Guardsman O'Rourke is a minor antagonist in the television movie Sharpe's Battle.
He was portrayed by Liam Carney.
Biography[]
O'Rourke was a soldier in the Real Compania Irlandesa, a group of Irish exiles in service to Spain as a royal guard, who had no battlefield experience. They were assigned to a fort to be trained by Major Richard Sharpe. Sharpe and his friend Sergeant Patrick Harper inspected the troops, paying attention to the poor condition of O'Rourke's weapon. O'Rourke provided support when Sharpe raided the fortress of French Brigadier-General Guy Loup for better quality weapons and took part in a defence of the fort against an attack by Loup, during which his life was saved by Sharpe's second-in-command, Lieutenant Jenkins.
However, O'Rourke's head was turned by reports of British atrocities in Ireland, unaware they were false reports being spread by Dona Juanita, a French agent. When the Irish commander, Lord Kiely, learned his English wife Lucy was pregnant, he ordered her away from the front, with O'Rourke assigned to her escort. With a combination of the propaganda and bribery, Juanita convinced O'Rourke and the other Irish soldiers with him to turn traitor. O'Rourke killed Jenkins, who was in command of the escort, and he and the others took Lucy to Loup.
O'Rourke remained with Loup's men as Loup and Juanita's scheming left Sharpe's riflemen stranded in their fort without back-up. The appearance of O'Rourke and his men during the battle was mistaken by Rifleman Ben Perkins for reinforcements. Fearing they were a sitting target, he went to take charge, only for O'Rourke to bayonet him and fatally wound him. As Kiely and the other loyal Irishmen joined the fight alongside Sharpe, Harper pursued the traitors, taking out the other three soldiers with a shot from his volley gun. O'Rourke snidely remarked that he had no quarrel with a fellow Irishman, then tried to shoot Harper, only for his poorly-maintained gun to jam. Harper easily overpowered him and stabbed him repeatedly with a bayonet, declaring "This one's for Perkins, this one's for Ireland and this one...this one's for me."
Trivia[]
- O'Rourke is loosely based on the character of Guardsman Rourke from the novel. Rourke is a very minor character who makes no real contribution after first meeting Sharpe and Harper and does not desert to the French.
