries during the War of the Spanish Succession, he went on to become British ambassador to Lisbon establishing a close relationship with King John V there. He undertook a tour as British ambassador to Saint Petersburg before becoming Governor of Gibraltar where he set about improving the fortifications. He was briefly commander of British troops in Portugal during the Seven Years' War but was replaced within a few months. During his military career, he was colonel of eight different regiments.

Military career

The Siege of Barcelona, where Lord Tyrawley and Kilmaine first saw action

Born the son of Charles O'Hara, 1st Baron Tyrawley, and Frances O'Hara (née Rouse), James O'Hara was commissioned as a lieutenant in the Royal Fusiliers on 15 March 1703.<ref name=odnb>Template:Cite ODNB</ref> He was promoted to captain on 24 March 1705.<ref name=heath234>Heathcote, p. 234</ref>

O'Hara fought at the Siege of Barcelona in April 1706 and was wounded at the Battle of Almansa in April 1707 during the War of the Spanish Succession.<ref name=heath234/> He was redeployed to the Low Countries as aide-de-camp to the Duke of Marlborough and was wounded again at the Battle of Malplaquet in September 1709.<ref name=heath234/> He succeeded his father as colonel of the Royal Fusiliers in January 1713 and then served with his regiment in Minorca for several years.<ref name=heath234/> For this he was appointed an aide-de-camp to the King in 1717 and, while serving in Ireland, was created Baron Kilmaine in the Peerage of Ireland on 2 January 1722.<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> He succeeded his father as 2nd Baron Tyrawley in June 1724.<ref name=heath234/>

Lord Tyrawley and Kilmaine (as he was now) was appointed British ambassador to Lisbon in January 1727<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> establishing a close relationship with King John V there.<ref name=odnb/> Promoted to brigadier-general on 18 December 1735<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> and to major-general on 17 July 1739,<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> he also became colonel of the 5th Regiment of Horse in August 1739.<ref name=heath234/> After retiring from his post in Lisbon in January 1741,<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> he declined an American command later that year.<ref name=heath234/> Promoted to lieutenant-general on 5 April 1743,<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> he became colonel of the 2nd Troop Horse Grenadier Guards later that month and was appointed British ambassador to Saint Petersburg in November 1743.<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> He retired from the Saint Petersburg post in February 1745.<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref>

Lord Tyrawley became colonel of the 3rd Troop of Horse Guards in April 1745 and colonel of the Lord Tyrawley's Regiment in December 1746 before becoming Governor of Minorca in 1747.<ref name=heath234/> He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in January 1748.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He went on to become colonel of the 14th Regiment of Dragoons in July 1749,<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> colonel of the 3rd (King's Own) Regiment of Dragoons in July 1752 and colonel of the Coldstream Guards in April 1755.<ref name=heath234/>

Tyrawley became Governor of Gibraltar in 1756 and set about improving the fortifications. These changes came under criticism from William Skinner who was British Chief Engineer. The two of them were called before the bar of the House of Commons where Lord Tyrawley harangued Skinner who took the anger in good humour.<ref>Template:Cite ODNB</ref> Tyrawley went on to be Governor of Portsmouth in 1759.<ref name=odnb/>

Promoted to full general on 14 March 1761,<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> Lord Tyrawley and Kilmaine returned to Lisbon as British ambassador and commander of British troops in February 1762 for the duration of the Seven Years' War but was replaced by General John Burgoyne in July 1762 and returned to England in protest.<ref name=heath234/> Promoted to field marshal on 10 June 1763,<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> he moved to Milbourne House in Barnes in 1770.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He died at Twickenham on 14 July 1774 and was buried in the chapel of the Royal Hospital Chelsea.<ref name=heath235>Heathcote, p. 235</ref>

Family

In November 1724, Lord Tyrawley and Kilmaine married Mary Stewart, daughter of The 2nd Viscount Mountjoy.<ref name=heath235/> He had no children by this marriage but had at least two illegitimate children including Charles O'Hara, who followed him into the Army, and George Anne Bellamy, who became an actress.<ref name=odnb/> The diarist Sylas Neville mentions meeting a naval officer stationed at Great Yarmouth in 1771 "whose name is O'Hara, a natural son of Lord Tyrawley" <ref>Cozens-Hardy, B.: The Diary of Sylas Neville; Oxford University Press, 1950; page 93.</ref> but this is likely to have been naval Lieutenant William Henry King O'Hara (d. 1789).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Sources

• Baron's Tyrawley accounts from Russia have been released in: Сборник Императорского русского исторического общества, том 102: Дипломатическая переписка английских послов и посланников при русском дворе: Сообщ. из англ. гос. архива М-ва иностр., часть 12-ая: 1744 - 1745 г., С -Петербург 1898.
• Template:Cite book

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