Bartholomew Teeling

Teeling, Bartholomew, a leading United Irishman, was born at Lisburn, of an old Catholic family, in 1774.

His father, Luke Teeling, suffered imprisonment for many years, as a suspect, through 1798 and the Union, not being liberated until 1802.

Bartholomew received a good classical and general education. He entered with ardour into the United Irish movement, and was well known and beloved by several of the leaders, especially by Lord Edward FitzGerald.

He enlisted in the French army under the name of Veron, and held the rank of captain in Humbert's expedition that landed at Killala in August 1798.

His bravery in the field was only equalled by his humanity in saving the persons and property of the gentry from the hands of the insurgent peasantry.

After the battle of Ballinamuck, he was identified and sent to Dublin for trial, despite Humbert's efforts to secure for him the same honourable treatment as the French-born officers.

He was tried by court martial at the Royal Barracks, Dublin, and made an able and manly defence, but was sentenced to death, and executed at Arbour Hill on 24th September (1798).

He died in his French uniform. His remains, with those of many other executed persons, were thrown into what was known as “the Croppy's Hole,” at Arbour-hill. [His nephew, Bartholomew Teeling, a barrister, who died in 1844, was the author of a Narrative of the Irish Rebellion of 1798, which passed through more than one edition.