A young lawyer who was among the first to be identified as a victim of last Friday night’s atrocities in Paris had strong Irish republican connections.
Valentin Ribet (26), an anti-corruption lawyer, had been at the Bataclan concert when he was killed. He had been working for the firm Hogan Lovells, specialising in white-collar crime.
He was, through his mother, a fifth generation descendant of Thomas Addis Emmet, older brother of Robert Emmet, who was executed in 1803 for his role in the Dublin rebellion of that year.
Thomas Addis Emmet, a member of the United Irishmen, was jailed for his role in the 1798 rebellion.
Released in 1802, he was in Paris when he heard of his brother’s arrest in 1803.
A lawyer, he emigrated to New York, where he became attorney general in 1812. He died in 1827.
In 1903 his grandson, Thomas Addis Emmet, a medical doctor and leading Irish-American activist, visited Ireland for centenary celebrations of the 1803 rising and took part in investigations to locate his uncle Robert's grave.
He died, aged 91, in 1919. He was reinterred at Glasnevin Cemetery in September 1922.
