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Thomas Francis Meagher, (born Aug. 23, 1823, Waterford, County Waterford, Ire.—died July 1, 1867, near Fort Benton, Mont., U.S.), Irish revolutionary leader and orator who served as a Union officer during the American Civil War (1861–65).

Meagher became a member of the Young Ireland Party in 1845 and in 1847 was one of the founders of the Irish Confederation, dedicated to Irish independence. In 1848 he was involved, with William Smith O’Brien, in an abortive attempt to mount an insurrection against English rule. Arrested for high treason, he was condemned to death, but his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment in Van Diemen’s Land (now Tasmania).

He escaped in 1852 and made his way to the United States. After a speaking tour of U.S. cities, he settled in New York City, studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1855. He soon became a leader of the Irish in New York and, from 1856, edited the Irish News.

At the outbreak of the Civil War, Meagher became a captain of New York volunteers and fought at the First Battle of Bull Run (July 1861). He then organized the Irish Brigade, and in February 1862 was elevated to the rank of brigadier general. After his brigade was decimated at the Battle of Chancellorsville (May 1863), Meagher resigned his commission, but in December he returned to command the military district of Etowah, with headquarters at Chattanooga, Tenn.

At the close of the war, he was appointed secretary of Montana Territory, where in the absence of a territorial governor he served as acting governor until his accidental death by drowning in the Missouri River.

Edward Henry Kenelm Digby, 12th Baron Digby was born 24 July 1924. He is a British peer, and retired British Army (Coldstream Guards). He is the son of Edward Kenelm Digby, 11th Baron Digby of Geashill and Hon. Constance Pamela Alice Bruce. He was educated at Eton College, Windsor, Trinity College, Dublin, and Oxford University. He also studied at Royal Military College, Sandhurst, Berkshire. He fought in the Second World War and in the Malayan Emergency between 1948 and 1950. He was Aide-de-Camp to the Commander-in-Chief, Far East Land Forces between 1950 and 1951 and Aide-de-Camp to the Commander-in-Chief, British Army of the Rhine between 1951 and 1952. He held the office of Deputy Lieutenant of Dorset between 1957 and 1965. He held the office of Justice of the Peace for Dorset in 1959. He succeeded to the titles of 12th Baron Digby of Geashill, King's County, and 6th Baron Digby of Sherborne on 29 January 1964. He was invested as a Knight, Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem (K.St.J.) in 1985. He was invested as a Knight Commander, Royal Victorian Order (K.C.V.O.) in 1998. He married Dione Marian Sherbrooke, daughter of Rear-Admiral Robert St. Vincent Sherbrooke, V.C. and Rosemary Neville Buckley, on 18 December 1952, with whom he had three children. He died on 1 April 2018.