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| The Execution of Thomas Russell. From: http://www.historyireland.com/18th-19th-century-history/thomas-russell-united-irishman/ |
To say that the United Irishmen rebellion of 1798 was a failure is something of an understatement. One of its leading lights however, and an extraordinary figure and idealist in his own right was Thomas Russell, oddly enough a predecessor of Reginald Blackwood as Linen Hall Librarian in Belfast. Russell's dream of a United Ireland, free of English interference and sectarian division, and founded on principles that owed their origin to The French Revolution and Thomas Paine was not one however that was shared by the English establishment and Protestant Ascendancy.
In 1803 he was tried for his part in the rebellion, found guilty, and sentenced to death. He was moved to Downpatrick prison, and on the 21st October, brought outside the gates and publicly hanged and beheaded.
Surveying his jury in 1803, Russell is said to have remarked that at least six of them had in the past lent their support to the very cause that he was about to die for.
Sitting in that very jury listening - not necessarily altogether comfortably - was one Thomas Potter. Another jury member was Arthur Crawford, very possibly a relative of the James Crawford who was a partner in the Ballydugan Mill project.
Who knows whether any of these Potters, Nevins, Carsons or Crawfords were on Downpatrick Hill that day to see Russell's gruesome end? They certainly had the opportunity should they have wished to witness the spectacle however.
Whatever their inner feelings though, they must have all recognised that the days of Whig Club debates were over. In 1801 the English had passed the Act of Union and abolished the Dublin Parliament, thus creating The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The Anglican Church was to be the official church of Ireland, and Catholics were not be allowed to hold public office. The Prime-Minister, William Pitt apparently intended to follow up the Act of Union with some form of Catholic emancipation, but had to resign when George III refused utterly to countenance any such concessions.
Russell spent his last days studying the Book of Revelations, and indeed asked for a stay of execution so that he could complete his commentary. With a macabre touch of gallows humour, the judge turned the request down. The time required to reach a complete understanding of the Book of Revelations, he remarked, would mean that Russell would most certainly end up living longer than most of those present in the courtroom.
So when Elizabeth Carson wrote her final will in 1833 and made her bequest to the poor of Downpatrick to be distributed without regard to religious distinction, she may just have been thinking back to the days of the United Irishmen and their vision of a united Ireland undivided by sectarianism.
In 1803 he was tried for his part in the rebellion, found guilty, and sentenced to death. He was moved to Downpatrick prison, and on the 21st October, brought outside the gates and publicly hanged and beheaded.
Surveying his jury in 1803, Russell is said to have remarked that at least six of them had in the past lent their support to the very cause that he was about to die for.
Sitting in that very jury listening - not necessarily altogether comfortably - was one Thomas Potter. Another jury member was Arthur Crawford, very possibly a relative of the James Crawford who was a partner in the Ballydugan Mill project.
Who knows whether any of these Potters, Nevins, Carsons or Crawfords were on Downpatrick Hill that day to see Russell's gruesome end? They certainly had the opportunity should they have wished to witness the spectacle however.
Whatever their inner feelings though, they must have all recognised that the days of Whig Club debates were over. In 1801 the English had passed the Act of Union and abolished the Dublin Parliament, thus creating The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The Anglican Church was to be the official church of Ireland, and Catholics were not be allowed to hold public office. The Prime-Minister, William Pitt apparently intended to follow up the Act of Union with some form of Catholic emancipation, but had to resign when George III refused utterly to countenance any such concessions.
Russell spent his last days studying the Book of Revelations, and indeed asked for a stay of execution so that he could complete his commentary. With a macabre touch of gallows humour, the judge turned the request down. The time required to reach a complete understanding of the Book of Revelations, he remarked, would mean that Russell would most certainly end up living longer than most of those present in the courtroom.
So when Elizabeth Carson wrote her final will in 1833 and made her bequest to the poor of Downpatrick to be distributed without regard to religious distinction, she may just have been thinking back to the days of the United Irishmen and their vision of a united Ireland undivided by sectarianism.
