Richard O'Cahan

Richard O'Cahan about 1733

Richard O'Cahan (also Richard Kane , born December 20, 1666 in Dunay, County Antrim , Northern Ireland , † December 31, 1736 in Maó ) was an Irish - British officer and British governor of Menorca and Gibraltar .

Life

In 1680 he took part in the fighting between Catholics and Protestants on the island of Ireland . In the wars of Spanish Succession on the battlefields of Flanders , he emerged as a lieutenant under the command of the Duke of Marlborough . In 1710 he was promoted to colonel in the British Army . In 1711 he was part of the expedition of General Jack Hill in the later province of Quebec (Canada). In April 1712 he had returned to England and was colonel of an infantry regiment stationed in Portsmouth .

At the end of 1712 he was ordered to the Balearic island of Menorca, which the British had already occupied in 1708 under James Stanhope, 1st Earl Stanhope . Together with John Campbell, 2nd Duke of Argyll , Plenipotentiary of the British Queen Anne , it was his job to take over the administration of the island. With the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, Menorca fell to Great Britain. The Duke of Argyll was appointed governor of Menorca. After a few months in office, he took over command of Menorca as deputy lieutenant governor of the now absent Dukes. In 1716 George Carpenter, 1st Baron Carpenter, became governor of Menorca. O'Cahan was installed as governor of Gibraltar from 1720 to 1727 in order to prepare it for the defense before the threatening Anglo-Spanish war . In 1725 he was also appointed colonel of a line infantry regiment, later the 9th Regiment of Foot . In 1733 he was appointed governor of Menorca. On December 18, 1735 he was promoted to Brigadier General .

He died on December 31, 1736 in Maó and was buried in the chapel of San Felipe Castle.

Works

He was credited with numerous improvements in island life, such as the marketing, manufacture and trading of Mahón Menorca cheese , as the departure of the British had left a vacuum in the island's economy. He not only ensured the growing importance of milk and cheese production in Menorca, he also reformed weights and measures, introduced new cattle and sheep breeds in order to improve the productivity of the local livestock through new crossings, had new vineyards planted and expanded Fruit growing essential and introduced improvements to the water supply and forestry in Menorca.

S'Aljub, one of the major military structures built between 1714 and 1715 by Richard O'Cahan, is also a huge water reservoir in Es Mercadal . Surrounded by walls in the style of large fortifications, it is still in use today.

The archives of the Crown of Aragon document the importance of Richard O'Cahan for the Menorcan livestock industry and the Mahón cheese trade.

Awards

• As a commemoration, streets in Menorca were named after him, such as the so-called Camí d'en Kane or Kane's Road , which connects San Felipe Castle with Ciutadella between Maó and Es Mercadal .
• A plum variety bears his name.
• A memorial was erected in the City of Westminster .

Literature and web links

• Richard Kane at enciclopèdia.cat (Catalan)
• Miquel à. Casasnovas i Camps: Història de Menorca . Moll, Mallorca 2005, ISBN 978-84-273-1059-9 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ London Gazette . No. 4995, HMSO, London, April 22, 1735, p. 2 ( PDF , English).
2. ↑ London Gazette . No. 7205, HMSO, London, June 16, 1733, p. 1 ( PDF , English).
3. ↑ London Gazette . No. 7464, HMSO, London, December 16, 1735, p. 1 ( PDF , English).
4. ^ Library Fundació Rubió Tudurí Andromaco, Maó

predecessor	Office	successor
David Colyear, 1st Earl of Portmore	Governor of Gibraltar 1720–1727	Jasper Clayton
George Carpenter, 1st Baron Carpenter	Governor of Menorca 1733–1736	Algernon Seymour, Earl of Hertford