OBrien, William Smith

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O'Brien, William Smith (1803–64) Irish nationalist leader. He entered Parliament as an Irish member in 1828, and supported Roman Catholic emancipation. In 1843, he joined Daniel O'Connell's Repeal Association against the Act of Union (1800), but left in 1846 to set up the more militant Repeal League. Arrested after leading an ineffective insurrection in 1848, O'Brien was sentenced to death, later commuted to transportation.

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