The Man from God Knows Where : Thomas Russell, 1767-1803

In the bicentennial decade of the United Irishmen, this study examines the life of Thomas Russell, one of Wolfe Tone's closest friends, who co-founded the Society of United Irishment both in Belfast and Dublin. "the man from God knows where?" Army officer, magistrate opponent of slavery, deeply moral yet somewhat of a roisterer, Thomas Russell cannot be sketched in black and white.

There is a "Russell enigma". Was he merely a dreamer? Or was he a man of invincible attachment to the democratic and republican cause?

This book gives an account of the years when the United Irishmen became a mass-based organization.

Increasing co-operation between Catholics, Protestants and Dissenters is traced as Russell forwarded the cause of unity through political and organizational endeavour.

People began to recognize that their division perpetuated their own oppression.

Russell's long detention in Newgate, his prison correspondence and his internment in Scotland, all form part of this story.

After release in 1802, he joined Irish emigres in Paris.

In 1803, his participation in Emmet's rising led to his arrest and execution in Downpatrick.