From the Weekly Freeman’s Journal, 16 March 1918, this gripping illustrated account by Ada Peters (abridged) of the betrayal and trial of John and Henry Sheares, two Irish barristers executed for treason following the 1798 Rebellion.
“A Tragedy of Patriotism
It was a day in May, the sun shone pleasantly, and the promise of Spring had been fulfilled. Mr Henry Sheares, barrister at law, was on this day, Thursday, 10th May 1798, looking at the books in the shop of Mr Patrick Byrne, in Grafton Street… He was not very successful at the Bar, owing, it was asserted, to the enmity of the Lord Chancellor (Lord Clare), who had aspired to the hand of the young lady, who, preferring Henry Sheares, had become his first wife.
While inspecting some volumes at the upper end of the shop, Mr Sheares became aware of the entrance of another customer, with whom Mr Byrne entered into conversation. He was a tall, fine man, dressed in military attire… well known to the bookseller as the purchaser of several of the pamphlets and books of a Republican character… Mr Byrne approached Mr Sheares, and asked would he like to be introduced to Captain Armstrong, implying that he would find him agreeable. Mr Sheares immediately declined, not desiring any intercourse with strangers, and in a few minutes left the premises.
A short while after, Mr John Sheares entered the shop, and was asked the same question, and being told by Byrne that Captain Armstrong was a true brother, and could be depended on, was introduced and entered into intimate conversation with him under the impression that the gallant gentleman was ready to join fortunes with the party to which he was pledged.
Henry and John Sheares had been left good fortunes by their father… [They]… had in 1792 gone to Paris and in common with many other young men had frequently attended political meetings, and became sympathisers of the French Revolution party… and soon after returning to Ireland entered the Society of United Irishmen… Matters were coming to a head in the country, and information concerning the leaders in the movement was earnestly sought by the authorities, so in the case of Henry and John Sheares the services of Captain John Warneford Armstrong were enlisted, with the object of gaining an intimacy which would obtain the necessary proofs of their connection with the rebels.
So well [did] this emissary of the Government [do] his work that he not only deceived Mr Patrick Byrne, the bookseller, as to his real sentiments, but he also was able to impress John Sheares with the idea that he was not only willing to be a traitor to his regiment himself, but would influence others to follow his example.
In these beautiful May days following the introduction, John Sheares had several interviews with Captain Armstrong… in close converse he unfolded enough of the projected Rising to make Armstrong aware that he was gaining all he required, and as each day passed he added to the store of evidence that was gathering up against the brothers in the archives of Dublin Castle.
On the twentieth day of May… in the spirit of hospitality one might expect, Captain Armstrong was invited to share the family dinner and accepted the invitation. No stranger was present but the visitor, whom John Sheares introduced, and who ingratiated himself with the ladies of the party and the little children, who assembled in the drawing room after dinner. Mrs Sheares played on the harp, and the evening was regarded as one of pleasant social intercourse and kindly converse. Only in the mind of one present could be imagined the change a day was to make, and that the last family gathering had taken place. The next night the two brothers slept in Newgate.
Dublin had become accustomed to suspicion falling on persons in various walks of life, and, doubtless, there were many who knew that John Sheares had taken a somewhat active part in the proceedings of the United Irishmen. Henry, however… was an older man, married and with a large family looking to him for provision and protection… he was not aware of much that his brother was engaged in, and took no prominent share in the meeting of the party, which had included Lord Edward Fitzgerald among its members, as well as many other most respectable citizens.
There is no doubt that both the Sheares knew that the authorities were very active in searching out offenders, and the arrest of Lord Edward on the 19th May must have caused some uneasiness as to the success of the movement, now so near to its adventuring… Two days after the arrest of the Sheares the Rebellion broke out, and during the remaining days of May and through the month of June and the greater part of July the conflict raged in the various counties of Ireland where the insurgents had gathered and the troops had been sent against them.
On the morning of the 21st May 1798, a lady residing on the east side of St Stephen’s Green, looking out of her back window upstairs, saw a troop of soldiers surrounding the house which (then) stood at the corner of Pembroke Street, she knew that Mr Sheares resided in the house, and she watched, as far as possible, the proceedings, and learned later that it was Mr Henry Sheares who had been arrested, while before the day came to an end everyone in Dublin was aware that the two brothers were in custody on a charge of high treason, John Sheares having been arrested at the residence of Surgeon Lawless in French street…
Meanwhile, in the cells of Newgate lingered the Brothers Sheares. All through the long warm days and nights – it was an exceedingly hot summer – were they in confinement, knowing but little of how the battle went and whether their friends or foes were victors.
Busy preparing for the trial that was to decide their fate were the counsel allotted to the prisoners, striving to seek a loophole or a flaw in the indictment; pondering over the evidence likely to be produced, preparing the cross-examination to dumbfound the chief witnesses, and seeking by every means in their power to save the lives of their clients….
Alas, alas! All in vain. Before the closing dawn of the Rising in the country was announced Henry and John Sheares had laid their heads on the block and were no more.
‘A red-hot summer’ was that of 1798 and it was on the 26th June in that year that Chief Justice Lord Carleton, Baron Geore and Justices Crookshank, Chamberlain and Daly opened the Special Commission… the new Sessional House in Green-street was but a year in being.
A large number of prisoners were awaiting trial, the country had long been a disturbed condition, and arrests had been frequent. The Grand Juries for City and County were duly sworn and were then addressed by the Chief Justice. True bills were found against all the names there mentioned, which included Henry and John Sheares, and their case was listed to begin on the 4th July. On that date, accordingly, the Brothers Sheares were put to the Bar, and their indictment for high treason was read. The Court was composed of the same judges as had opened the Special Commission, with the addition of Baron Smith. By an Act passed in the reign of George III, introduced, curious to relate, by the father of the Sheares, copies of the indictment and the assistance of counsel had been granted to each of the prisoners, and J.P. Curran and W. Plunket had been selected to defend the two prisoners.
A point arose in connection with the nationality of one of the Grand Jurors who had found the true bill, and Curran argued the objection with his usual skill, showing that a Frenchman could not have the same ideas of allegiance as between the kind and his subjects from the fact of his being an alien and born under a foreign allegiance. The objection was, however, overborne, and the court adjourned. The 12th July was the day fixed for the trial, and at nine o’clock on that morning the Attorney-General (Toler), opened the proceedings by stating the case. For fifteen long hours during the heat of the day, passing from nine in the morning to the stroke of midnight was told the story of the Sheares.
Chief among the witnesses was Captain Armstrong, and each detail of his intimacy with the brothers was gone into, the talks he had with John Sheares, the discussions and calculations as to how many officers and men of the King’s army could be secured to carry out the projected rising, what position he would occupy in the future, and what plans were necessary for the taking of the camp at Loughlinstown.
Speeches were made by junior counsel for both Henry and John Sheares, and several witnesses were examined as to their character, but a fatal paper found in the desk of John Sheares, in the nature of a proclamation and also consisting of lists of organised and armed men in different counties, placed beyond doubt the fact that he, at least, was deeply involved, and he hardly expected to be acquitted. The chief aim of John Sheares was to protect his brother, and in the brief for the defence taken down from his dictation he in unmistakeable language tells his counsel to save Henry even at his expense.
It was twelve o’clock at night when Curran rose to make the supreme effort for his clients. Exhausted by the heat and long hours of the day, the eminent counsel pleaded for a short adjournment. The Attorney-General was appealed to, and though the Bar on both sides and the Chief Justice himself admitted they were worn out also, public expediency obliged the case to go on. All through the dark hours of the night, up to the early sun-rising of that glorious month of July, Curran laboured on. Step by step he pointed out to the jury the responsibility that rested on them in accepting the testimony of a man (Armstrong), who was an atheist, a non-believer in punishment hereafter for deeds done on earth… Curran explained with his great knowledge of the subject the statutes concerning the crime of high treason, and showed that more particularly it concerned acts perpetrated against the person of the King. He told how, in this instance, such acts were not contemplated, as his Majesty was miles away in the security of London…
Under much physical suffering, Curran spoke on. He closed at length with an appeal for mercy, and to let no unmerited victim fall. ‘Gentlemen, I have tired you – I durst not relax – as you deal justice and mercy; so may you find it.’
When Curran ended… Mr Henry Sheares asked to be allowed to say a word. Permission being given, though unusual to allow speeches after the Crown case had closed, he… asserted that the story as told by Captain Armstrong concerning him was ingenious, malicious, and fabricated.
The Chief Justice then charged… the jury [who] then retired to their room. After an absence of but seventeen minutes… [they] returned, and the foreman announced that they found a verdict of guilty against both prisoners.
The scene in court at this moment was most impressive as the two brothers turned and were clasped in each other’s arms. It was now 8 o’clock on Friday morning, the 13th July, and the court adjourned for a much-needed brief rest until three o’clock the same afternoon. At the appointed time the prisoners were brought up, and the Clerk of the Crown having read the indictment asked what they had to say why judgment of death and execution should not be awarded against them, according to law.
Henry Sheares thereupon made a piteous appeal to be allowed time to settle his affairs for the sake of his wife and children. He was so overcome with tears that he was unable to do more than utter a few sentences. John Shears next spoke, and desired particularly to correct an assertion that had been made, viz., that the people of Ireland were by his direction to give no quarter to any troops with whom they came in contact. This accusation, he said, lay heavy on his heart, and he desired emphatically to refute it, and stated that the favourite doctrine of his heart was ‘that no human being should suffer death, but where absolute necessity required it.’
‘Now, my lords, I have no favour to ask of the court; my country has decided that I am guilty, and the law says that I shall suffer. It sees that I am prepared to suffer… But, my lords, I have a favour to request of the court that does not relate to myself. I have a brother I ever loved dearer than myself – he is husband, father, brother and son all in the one person. I do not pray a pardon, but I pray a respite – his private affairs require arrangement. This is all I have to ask.’
This request was not granted. The execution was fixed for the following day. Mrs Henry Sheares waited for hours in a sedan chair in order to plead with the Lord Chancellor on behalf of her husband, and Sir Jonah Barrington succeeded in obtaining a respite, but owing to various delays he only reached Green street bearing the document in time to see the hangman holding up Henry’s head, and to hear him cry out ‘Behold the head of a traitor.’
[The church of St Michan’s], ancient even in the period when the Sheares brothers were being tried for their lives, stands close to the Four Courts and in near proximity to the Sessions House, and hither to the vaults beneath this sacred edifice were the bodies of the brothers removed.
[A]bout forty-four years after the execution of the Brothers Sheares, an eminent citizen of Dublin, Dr R. R. Madden… planned the writing of a history dealing with the persons and events of the Rebellion of 1798… it was while dealing with the case of the Sheares that Dr Madden resolved to visit the vaults of St Michan’s, to see for himself their remains… He at once noticed that the head of one – both were, of course, severed from the bodies – could not possibly have belonged to either of the brothers, as it was that of an elderly man; and he was also shocked to find that the coffins of both were in a deplorable state of dilapidation.
A few evenings after this there came to the house of Dr Madden a visitor, bearing a strange parcel. This gentleman explained that he had a relic which Dr Madden might like to possess, and from a tin box he produced the head of John Sheares, which, he stated, had been stolen from the vaults of St Michan’s some twenty years previously. Within a short time after this the benevolent Doctor… went again to St Michan’s, and with his own hands, he placed the remains of the brothers in two new oak coffins, putting the recovered head of John Sheares in that bearing his name, and had them soldered up, and so rendered to poor mortality such service and reverence as lay in his power.
Some time towards the close of 1843, after the publication of Dr Madden’s ‘History of the United Irishmen,’ he was asked by Captain Armstrong, then a man over seventy, to grant him an interview in order to point out some errors that he considered occurred in his dealings with the Messrs. Sheares… One or two minor points… had distressed their betrayer, and it is but common justice to Captain Armstrong to mention that he admitted he was wrong to have dined with them and was sorry he did so. To his credit also it must be stated that he… appears to have lived a quiet and respected life into a ripe old age.
In the National Portrait Gallery, Merrion square, can be seen a miniature of Henry Sheares. He is wearing a black coat, white waistcoat and frill. He is described as having dark brown hair, grey eyes, dark complexion, while of his younger brother, with whom he went hand-in-hand to the scaffold, we are told that he was tall, fair and handsome.
‘All seeing heaven, what a world is this!’
ADA PETER.“
Top Image Credit: The Irish Emerald, 4 April 1903, via British Newspaper Archives.
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