Michael Dwyer of Imaal, Wicklow, joined the United Irishmen in the spring of 1797 and fought as captain of a Talbotstown rebel corps during the 1798 Rebellion. Having seen action in Wexford and Wicklow, including severe fighting at Ballyellis and Hacketstown, Dwyer returned to the familiar mountains and valleys of his native county to prosecute … Read more
Robert Emmet’s interest in the use of sophisticated ordnance perplexed many United Irish contemporaries, not least Wexford hero Thomas Cloney, who deemed them a waste of resources. Cloney’s point was debatable, but they were not, however, bizarre affectations of a misguided fanatic. The manufacture of hinged pikes was a simple and inexpensive means of giving … Read more
In 1803 the North was very much the dog that didn’t bark. Robert Emmet’s verdict on the Dublin insurrection—‘there was failure in all: plan, preparation and men’—applied to an even greater extent to events in Ulster. The attempt to raise the North produced no battles, or even skirmishes; in fact, probably not a single shot … Read more
In the aftermath of the 1803 rebellion Robert Emmet frankly admitted that ‘To change the day was impossible for I expected the counties to act, and feared to lose the advantage of surprise’. The participation of rebels from County Kildare was central to Emmet’s strategy. The county’s proximity to Dublin and the high-profile involvement of … Read more
Mary Cullen and Maria Luddy (eds) (Woodfield Press, €18.50) ISBN 095342930X Since the 1980s, historians of women in Ireland have focused largely on the early years of the twentieth century and the apparent bitter split between first-wave feminists who fought for the vote and nationalists who concentrated their efforts on the fight for Irish independence. … Read more