born Jan. 20, 1763, Dublin, Ire.
died Nov. 19, 1798, Dublin
Irish republican and rebel.
In 1791 he cofounded the Society of United Irishmen to work for parliamentary reform. He organized a Catholic convention of elected delegates that forced Parliament to pass the Catholic Relief Act in 1793. In 1796, seeking to overthrow English rule in Ireland, he convinced France to send an invasion force of 43 ships and 14,000 men, but the ships were dispersed by a storm. Tone again brought an Irish invasion plan to Paris in October 1797, but the principal French military leader, Napoleon Bonaparte, took little interest. In 1798, with only 3,000 men, he again attempted an invasion; captured and sentenced to hang, he committed suicide.