Luke O'Connor

Luke Smythe O'Connor (15 April 1806 – 24 March 1873) was an Irish military officer and colonial administrator. He served as Governor of the Gambia from 1852 to 1859, and held senior roles in the Colony of Jamaica during the 1860s, including President of the Privy Council of Jamaica.

Early life O'Connor was born in Dublin in 1806.

Military career

O'Connor was appointed as an ensign in the 1st West India Regiment on 27 April 1827. He was promoted to Lieutenant on 22 March 1831, and Captain on 17 January 1834. In 1843, it was decided that the British colonies in West Africa should be garrisoned by the West India Regiments in turn, rather than just by the 3rd West India Regiment. O'Connor was dispatched from Barbados to Sierra Leone, in command of two companies of his regiment. He was promoted to brevet Major on 9 November 1846, and to a full major on 1 January 1847. In 1848, he was dispatched from Jamaica to British Honduras, where there were disturbances among the Yucatan Indians. O'Connor was rewarded for his response to the rebellion by the Jamaica colonial government. On 24 April 1866, he was promoted to Major-General, and in January 1867 was President of the Legislative Council of Jamaica and a senior member of its Privy Council. He administered the government in this period during a brief absence of John Peter Grant.

Although the connection is unclear, a vault on the north-west slopes of the Glasgow Necropolis memorialises O'Connor and contains some of his children.

Personal life O'Connor was married in 1856. He died of dropsy and atrophy in Dresden, Saxony, on 24 March 1873.