Matthew O'Conor Don of Ballinagare, County Roscommon

County Roscommon

County Roscommon is a county in Ireland. It is located in the West Region and is also part of the province of Connacht. It is named after the town of Roscommon. Roscommon County Council is the local authority for the county...

, Ireland, (1773–1844) was an Irish historian, the O'Conor Don

O'Conor Don

The Ó Conchubhair Donn is the hereditary Prince and Chief of the Name of the Royal Family of Connacht, the Clan Ó Conchubhair.-Overview:...

 and de jure King of Connacht

Kings of Connacht

The Kings of Connacht were rulers of the cóiced of Connacht, which lies west of the River Shannon, Ireland. However, the name only became applied to it in the early medieval era, being named after The Connachta.The old name for the province was Cóiced Ol nEchmacht . Ptolemy's map of c. 150 AD...

.

O'Conor Don was the grandson of Charles O'Conor Don

Charles O'Conor (historian)

Charles O'Conor Don, The O'Conor Don, Prince of Connacht of Belanagare was an Irish writer and antiquarian who was enormously influential as a protagonist for the preservation of Irish culture and history in the eighteenth century...

 (1710-1791) the famed Irish antiquarian of the 18th century. His brother the Rev. Charles O'Conor

Charles O'Conor (reverend)

Charles O'Conor was an Irish priest and historical author.Reverend Charles O'Conor was educated in Rome and, after a short time as a pastor in Roscommon, left to be chaplain and librarian to the Marchioness of Buckingham. Buckingham invited him to organize and translate a collection of Gaelic...

 (1767-1828) was likewise a historian. Matthew was educated for the priesthood in Rome, but changed his mind and became by profession a lawyer.

Matthew was highly regarded by fellow Irish scholars such as George Petrie and John O'Donovan

John O'Donovan (scholar)

John O'Donovan , from Atateemore, in the parish of Kilcolumb, County Kilkenny, and educated at Hunt's Academy, Waterford, was an Irish language scholar from Ireland.-Life:...

. To the latter he gave unstinting aid during his field work in Roscommon for the Ordnance Survey

Ordnance Survey Ireland

Ordnance Survey Ireland is the national mapping agency of the Republic of Ireland and, together with the Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland , succeeded, after 1922, the Irish operations of the United Kingdom Ordnance Survey. It is part of the Public service of the Republic of Ireland...

; O'Donovan held him in very high regard, not only because of his historical efforts and political work, but also because of his noble descent and status as a Prince of the Royal Family of Connacht. In this he was not alone; during the Tithe War

Tithe War

The Tithe War was a campaign of nonviolent civil disobedience, punctuated by sporadic violent episodes, in Ireland between 1830-36 in reaction to the enforcement of Tithes on subsistence farmers and others for the upkeep of the established state church - the Church of Ireland...

 a large assembly of Roscommon Catholics unanimously elected him King of Connacht (in his absence) and sent word to him to meet them at Carnfree

Carnfree

Carnfree is a site south of the village of Tulsk in Roscommon that also lies close to the more celebrated ancient landscape of Rathcroghan. The chief feature here is the bronze-age mound of Carnfree itself, believed to be the cairn of the Connacht warrior Fráech, that was used as an inauguration...

for the formal inauguration.