O'Connell, Daniel

O'Connell, Daniel (known as ‘the Liberator’ ) ( 1775 – 1847 )
Irish nationalist leader and social reformer. His election to Parliament in 1828 forced the British government to grant Catholic Emancipation in order to enable him to take his seat in the House of Commons, for which Roman Catholics were previously ineligible. In 1839 he established the Repeal Association to abolish the union with Britain; O'Connell was arrested and briefly imprisoned for sedition in 1844 .