Robert Emmet born and educated in Dublin, he was a doctors’ son, whose older  brother Thomas, along with Thomas’ friend Wolfe Tone, influenced him greatly when he went to study at Trinity College.

In 1793 he became involved with other nationalists and eventually joined the United Irish Society, taking part in the 1798 rebellion. With the failure of that rebellion and a warrant out for his arrest, he fled to France, returning to Ireland in October 1802, unsuccessful in getting support from Napoleon, but determined to continue regardless.

Upon his return, Emmet began to prepare a new rebellion. The rising went ahead on the evening of 23 July 1803. Unable to seize the Castle, things quickly escalated into a large-scale riot in the Thomas Street area. Sporadic clashes continued into the night until finally quelled by the military, with an estimated 20 military men and fifty rebels dead.

Emmet fled into hiding but was captured on 25 August, near Harold’s Cross. He was tried for treason on 19 September, found guilty and sentenced to death. He was executed on Thomas Street on 20th September 1803 aged 24 years.