Wolfe Tone

by Marianne Elliott

Overview

Theobald Wolfe Tone (1763-1798) was the founder of Irish Republican nationalism. As such his political ideas and the circumstances of his life and early death have become powerful political weapons in the hands of later nationalists. Today his name still arouses strong passions and he is hailed as the first prophet of an independent Ireland. Published originally in 1989, Marianne Elliott's book was the first major biography of Tone, using a wealth of new material to examine his personal life and public actions. Tracing him from his upbringing as a member of the Protestant elite, through his involvement in Irish radical politics, his exile in America, his secret negotiations with the French and return to Ireland with a French invasion force, to his trial for treason and his suicide while awaiting execution, it was a monumental publication that won numerous awards and gained much praise. This second edition brings this award-winning book up to date with new scholarship and new historical insights.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781786942067
Publisher:	Liverpool University Press
Publication date:	05/01/2019
Edition description:	2
Pages:	544
Product dimensions:	9.30(w) x 6.50(h) x 1.40(d)

About the Author

Professor Marianne Elliott OBE, is a Fellow of the British Academy and Director of the Irish Institute, University of Liverpool.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations and Maps ix

Acknowledgements xiii

A Tribute to Kay Dickason xv

Introduction 1

Part I Early Life (1763-1790)

1 Family and Education 9

2 Sentimental Schooling 24

3 Middle Temple 42

4 Gentleman of the Law 59

Part II Politics (1790-1791)

5 Whig 75

6 Radical 91

Part III Across the Religious Divide (1791)

7 Anti-Popery and the Rise of Presbyterian Radicalism 107

8 Argument on Behalf of the Catholics 116

9 Belfast and the Society of United Irishmen 128

Part IV Agent to the Catholics (1792-1793)

10 Uniting the Sects 143

11 Catholic Agent 151

12 Mission to the North 163

13 Ascendancy on the Attack 174

14 Catholic Convention 181

15 Hopes Dashed 191

Part V War Crisis (1793)

16 Witch Hunt 201

17 The United Irish Society in Disarray 213

Part VI Revolutionary (1794-1795)

18 Treason 227

19 Emergence of a Revolutionary 236

20 Exile in America 249

Part VII Mission to France (1796-1797)

21 Republican 'Ambassador' in Paris 271

22 Irish Invasion Plans 289

23 Adjutant-General 302

24 Bantry Bay 312

25 Roving Mission in Northern Europe 323

26 Demise of Hoche 337

Part VIII Final Days (1797-1798)

27 Mission in Decline 347

28 Crisis 361

29 Trial and Death 373

30 Aftermath 389

Conclusion: The Cult of Tone 395

Notes 403

Select Bibliography 471

Index 486

Editorial Reviews

Marianne Elliott ...is better qualified than anyone to crack the Tone conundrum. Her meticulously documented Wolfe Tone balances a narrative of well-judged pace-accelerating as it reaches the climax of Tone's suicide before his execution-with clear, often subtle analysis...This is the fullest account of Tone's life to date; it is readable and warmly but critically sympathetic.

Times Literary Supplment - Angus Macintyre