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Henry Flood enters parliament and becomes leader of the opposition →
- January 1, 1
Thomas Paliser Russell (21 November 1767 – 21 October 1803) was a founding member, and leading organiser, of the United Irishmen marked by his radical-democratic and millenarian convictions.
Thomas Russell, the United Irishman, was born on November 21, 1767, in Dromahane, near Mallow in County Cork, Ireland ,to an Ascendancy family that, early 1770s, moved to Dublin when his father, a veteran of the American War, was appointed Captain of Invalids at the Royal Hospital, Kilmainham
A member of the movement’s northern executive in Belfast, and a key figure in promoting a republican alliance with the agrarian Catholic Defenders, he was arrested in advance of the risings of 1798 and held until 1802.
He was executed on October 21, 1803., following Robert Emmet’s ill-fated rebellion in Dublin for which he had tried, but failed, to raise support among United and Defender veterans in the north.
His dedication to the cause of Irish independence and his role in the United Irishmen movement have left a lasting legacy in Irish history. Thomas Russell is remembered as a passionate and committed advocate for Irish republicanism.