Edward Despard, who served in the British army, eventually becoming an administrator in the Caribbean before being ousted for his egalitarian distribution of landOn this week in 1798, Irish-born army officer Edward Marcus Despard was arrested at his home in Soho on suspicion of conspiracy of treason. The London Times reported that the arrest took place while Despard was in bed with a “black woman”. But how was it that an officer from a distinguished military family who had served with distinction in the British Army came to be publicly executed as a revolutionary? READ MOREBorn in 1751 in Coolrain in Queen’s County (as Co Laois was named at the time), Despard was educated at the Quaker school in Ballitore, Co Kildare, before joining the British army. The Despards never returned to the Caribbean; the Baysmen had successfully lobbied the British government to protect their interests.
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