Emmet, Robert (1778–1803)

Irish nationalist leader, born in Dublin city and educated at Trinity College, Dublin, where he gained renown as a brilliant speaker. Active in the radical United Irishmen organization, Emmet came to prominence in the revolutionary movement after the Irish Rebellion of 1798 and appealed for French aid. In 1803 he led an unsuccessful revolt in Dublin against British rule and was captured, tried, and hanged. His youth and courage made him an Irish hero.

Emmet was expelled from Trinity College for his United Irish activities in 1798. He went to Paris in 1800 to seek French support for another rising, interviewing both Napoleon and his foreign minister Talleyrand, but returned to Dublin empty-handed in 1802. The following year Emmet began to organize a new rebellion. He planned to capture Dublin Castle with a surprise attack, but discovery, through an accidental explosion in his powder store, thwarted his plans and led to a premature rising on 23 July 1803. Several people, including the Lord Chief Justice Lord Kilwarden, were killed when Emmet's men took over Thomas Street. Although initially surprised, the authorities soon quashed the rising and Emmet, like Thomas Russell who had tried to raise the north, was executed. His speech from the dock, in which he said his epitaph would never be written till Ireland was free, led to his portrayal as a martyr by romantic nationalists of the later 19th century.