Chambers, Liam
(1996)
Politics and rebellion in County Kildare 1790-1803.
Masters thesis, National University of Ireland Maynooth.
Abstract
This study aims to provide a comprehensive examination of political
developments and rebellion in County Kildare during the turbulent period from 1790
to 1803. Kildare is of interest not only because it produced a large-scale rebellion in
1798 but because of its dominant liberal establishment. The most powerful figure in
the county, William Robert Fitzgerald, second duke of Leinster, was the most senior
peer in Ireland. His presence encouraged a liberal minded gentry. As political
divisions became more polarised during the 1790s the liberal position became
increasingly difficult to maintain. Maynooth College, founded in 1795, was viewed
suspiciously by loyalists in 1798 and 1803 despite government patronage. In the
years before the 1798 rebellion loyalist, liberal and radical divisions surfaced at a
local level. They continued to a lesser extent in the post rebellion years. The
disaffection created by and institutionalised in the Defenders and United Irishmen
and its interplay with local politics provides the context to politicisation and the
rebellions of 1798 and 1803.
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