William O'Shaughnessy

William O'Shaughnessy, The O'Shaughnessy (1673 – 2 January 1744) was an Irish Chief and Major-General.

William O'Shaughnessy was a member of the Uí Seachnasaigh (O'Shaughnessy) of Cenél Áeda na hEchtge in south County Galway. His father was The Ó Seachnasaigh, Roger O'Shaughnessy, while his mother was Helen O'Brien, daughter of Conor mac Donogh O'Brien, a son of Donogh O'Brien, 4th Earl of Thomond. He was born at the family home in the town of Gort.

From about 1689 he was captain of a company of one hundred members of his clan and retainers. In spring 1690 he left for France to serve in the regiment of Daniel O'Brien. Upon his father's death in July 1690 following the Battle of the Boyne, he became The Ó Seachnasaigh, but because of the defeat of his side in the Williamite War in Ireland, his ancestral property was forfeited and he was never able to return home.

O'Shaughnessy served in the armies of France in the hope that Irish support would enable James II, or his successors, regain the throne of Britain and Ireland. He was present at the siege of Montmelian (1691); with the French army in Italy (1692); and fought at the Battle of Marsaglia in 1693. At the conclusion of the siege of Valenza in 1696, he was promoted to Commandant of the Third Battalion of the Regiment of Clare.

The Peace of Ryswick brought an end to the War of the League of Augsburg in 1697. This meant the disbanding of two of the regiment's three battalions, though O'Shaughnessy was kept on, been appointed captain of the regiment's Grenadiers.

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