{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2019}} {{Infobox military person |name=William Lawless |image= |birth_date= 20 April 1772 |birth_place= [[Dublin, Ireland]] |death_date= 25 December 1824 (aged 52) |death_place= Paris, France |burial_place= [[Pere Lachaise Cemetery]] |allegiance={{Flagicon image|Green harp flag of Ireland.svg}} [[United Irishmen]]<br /> {{Flagicon image|Flag of France (1794–1815).svg}} [[First French Republic]] <br /> {{Flagicon image|Flag of France (1794–1815).svg}} [[First French Empire]] |branch= |service_years= 1800–1814 |rank=[[General]] |unit= [[Irish Legion]] |commands= |battles= {{tree list}} * [[Irish Rebellion of 1798]] * [[Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland]] * [[Napoleonic Wars]] ** [[German Campaign of 1813]] *** [[Battle of Dresden]] {{tree list/end}} }}
[[File:Père-Lachaise - Division 28 - Lawless 01.jpg|thumb|[[Pere Lachaise Cemetery]].]]
General '''William Lawless''' (20 April 1772 – 25 December 1824) was a Dublin-born surgeon<ref>Webb 1878.</ref> and important member of the [[Society of the United Irishmen]],<ref>Lyons 1998, Abstract.</ref> a revolutionary [[Irish republicanism|republican]] organisation in late 18th century [[Kingdom of Ireland|Ireland]].
Lawless, a Catholic, was the confidant of [[Lord Edward FitzGerald]],<ref>Madden 1860, pp 255.</ref> and Professor of Anatomy and Physiology in the [[Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland|Royal College of Surgeons, Dublin]]. Closely connected with [[Sheares brothers|John Sheares]] in the direction of affairs in the spring of 1798, a warrant for his arrest was issued on 20 May with a reward of £300.<ref>Madden 1860, pp 255.</ref> Timely notice was, however, given him of the fact by Mr. Stewart, the Surgeon-General, and he escaped to [[France]], where his abilities and spirit recommended him to the special favour of [[Napoleon]].<ref>Webb 1878.</ref> While in Paris, he spent time with other United Irishmen in exile, including [[Myles Byrne]] and [[William James MacNeven]].<ref>Byrne 1907, p 310.</ref>
He was placed on half-pay in 1800, but in 1803 was appointed captain of the [[Irish Legion]],<ref>Madden 1860, p 255.</ref> and in July 1806 was ordered to [[Vlissingen]], then besieged by the British, to command the Irish battalion. To reach his post he had to pass in a small open boat through the British fleet. He was dangerously wounded in a sortie, and when [[General Monet]] capitulated without stipulating for the treatment of the Irish as prisoners of war, Lawless escaped from the town with the eagle of his regiment, concealed himself for two months in a doctor's house, and at length found an opportunity of getting by night in a fishing boat to [[Antwerp]]. Marshall [[Jean Baptiste Jules Bernadotte]] welcomed him, extolled him in general orders, and reported his exploits to Napoleon, who summoned him to [[Paris]], decorated him with the [[Legion of Honour]], and promoted him to be lieutenant-colonel. In 1812 he gained a colonelcy, and on 21 August 1813 he lost a leg at the [[battle of Dresden]].<ref>Madden 1860, pp 255.</ref>
After the [[Bourbon Restoration in France|restoration of the Bourbons]], Lawless was returned, in October 1814, to half-pay with the rank of brigadier-general. General Lawless died in Paris, on 25 December 1824, aged 52. His remains were buried at [[Père Lachaise Cemetery]] in Paris.<ref>Lyons 1998, Abstract.</ref> [[Thomas Moore]] described him as "a person of that mild and quiet exterior which is usually found to accompany the most determined spirit."<ref>Webb 1878.</ref>
==Notes== {{reflist}}
==References== * Alfred Webb 1878, A Compendium of Irish Biography: Comprising Sketches of Distinguished Irishmen, Eminent Persons Connected with Ireland by Office or by their Writings, Dublin: M. H. Gill & Son, Sackville Street. (http://www.libraryireland.com/biography/index.php, accessed March 2, 2016) {{PD-notice}} * Lyons JB., 1998, William Lawless: an Irish and French revolutionary., J Ir Coll Physicians Surg. 1998 Oct;27(4):238-42. * R.R. Madden, 1860, The United Irishmen: Their Lives and Times, with Several Additional Memoirs, and Authentic Documents, Heretofore Unpublished, the Whole Matter Newly Arranged and Revised, Volume 4, James Duffy, 1860 - Ireland. * Miles Byrne 1909, Memoirs Of Miles Byrne: Edited By His Widow: A New Edition with an Introduction by Stephen Gwyn, Vol. I., Dublin - Maunsel & Co., Limited; London: A. H. Bullen *{{cite DNB|wstitle = Lawless, William |first=John Goldworth |last = Alger |volume = 32}} *{{cite ODNB|first1=J. G.|last1= Alger|title =Lawless, William (1772–1824)|first2= David|last2=Gates| id = 16164}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lawless, William}} [[Category:1772 births]] [[Category:1824 deaths]] [[Category:Military personnel from Dublin (city)]] [[Category:United Irishmen]] [[Category:Irish emigrants to France]] [[Category:Irish soldiers]] [[Category:Irish surgeons]] [[Category:18th-century surgeons]] [[Category:Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery]] [[Category:Irish soldiers in the French Army]] [[Category:Medical doctors from Dublin (city)]] [[Category:Recipients of the Legion of Honour]] [[Category:18th-century Irish medical doctors]] [[Category:Irish military personnel of the Napoleonic Wars]] [[Category:Irish military personnel of the French Revolutionary Wars]]