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History Professor Explores Radical Life of Irish Rebel |
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Erica Ryan |
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Jan 27, 2003 |
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Children in Ireland often grow up hearing the traditional stories their ancestors passed down, tales about fairies and other elements of Celtic lore. This oral history helps promote their knowledge of their country’s past and essential elements of Irish patriotism.
One aspect of that patriotism is the belief that land is a treasury for all — meant to be shared, not owned solely by the rich and white.
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| Dr. Peter Linebaugh |
This belief was held strongly by Edward Despard, an officer in the British army in the late 1700s, who opposed the way the English took over the lands of the people in their territories. Dr. Peter Linebaugh, UT professor of history, will explore Despard’s life and his execution by the British government in a new book scheduled to be published this year by the University of Cork in Ireland.
“Whether he was in Ireland or Belize or Honduras or whether he was in Jamaica, [Despard] was living among people who shared the land in forms of common agriculture,” Linebaugh said. “He was opposed to ‘land robbers’ — in this case, the English private proprietors. He hit the roof when they began taking over. And that’s why the Parliament of land proprietors hanged him.”
Despard joined the British army in the 1760s and served in Jamaica before becoming governor of the Bay of Honduras and other English acquisitions in South America. He later took over administration of the Yucatan. After he returned to England, he protested the land proprietors’ methods and conspired to overthrow the British government. When they discovered his plan, Despard was arrested and convicted of high treason, then executed in February 1803.
The concept of a book about Despard sparked the interest of the Cork University Press because of his role as a major figure in the history of Irish republicanism, according to an e-mail message from Nancy Hawkes, publicity and promotions executive at the publishing company.
“A seminal figure in the history of Irish republicanism, the life of Despard is without doubt the most fascinating of the period which inspires thousands on both sides of the Irish Sea,” she wrote.
Linebaugh, who has been teaching and researching at UT since 1994, will draw on his past travels to England and Ireland to write the book. He has visited County Laois, Ireland, where Despard was born, and knows where Despard lived in London.
“I think it’s important to go to places you write about — to experience it with your own eyes and your own feet,” Linebaugh said.
This is not the first book Linebaugh has written. In 2000, he published The Many-Headed Hydra: Sailors, Slaves, Commoners and the Hidden History of the Revolutionary Atlantic with Dr. Marcus Rediker, professor of history at the University of Pittsburgh. His past works also include The London Hanged: Crime and Civil Society in 18th Century, published in 1991.
Linebaugh said the 18th century intrigues him because of its wealth of missed opportunities.
“There seems to be many possibilities that human history — human life — could take than the one which it did: slavery, oppression, industrialization and the patriarchal family.”
Linebaugh is on a leave of absence this academic year to work on his research. He will return to campus this summer to teach.
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