Movements need martyrs and monuments
England gave Ireland Robert Emmett
Hundreds of Irish Americans gathered near the band concourse in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park when Eamon De Valera dedicated the statue of Robert Emmett in the summer of 1919. DeValera is the tall man in glasses beneath the statue's right hand.
Executed 222 years ago. Remembered this weekend. How a failed freedom fighter made his way to martyrdom.
To tell you the truth, I only very recently spent much time figuring out who Robert Emmett was and how he became an icon of Irishness. His portrait hung on the wall of the home where my father was born. There was a statue in his honor in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park where I rode my bike. To hear the first and middle names Robert and Emmett together was not uncommon. There were Robert Emmett Literary Societies, though their namesake left behind no books he had written. So, what did he leave behind?
The Speech from the Dock. Before he was found guilty and sentenced to die for high treason, he delivered a 2500-word speech from the section of the courtroom set aside for the defendant, the dock. For years, when I looked at the painting below, I thought he was giving a speech from a real dock before sailing to exile in France, or somewhere.
"Signs (of the Irish emigrant's connections to their history) were conveyed by the pictures in an emigrant kitchen or parlour - the Saviour, the Pope, Robert Emmett, Saint Patrick and later JFK." RF Foster - Modern Ireland 1600 - 1972
An Irish History Quiz you can’t fail
You won’t have to wonder who Robert Emmett was or how he achieved a martyr’s immortality if you consider these questions.
ROBERT EMMETT is the correct answer if the question is:
Who was the Protestant Irish republican whom the British tortured, hanged and beheaded in September 1803 for "high treason against the British King"?
Robert Emmett. He wasn’t a lawyer, politician, author, statesman or soldier. He was a teen age orator who in his twenties took up arms to overthrow British rule in Ireland at the dawn of the 19th century. His misbegotten rebellion was the second in a string of noble failures suffered by Irish insurgents over the years. In those days Britain had 25,000 troops garrisoned in Ireland. Emmett managed to recruit 80 freedom fighters armed with ten pistols and a dozen muskets for his “rebellion.” He was captured, tried and executed within 60 days.
Who negotiated with Napoleon to help overthrow the Crown in Ireland?
Robert Emmett. He was barely in his twenties when he went to France and tried to convince its leader to send hundreds of troops across the Channel to fight England. He soon became skeptical of Napoleon’s motives and decided to start the revolution without France. Like Wolfe Tone before him, he became convinced that Ireland would be better off fighting England on their own, thus Sinn Fein – which in Irish means ourselves alone.
Who tried to call off that 1803 uprising when a ragtag army of Irish rebels drew first blood?
Robert Emmett. Early on the evening of the uprising in July 1803, he lost control of the troops, some of whom had joined the fight after a night of drinking in Dubin’s pubs. When some of the feistier freedom fighters grabbed a British dragoon off his horse and “ran him through” with their pikes, Emmett tried to stop the fighting. He couldn’t. But the British soldiers could. And did. Quickly.
Who is considered the second Protestant martyr for the cause of Irish independence?
Robert Emmett. Theobald Wolfe Tone, another Protestant hero of Irish efforts for independence, was the first. He led a rising in 1798. When Wolfe Tone was captured and imprisoned, he committed suicide, it is alleged. HIs legacy? One of Ireland's most successful bands is called The Wolfe Tones. Bars bear his name. Annual Sinn Fein remembrances are held at Wolfe Tone's gravesite in Bodenstown Graveyard in Co. Kildare. But there’s no gravesite for Emmett. There are educated guesses, but where his body parts were buried is still kind of a mystery. That's why people today still say, “His grave is Ireland.”
Who entered Trinity College at the age of 15 but never graduated?
Robert Emmett. Born in Dublin in 1778. HIs father was the personal physician to the King’s representative in Ireland. So, the family was well off. But his dad somehow was sympathetic to the revolutionaries in America and didn't discourage his sons in their work with the United Irishmen. Robert made his name as a brilliant debater at Trinity. But he got involved with students agitating for freedom from Britain and was expelled before graduating.
In order to maintain connection with their Irish heritage, (l to r) Peter, Michael and Liam Gallagher visit the statue DeValera dedicated in 1919.
Movements need martyrs
Whose status as one of Ireland’s great, heroic rebels was established years after his hanging?
Robert Emmett. After his execution, no one wanted to claim his remains. It was only when his brother, Thomas Addis Emmett, emigrated to America that the legend of Robert Emmett started to grow. As attorney general for the State of New York he made sure his brother's name, likeness, image and last words were ubiquitous in Irish America. There were dozens of different versions of The Speech from the Dock, all of which became the instrument for establishing his status among Ireland’s exiled sons and daughters in America. To this day, “orators” at memorial events in late September clear their throats and begin, “What have I to say why sentence of death should not be pronounced on me according to law?” They lower their voices for the heroic climax. “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.”
