- James Coigly
Father James Coigly ("Rev. James Quigley") (c.1762 –
June 7 ,1798 ) was aRoman Catholic priest andUnited Irishmen leader who was executed in Kent.Biography
Rev. James Coigly, sometimes falsely referred to as James O'Coigly [ p. 70, A Patriot Priest: The Life of Father James Coigly, Dáire Keogh, Cork University Press, 1998] was ordained in 1785 in
Armagh , lived briefly inParis and then returned to the Armagh diocese. A United Irishmen, he worked at improving Catholic and Presbyterian relations. Coigly traveled to England and Paris, where he was involved with the United Britons and with Tandy. [ [http://www.pgil-eirdata.org/html/pgil_datasets/authors/c/Coigly,James/life.htm] Coigly at Princess Grace Irish Library. Retrieved Oct. 09, 2007.] While traveling to France, he was arrested alongside four other United Irishmen, one beingArthur O'Connor , a leader of the Rebels ofLeinster . Upon his arrest, English authorities discovered a letter by the United Britons addressed to the French Revolutionary Government calling for an invasion of England, hidden in Coigly's garments.Coigly asked permission for a Catholic priest, and his jailers delivered a 'Castle-Catholic' reverend, loyal to the British Crown. They ordered him to refuse the last sacraments to Fr. Coigly unless the Rebel priest would give details concerning the United Irishmen. Father Coigly would not talk and the visiting priest left with no sacraments dispensed. He was hanged at
Penenden Heath ,Maidstone on June 7, 1798.See also
James Bartholomew Blackwell - Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-century revolutionary soldier.References
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