A portrait of Theobald Wolfe Tone.

Theobald Wolfe Tone (1763-1798) stands as the founder of Irish Republicanism and the father of the modern Irish nation. A Protestant of Dublin, he rose above the divisions England imposed on Ireland and proclaimed the unity of “Catholic, Protestant and Dissenter” as the basis of national freedom. As a leading force behind the Society of United Irishmen, he sought not reform, but the complete overthrow of foreign rule and the establishment of an independent Irish Republic. In exile, he laboured tirelessly to secure French aid for Ireland’s liberation, culminating in the campaigns of 1796 and 1798. Captured after the rising of ’98, he faced his enemies with defiance and chose to end his life in captivity rather than submit to the Crown’s hangman. In his life and writings, Tone gave Ireland a doctrine of national liberation that has endured ever since.

Writings of Theobald Wolfe Tone