Henry Flood (1732-91) is generally twinned with Henry Grattan in most accounts of eighteenth century Irish History but he possesses a strong claim to be remembered in his own right. A man of great personal courage and formidable intelligence, Flood was a classic patriot of the eighteenth-century mould. Convinced that Irish Protestants deserved to be afforded the same constitutional political and economic rights as English Protestants, he devoted his life to the advancement of that case.

Flood's life and career also provide a fascinating perspective on local politics as he fought to retain family control of the borough of Callan, on the world of the intellectual elite in Britain as well as in Ireland; and on a personal level, on the odyssey of one of the ablest and most controversial politicians of his generation.