Stokes was the grandson of a Deputy Surveyor of Ireland, and the son of Gabriel Stokes, a Trinity College Fellow. Despite this pedigree, and possibly with little evidence except his complaints against the mistreatment of the Irish people, Stokes was, in 1798, suspended from his teaching position at Trinity College. This action was on the grounds he was sympathetic to the Republican insurgency.
Wolfe Tone had no doubts about Stokes's sincere concern for the Irish people. Here is how Tone summarized Stokes:
"With regard to Stokes, I know he is acting rigidly on principle, for I know he is incapable of acting otherwise; but I fear very much that his very metaphysical unbending purity, which can accommodate itself neither to men, times, nor circumstances, will always prevent his being of any service to his country, which is a thousand pities: for I know no man whose virtues and whose talents I more sincerely reverence. I see only one place fit for him and, after all, if Ireland were independent, I believe few enlightened Irishmen would oppose his being placed there — I mean at the head of a system of national education."
This quote is from the journal Tone kept. Of course, for purposes of revolutionary security, the players all had code names. Tone called Stokes, 'The Keeper of the College Lions." This was May, 1798. Tone would die in a British prison in 6 months. Whitley Stokes, later, in the words of Robert R. Madden, United Irishmen, their Lives and Times (1858-60):
was co-optated a senior fellow; [1805, at Trinity College,] in 1816 he was appointed Lecturer on Natural History; and in 1830, became Regius Professor of Physic to the University, which appointment he held until 1842, when he was succeeded by his more distinguished son. He died at his residence in Harcourt street, Dublin, 13th April, 1845, aged 82.
Tone would live a saint in Irish hearts. Stokes would die a footnote in Irish history, unknown at all outside his native Ireland.
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