Cahir O'Doherty

Cahir O'Doherty
Cathaoir Ó Dochartaigh
Lord of Inishowen
Contemporary illustration of O'Doherty's severed head on a spike in Dublin
PredecessorSir John O'Doherty
Other namesQueen's O'Doherty
Born1587
Ireland
Died5 July 1608 (aged 21)
near Kilmacrennan, County Donegal, Ireland

Sir Cahir O'Doherty (Irish: Cathaoir Ó Dochartaigh or Caṫaoir Ó Doċartaiġ; 1587[1] – 5 July 1608) was the last Gaelic Chief of the Name of Clan O'Doherty and Lord of Inishowen, in what is now County Donegal. O'Doherty was a noted loyalist during Tyrone's Rebellion and became known as the Queen's O'Doherty for his service on the Crown's side during the fighting.[2]

After the war, O'Doherty had ambitions to become a courtier and applied for a position in the household of Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales, but he increasingly came into dispute with Irish-based officials such as the Viceroy Sir Arthur Chichester and the Governor of Derry Sir George Paulet. In 1608 he launched a rebellion, seizing Derry from Paulet and burning it to the ground. O'Doherty was subsequently killed in a battle at Kilmacrennan, and the rebellion swiftly collapsed.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference dib was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Rafferty, Oliver (1994). Catholicism in Ulster, 1603-1983: An Interpretative History. University of South Carolina Press. p. 10.