The Romantic Life of Thomas Trenor [pp. 130-136]

THOMAS TRENOR
THE ROMANTIC LIFE OF THOMAS TRENOR
TREASURER OF THE SOCIETY OF UNITED IRISHMEN
BY A. H. TRENOR McALLISTER
(ONE OF HIS GRANDCHILDREN)
-T SEEMS, as the first centennial
of the Irish Rebellion of 1798
' approaches, as though a brief
_ ~~ outline of the stirring life of
, Thomas Trenor, Treasurer of
,;-~ the Society of United Irish men, would not be inappro priate, a life so full of
varied adventure, that its narration cannot
fail to command the attention and interest
of all who read it.
Thomas Trenor, one of the chief movers
in the above Society, was, at the time of his
joining it, about thirty-five years of age.
This patriotic association was organized to
obtain Ireland's freedom from the heavy yoke
of England, and its ramifications reached all
over Ireland, including more than five hundred thousand members; it had, also, many
warm sympathizers in France, who were
130
ready, when the decisive moment arrived,
to send aid both in men and money to assist
the cause of Ireland; for this had been their
own cause but a few years before, when
France rose en masse and destroyed the
tyrannous government of the Bourbons.
Another of this Society's leading spirits
was Lord Edward Fitzgerald, between whom
and Mr. and Mrs. Trenor existed a warm
and strong friendship, cemented as it was
later by bitter trials and sufferings. Lord
Edward had married "the beautiful Parmelia," daughter of Phillippe "Egalite',"
Duke of Orleans, and this connection, doubtless, was one reason for causing the Irish
Society to look to France for aid in their
efforts to free their country from England's
domination.
On the appointment of Lord Fitzgerald,
First Treasurer of the Society, to the com