Bartholomew Teeling was born c. 1774 in Lisburn, County Antrim, the son of a wealthy Catholic linen manufacturer.

Teeling returned to Ireland on 22 August 1798, as an aide-de-camp to General Jean Humbert, and landed at Killala Bay between County Sligo and Mayo with a force of French troops.

[3][4] On 28 August, Humbert's men captured Castlebar and the United Irishmen subsequently established the Republic of Connacht.

He cleared the way for a Franco-Irish victory by single-handedly disabling the cannon installed at Union Rock during the battle after breaking from the French ranks and galloping towards the enemy armed with a pistol.

[7][8] Teeling attempted to read the following statement from the scaffold, but was not permitted to: Fellow-citizens, I have been condemned by a military tribunal to suffer what they call an ignominious death, but what appears, from the number of its illustrious victims, to be glorious in the highest degree.

If to have been active in endeavouring to remove the fangs of oppression from the head of the devoted Irish peasant was treason, I am guilty.

Fellow-citizens, I leave you with the heartfelt satisfaction of having kept my oath as a United Irishman, and also with the glorious prospect of the success of the cause in which we have been engaged.