HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Theobald Wolfe Tone, posthumously known as Wolfe Tone ( ga, Bhulbh Teón; 20 June 176319 November 1798), was a leading Irish revolutionary figure and one of the founding members in
Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...
and
Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...
of the United Irishmen, a republican society determined to end
British rule The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Quote: "Mill, who was hims ...
, and achieve accountable government, in Ireland. Throughout his political career, Tone was involved in a number of military engagements against the British navy. He was active in drawing Irish Catholics and Protestants together in the United cause, and in soliciting French assistance for a general insurrection. In November 1798, on his second attempt to land in Ireland with French troops and supplies, he was captured by British naval forces. The United Irish risings of the summer had already been crushed. Tone died in advance of his scheduled execution, probably, as modern scholars generally believe, by his own hand. Later generations were to regard Tone as the father of
Irish Republicanism Irish republicanism ( ga, poblachtánachas Éireannach) is the political movement for the unity and independence of Ireland under a republic. Irish republicans view British rule in any part of Ireland as inherently illegitimate. The develop ...
. His grave in
Bodenstown Bodenstown Graveyard ( ga, Reilig Bhaile Uí Bhuadáin) is a cemetery located in County Kildare, Republic of Ireland. Containing a ruined medieval church, it is best known as the burial place of the Irish patriot Wolfe Tone (1763–1798). His ...
, County Kildare, is the site of annual commemorations.


Early life

Wolfe Tone was born on 20 June 1763. His father’s family descended from a French Protestant family who fled to England from Gascony in the 16th century to escape religious persecution. A branch of the family settled in Dublin in the 17th century. Theobald's father, Peter Tone, was a coach-maker who had a farm near
Sallins Sallins () is a town in County Kildare, Ireland, situated 3.5 km north of the town centre of Naas, from which it is separated by the M7 motorway. Sallins is the anglicised name of ''Na Solláin'' which means "the willows". In the officia ...
, County Kildare and belonged to the
Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland ( ga, Eaglais na hÉireann, ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Kirk o Airlann, ) is a Christian church in Ireland and an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the secon ...
. His mother came from a Catholic merchant family who converted to
Protestantism Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...
after Theobald was born. His maternal grandfather was captain of a vessel in the
West India Western India is a loosely defined region of India consisting of its western part. The Ministry of Home Affairs in its Western Zonal Council Administrative division includes the states of Goa, Gujarat, and Maharashtra along with the Unio ...
trade.Tone, Theobald Wolfe. ''The Autobiography of Theobald Wolfe Tone'', Sean O'Faolain ed., Thomas Nelson & Sons Ltd., London, 1937
/ref> He was baptised as Theobald Wolfe Tone in honour of his godfather, Theobald Wolfe of Blackhall, County Kildare, a first cousin of Arthur Wolfe, 1st Viscount Kilwarden. However, it was widely believed that Tone was the son of Theobald Wolfe, which, if true, made him a half-brother of the poet
Charles Wolfe Charles Wolfe (14 December 1791 – 21 February 1823) was an Irish poet, chiefly remembered for "The Burial of Sir John Moore after Corunna" which achieved popularity in 19th century poetry anthologies. Family Born at Blackhall, County Kild ...
. After his death, he was widely referred to as Wolfe Tone. In 1783, Tone found work as a tutor to Anthony and Robert, younger half-brothers of Richard Martin MP of
Galway Galway ( ; ga, Gaillimh, ) is a city in the West of Ireland, in the province of Connacht, which is the county town of County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay, and is the sixth most populous city on ...
, a prominent supporter of
Catholic emancipation Catholic emancipation or Catholic relief was a process in the kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland, and later the combined United Kingdom in the late 18th century and early 19th century, that involved reducing and removing many of the restricti ...
, at Dangan, the Martin family home. Tone fell in love with Martin's wife, but later wrote that it came to nothing. During this period he briefly considered a career in the theatre as an actor. He studied law at
Trinity College Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...
, where he became an active member in the College Historical Society debating club and was elected its auditor in 1785. He was made a scholar in 1784 and graduated BA in February 1786. He qualified as a barrister in King's Inns at the age of 26 after keeping the requisite terms as a student member of the
Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn ...
in London. As a student, he eloped with Martha Witherington, daughter of William and Catherine Witherington (née Fanning) of Dublin. She would go on to change her name to Matilda, at Tone's request. When they married, Tone was 22, and Matilda was about 16. In 1796, while he was in France and she in
Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...
he wrote in his journal: "She is the delight of my eyes, the joy of my heart, the only object for which I wish to live. I doat upon her to distraction." Disappointed at finding no support for a plan that he had submitted to
William Pitt the Younger William Pitt the Younger (28 May 175923 January 1806) was a British statesman, the youngest and last prime minister of Great Britain (before the Acts of Union 1800) and then first prime minister of the United Kingdom (of Great Britain and Ire ...
, to found a military colony in
Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...
, Tone initially planned to enlist as a soldier in the
East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and South ...
, but applied too late in the year, when no more ships would be sent out until the following spring.


Politician

In September 1791, Tone published ''An Argument on behalf of the Catholics of Ireland'', signed "A Northern Whig".Milligan, Alice L, ''Life of Theobald Wolfe Tone'', JW Boyd, Belfast, 1898
/ref> It displayed the growing breach between Whig patriots like
Henry Flood Henry Flood (1732 – 2 December 1791), Irish statesman, son of Warden Flood, Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench for Ireland, was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, and afterwards at Christ Church, Oxford, where he became proficient ...
and
Henry Grattan Henry Grattan (3 July 1746 – 4 June 1820) was an Irish politician and lawyer who campaigned for legislative freedom for the Irish Parliament in the late 18th century from Britain. He was a Member of the Irish Parliament (MP) from 1775 to 18 ...
, who sought
Catholic emancipation Catholic emancipation or Catholic relief was a process in the kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland, and later the combined United Kingdom in the late 18th century and early 19th century, that involved reducing and removing many of the restricti ...
and parliamentary reform without severing the tie to England. Tone expressed contempt for the constitution Grattan obtained from the British government in 1782. Himself an Anglican, Tone urged co-operation between the religions in Ireland as the only means of obtaining redress of Irish grievances. The British government had just passed the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1791, but the Dublin parliament was in no hurry to do so. Sharing Tone's frustration with Protestant Patriotism,
William Drennan William Drennan (23 May 1754 – 5 February 1820) was an Irish physician and writer who moved the formation in Belfast and Dublin of the Society of United Irishmen. He was the author of the Society's original "test" which, in the cause of ...
proposed to his largely Presbyterian friends in Belfast, "a benevolent conspiracy--a plot for the people" dedicated to "
The Rights of Man ''Rights of Man'' (1791), a book by Thomas Paine, including 31 articles, posits that popular political revolution is permissible when a government does not safeguard the natural rights of its people. Using these points as a base it defends the ...
" and to "Real Independence" for Ireland. Attending their first meeting in Belfast in October 1791, with Cork man Thomas Russell, Tone re-iterated the thrust of his ''Argument on behalf of the Catholics of Ireland'':. the "imaginary Revolution of 1782" had failed to secure a representative and national government for Ireland because Protestants had refused to make common cause with Catholics. Ireland would continue to be governed in the exclusive interests of England and of the landed Ascendancy, so long as Irish Protestants remained "illiberal", "bigoted" and "blind". Calling themselves, at Tone's suggestion, the Society of the United Irishmen, the meeting resolved upon an "equal representation of all the people" in parliament. Employing, as Drennan had proposed "much of the secrecy and somewhat of the ceremonial of Free-Masonry", the Society spread rapidly across the Presbyterian districts of the north, to Dublin and, in alliance with the Catholic Defenders, across the Irish midlands. Aiming at no more than the formation of a union between Catholics and Protestants to press for parliamentary reform, Tone's membership of the Society was not deemed incompatible, in 1792, to his appointment as assistant secretary of the Catholic Committee. The Catholics involved on the committee in Dublin were not united regarding the steps they were to take, and in December 1791, sixty-eight members withdrew, led by Lord Kenmare, with the support of the higher clergy. When the British government questioned the legality of the Catholic Convention called in December 1792, Tone drew up for the committee a statement of the case on which a favourable opinion of counsel was obtained. In January 1793 Tone found "every reason to be content" with an audience he and other members of the Catholic Committee had had with the King,
George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...
, in London. In April Dublin Castle put its weight behind Grattan in the passage of a Catholic Relief Act. Catholics were admitted to the franchise (but not yet to Parliament or to Crown offices) on the same limited property terms as Protestants. They could again be called as barristers and serve as army officers. They could not, however, enter parliament or be made state officials above grand jurors. The Convention voted to Tone a sum of £1,500 with a gold medal and voted to dissolve. In this new climate of goodwill the Maynooth College Act 1795 was passed. Sectarian animosity threatened to undermine the United Irishmen movement: two secret societies in
Ulster Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kin ...
fought against each other: the agrarian Protestant Peep o' Day Boys and their Catholic opponents the
Defenders Defender(s) or The Defender(s) may refer to: *Defense (military) *Defense (sports) **Defender (association football) Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''The Defender'' (1989 film), a Canadian documentary * ''The Defender'' (1994 f ...
. Tone's aim was to unite both into a revolutionary army of Irish "men of no property". Tone himself admitted that with him hatred of England had always been "rather an instinct than a principle," though until his views should become more generally accepted in Ireland he was prepared to work for reform as distinguished from revolution. But he desired to root out the popular respect for the names of Charlemont and Grattan, and to transfer to more violent leaders the conduct of the national movement. Wolfe Tone's principles were drawn from the French Convention, and he was a disciple of Georges Danton and
Thomas Paine Thomas Paine (born Thomas Pain; – In the contemporary record as noted by Conway, Paine's birth date is given as January 29, 1736–37. Common practice was to use a dash or a slash to separate the old-style year from the new-style year. In th ...
.


Revolutionary in exile

In 1794 the Society of United Irishmen became a sworn association, using oaths that aimed at the overthrow of the Kingdom of Ireland. Given that France and Britain had been at war since early 1793, administering or making such oaths turned a reformist republican society that had wanted to extend the franchise within the existing system into a republican revolutionary one. Affiliating more closely with the new French Republic also associated Tone with its evolving policy of "Dechristianization", which was strongly opposed by the
Catholic Church in Ireland , native_name_lang = ga , image = Armagh, St Patricks RC cathedral.jpg , imagewidth = 200px , alt = , caption = St Patrick's Cathedral, Armagh. , abbreviation = , type ...
. Although he was seen as a Catholic champion in the early 1790s, most of his wealthier Catholic supporters fell away in 1794. Also in 1794, the United Irishmen, persuaded that no party in the Dublin parliament (where being an MP was limited to Anglicans) seemed likely to accept their scheme of
universal manhood suffrage Universal manhood suffrage is a form of voting rights in which all adult male citizens within a political system are allowed to vote, regardless of income, property, religion, race, or any other qualification. It is sometimes summarized by the slo ...
and equal electoral districts, began to recast their hopes on a French invasion. An Irish clergyman living in England, the Reverend William Jackson, who had taken in revolutionary opinions during his long stay in France, came to Ireland to ascertain to what extent the Irish people were ready to support a French invasion. Tone drew up a memorandum for Jackson on the state of Ireland, which he described as ripe for revolution. An attorney named Cockayne, to whom Jackson had imprudently disclosed his mission, betrayed the memorandum to the government. In April 1794 Jackson was arrested on a charge of treason and dramatically committed suicide during his trial. Several of the leading United Irishmen, including
Archibald Hamilton Rowan Archibald Hamilton Rowan (1 May 1751 – 1 November 1834), christened Archibald Hamilton (sometimes referred to as Archibald Rowan Hamilton), was a founding member of the Dublin Society of United Irishmen, a political exile in France and the Unit ...
, fled the country; the papers of the United Irishmen were seized by the Dublin administration, and for a time the organisation was broken up. Tone, who had not attended meetings of the society since May 1793, remained in Ireland until after the trial of Jackson and was advised to leave Ireland in April 1795. Having friends among the government party, including members of the Beresford family, he succeeded in making terms with the government and emigrated to the United States, where he arrived in May 1795. Before leaving, he and his family travelled to
Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...
, and it was at the summit of
Cavehill Cave Hill or Cavehill is a rocky hill overlooking the city of Belfast, Northern Ireland, with a height of . It is marked by basalt cliffs and caves, and its distinguishing feature is 'Napoleon's Nose', a tall cliff which resembles the profile ...
that Tone made the Cavehill Compact with fellow Irish radicals, including Russell and McCracken, promising "never to desist in our efforts until we had subverted the authority of England over our country, and asserted our independence." The United Irishmen reformed in 1796. The Society began seriously to look to France to support a rising with troops. Living in
Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...
, Tone wrote a few months later to Thomas Russell expressing unqualified dislike of the American people, whom he imagined to be no more truly democratic in sentiment and no less attached to authority than the British; he described
George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of ...
as a "high-flying aristocrat", and he found the aristocracy of money and achievement in America still less to his liking than the European aristocracy of birth. Tone also lived briefly in West Chester and in Downingtown, Pennsylvania. Finding himself at Philadelphia in the company of Reynolds, Rowan, and Tandy, Tone went to Paris to persuade the French government to send an expedition to invade Ireland. In February 1796 he arrived in Paris and had interviews with De La Croix and Carnot, who were impressed by his energy, sincerity, and ability. A commission was given him as adjutant-general in the French army, which he hoped might protect him from the penalty of treason in the event of capture by the British; though he himself claimed the authorship of a proclamation said to have been issued by the United Irishmen, enjoining that all Irishmen taken with arms in their hands in the British service should be instantly shot; and he supported a project for landing La Legion Noire in England, who were to burn
Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
. A sympathizer wrote of him, in French, saying:
Wolfe Tone was sent to France to claim the support of the Directory, under the express condition that the French should come to Ireland as allies, and should act under direction of the new government, as Rochambeau had done in America. With this view, Tone had frequently conferences at Paris with Hoche; and the Directory finally determined to send from Brest a fleet of forty-five sail, with an army of fifteen thousand men, under the charge of this able general, December 15, 1796. England was saved by a violent tempest.


Hoche's Expedition and the 1798 Rebellion

The French Directory planned a military landing in Ireland in support of the coming revolution foretold by Tone. The Directory possessed information from
Lord Edward FitzGerald Lord Edward FitzGerald (15 October 1763 – 4 June 1798) was an Irish aristocrat who abandoned his prospects as a distinguished veteran of British service in the American War of Independence, and as an Irish Parliamentarian, to embrace the caus ...
and Arthur O'Connor confirming Tone, and prepared to despatch an expedition under
Louis Lazare Hoche Louis Lazare Hoche (; 24 June 1768 – 19 September 1797) was a French military leader of the French Revolutionary Wars. He won a victory over Royalist forces in Brittany. His surname is one of the names inscribed under the Arc de Triomphe, on ...
. On 15 December 1796, the expedition, consisting of forty-three sail and carrying about 14,450 men with a large supply of war material for distribution in Ireland, sailed from
Brest Brest may refer to: Places *Brest, Belarus **Brest Region **Brest Airport **Brest Fortress * Brest, Kyustendil Province, Bulgaria * Břest, Czech Republic *Brest, France ** Arrondissement of Brest **Brest Bretagne Airport ** Château de Brest *Br ...
. Tone accompanied it as "Adjutant-general Smith" and had the greatest contempt for the seamanship of the French sailors, who were unable to land due to severe gales. They waited for days off
Bantry Bay Bantry Bay ( ga, Cuan Baoi / Inbhear na mBárc / Bádh Bheanntraighe) is a bay located in County Cork, Ireland. The bay runs approximately from northeast to southwest into the Atlantic Ocean. It is approximately 3-to-4 km (1.8-to-2.5 mil ...
, waiting for the winds to ease, but eventually returned to France. Tone served for some months in the French army under Hoche, who had become the French Republic's minister of war after his victory against the Austrians at the
Battle of Neuwied The Battle of Neuwied (18 April 1797) saw Lazare Hoche lead part of the French Army of Sambre-et-Meuse against Franz von Werneck's Austrian army. The French attack surprised their enemies and broke through their lines. Aside from 1,000 men kil ...
on the Rhine in April 1797. In June 1797 Tone took part in preparations for a military expedition to Ireland from the Batavian Republic, a
puppet state A puppet state, puppet régime, puppet government or dummy government, is a state that is ''de jure'' independent but ''de facto'' completely dependent upon an outside power and subject to its orders.Compare: Puppet states have nominal sove ...
created during the Batavian Revolution in the
Low Countries The term Low Countries, also known as the Low Lands ( nl, de Lage Landen, french: les Pays-Bas, lb, déi Niddereg Lännereien) and historically called the Netherlands ( nl, de Nederlanden), Flanders, or Belgica, is a coastal lowland region in N ...
in January 1795. However, the Batavian fleet under Dutch Vice-Admiral Jan de Winter was delayed in the harbour of Texel island that summer by unfavourable easterly winds and from mid-August by a British North-Sea fleet blockade. It eventually put to sea in the first week of October only to be immediately crushed by Admiral Adam Duncan in the Battle of Camperdown on October 11, 1797. Tone then returned to Paris. General Hoche, once tasked with an Irish expeditionary force, died of tuberculosis on 19 September 1797 at
Wetzlar Wetzlar () is a city in the state of Hesse, Germany. It is the twelfth largest city in Hesse with currently 55,371 inhabitants at the beginning of 2019 (including second homes). As an important cultural, industrial and commercial center, the un ...
after returning to his command on France's
Rhine ), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland , source1_coordinates= , source1_elevation = , source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein , source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland , source2_coordinates= , so ...
frontier. In Ireland the membership of the United Irish had reached 300,000, about 6% of the population, but a vicious counter-insurgency campaign in 1797 weakened the organisation and forced the leadership to launch a rising without French aid. More importantly, in a largely devoutly Catholic country, the Roman Catholic hierarchy was completely opposed to the United Irish, as they were allied to the French who had just invaded Rome and set up the anti-clerical "Roman Republic" in early 1798.
Napoleon Bonaparte Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader wh ...
, with whom Tone had several interviews at this time, was less disposed than Hoche had been to undertake in earnest an Irish expedition; and when the Rising broke out in Ireland in 1798 he had started for Egypt. When Tone urged the Directory to send effective assistance to the Irish rebels, all that could be promised was a number of raids to descend simultaneously around the Irish coast. One of these under General Jean Humbert succeeded in landing a force near
Killala Killala () is a village in County Mayo in Ireland, north of Ballina. The railway line from Dublin to Ballina once extended to Killala. To the west of Killala is a Townsplots West (known locally as Enagh Beg), which contains a number of ancient ...
, County Mayo, and gained some success in
Connacht Connacht ( ; ga, Connachta or ), is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the west of Ireland. Until the ninth century it consisted of several independent major Gaelic kingdoms ( Uí Fiachrach, Uí Briúin, Uí Maine, Conmhaícne, and Del ...
(particularly at
Castlebar Castlebar () is the county town of County Mayo, Ireland. Developing around a 13th century castle of the de Barry family, from which the town got its name, the town now acts as a social and economic focal point for the surrounding hinterland. W ...
) before it was subdued by General Lake and
Charles Cornwallis Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis, (31 December 1738 – 5 October 1805), styled Viscount Brome between 1753 and 1762 and known as the Earl Cornwallis between 1762 and 1792, was a British Army general and official. In the United S ...
. Wolfe Tone's brother Matthew was captured, tried by court-martial, and hanged; a second raid, accompanied by Napper Tandy, came to disaster on the coast of Donegal; while Wolfe Tone took part in a third, under Admiral
Jean-Baptiste-François Bompart Jean-Baptiste-François Bompart (1757 in Lorient – 1842 in Bagnols) was a French privateer, navy officer and admiral. He was related to the noted Admiral Maxime de Bompart. He took part in the American War of Independence as a young officer. H ...
, with General Jean Hardy in command of a force of about 3,000 men. This encountered a British squadron at
Buncrana Buncrana ( ; ) is a town in County Donegal, Ireland. It is beside Lough Swilly on the Inishowen peninsula, northwest of Derry and north of Letterkenny. In the 2016 census, the population was 6,785 making it the second most populous town in C ...
on
Lough Swilly Lough Swilly () in Ireland is a glacial fjord or sea inlet lying between the western side of the Inishowen Peninsula and the Fanad Peninsula, in County Donegal. Along with Carlingford Lough and Killary Harbour it is one of three glacial fjords ...
on 12 October 1798. Tone, on board the ship ''Hoche'', refused Bompart's offer of escape in a frigate before the battle of Tory Island, and was taken prisoner when the ''Hoche'' surrendered. Tone was brought ashore at Letterkenny Port and all French forces of the Hoche were taken to Lord Cavan's Letterkenny home where he faced arrest.


On revolutionary purpose and violence

Summarising his purpose, Tone declared:
To subvert the tyranny of our execrable government, to break the connection with England (the never failing source of our political evils) and to assert the independence of my country--these were my objects. To unite the whole people of Ireland: to abolish the memory of all past dissentions; and to substitute the common name of Irishmen in place of the denomination of Protestant, Catholic and Dissenter--these were my means.
Yet he conceded that he "despaired" of Protestants (i.e. the Anglican Ascendancy) "for obvious reasons": they were already in possession of the whole power and patronage of the country. Appearing to "write off own class completely" in conversations with General Henri Clarke (a second generation Irishman who later was to serve Napoleon as Minister of War) he apprehended a general massacre of the gentry and a redistribution of their entire property. The violence he would seek to restrain. On this score Hoche cautioned him not to be complacent. Tone records in his ''Memoirs'':
Hoche mentioned, also, that great mischief had been done to the principles of liberty and additional difficulties thrown in the way of the French Revolution, by the quantity of blood spilled: "for", he added, "if you guillotine a man, you get rid of an individual, it is true, but then you make all his friends and connections enemies for ever of the government".
Tone expressed himself "heartily glad to find Hoche of this humane temperament" and trusted "we shall be able to avoid unnecessary bloodshed in Ireland."


Death

When the prisoners were landed a fortnight later, Sir George Hill recognised Tone in the French adjutant-general's uniform in Lord Cavan's privy-quarters at Letterknny. At his trial by court-martial in Dublin on 8 November 1798 Tone made a speech avowing his determined hostility to England and his intention "by frank and open war to procure the separation of the countries". Recognising that the court was certain to convict him, he asked that "the court should adjudge me to die the death of a soldier, and that I may be shot". Reading from a prepared speech, he defended his view of a military separation from Britain (as had occurred in the fledgeling United States) and explained his motives: A commentary on the trial continues: "After a long silence, interrupted by some expressions of admiration, he was told that his request should be submitted to the Lord-lieutenant. Thinking, however, that there was but little prospect, he committed suicide in prison. With Wolfe Tone, terminated the insurrection of 1798. He was the prime mover of it, and was its last victim…" He also lamented the outbreak of mass violence, saying: "Such are my principles such has been my conduct; if in consequence of the measures in which I have been engaged misfortunes have been brought upon this country, I heartily lament it, but let it be remembered that it is now nearly four years since I have quit Ireland and consequently I have been personally concerned in none of them; if I am rightly informed very great atrocities have been committed on both sides, but that does not at all diminish my regret; for a fair and open war I was prepared; if that has degenerated into a system of assassination, massacre, and plunder I do again most sincerely lament it, and those few who know me personally will give me I am sure credit for the assertion." To the people, he had the following to say from the dock: His eloquence was in vain, and his request to be shot was denied. On 10 November 1798, he was found guilty and sentenced to be hanged on 12 November. Before this sentence was carried out, he was mortally wounded as a result either of being tortured by British soldiers or, as is today more generally accepted, of attempting to slit his own throat. The story goes that he was initially saved when the wound was sealed with a bandage, and he was told if he tried to talk the wound would open and he would bleed to death. He responded by saying "I can yet find words to thank you sir; it is the most welcome news you could give me. What should I wish to live for?". Military surgeon Benjamin Lentaigne treated Tone just hours before he was due to be hanged. A pamphlet published in Latin by the doctor some years after Tone's official "suicide" refers to an unusual neck wound suffered by an unnamed patient which indicated that "a bullet passed through his throat". This has led to speculation that Tone may have been shot. Theobald Wolfe Tone died on 19 November 1798 at the age of 35 in Provost's Prison, Dublin, not far from where he was born. He is buried in Bodenstown, Co. Kildare, near his birthplace at Sallins, and his grave is in the care of the
National Graves Association The National Graves Association (NGA; ga, Cumann Uaigheann na Laochra Gael, "Grave Committee of Heroes of the Gaels") is an Irish organisation which seeks to maintain the graves of Irish republicans who died in the pursuit of a united Ireland. I ...
.


Support from Lord Kilwarden

His godfather Theobald Wolfe was Tone's natural father, according to several sources. A cousin, Arthur Wolfe, Lord Kilwarden, had warned Tone to leave Ireland in 1795. Then when Tone was arrested and brought to Dublin in 1798, and facing certain execution, it was Kilwarden (a senior judge) who granted two orders for ''
Habeas Corpus ''Habeas corpus'' (; from Medieval Latin, ) is a recourse in law through which a person can report an unlawful detention or imprisonment to a court and request that the court order the custodian of the person, usually a prison official, t ...
'' for his release. This was a remarkable act, given that the rebellion had just occurred with great loss of life, and one that could never be enlarged upon as Kilwarden was killed at the beginning of Emmet's revolt in 1803. The Wolfes knew that Tone was their cousin. As a pillar of the
Protestant Ascendancy The ''Protestant Ascendancy'', known simply as the ''Ascendancy'', was the political, economic, and social domination of Ireland between the 17th century and the early 20th century by a minority of landowners, Protestant clergy, and members of th ...
and, as
Attorney-General for Ireland The Attorney-General for Ireland was an Irish and then (from the Act of Union 1800) United Kingdom government office-holder. He was senior in rank to the Solicitor-General for Ireland: both advised the Crown on Irish legal matters. With the ...
the prosecutor of the case against United Irishman William Orr, Kilwarden had no other obvious motive for trying to assist Tone in 1795 and 1798. Portraits of Wolfe around 1800 arguably show a resemblance to Wolfe Tone. Maud Wolfe (1892–1980), the last of the Wolfes to live in Kildare, continued her family tradition of annually laying flowers at Tone's grave until her death. The historian A. T. Q. Stewart has commented (2001) on Tone's long obsession with the heroism and death in battle of
James Wolfe James Wolfe (2 January 1727 – 13 September 1759) was a British Army officer known for his training reforms and, as a major general, remembered chiefly for his victory in 1759 over the French at the Battle of the Plains of Abraham in Quebec. ...
in 1759, seeing him as a cousin to be emulated. In this sense "Wolfe Tone" becomes a surname reflecting his true paternity.


Legacy

" onerises", said William Lecky, the 19th-century historian, "far above the dreary level of commonplace which Irish conspiracy in general presents… His judgement of men and things was keen, lucid and masculine, and he was alike prompt in decision and brave in action." His journals, which were written for his family and intimate friends were published in Washington DC in 1821 by his son, William Theobald Wolfe Tone. They were republished in 1910 by Richard Barry O'Brien. Tone was adopted by the
Young Ireland Young Ireland ( ga, Éire Óg, ) was a political and cultural movement in the 1840s committed to an all-Ireland struggle for independence and democratic reform. Grouped around the Dublin weekly ''The Nation'', it took issue with the compromise ...
movement of the 1840s as an iconic figure, as the father of Irish republicanism and above religious divisions. Its leader Thomas Davis found and publicised the location of Tone's grave in 1843. Modern republicans quote his ideals: In 1898 a series of centenary commemorations of the 1798 rebellion were held by the nationalist
Irish Parliamentary Party The Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP; commonly called the Irish Party or the Home Rule Party) was formed in 1874 by Isaac Butt, the leader of the Nationalist Party, replacing the Home Rule League, as official parliamentary party for Irish nation ...
, the
Irish Republican Brotherhood The Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB; ) was a secret oath-bound fraternal organisation dedicated to the establishment of an "independent democratic republic" in Ireland between 1858 and 1924.McGee, p. 15. Its counterpart in the United States ...
and the
Catholic Church in Ireland , native_name_lang = ga , image = Armagh, St Patricks RC cathedral.jpg , imagewidth = 200px , alt = , caption = St Patrick's Cathedral, Armagh. , abbreviation = , type ...
, that to a large extent sidelined Tone and the other Protestant Nationalist leaders. This "Faith and Fatherland" approach mythologised Tone and recast the rebellion as Church-sanctioned, the exact opposite of its policy in 1798. Every summer, Irish Republicans hold commemorations at Tone's grave in Bodenstown. In 1912 an annual commemoration march from Naas to Bodenstown was started by Tom Clarke, who was to be executed after the 1916 Rising. The march became a part of the folklore of Irish republican groups, with a new headstone placed in the 1940s. An attempt on 17 June 1934 by Protestant
Republican Congress The Republican Congress ( ga, An Chomhdháil Phoblachtach) was an Irish republican and Marxist-Leninist political organisation founded in 1934, when pro-communist republicans left the Anti-Treaty Irish Republican Army. The Congress was led by ...
members from Belfast to join in the commemoration march was prevented by IRA stewards. The marchers were stoned and "scuffles broke out". This was portrayed by some commentators as sectarianism, that republicans had abandoned Tone's aim to unite Irishmen by ignoring their religious differences, paying tribute only to his anti-British republicanism. However, Brian Hanley's history of the IRA from 1926 to 1936 concludes that the trouble arose because they were seen as "communist", and not for sectarian reasons. From the 1960s the Wolfe Tone Societies were founded, but failed to have an impact on mainstream Irish politics. Some members were also affiliated with the IRA. As a result, Tone's grave was bombed at night by the
Ulster Volunteer Force The Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) is an Ulster loyalist paramilitary group. Formed in 1965, it first emerged in 1966. Its first leader was Gusty Spence, a former British Army soldier from Northern Ireland. The group undertook an armed campaign ...
in 1971, and was then rebuilt.


Descendants

Of Tone's four children, three died prematurely. His eldest child, Maria Tone (1786–1803; died in Paris) and his youngest child, Francis Rawdon Tone (1793–1806) both died of
tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, i ...
. Another son, Richard Tone (born between 1787 and 1789) died in infancy. Only his son William Theobald Wolfe Tone survived to adulthood. Raised in France by his mother after Tone's death, William was appointed a cadet in the Imperial School of Cavalry in 1810 on Napoleon's orders. He was a naturalised French citizen on 4 May 1812. In January 1813 he was made sub-lieutenant in the 8th Regiment of Chasseurs and joined the Grand Army in Germany. His nom de guerre was the punning ''le petit loup'' – the little wolf. He was at the battles of Löwenberg, Goldberg, Dresden, Bauthen, Mühlberg, Aachen, and Leipzig. He received six lance wounds at the Battle of Leipzig, was promoted to lieutenant and aide-de-camp of General Bagneres and was decorated with the
Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...
. After the defeat of Napoleon at the
Battle of Waterloo The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815, near Waterloo, Belgium, Waterloo (at that time in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, now in Belgium). A French army under the command of Napoleon was defeated by two of the armie ...
, he emigrated to the United States, where he was commissioned a Captain in the United States Army and died there on 11 October 1828 at the age of 37. Matilda Tone also emigrated to the United States, and is buried in Greenwood Cemetery in
Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
, New York. William Tone was survived by his only child, his daughter Grace Georgina.


In popular culture

Several
Gaelic Athletic Association The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA; ga, Cumann Lúthchleas Gael ; CLG) is an Irish international amateur sports, amateur sporting and cultural organisation, focused primarily on promoting indigenous Gaelic games and pastimes, which include t ...
clubs in Ireland are named in honour of Wolfe Tone. These include, in Armagh,
Wolfe Tone GAC, Derrymacash Wolfe Tone Gaelic Athletic Club ( ga, De Bhulbh Ton CLG) is a Gaelic Athletic Association, GAA club in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. It is based in the townland of Derrymacash, on the southern shore of Lough Neagh, close to Lurgan.
; in Derry, Bellaghy Wolfe Tones GAC; in Meath, Wolfe Tones GAA, and in Tyrone, Drumquin Wolfe Tones GAC and Kildress Wolfe Tones GAC. In North America, there is the Chicago Wolfe Tones GFC in Illinois, and the Edmonton Wolfe Tones in Alberta, Canada. In Antrim, the Greencastle Wolfe Tones GAC is based in the Greencastle district of North Belfast, bordering
Cavehill Cave Hill or Cavehill is a rocky hill overlooking the city of Belfast, Northern Ireland, with a height of . It is marked by basalt cliffs and caves, and its distinguishing feature is 'Napoleon's Nose', a tall cliff which resembles the profile ...
where members of the United Irishmen took their oaths. In 1963, Brian Warfield, Noel Nagle, Tommy Byrne, and Derek Warfield formed
The Wolfe Tones The Wolfe Tones are an Irish rebel music band that incorporate Irish traditional music in their songs. Formed in 1963, they take their name from Theobald Wolfe Tone, one of the leaders of the Irish Rebellion of 1798, with the double meaning of ...
, an Irish rebel music band. They play Irish rebel music and are strong supporters of
Irish reunification United Ireland, also referred to as Irish reunification, is the proposition that all of Ireland should be a single sovereign state. At present, the island is divided politically; the sovereign Republic of Ireland has jurisdiction over the maj ...
. Several streets, plazas and a bridge have been named in honour of Tone, including Wolfe Tone Square in Dublin and Wolfe Tone Bridge over the River Corrib in Galway city. A documentary by
Kenneth Griffith Kenneth Griffith (born Kenneth Reginald Griffiths, 12 October 1921 – 25 June 2006) was a Welsh actor and documentary filmmaker. His outspoken views made him a controversial figure, especially when presenting documentaries which have been ca ...
on the life of Wolfe Tone was completed but not released. It was offered to the BBC but due to the film being mired with political controversy they did not take up this option.Vahimagi, Tise. (2014)
Griffith, Kenneth (1921-2006)
.
British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery (United Kingdom), National Lot ...
.
Screenonline Screenonline is a website about the history of British film, television and social history as documented by film and television. The project has been developed by the British Film Institute and funded by a £1.2 million grant from the National Lo ...


Notes


References

* *Seán Ua Ceallaigh (ed.), ''Speeches from the Dock, or Protests of Irish Patriotism'' (Dublin: M. H. Gill and Son, 1953). * Herr, Cheryl. ''For the Land They Loved: Irish Political Melodramas, 1890–1925''. Syracuse University Press, 1991.


Further reading

*Stephen McGarry, ''Irish Brigades Abroad'' (Dublin, 2013) (softback). *T.W. Moody, R.B. McDowell and C.J. Woods (eds.), ''The Writings of Theobald Wolfe Tone 1763–98, Volume I: Tone's Career in Ireland to June 1795'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998). *T.W. Moody, R.B. McDowell and C.J. Woods (eds.), ''The Writings of Theobald Wolfe Tone 1763–98, Volume II: America, France, and Bantry Bay, August 1795 to December 1796'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001). *T.W. Moody, R.B. McDowell and C.J. Woods (eds.), ''The Writings of Theobald Wolfe Tone 1763–98, Volume III: France, the Rhine, Lough Swilly and Death of Tone, January 1797 to November 1798'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007). * ''Life of Theobald Wolfe Tone by himself, continued by his son, with his political writings'', edited by W.T. Wolfe Tone (2 volumes, Washington, 1826). * Thomas Bartlett, (ed.), ''Life of Theobald Wolfe Tone Memoirs, Journals and political writings, compiled and arranged by William T.W. Tone, 1826'' (Dublin, 1998) oftback * ''Autobiography of Theobald Wolfe Tone'', edited with introduction by R. Barry O'Brien (2 vols., London, 1893); * ''Lives of the United Irishmen'' by R.R. Madden, (7 vols., London, 1842); * ''History of Ireland in the Eighteenth Century'', by W. E. H. Lecky, vols. iii., iv., v. (cabinet ed., 5 vols., London, 1892). * "Wolfe Tone's Provost Prison", by Patrick Denis O'Donnell, in ''
The Irish Sword ''The Irish Sword'' is the official journal of the Military History Society of Ireland containing articles on the military history of Ireland, book reviews, notes, notices, queries, illustrations and proceedings. It includes information on subje ...
'', no. 42, Volume XI, Military History Society of Ireland, Dublin, 1973. * "Wolfe Tone: Suicide or Assassination", by Patrick Denis O'Donnell, in ''Irish Journal of Medical Science'', no. 57, Dublin, 1997 (with T. Gorey) * "By fair and open war to procure the separation of the two countries," ''Footsteps in Time'' by Kevin McCarthy, published by CJ Fallon. * Chapter 13 "Theobald Wolfe Tone and County Kildare" by C.J. Woods; in ''Kildare History and Society'' (Geography Press, Dublin 2006) pp. 387–398. ed. by Nolan, W. & McGrath, T. * Elliott, Marianne (1989). ''Wolfe Tone: Prophet of Irish Independence''. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. * Elliott, Marianne (2012), ''Wolfe Tone'', 2nd edition, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
IrishKevinSmith.com




Memoirs by Jonah Barrington (1828)

* ''The Year of the French'' by Thomas Flanagan * "A Rough Guide to Revolutionary Paris: Wolfe Tone as an accidental tourist", by Sylvie Kleinman, in History Ireland 16:2 (2008) 34–39.http://www.historyireland.com/volumes/volume16/issue2/features/?id=114441 * "Un brave de plus: la carrière militaire de Theobald Wolfe Tone, héros du nationalisme irlandais et officier francais, 1796–1798" by Sylvie Kleinman, in Revue Historique des Armées France-Irlande n°253/2008, 55–65. http://rha.revues.org/index4602.html. *"Ambassador incognito and Accidental Tourist: Cultural Perspectives on Theobald Wolfe Tone's Mission to France, 1796-8", by Sylvie Kleinman, in Michael Brown and Rosalyn Trigger (eds), ''Journal of Irish and Scottish Studies'', 'The Auld Alliance: Irish & Scottish Connections with France since 1500', Volume 2: Issue 1, September 2008 (University of Aberdeen), pp101–122. https://web.archive.org/web/20121207153604/http://www.abdn.ac.uk/riiss/JISS/2.1/2.1_Kleinman.pdf * "Un brave de plus: Theobald Wolfe Tone, alias Adjudant-general James Smith, French officer and Irish patriot adventurer, 1796-8", by Sylvie Kleinman, in Nathalie Genêt-Rouffiac & David Murphy (eds.), ''Franco-Irish Military connections, 1590–1945. Proceedings of the Vincennes Conference (Sept. 2007)'', Dublin: Four Courts, 2009, pp163–188. *"Tone and the French Expeditions to Ireland, 1796-1798: Total War, or Liberation?", by Sylvie Kleinman, in Pierre Serna, Antonino De Francesco & Judith Miller (eds.), ''Republics at War, 1776-1840 Revolutions, Conflicts, and Geopolitics in Europe and the Atlantic World'' (Basingstoke, 2013). 83-103. *


External links

*
Laragy, Georgina. "Wolfe Tone and the culture of suicide in eighteenth-century Ireland", ''History Ireland'', Vol.21, Issue 6 (November/December 2013)

Bartlett, Thomas. "Theobald Wolfe Tone: An Eighteenth-Century Republican and Separatist"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tone, Theobald Wolfe 1763 births 1798 deaths Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Auditors of the College Historical Society Irish Anglicans Irish people of French descent Irish people who died in prison custody Irish politicians who committed suicide Irish prisoners sentenced to death Members of the King's Inns Politicians from Dublin (city) People who committed suicide in prison custody Prisoners sentenced to death by the British military Prisoners who died in British military detention Protestant Irish nationalists Scholars of Trinity College Dublin Suicides by sharp instrument in Ireland United Irishmen Alumni of King's Inns 18th-century suicides