Francis Magan (24 May 1774 – 1843) was a barrister and the

informer An informant (also called an informer or, as a slang term, a “snitch”) is a person who provides privileged information about a person or organization to an agency. The term is usually used within the law-enforcement world, where informan ...

who procured the death of

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 ...

through felon-setting.

Early life

He was born 24 May 1774 in

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 ...

, descended of an ancient Catholic family from Co. Westmeath, the Magans of Umma-more (Emoe). His grandfather, James Magan, established a medical practice in Dublin, where he was succeeded by his eldest son, Richard. Thomas Magan, James's second son, became a woollen draper, establishing himself at 49 High Street, Dublin. Active politically, Thomas represented

Dundalk Dundalk ( ; ga, Dún Dealgan ), meaning "the fort of Dealgan", is the county town (the administrative centre) of County Louth, Ireland. The town is on the Castletown River, which flows into Dundalk Bay on the east coast of Ireland. It is h ...

at the Catholic Convention of 1792. He was named wool draper and mercer to 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 1794, an honorary title he probably owed to his friend Francis Higgins, a notorious scoundrel known as the "Sham Squire", owner of a well-known government "print" (newspaper), '' The Freeman's Journal''. Magan was admitted to Trinity College, Dublin in 1788, although he did not attend before 1791. He joined the

College Historical Society The College Historical Society (CHS) – popularly referred to as The Hist – is a debating society at Trinity College Dublin. It was established within the college in 1770 and was inspired by the club formed by the philosopher Edmund ...

but was never active. In May 1794, he signed the oath of loyalty to the British monarch required of any Catholic barrister and went to

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

to study at Lincoln's Inn.

Career

Returning to Dublin in 1796, he was admitted to the Irish Bar, the King's Inns, in Michelmas term. The published records of the King's Inns state that he had been employed in the Irish revenue service. Magan's historical notoriety originates from a single act. During April–May 1798 he informed the British government several times of the whereabouts of

on Thomas Street, just as the latter prepared to take the field at the head of thousands of Croppies during the

1798 Rising The Irish Rebellion of 1798 ( ga, Éirí Amach 1798; Ulster-Scots: ''The Hurries'') was a major uprising against British rule in Ireland. The main organising force was the Society of United Irishmen, a republican revolutionary group influence ...

. Lord Edward's arrest on 19 May deprived the

United Irishmen The Society of United Irishmen was a sworn association in the Kingdom of Ireland formed in the wake of the French Revolution to secure "an equal representation of all the people" in a national government. Despairing of constitutional refor ...

of their most charismatic leader, on whose head the British had put a price of £1,000, equivalent to £1.5m in 2015. Magan passed this to the Castle without being discovered or even suspected during his lifetime, probably because of his otherwise unremarkable life. He had found out Lord Edward's whereabouts through his involvement with the

, being a member of to its committee responsible for Dublin. He hosted a meeting of this committee on the night of 17 May 1798. Lord Edward attended and may have passed the night in Magan's house. Magan sold this information on to

Dublin Castle Dublin Castle ( ga, Caisleán Bhaile Átha Cliath) is a former Motte-and-bailey castle and current Irish government complex and conference centre. It was chosen for its position at the highest point of central Dublin. Until 1922 it was the s ...

the next day, provoking Major Sirr with a body of soldiers to apprehend Lord Edward as he departed from the rear of 20 Usher's Island (Dublin), Usher's Island at dusk. Given further information by Magan, Sirr found Lord Edward suffering from fever in 153 Thomas Street and shot him during a struggle, and he died in Newgate Prison, Dublin, some days later. It was only with the publication of William John Fitzpatrick, W. J. Fitzpatrick's ''Secret Service Under William Pitt the Younger, Pitt'' a century later in 1892 that Magan was unveiled as the traitor. Francis Higgins was paid the £1,000 for betraying Lord Edward, and Magan got £300 a year. A fortune bequeathed by one Francis Magan led to the foundation of St. Vincent's Hospital, Fairview,

in 1857.

References

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Magan, Francis 1774 births 1843 deaths Lawyers from Dublin (city) Alumni of Trinity College Dublin British military intelligence informants Irish spies United Irishmen