332 pp "In spite of having Admiral Nelson testify in his defense, Colonel Edward Marcus Despard went to the scaffold in 1803, accused of treason and plotting to assassinate King George III. Despard's execution ended a life of adventure and intrigue, and a career that encompassed the American Revolution, the Irish Rebellion of 1798, and the French Revolutionary Wars. A Protestant Irishman accused of plotting with a circle of conspirators within the Brigade of Guards to assassinate the King of England would seem to be of obvious interest to historians and biographers, but such has not been the case."