Edmund Sexten Pery was one of the great Irish parliamentarians of the eighteenth century. His political career, as a prominent patriot in the 1750s and 1760s and later as Speaker of the Irish House of Commons between 1771 and 1785, ensured that he was at the heart of political life and government in Ireland. Pery' s prominent role in shaping patriot ideology and the hidden part he played in securing ' Free Trade' in 1779 and legislative independence in 1782 is explored in this biography, as are the successes and failures of the economic and urban projects he championed.