Historian Fergus Whelan addressed a packed meeting of the Stoneybatter and Smithfield People’s History Project in the Cobblestone Pub, Dublin, on Saturday, 15th February.
The talk entitled ‘Oliver Bond and the king killers of Pill Lane – The dissenters of Church Street in 1798′ outlined the pivotal role that Presbyterian merchants played in establishing the Society of United Irishmen in Dublin.
Whelan traced the development of republican thought in Dublin to an earlier generation of religious radicals who arrived in Ireland with Oliver Cromwell. The merchant descendants of these dissenter radicals were nicknamed the ‘Kill Killers of Pill Lane”, after the area of Dublin where many of their businesses were based and their ancestors’ support of the execution of King Charles I.
Whelan described the colourful lives of radicals including Oliver Bond and Lord Edward FitzGerald. Their run-ins with Crown agents including Francis ‘the Sham Squire’ Higgins would lead to the defeat of the United Irishmen’s plans for rebellion in Dublin in 1798. However, this radical group lay the groundwork for the abortive rebellion in the city led by Robert Emmet in 1803.
The Stoneybatter and Smithfield People’s History Project is planning a local history festival in the area later this year. For more information or to volunteer to assist the festival see: StoneybatterSmithfieldPeoplesHistoryProject on Facebook
