Daniel MacCarthy Glas

Daniel MacCarthy (Glas) (Irish Dónaill Mac Cárthaigh; 28 June 1807 – 9 April 1884) was an author of historical fiction, Irish history and biography, born in London of Irish decent. MacCarthy is also well known for being in correspondence with a large circle of archaeologists, antiquarians and early pioneers of Irish scholarship during the Irish historical awakening of the 19th century. 
== Life ==
MacCarthy was born into an Irish shipping and coal merchant family of Wellclose Square, East London. After receiving his education at the Roman Catholic school, St. Edmund's College, MacCarthy resided a number of years on the continent; where in Naples, at the age of 25, he married the daughter of Admiral Sir Home Popham. Together they had a daughter and two sons, of which only one outlived MacCarthy. 
Being of independent means, MacCarthy initially focused his interest in producing historic novels, which included: The Siege of Florence, Massaniello and The Free Lance. In 1867, MacCarthy published his first scholarly work, The Life and Letters of Florence MacCarthy Reagh, which details the biography of kinsman Florence MacCarthy Reagh (1560 – 1640). This was followed by a second important work in 1875, A Historical Pedigree of the Sliochd Feidhlimidh, the MacCarthys of Gleannacroim. Though of less general interest, this was almost unique of its kind, being a historical genealogy of numerous members of a West Cork sept of the MacCarthy Clan, from whom he claimed ancestral descent. 
In the course of his genealogical research, MacCarthy established links to his paternal family's homeplace of Dunmanway. He gave generously to many causes in the district, including the education of children. However, the failure of the Overend and Gurney Bank in 1866 reduced MacCarthy's income. His scheme to buy out his ancestral property in the neighbourhood of Dunmanway, including the castle at Togher was never fulfilled. 
== Personal genealogy and DNA testing ==
Daniel's paternal grand-uncle Denis emigrated from Dunmanway in the mid-1700s, and became a prosperous shipowner and coal merchant in London. MacCarthy's first cousin was Sir Charles Justin MacCarthy, Governor of Ceylon, and son-in-law of Sir Benjamin Hawes. 
MacCarthy traced his ancestry to the Lords of Gleannacroim, cousins of the MacCarthy Reagh sept, and adopted the "Glas" agnomen earlier associated with that sept to his name. However, as a result of a direct male descendant of MacCarthy partaking in a Y-DNA study, MacCarthy's paternal genetic origins have been shown to considerably differ from those described in his genealogical work. 
== The daniel macCarthy (glas) archive ==
In 2017, approximately 2,000 documents assembled from MacCarthy's research and family memorabilia were donated to the Cork City and County Archive by descendants, Don and Susan née MacCarthy of Oregon, USA. These include a 1784 family pedigree compiled by John Collins of Myross, which has been described as of “immense cultural and historical significance”, as well as a rare copy of a 1567 map of ‘Hibernia’ by John Goghe.
== Select bibliography ==
* A Historical Pedigree of the Sliochd Feidhlimidh, the MacCarthys of Gleannacroim, from Carthach, Twenty-fourth in Descent from Oilioll Olum, to this Day. Exeter, 1875.
* The Food of the Irish in the 16th Century. The Nation.
* The Last King of Munster. The Nation.
* Secret History of James, seventeenth Earl of Desmond. The Dublin Review. 1861.
* The Free Lance. London, 1844.
* Massaniello. London, 1842.
* The Secretary of Macchiavelli; Or, The Siege of Florence. London 1841.
== References ==
== External links ==
* Daniel MacCarthy - Jstor
* MacCarthy Glas (No.7) family genealogy - Irish Pedigrees
* The Homecoming of the Daniel Mac Carthy Glas Archive 
* Centuries of 'lost' MacCarthy lore returned - Irish Examiner
* Author:MacCarthy Daniel (Glas) Of Gleann-A-Croim
* Why Dunmanway is going MacCarthy mad | Southern Star
Category:1807 births
Category:1884 deaths
Category:Alumni of St Edmund's College, Cambridge
Category:Author
Category:Historians
Category:Historical fiction