Robert Emmet

Robert Emmet (4 March 1778 – 20 September 1803) was an Irish nationalist rebel leader. He led an abortive rebellion against British rule in 1803 and was captured, tried and executed. Robert Emmet was born in Dublin on 4 March 1778. He was the youngest son of Dr Robert Emmet (1729–1802), a state physician, and his wife, Elizabeth Mason (1740–1803). The Emmets were financially comfortable, with a house at St Stephen's Green and a country residence ... more

Robert Emmet (4 March 1778 – 20 September 1803) was an Irish nationalist rebel leader. He led an abortive rebellion against British rule in 1803 and was captured, tried and executed. Robert Emmet was born in Dublin on 4 March 1778. He was the youngest son of Dr Robert Emmet (1729–1802), a state physician, and his wife, Elizabeth Mason (1740–1803). The Emmets were financially comfortable, with a house at St Stephen's Green and a country residence near Milltown. One of his elder brothers was the nationalist Thomas Addis Emmet, a close friend of Theobald Wolfe Tone, who was a frequent visitor to the house when Robert was a child. Robert Emmet entered Trinity College, Dublin in October 1793, at the age of fifteen. In December 1797 he joined the College Historical Society, a debating society. While he was at college, his brother Thomas and some of his friends became involved in political activism. Robert himself became secretary to a United Irish society in college, and was expelled in... less