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The County gaol's most famous prisoner
was the United Irishman Thomas Russell, executed here
for his part in the abortive rebellion of 1803. For
many County Down people, Russell is "the man from
God knows where", immortalised in the ballad of
the same name by Bangor poet, Florence Mary Wilson,
which generations of school children learnt! However
the real Thomas Russell was an important figure in late
eighteenth century Irish radical politics.
Thomas Russell was born into an
Anglican family in Dromahane, County Cork in 1767. His
father and brother were both officers in the army and
Thomas joined the army at about the age of 15 and served
for almost five years in India.
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In 1790, Russell met Theobald
Wolfe Tone who was to have a great influence on his thinking.
In 1791, Russell, Tone and other leading radicals formed the
Society of United Irishmen in Belfast and Dublin. The aims
of the Society were to extend political representation within
Ireland and to work for greater union between the Protestants,
Catholics and Dissenters of Ireland. In 1796 Russell, who
had probably been appointed the United Irishmen's Adjutant
General for County Down, was arrested for sedition and spent
the next six years in prison in Dublin and Scotland.
After his release in 1802, he travelled
to France where he was reunited with some of the remaining
supporters of the United Irishmen, notably Robert Emmet. Together,
Emmet and Russell planned the Rising of 1803. Russell was
to lead the North, but he was unsuccessful in igniting a 1798
style turnout and the rebellion petered out. Tried in Downpatrick
and found guilty of treason Russell was executed at the door
of the County Gaol. He was buried in the graveyard of the
Anglican parish Church of Downpatrick, St Margaret's, in a
grave paid for by his great friend, Mary Ann McCracken.
2003 was the bi-centenary of the rebellion
of 1803 and the trial and execution of Thomas Russell. To
mark this year the museum organised a comprehensive programme
of events and activities designed to illuminate Russell's
life and times. This programme was attended by thousands of
people and was widely praised for increasing understanding
of one the most crucial periods in our history. The programme
received an Irish Museum of the year award for "Best
Access and Outreach Initiative"
Books and articles about Thomas Russell
- Denis Carroll, The Man From God-Knows-Where
(Dublin 1995).
- Brendan Clifford, Thomas Russell and
Belfast, (Belfast 1988).
- S Mac Giolla Easpaig, Tomas Ruiseil,
(Dublin 1957).
- James Quinn, Soul on Fire: A Life
of Thomas Russell (Dublin 2002).
- Brian Turner, "Echoes From The
Time" in Myrtle Hill, Brian Turner, Kenneth Dawson
(eds), 1798: Rebellion in County Down (Newtownards 1998).
- Brian Turner (ed), A Man Stepped Out
For Death: Thomas Russell and County Down (Newtownards 2003).
- CJ Woods (ed), Journals and Memoirs
of Thomas Russell 1791-1795 (Dublin 1991).
Documents relating to Thomas Russell
The museum holds in its collection a series of documents relating
to the trial of Russell. The documents are ten depositions
taken by local magistrates Matthew Forde and David Gordon
from various people who witnessed Russell's activities in
and around the Loughinisland area in the summer of 1803, the
official order to proceed with the trial of Russell and the
list of the jurymen (with the verdict of the trial written
at the end) who tried him.
The documents are included here:
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The Gaol
