Analysis: The Wicklow rebel was the object of widespread devotion on a level that set him apart from most of his United Irishman contemporaries
Wicklow rebel Michael Dwyer was a household name in Ireland for over a century and remains well known in his native county and Australia. His exploits were widely extolled by Nationalists during the Celtic revival period of the late 1900s, at a time when there were no reliable historical assessments of the revolutionary years of 1798 to 1803. While many stories then circulated about Dwyer were apocryphal, the fact remains that he was the object of widespread devotion on a level that set him apart from most United Irishman contemporaries.
This has its roots in the extraordinary real life of the ‘Wicklow Chief’. The Dwyers of west Wicklow originated in Co Tipperary, where their clan’s hereditary properties were confiscated by the Crown and allocated to incoming ‘planters’ by the late 1660s. A link to the landed Pennefeathers is suggested by the joint presence of both Tipperary families in Wicklow’s barony of Talbotstown in the early 1700s. His mother was Mary Byrne, a member of Wicklow’s famed sept whose military and political skill helped delay the ‘shiring’ of the county until 1606.
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From RTÉ Archives, Eileen Magnier reports for RTÉ News in 1988 about the launch of Upon the Mercy of Government, Kieran Sheedy's book on the career of Michael Dwyer
Born in 1772 into a family of modest upland farmers in Camera, Dwyer was literate as a youth and a member of the United Irishmen by early 1797. The illegal organisation sought to create an Irish Republic along the lines of those achieved by force of arms in the United States of America and France. Wolfe Tone's vision of uniting 'Protestant, Catholic and Dissenter (i.e. Presbyterian)' was an equitable solution given Ireland’s demography. This was especially so in Wicklow where, mirroring their community, one third of the United Irishman elected to the ruling County Committee were Church of Ireland.
A brutal crackdown by Dublin Castle resulted in the arrest, expulsion and execution of numerous men in Dwyer’s circle. Close relative John Dwyer of Seskin was put to death during the Dunlavin massacre of 24 May, 1798 arising from his status as a barony level leader. Along with cousins Hugh ‘Vesty’ Byrne and Arthur Devlin, Dwyer took part in fighting at several major engagements against the army, militia and yeomanry in Wicklow and North Wexford. Staunch conduct in the bloody months of June and July 1798 earned him the rank of captain.
Dwyer's dynamism, charisma and independence marked him as a leader of note in the mountains of his native county. He was a most important ally of the much-underrated rebel General Joseph Holt, whose coalition of militants refused terms until November 1798, two months after the containment of the French incursion. Dwyer refused the conditional pardon on offer. Powerless to prevent the courtmartial and execution of William ‘Billy’ Byrne of Ballymanus and other major insurgents, Dwyer’s men pursued a ruthless and effective campaign of assassination against prosecution witnesses in 1799 to 1800. I
From RTÉ, Great Irish Journeys sees Dáithí Ó Sé following the path of Michael Dwyer from the Wicklow mountains to opening a bar in Australia (first broadcast 2013)
In general, the rebels acted defensively but were quick to retaliate when threatened in their home areas. Using a network of supporters, the faction assembled and dispersed at will and could not be located by sweeps of thousands of soldiers. None dared claim the substantial bounties offered by Dublin Castle. Elaborate dugouts provided temporary shelter from the elements in the mountains, a harsh existence punctuated by periods of rest in the Liberties in Dublin's south inner city, where hundreds of former rebels had relocated to avoid persecution.
The willingness and capacity of the militants to persist after the Act of Union brought Ireland directly under Westminster in 1801 engendered Dwyer with political significance. A narrow nighttime escape from the Glengarry Highlanders in the early hours of 16 February 1799 created an aura of invincibility counterpointed by the sacrificial death of comrade Sam McAllister during the same incident at Derrynamuck. This echoed into May 1904, when the Antrim man was commemorated with a life-size statue in Baltinglass. In December 2003, then Taoiseach Bertie Ahern unveiled a stone memorial near the site.
Dwyer's close interaction with Robert Emmet merged the biographies of two national icons. Ann Devlin, Dwyer’s niece, played a courageous role as courier to the United Irishman Directory in 1802-1803, at which time her brother Arthur was a major activist. Popular myths wrongly maintained that Dwyer rejected involvement in the Rising of 1803 and was unimpressed by Emmet. More importantly, the mere existence of Wicklowmen under arms within a day’s walk of the capital embarrassed the Castle during time of war with France. It was not coincidental that the construction of the Military Road into the mountains was accompanied by adding expensive barracks inside Dwyer’s strongholds of Imaal and Glenmalure.
Mass arrests of persons linked to the Dwyer faction coupled with a correct assessment that the French would not return in the near future induced the main personalities to accept terms to stand down. They understood passage to the United States was on the table and, with this in mind, William Hoare Hume MP arranged their surrender on 14 December 1803.
But within a short period, it was evident that they would follow almost 1,000 United Irishmen to Australia. Although embarked on the Tellicherry prison ship, they crucially sailed with their dependents as free men. In February 1806, the Dwyer group were granted contiguous 100-acre farms in Cabramatta, western Sydney. As with many ex-United Irishmen, Dwyer became a constable in what remained a penal colony. He opened the Harrow Inn, named after a Wexford skirmish of May 1798.
Financial issues led to brief but debilitating imprisonment for debt, and he died suddenly from dysentery on 23 August 1825. Perhaps 150,000 observed the May 1898 removal of the remains of Michael and Mary Dwyer for reinterment in Waverley Cemetery. By April 1900, their tomb was surmounted by the spectacular Patriots Monument, globally among the largest of its kind to Irish revolutionaries. This remains the focal point of Easter commemorations in Australia. A glass sculpture honouring Dwyer was unveiled in the Glenmalure Valley in August 2025, a testament to the enduring appeal of the Wicklowman’s story.
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