Sir Phelim Roe O'Neill of Kinard (Irish: Sir Féilim Rua Ó Néill na Ceann Ard; 1604–1653) was an Irish politician and soldier who started the Irish rebellion in Ulster on 23 October 1641. He joined the Irish Catholic Confederation in 1642 and fought in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms under his cousin, Owen Roe O'Neill, in the Confederate Ulster Army. After the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland O’Neill went into hiding but was captured, tried and executed in 1653. Birth and origins Phelim was born in 1604, the eldest son of Turlough O'Neill and his wife Catherine O'Neill. His father was a member of the Kinard branch of the O'Neills who were descendants of Shane O'Neill of Kinard, a half-brother of Conn Baccach O'Neill. His father and paternal grandfather were killed on 20 June 1608, while defending Kinard against the insurgents during the O'Doherty's Rebellion. This grandfather, Sir Henry Óg O'Neill, had fought for his second cousin and father-in-law, Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone in the Nine Years' War, but had received a pardon and was confirmed in his lands in Tiranny and Minterburn. His second great-grandfather, Sean, a brother of Conn Bacach, had settled in Tynan parish by at least 1514 in a sub-district called Cluain Dabhal. Phelim's name in Irish shows his paternal genealogy as: "Felim mac Turlogh mac Henry Óg mac Henry mac Seán mac Conn Mór Ó Néill" (father of Conn Bacach O'Neill). Phelim's mother was Catherine daughter of Turlough MacHenry O'Neill, chief of the Fews branch of the O'Neills. After Phelim's father's death, she remarried to Robert Hovenden, a Catholic of recent English descent. He had two half-brothers from his mother's second marriage: Robert Hovenden and Alexander Hovenden. The latter was killed as a captain in 1644 fighting for Phelim. Early life Felim, together with his younger brother Turlough, entered King's Inns in London in June 1621, as a knowledge of the law was considered important for landowners of the era. He briefly converted to Protestantism, before returning to Catholicism. He married three times. In 1629 he married a daughter of Arthur Magennis, the 3rd Viscount Magennis of Iveagh. Her first name is unknown. On 17 March 1639 in Dublin O'Neill was knighted by Thomas Wentworth, Lord Deputy, thanks to the influence of his relation the Earl of Antrim. Shortly before the rebellion, O'Neill evicted some of his Gaelic tenants near Kinard and replaced them