Kieran Hannon

Kieran’s convict ancestor, Edward Woodhart, arrived in Australia on the convict transport, Guildford in 1820.  His interest in this ship led him to investigate those that travelled on her – including five whose crime were marked: ‘Cato Street Conspirator’. While much information was available about five conspirators, executed outside Newgate prison London on 1 May 1820, little was found about the transported men. 

Kieran’s research resulted in him being invited to speak about the transported men at a conference on the conspiracy and its influences at Sheffield University in 2017. He was then asked to contribute a chapter to the 200th anniversary book ‘The Cato Street Conspiracy: Plotting, Counter-Intelligence and the Revolutionary Tradition in Britain and Ireland’ [Manchester University Press 2020: Jason McElligott & Martin Conboy (editors)]. The organizers also encouraged Kieran to put his research and insights into his own book, resulting in ‘Designing & Dangerous Men: The story of the transported Cato Street Conspirators’ [Inspiring Publications].

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Kieran is a keen amateur historian whose main research interest is convict transportation. He is an Irish Australian who is living with his wife Catherine and son Sean in Letterkenny, Co. Donegal.

Kieran is presently writing a book on the transport ship, Guildford.