Robert Emmet (4 March 1778-20 September 1803) was an Irish republican and Irish nationalist revolutionary leader who fought in the Irish Rebellion of 1798 before leading the abortive 1803 Rebellion.
Biography[]
Robert Emmet was born in Dublin, County Dublin, Ireland on 4 March 1778 to a wealthy Anglo-Irish Protestant family. He sympathized with the Presbyterians' lack of representation in the Irish Parliament and with the American patriots during the American Revolutionary War, and he joined the United Irishmen in 1798. After the failed Irish Rebellion of 1798, he reorganized the United Irishmen cause and led the 1803 Rebellion against British rule. He failed to seize Dublin Castle or to arm many of the revolutionaries who rallied to the rebellion, and he went into hiding; he passed up an opportunity to flee to France in favor of taking leave of his fiancee. He was tried for treason on 19 September 1803 and hanged, drawn, and quartered a day later.