The funeral of Daniel O'Leary (Bogotá, 1854)

Daniel O’Leary died 156 years ago today, on 24 February 1854, in Bogotá, then the capital of the Republic of New Granada. At the time O’Leary occupied the diplomatic post of British Minister in Bogotá. When he died he had recently returned from a trip to Europe where he had briefly recovered his health.

Daniel Florence O'Leary is perhaps the most famous of the British and Irish volunteers who served under Simón Bolívar in the wars of independence in South America. O’Leary was the subject of several biographical studies in the mid-twentieth-century, and his remains lie in the National Pantheon in Caracas.[1] He has been described as ‘an Irish colossus in American history’.[2] More recently historians have again turned to O'Leary as a lens through which to view Bolívar's ambiguous relationship with Britain and its subjects.[3]

O’Leary has primarily been remembered because of his achievements as a young man at Bolívar’s side. His participation in some of the major battles of independence, and the trust which Bolívar showed in him by choosing O’Leary as his personal representative on various occasions, are all recounted in the available biographies. Non-specialist historians probably know his name more because of his curation and edition of Bolívar’s archive (eventually published in 32 volumes).[4] As an Irish Catholic who married into the new republican elite (his wife, Soledad, was the sister of the Venezuelan General and President Carlos Soublette) O’Leary occupied many important roles, including as a Venezuelan emissary to the Vatican in the 1830s.

O’Leary’s death is relatively unknown outside of the final pages of the biographies. To remedy this, here I provide an extract (my translation) from the report in the Bogotá newspaper El neogranadino of O’Leary’s funeral, which gives a sense of the way in which he had become intimately entwined with local, elite society. The document also gives a wonderful insight into the Romantic discourse that surrounded the deaths of the veterans of the wars of independence:

At one side of [O’Leary’s] coffin one could see the jacket, shoulder markings, stripes, sword and other insignias of a Colombian General. This was the wish of the British subjects, the General’s compatriots, who wanted to recognise the posthumous honours which the New Granadan government had paid O’Leary … Outside the British Legation, the English flag hung at half mast from a black chord to announce to the public the deplorable calamity which had occurred.

[…]

The sumptuous coffin, covered with the British flag, was carried by subjects of that powerful nation, and placed upon a new stand (catafalco) prepared by the Church. Then the ceremony began, with all the solemn, pompous and majestic rites of the Catholic creed. The imposing noise of the organs, the mellifluous and tuneful harmonies of instruments and songs, the melancholic echo of soft and melodious voices, the fragrant perfume of sacred resins, all lost in the heights of the vaults of the magnificent temple, whilst beneath, one could make out a vague and disturbing rumour of the funeral laments, which brought to the imagination illusions of fantastic visions. It brought tears to the eyes of all those present.

[…]

[The funeral procession was led by] three military chiefs, on horseback, with their swords unsheathed, the General’s horses, the car, the funeral carriage and the coffin, carried by six English gentlemen, and flanked by the President and Vice-President of the Republic, the President of the Chamber of Representatives, the U.S. Consul, the Commander of the Department, and Monseñor Barili Prelado, the Pope’s representative.

[El Neo-Granadino, 23 March, 1854]

Hoy hace 156 años se murió Daniel Florencio O'Leary, edecán de Bolívar, diplomático venezolano y británico, historiador. Aquí reproduzco extractos de la  descripción de la ceremonia que acompaño su funeral, en Bogotá en 1854. El original salió en el periódico El Neo-Granadino con fecha el 23 de marzo, 1854.  

A un lado del catafalco se veían la casaca, charreteras, bandas, espada i demás insignias del general colombiano. Este era un cumplimiento que los súbditos británicos, compatriotas del jeneral, hacían al gobierno granadino, en reconocimiento a los honores póstumos que le tributaba.

La bandera inglesa arriada a media asta i recogida por un lazo de crespón negro, anunciaba al público la deplorable calamidad ocurrida en la legación británica.

[…]

El suntuoso ataúd, cubierto con la bandera británica, fue conducido a mano por los súbditos de aquella poderosa nación, i colocado sobre un nuevo catafalco preparado en la iglesia. Entonces comenzaron los oficios con toda la solemne i pomposa majestad que ofrecen los ritos del culto católico. El imponente ruido de los órganos, la armonía meliflua i sonora de los instrumentos i del canto lírico, el eco melancólico de las voces suaves i melodiosos, el fragante perfume de las resinas sagradas, todo se perdía en la cavidad de las altas bóvedas del magnífico templo; mientras que venía al oído un vago i confuso rumor de las lamentaciones funerales, llevando a la imaginación las ilusiones tétricas de fantásticas visiones, i arrancando más de una lágrima a los ojos de los circunstantes, que contemplaban el espectáculo con el mas religioso recojimiento.

[…]

El ataúd, conducido a mano por 6 caballeros ingleses i asidos sus cordones por los ciudadanos Presidente i Vicepresidente de la Republica, Presidente de la Cámara de Representantes, el Sr Encargado de Negocios de los EE.UU, Ciudadano Comandante Jeneral de Departamento, i Monseñor Barili Prelado domestico de su Santidad.

[…]

Sirva a su ilustre i desolada familia de consuelo, si es que puede haber consuelo para la horfandad, la consideración del simpático dolor con que todos los habitantes de esta capital la han acompañado en tan amarga i angustiosa emergencia, i que las lágrimas derramadas por la digna esposa i los tiernos y amantes hijos, se recojieron i mezclaron con las de muchos fieles amigos en el mismo luctuoso sudario.

[1] The best biography of O’Leary remains Manuel Pérez Vila, Vida de Daniel Florencio O’Leary: Primer edecán del Libertador (Caracas, 1952), synthesised in English by Robert F.  McNerney, ‘Daniel Florencio O'Leary: Soldier Diplomat and Historian’, The Americas (1966). Also useful are Diego Carbonnell, El General O’Leary, íntimo (Caracas, 1937), pp. 1-113; Israel Peña, Daniel Florencio O'Leary 1800-1854 (Caracas, 1960); R.A. Humphreys, ‘Introduction’, in Humphreys, ed., The 'Detached Recollections' of General D.F.  O'Leary, (London, 1969); and Jo Ann Rayfield, ‘Daniel Florencio O’Leary: From Bolivarian General to British Diplomat, 1830-1854’, Unpublished Ph.D thesis, Vanderbilt University (1969).

[2] Rafael Ramón Castellanos, Las Memorias de O’Leary: Un coloso de Irlanda permanece en la historia de America (Caracas, 1978). 

[3] Edgardo Mondolfi Gudat, Daniel F. O’Leary (Caracas: Biblioteca Biográfica Venezolana, 2006).

[4] The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (www.odnb) includes O’Leary; and there is a short summary of O’Leary’s life and work by Claire Healy at  http://www.irlandeses.org/dilab_olearydf.htm.