Robert Emmet | |
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Born | Dublin, Ireland | 4 March 1778
Died | 20 September 1803 Dublin, Ireland | (aged 25)
Cause of death | Execution by hanging |
Buried | Unknown; possibly Bully's Acre, Dublin or St. Peter's Church, Aungier Street |
Allegiance | United Irishmen |
Years of service | 1793–1803 |
Rank | Commander |
Commands | Irish Rebellion of 1803 |
Alma mater | Trinity College Dublin |
Relations | Thomas Addis Emmet (brother) Christopher Temple Emmet (brother) Mary Anne Emmet (sister) |
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Irish republicanism |
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Robert Emmet (4 March 1778 – 20 September 1803) was an Irish Republican, orator and rebel leader. Following the suppression of the United Irish uprising in 1798, he sought to organise a renewed attempt to overthrow the British Crown and Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland, and to establish a nationally representative government. Emmet entertained, but ultimately abandoned, hopes of immediate French assistance and of coordination with radical militants in Great Britain. In Ireland, many of the surviving veterans of '98 hesitated to lend their support, and his rising in Dublin in 1803 proved abortive.
Emmet’s Proclamation of the Provisional Government to the People of Ireland, his Speech from the Dock, and his "sacrificial" end on the gallows inspired later generations of Irish republicans. His memory was invoked by Patrick Pearse who in 1916 was again to proclaim a provisional government in Dublin.