Dál gCais - The Dalcassian Sept

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The Dál gCais or Dalcassians are a Gaelic Irish clan, generally accepted by contemporary scholarship as being a branch of the Déisi Muman, that became very powerful in Ireland during the 10th century. Their genealogies claimed descent from Tál Cas. Their known ancestors are the subject of The Expulsion of the Déisi tale and one branch of their blood-line went on to rule the petty kingdom of Dyfed in Wales during the 4th century; probably in alliance with the Roman Emperor Magnus Maximus.

Brian Bóruma is perhaps the best-known king from the dynasty and was responsible to a significant degree for carving out their fortunes. The family had built a power base on the banks of the River Shannon and Brian's brother Mahon became their first King of Munster, taking the throne from the rival Eóganachta. This influence was greatly extended under Brian who became High King of Ireland, following a series of wars against Hiberno-Norse kingdoms and the Chiefs of other Irish clans, before dying famously at the Battle of Clontarf in 1014. Following this the Dál gCais provided three more High Kings of Ireland; Donnchad mac Briain, Toirdelbach Ua Briain and Muirchertach Ua Briain.

From the 12th–16th centuries, the Dál gCais contented themselves with being reduced to the Kingdom of Thomond. They attempted to claim the Kingdom of Desmond for a time, but ultimately the MacCarthys held it. The Kennedy's also held the Kingdom of Ormond for a time. Some of the better known septs included O'Brien, Moloney, MacNamara, O'Grady, O'Gorman, Galvin, Kennedy, MacMahon, McInerney, and Clancy. During the 13th century Richard Strongbow's relatives the Norman de Clares attempted to take Thomond, but the Dál gCais held firm.

My O'Quin family rises in the genealogy and pedigree of Thomond, a Dalcassian sept who derive their surname from Niall Ó Cuinn who was slain at the Battle of Clontarf in 1014. This family was formerly represented by the Earls of Dunraven in the modern era that ended with Thady Windham Thomas Wyndham-Quin, 7th Earl of Dunraven and Mount-Earl (27 October 1939 – 25 March 2011) an Irish hereditary peer “aliased as a Quin” was originally a Taylour. In fact, the 5th, 6th and 7th earls were genetic Taylours as well.

M, #259687 Last Edited=7 Jan 2008

There is within the peerage an unknown Quin who is the 2nd son of Donogh Quin and Judith O'Riordan, a child and is assumed the father of Laughlin Quin born in either 1712 or 1713.  Donogh died in 1671.

The citation is [S37] BP2003 volume 1, page 1237. See link for full details for this source. Hereinafter cited as. [S37]

Download the book from Internet Archives then search the book for QUIN. Your results will appear in the pages pane.

Born George Taylour on March 10, 1792, he was the second son of Thomas Taylour, 1st Marquess of Headfort, and Mary Quin the only daughter and heiress of George Quin of Quinsborough, County Clare. 

In 1813 he was restyled by Royal License as Lord George Quin, in accordance with his maternal grandfather’s will, becoming George Taylor Quin. In April 1814, he married Lady Georgiana Charlotte Spencer, daughter of George John Spencer, 2nd Earl Spencer. Together they had three children: two sons and a daughter. His eldest son, Richard Robert Quin later achieved the rank of Rear‑Admiral.

George Quin inherited substantial estates in Counties Clare, Limerick, and Tipperary, totaling over 5,000 acres by the 1870s: ~2,850 acres in Clare~889 acres in Limerick~3,078 acres in Tipperary

In May 1866, part of his holdings in the barony of Tulla Lower (County Clare) was listed for sale through the Landed Estates Court.

George Taylor Quin lived to the age of 95, passing away on February 6, 1888. Thusly the 5th, 6th and 7th Earls bore Taylor yDNA, not Quin yDNA.

Lord Dunraven was born in 1939, the third child and only son of Richard Wyndham-Quin, 6th Earl of Dunraven and Mount-Earl and his wife Nancy Yuille. He was educated at Ludgrove School and at the Institut Le Rosey, Switzerland. In 1956, while a schoolboy, he contracted polio in the Cork epidemic and was bound to a wheelchair for the remainder of his life.

He succeeded to the earldom and its subsidiary titles in 1965 upon the death of his father of which we share a common ancestor in prior to creation of the earldom. The First Lord of Dunraven lived in Kilgobbin House and all the other Lords of Dunraven have returned to live there with their own families. The 7th Earl, Lord Dunraven died at his home on 25 March 2011, at the age of 71 after suffering from a short illness. As he had no sons and as there were no other surviving male line descendants of the 1st Earl of which he was related via Mary Quin as aforementioned. The earldom and subsidiary titles became extinct upon his death in 2011.