Shamrock, Crown and Crescent: The Remarkable Life of 19th Century Mercenary, Eugene 'Hassan Bey' O'Reilly (1828-1873)

In the mid-19th century, the name of Eugene O'Reilly was known to millions as a byword for courage and controversy. A hero of the Young Ireland rebellion and a mercenary in the Hungarian, Sardinian and Turkish Cavalry, he was a man of complex loyalties whose exploits read like an epic novel of gallantry, espionage and political machination. His name was rarely out of the papers; his life anything but ordinary. Rumoured to be the illegitimate son of British statesman Lord Palmerston, his gro...