Robert Emmet (1778 - 1803)

Born 4 Mar 1778 in Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

Ancestors

Died 20 Sep 1803 at age 25 in Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

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Biography

Robert Emmet was a part of the Irish Movement.

Robert Emmet was born in Ireland.

Robert Emmet is Notable.

Robert Emmet (4 March 1778 – 20 September 1803) was an Irish nationalist and Republican, orator and rebel leader. After leading an abortive rebellion against British rule in 1803 he was captured then tried and executed for high treason against the British king.^[1]

Robert Emmet was born on March 04, 1778 in Dublin, Dublin, Ireland. His parents were Robert Emmet and Elizabeth Mason.

After being expelled from Trinity College Dublin for his membership of the United Irishmen, Robert went to Paris where he met Napoleon who told him he would soon be invading England. Emmet returned to Ireland where he began to plot a rebellion to coincide with Napoleons attack on England. However an explosion of his ammunition factory forced him into a premature rising on 23 July 1803. It was quelled within a day and Emmet fled into hiding. He was captured on 25 August and taken to Kilmainham. At the trial on 19 September he made a speech from the dock (see notes section) that was to act as a haunting challenge to future genrations of Irish nationalists. He was taken from Kilmainham on the morning of 20 September and hanged before a large crowd in Thomas Street.^[2]

Probate ^[3]

Notes

• Emmet County, Iowa and Emmet County, Michigan are both named in his honour
• Robert Emmet’s Last Speech in the court-house, Dublin, after sentence of death being passed on him, September 19, 1803 ends with (translated from the Gaelic original):

“I have but one request to ask at my departure from this world; it is-THE CHARITY OF ITS SILENCE. Let no man write my epitaph; for as no man who knows my motives dare now vindicate them, let not prejudice or ignorance asperse them. Let them and me rest in obscurity and peace, and my tomb remain uninscribed until other times and other men can do justice to my character. When my country takes her place among the nations of the earth, then, and not till then, let my epitaph be written. I have done.”^[4]

• After his severed head and body were released from the Dublin gaol (jail), his remains were secreted away and his resting place remains unmarked and apparently unknown.

• The Republic of Ireland became an independent country, beginning as Irish Free State in 1922.

Sources

1. ↑ Wikipedia, accessed 31 Dec 2016.
2. ↑ Kilmainham Goal Notes, visit by Veronica Williams, 16 March 2015
3. ↑ "Ireland, Diocesan and Prerogative Wills & Administrations Indexes, 1595-1858," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:WGHN-T1PZ : 19 December 2019), Robert Emmett, 1803; records extracted by FindMyPast. Images digitized by FamilySearch; citing extracted by FindMyPast. Images digitized by FamilySearch; National Archives of Ireland, Dublin.
4. ↑ Court-House, Dublin, After Sentence of Death Being Passed On Him, September 19, 1803; Gaelic and English. New York: Printed by Lynch, Cole & Meehan, at the office of the "Irish American", No. 12 Warren Street, 1879. [1]

See also:

• britannica.com
• robertemmet.org
• stairnaheiran.net