Death of Lord Kilwarden

Emmet’s Insurrection.

Emmet’s revolt exploded on the evening of July 23, 1803. Mr Phillips, in “Curran and his Contemporaries,” writes:-

“Lord Kilwarden, the then Chief-Justice, was returning from the country, and had to pass through the very street of the insurrection. He was recognised, seized, and inhumanly murdered, against all the entreaties and commands of Emmet. This is supposed to have disgusted and debilitated him.”

A curious reason is assigned in a MS. before us for Lord Kilwarden “passing through the very street of the insurrection.” The MS. autobiography of the late Serenus Kelly, a well-known monk, was placed in our bands by the writer, on his death-bed, at Tullow, in 1859. Serenus was in Lord Kilwarden’s house on the evening of his death.

Colonel Finlay sent a message to Lord Kilwarden at seven o’clock on the evening of his lordship’s lamented death, apprising him that Dublin was about to be disturbed by a second rebellion, and an attempt to take the Castle. Lord Kilwarden ordered his carriage, and went over to speak to Colonel Finlay on the subject, to satisfy himself of the truth of the report. He took with him into Dublin his daughter and nephew, and directed the coachman to drive to the Castle through Dolphin’s Barn, to avoid paying turnpike from his seat, called Newlands, situate between Tallaght and Clondalkin, on the Naas road.” [Here the usual details of the *emeute *are given.]

“One of the insurgents asked who came there. The coachman answered ignorant of their design, ‘Lord Kilwarden.’ With that they pulled his lordship out, saying it was he condemned the Sheares [The mob confounded Lord Kilwarden with Lord Carleton See p.204, ante.] and they gave him, upon the spot, 14 pike stabs, of which he died about eleven o’clock next morning. Mr Downing, the gardener, went to see his lord-ship, and he heard Major Sirr say he would hang a man for every hair on his head to which his lordship replied ‘Let no man suffer in consequence of my death, unless by the regular operation of the laws.’

“This was said about eight o’clock on Sunday morning, while he lay in a guard-bed in Vicar Street, weltering in his gore. As to Emmet, I did not wish to witness his execution; but I saw the gallows erected, and a thrill of horror pervaded my blood as I observed the noose, black and greasy from the numbers it had launched into eternity.”

The person who received £1,000, on 1st November 1803, for the discovery of Robert Emmet, still preserves his incognito. Dr Madden, quoting from the Secret Service Money Record, says that “the above sum was paid into Finlay’s Bank to the account of Richard Jones:” and he adds that the circumstance of lodging the money in the hands of a banker leads to the conclusion that the informer was not of humble rank.

“Who was this gentleman Richard Jones?” asks Dr Madden. For whom was the money paid to account of Richard Jones?

“In the county Wicklow there was a family of the name of Jones, of Killencarrig, near Delgany. In 1815 there was a brewery kept there by a family of that name. They were Protestants - quiet people, who did not meddle with politics.

“In the county Dublin, at Ballinascorney, near where Emmet was concealed for some time, there was also a family of the name of Jones, small farmers, Catholics.

“There was a gentleman of the name of Jones, the Right lion. Theophilus Jones, a member of the Privy Council, a collector of revenue. He lived at Cork Abbey, Bray. He was a humane, good man in ‘the troubles;’ and interested himself much for the people.

“There were two attorneys of the name of Richard Jones living in Dublin at the period of Emmet’s capture.” - *United Irishmen, *vol. i. p. 392.

As Dr Madden desires to ventilate this question, we will drop a suggestion, tending, perhaps, to throw some light on it. In the *Dublin Evening Post *of March 2, 1784, particular reference is made to Richard Jones, Esq., a very efficient justice of the peace, constantly on foot in support of law and order, and praised by the Castle journals for his activity. There was also a very popular comedian, named Richard Jones, attached to Crow Street Theatre at this time. He mixed much in the liberal and Catholic society of Dublin, and must have been well known to Mr Long and Mr David Fitzgerald, both of Crow Street. The two last named, as appears from “The Life of Emmet,” were deep in the confidence of the young insurgent.

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