Biography | Arthur Patrick OBrien was born in London on 25 September 1872. His father John Francis OBrien was a native of Co. Cork, who had served as a major in the British army, lived for a time in Turkey and after retiring from the army became a businessman in London. In 1877, partly with the help of his own father (a civil servant), John Francis OBrien founded the highly-successful Music Trades Review, which was reputedly the first mail-order firm in the world for musical instruments. Arthurs mother, Henrietta Myles, was a native of Surrey, England. (The National Library of Ireland hold the papers of The papers of Art Ó Briain (c.1900-c.1945) including records and correspondence of the London Office of Dáil Eireann (1919-22), papers of the Irish Self-Determination League of Great Britain (1919-25), the Gaelic League of London (1896-1944) and Sinn Féin (1918-25). |