Hugh McShane O'Neill

Hugh "McSeáin" O'Neill was either the 10th son of Shane O'Neill or the eldest son of Tirlough Brassileagh O'Neill. Either way he was the the great grandson of Conn O'Neill, 1st Earl of Tyrone and Gearoid Mór Fitzgerald, 8th Earl of Kildare. Turlough Brassileagh was the Lord of Glenaule in Armagh, and commanded the forces of McCans on the Lough Neagh; a force listed as 40 horse and 200 foot. Shane was the Prince of Ulster and Chief of all the O'Neill septs until his death in 1567.Hugh gained his patrimony, like his father, from the O'Neill sept clan he'd been fostered by; the McShanes of Killetragh and the Glenconkeyn forest. This group was also called the "Wild Clan Shanes of Killetragh" or the "McShane-O'Neills". Hugh was an active rebel and commander in the 1580s through 1615. His first item of historical note was a raid he and his brothers conducted on The Maguire and his lands in early 1573. They were stated to have done great damage to the lands of Maguire. There is a competing genealogy that states Hugh was the son of Shane "The Proud" O'Neill based on his moniker and the fact that he is often in the company of other known sons of Shane O'Neill, collectively known across Ireland in the late 1500s as "The Mac Shanes". However, whether he descended from Phelim Caoch or Shane The Proud, as they were brothers, Hugh McShane was definitely the grandson of Conn Bacach, King then Earl of Tyrone.

The Nine Years War

"main article Nine Years War (Ireland)"

When his cousin Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone went into rebellion in 1593 against Queen Elizabeth, Hugh and the McShanes put aside internal family fighting and joined their cousin the Earl. During this war he commanded a force of "200 foot and 50 Horsemen" raised out of the McShane Clan from forests of Killetragh and Glenconkeyn, then the most inhospitable and desolate forests in all of Ireland. He is quoted by Carew as being able to field this force in 24 hours against the English. The State Papers of Ireland, in the various assessments of the strength of the rebellious Earl 1586 to 1602, state that this territory and the "woodkern race of outlaws" who lived there (the clan McShane) is considered primary to O'Neill, as it was his most secure refuge for cattle, goods, and people, and away from the military might of the English. Further, it was the Earl's secure, geographical "connection to the Clanaboy O'Neill". It was with Hugh and his McShanes that the Earl spent the final months of his rebellion in the winter of 1602-03. The Earl lived with the McShane-O'Neills after the Battle of Kinsale and the fall of Dungannon to Lord Mountjoy on the slopes of Sleive Gallion. Finally in March of 1603, the Earl made peace.

Internal O'Neill Struggles

The struggles within the O'Neill family are well known. The Earl Hugh suppressed his own cousins more than he did the English in the first few years of his reign. In 1583 & 1587, the Earl put down any other claimants to the Chiefship, including Hugh McShane's father Tirlough, until he had himself recognized as Sir Tirlough Linneach's heir as The O'Neill Mor. In 1590, the Earl hung his cousin Hugh "Gaveloch", son of his uncle Shane O'Neill for conspiring against him. In 1593 the Earl had his cousin Phelim McTurlough, Lord of Loughinshollin and usual Clanaboy O'Neill, murdered on Toome on the Bann River, and instilled himself as the Lord of Loughinshollin.

Hugh and his McShanes were able to weather the rise of the Earl and were loyal to the Earl when fighting the English. However, with the loss of the 9 Years War in 1603, Hugh McShane was able to edge out the Earl and became the new Lord of Killtragh and controlling most of the Lordship of Loughinshollin. He maintained independence from 1600 to 1606, and then replaced the Earl as the sole lord in the years following the Earl fleeing Ireland in 1607. However, with the Flight of the Earls and the power vacuum that created, Hugh McShane and the other smaller lords had to deal with the sudden presence of the English military in Ulster. Sir Arthur Chichester put out a warrant for wanted rebels and in 1608 Hugh McShane, his brother Phelim, and Hugh's wild McShanes captured Shane Carragh O'Cahan in Glenconkeyn forest. They turned him over to Chichester for a pardon and remit of some leases for two years. In 1610 Hugh McShane was on the jury that divided the lands out of the forfeited estate of his cousin the Earl of Tyrone. In doing so Hugh received some of the Earl's lands around Dungannon, and was the neighbor to the Earl's illegitimate cousin Brian Crossagh O'Neill, something that would cement a friendship impacting them both in later life.

Later life

After his pardon, Hugh slipped back into the forests of Loughinshollin barony and held on to what power he could during the early years of the Plantation of the newly established County Londonderry. Planters moved into the territories to the north, but the combination of the dense forest and Hugh's reputation kept most new arrivals out. After 1610 he lost his lands in Dungannon over a struggle with the Lord Lieutenant. Sir Thomas Phillips tried in vain from the small fort in Desertmartin to subdue the old Chief, but his strength with the McShanes was unmatchable with the local Irish, and he was never captured. He remained on his former lands, but eventually became known as a highwayman, controlling the forests and roads of southern Londonderry and the GlenShane pass.

In 1615 he, along with Brian Crossagh, Rory O'Cahan, and Alexander McDonald (nephew of Earl of Antrim), he was named by Lord Chichester as a primary conspirator in the "Natives Rebellion" but unlike the other conspirators, he was never captured and brought before the English. He escaped the gallows and died sometime after 1615 still in the forest. Hugh McShane had a son named Brian McHugh McShane O'Neill and possibly another named Cullough Boy. Brian was named the chief of McShane-O'Neills by 1620. The family began using the surname McShane instead of O'Neill in the mid 1600s after the conquest of Cromwell.

Hugh's grandson led the McShane-O'Neill Confederate forces in 1643 at the Battle of Tullahoge near Dungannon against Colonel Clotsworthy. That war (1641-1650) was the end of McShane-O'Neill dominance in Glenconkeyne and Killetragh. By the census of 1659 the O'Neill name was completely dropped from surname use and there were only five McShane households in all of County Londonderry. Hugh's grandchildren continued to live on the lands Brian eventually settled in the Draper's portion of Loughinshollin barony. The permanent establishment of lands was by Hugh's great grandson Owen M'Shane (Eoghan McShane). He originally settled on lands near Desertmartin at the close of the 1600s. By the mid 1700s they had moved a few miles to Draperstown. The family stayed and farmed the same lands and do so today; as well as in Australia and America.

Notable Descendents

*Steve McShane - linguist
*Paul McShane - footballer
*Anthony McShane - me

ources

*Conspiracy- The 1615 Plot, by Raymond Gillespie pg 32;
*Pardon Rolls of King James I; Year 1609
*"The Londonderry Plantation" 1609-1621, by T. W. Moody, pg 51, 166;
*Plantation in Ulster, by George Hill, pg 65, 250;
*Fall of the Irish Chiefs and Clans, by George Hill, pg 167;
*Londerry Lands & Families, by George Hill, pg 425;
*Ireland Under the Tudors, by Richard Bagwell, pg 284;
*Tyrone's Rebellion, by Hyram Morgan, pg. 18;
*The History of Ulster, by Ramsey Colles, pg 173;
*The Parishes of Kilrea, by J.W. Kernohan, pg. 30;
*London and the LondonDerry Companies, by Sir T. Phillips, March 18, 1614, pg. 47 & 58;
*Ulster Clans, by T. H. Mullin, pg 120;
*Life and Time of Aodh O'Neill, by John Mitchel, pg. 223;
*Calendar of the State Papers of Ireland, 1608-1610, pg. 15;
*Rents list of 1740, PRONI
*Duiche Neill, Journal of the O'Neill Country Historical Society. Vol. 11, pg 82
*Calendar of the State Papers of Ireland, 1615