by Dymphna Lonergan
Barry O’Meara was an Irish surgeon and physician who served as Napoleon Bonaparte’s personal physician during his exile on the island of St. Helena from 1815 to 1818. He was born in Ireland and according to the Dictionary of Irish Biography was ‘the son of Jeremiah O’Meara, solicitor, and his wife, the sister of Edmund Murphy, MA, of TCD.’ The ‘wife’ does not have a name, apparently. Although it is claimed by some that he studied to be a doctor at Trinity College, Dublin, the DIB says there are no records of his attendance there. It is likely that he acquired his medical knowledge in other Dublin institutions, private medical schools. O’Meara was appointed as a naval surgeon on the HMS Bellerophon, the ship that transported Napoleon to exile after his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo. Napoleon was so impressed with his fluency in French and Italian that he asked that O’Meara be assigned to him on St Helena. This was granted.
During his time on St. Helena, Napoleon was confined to Governor Lowe’s summer house, Longwood House, under strict home detention. O’Meara acted as Napoleon’s personal physician, and became an advocate for better conditions for Napoleon, criticizing his treatment by Lowe. O’Meara later wrote a series of letters and a book titled Napoleon in Exile, published in two volumes in 1822 about his time with Napoleon.
O’Meara’s complaints and behaviour led to conflict with the Governor. For example, he brought Napoleon a daily paper when this was forbidden. As he was free to wander around St Helen, he also brought back local gossip to Napoleon and sent reports of Napoleon’s treatment to the Admiralty. His relationship with Governor Lowe deteriorated after much conflict, including being placed under arrest at one point, finally, resulting in O’Meara being dismissed from his position and leaving St. Helena in 1818, three years before Napoleon died. According to Irish historian Turtle Bunbury, O’Meara was likely dismissed because he refused the Governor’s request that he spy on Napoleon. Such was the esteem Napoleon held for O’Meara, he gave him presents of a snuff box and a statuette along with a 100,000 francs promissory note. In civilian life O’Meara was a supporter of Daniel O’Connell. He died on June 3, 1836 after becoming ill one of O’Connell’s meetings
Whatever about the controversies and differing accounts of Barry Edward O’Meara, there is a wealth of information available about his life and his time with Napoleon. See the reading list below. Unfortunately he is not listed as featuring in Ridley Scott’s new movie Napoleon, but if you are watching it, you can think about this Irish doctor.
Sources and Further Reading
Bunbury, Turtle, https://turtlebunbury.com/document/dr-barry-omeara-1786-1836-napoleons-doctor/
Cordingly, David, Billy Ruffian: The Bellerophon and the Downfall of Napoleon : The Biography of a Ship of the Line, 1782-1836
Dictionary of Irish Biography https://www.dib.ie/
Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte, by Bourrienne https://www.gutenberg.org/files/3567/3567-h/3567-h.htm
O’Meara, Barry, Napoleon in Exile: Or, A Voice from St. Helena
Roberts, Andrew, Napoleon: A Life
Tinteán 
The great Irish poet and playwright Oscar Wilde said this:
‘IMITATION IS THE GREATEST FORM OF FLATTERY’
At the end of November last year when the film Napoleon was being shown in the cinemas, I submitted a piece title BARRY EDWARD O’MEARA, NAPOLEON’S IRISH DOCTOR to the Editorial Team of Tinteán.
It was rejected by Dymphna Lonergan because it did not have appropriate referencing.
Although not written by me, this month’s piece by Dymphna Lonergan in Tinteán is also about Barry Edward O’Meara, Napoleon’s Irish Doctor.
It tells the same story and uses the same picture of the doctor.
Luckily for me, I got my article published in January’s edition of Ireland’s Eye.
I like to believe that my published piece was the inspiration for this article in Tinteán.
Best Wishes to Tinteán,
Martin Gleeson