McNally). The only witness against them was Armstrong, but additional evidence was furnished in the shape of an inflammatory proclamation, intended to be published when the revolt was announced, written avowedly by John, but found in Henry's possession. In the existing state of the law of treason in Ireland (1 & 2 Philip & Mary, cap. 10, unmodified by 7 & 8 Will. III, cap. 3), one accuser was held to be sufficient.
The trial had proceeded for fifteen hours when Curran, sinking with exhaustion, moved for an adjournment. The motion was opposed by the attorney-general, John Toler (subsequently fourth Earl of Norbury) [q. v.], and at eight o'clock on the following morning a verdict of ‘guilty’ against both the prisoners was returned. A painful scene followed (cf. Lady Wilde's poem, The Brothers). Desperate efforts were made to save the life of Henry, whom the fear of death and the fate awaiting his family completely unmanned. John's only thought was for his brother, for whose fate he felt he was responsible (cf. Barrington, Rise and Fall of the Irish Nation, p. 365). After the trial the brothers were removed to Newgate. None of their friends or relatives were admitted to see them, and on the following day (14 July) they were publicly executed before the prison. Their heads were cut off and, with their bodies, laid in the crypt of St. Michan's.
Henry Sheares (1753–1798), John's senior by thirteen years, born at Cork in 1753, was educated at Trinity College, Dublin. He entered the army, but three years afterwards resigned his commission in the 51st regiment of foot, and, adopting the legal profession, was called to the bar in Michaelmas term 1789. He married, in April 1782, Alicia Swete, a lady who for his sake had rejected the hand of John Fitzgibbon (subsequently Earl of Clare) [q. v.] She was reputed an heiress, but, owing to her father's failure, brought no dowry to her husband. She was the mother of four children, and died on 11 Dec. 1791, being buried in the churchyard of St. Peter's, Aungier Street. The children were taken charge of by her parents, who were living in France, and it was while visiting them there that Henry imbibed his notions of republicanism. He had inherited the bulk of his father's property, amounting to about 1,200l. a year, but his extravagance compelled him more than once to draw on the slender resources of his brother. He married, secondly, in 1795, Sarah Neville, of Mary Mount, co. Kilkenny, by whom he had two children. As a barrister he was not very successful. In his political action he was wholly governed by the stronger will of his brother.
[Madden's United Irishmen, 1st ser. vol. ii.; Dublin Mag. 1798; Doran's Lough of Cork in Journal of the Cork Hist. Archæol. Soc. 1st ser. ii. 237–42; Tenison's Private Bankers of Cork, ib. 1st ser. i. 245, and Cork M.P.s, ib. 2nd ser. ii. 276; Castlereagh Corresp. i. 148, 150, 227, 258; Fitzpatrick's Secret Service under Pitt, 2nd edit.; Howell's State Trials, xxvii. 255–398; O'Keeffe's Life and Times of O'Connell, i. 37; Lecky's England in the Eighteenth Century, viii. 33, 48, 189–91; Froude's English in Ireland, ed. 1887, iii. 319, 390, 396, 397, 403, 511, 528.]
