PART SIX OF OUR SERIES ON GREAT IRISH LEADERS

 

Raymond Hughes recounts the story of the 1798 rebel known as the Wicklow Chief. Born in 1772 in the Glen of Imaal, West Wicklow, Dwyer is one of the most famous rebels of the 1798 period. He had joined the United Irishmen as early as April 1797 when the movement spread to the west and he fought at both the Battle of Arklow and Vinegar Hill and led the rebels at the Battle of Hacketstown.

 

Michael Dwyer was born in 1772, the eldest of six children, in the Glen of Imaal, Co. Wicklow. He attended a hedge school when farm-work permitted. Young Dwyer was a bright scholar and thrived under the tutelage of Peter Burr, a graduate of Trinity College and a United Irishman. He instilled a love of country and freedom in Michael. Burr was also a fine teacher given the standard of high-level prose Michael could pen.

The Glen of Imaal was a harsh environment. Much of the soil was taken up with bog and peat. Michael chose the role of ostler to a prosperous family called Morris. He was “of a bold and daring disposition” according to his brother. These qualities would be tested in the savage rebellion of 1798.

Two momentous events set the scene for insurrection in Ireland: American Independence in 1776 followed by the execution of Louis XVI and the establishment of a Republic in France thirteen years later. The United Irishmen movement was founded in Belfast in 1791 as a consequence.

Wolfe Tone, a Dublin lawyer became leader. Its fundamental aim was legal equality for all religions, including the right to sit in Parliament. This radical rethink reflected revolutionary France: Liberty! Equality! Fraternity! These noble objectives would result in the 1798 Rebellion in which upwards of 30,000 perished in two short months. (In the Northern Troubles 3,500 were killed over a period of thirty years).

When war broke out between Britain and France in 1793 the organisation was banned. The United Irishmen then reorganised their members along paramilitary lines as a secret society. The movement flourished, in the north and along the eastern seaboard to include most of Leinster.

By May 1798 the Government was determined to break the United Irishmen’s organisation before its Executive Director gave the signal for rebellion. Brutal tactics were employed including killings, floggings and the dreaded pitch cap. The movement remained strong in Leinster and held firm. Meath, Kildare, Wicklow and Wexford had approximately 12,000 members in each county ready to rise. Blacksmiths fashioned pikes by the thousand to counteract the bayonet, recently introduced by the British army

The government’s crackdown reached Wicklow in late May. The Yeomanry saw an upsurge in recruits eager to defend the status quo. Headed by local Protestant gentry, small farmers and tradesmen made up its rank and file. Protestants and some Catholics joined. The British Army – the feared Redcoats – assisted in Wicklow and Wexford when full-on battles raged.

By the May 23rd Kildare was in revolt. The loyalist population around Dunlavin, just over the county boundary in Wicklow, fled there for protection. Twenty-eight Catholic yeomen, secretly United Irishmen, were executed in the town square that same day by a platoon of Ancient Britons, a Welsh regiment. Eight other captured rebels were hanged at the Market House. Soldiers’ wives and camp followers rifled the bodies of the murdered men.

News of the slaughter convinced Fr John Murphy to lead the rebellion at Boolavogue. It had a similar effect on Michael Dwyer. His uncle John Dwyer had been one of the United Irishmen murdered in Dunlavin. It enraged him, a slow burning anger that would never be extinguished. Within days Wexford county and south Wicklow were aflame.

Continue reading in this week’s Ireland’s Own