William Steel Dickson
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William Steel Dickson (1744–1824) was an Irish Presbyterian minister and member of the
Society of the United Irishmen A society () is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Soc ...
, committed to the cause of Catholic Emancipation, democratic reform, and national independence. He was arrested on the eve of the United Irish rising in his native
County Down County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 552,261. It borders County Antrim to the ...
in June 1798, and not released until January 1802.


Early life

Dickson was born on 25 December 1744, the eldest son of John Dickson, a tenant farmer of Ballycraigy, in the parish of
Carnmoney Carnmoney () is the name of a townland (of 456 acres), electoral ward and a civil parish in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. Carnmoney is within the urban area of Newtownabbey, in the Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council area. It lies from ...
,
County Antrim County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, County Antrim, Antrim, ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, located within the historic Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the c ...
. His mother was Jane Steel and on the death (13 May 1747) of his uncle, William Steel, the family added his Mother's maiden name to their own. In his boyhood, Dickson was educated by Robert White, a Presbyterian minister from
Templepatrick Templepatrick (; ) is a village and Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is northwest of Belfast, and halfway between the towns of Ballyclare and Antrim, County Antrim, Antrim. It is also close to Belfa ...
and entered
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in November 1761. On leaving graduating he seems to have been employed for a time in teaching, and in 1771 he was ordained as a Presbyterian minister. Until the outbreak of the
American War of Independence The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...
he occupied himself mainly with parochial and domestic duties. His political career began in 1776, when he spoke and preached against the “unnatural, impolitic and unprincipled” war with the American colonies, denouncing it as a “mad crusade”. On two government fast-days his sermons—on “the advantages of national repentance” (13 December 1776), and on “the ruinous effects of civil war” (27 February 1778) created considerable excitement when published. Government loyalists denounced Dickson as a traitor. Political differences were probably at the root of a secession from his congregation in 1777. The seceders formed a new congregation at Kirkcubbin, in defiance of the authority of the general synod. In 1771 he married Isabella Gamble, a woman of some means, who died on 15 July 1819. Dickson had at least 8 children, but outlived them all. One of his sons was in the Royal Navy and died in 1798.


Volunteers and politics

Dickson entered with zest into the
volunteer movement The Volunteer Force was a citizen army of part-time rifle, artillery and engineer corps, created as a popular movement throughout the British Empire in 1859. Originally highly autonomous, the units of volunteers became increasingly integrate ...
of 1778, being warmly in favour of the admission of Roman Catholics to the ranks. This was resisted “through the greater part of Ulster, if not the whole”. In a sermon to the Echlinville volunteers (28 March 1779) Dickson advocated the enrolment of Catholics, and though induced to modify his language in printing the discourse, he offended “all the Protestant and Presbyterian bigots in the country”. He was accused of being a papist at heart, “for the very substantial reason, among others, that the maiden name of the parish priest's mother was Dickson”. Though the contrary has been stated, Dickson was not a member of the Volunteer conventions at
Dungannon Dungannon (, ) is a town in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is the second-largest town in the county (after Omagh) and had a population of 16,282 at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2021 Census. The Dungannon and South Tyrone Borough Counci ...
in 1782 and 1783. He threw himself heart and soul into the famous election for
County Down County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 552,261. It borders County Antrim to the ...
in August 1783, when the families of Hill and Stewart, competed for the county seat in Parliament. Dickson, with his
forty-shilling freeholders Forty-shilling freeholders were those who had the parliamentary franchise to vote by virtue of possessing freehold property, or lands held directly of the king, of an annual rent of at least forty shillings (i.e. £2 or 3 marks), clear of all ...
, failed to secure the election of Robert Stewart. But in
1790 Events January–March * January 8 – United States President George Washington gives the first State of the Union address, in New York City. * January 11 – The 11 minor states of the Austrian Netherlands, which took pa ...
he successfully campaigned for the election of Stewart's son (also Robert), better known as Lord Castlereagh. Castlereagh proved his gratitude by referring at a later date to Dickson's popularity in 1790, as proof that he was "a very dangerous person to leave at liberty".


Society of the United Irishmen

In December 1791, Dickson joined Robert White's son, John Campbell White, taking the “
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” of the first
Society of United Irishmen The Society of United Irishmen was a sworn association, formed in the wake of the French Revolution, to secure Representative democracy, representative government in Ireland. Despairing of constitutional reform, and in defiance both of British ...
, organised in October in
Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...
following a meeting held with
Theobald Wolfe Tone Theobald Wolfe Tone, posthumously known as Wolfe Tone (; 20 June 176319 November 1798), was a revolutionary exponent of Irish independence and is an iconic figure in Irish republicanism. Convinced that, so long as his fellow Protestants fear ...
, Protestant secretary of the Catholic Committee in Dublin. According to Dickson himself, he attended no further meetings of the Society, but devoted himself to spreading its principles among the volunteer associations, in opposition to the 'demi-patriotic' views of the Whig Club. At a great volunteer meeting in Belfast on 14 July 1792 he opposed a resolution for the gradual removal of Catholic disabilities, and assisted in obtaining a unanimous pledge in favour of total and immediate emancipation. Parish and county meetings were held throughout
Ulster Ulster (; or ; or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional or historic provinces of Ireland, Irish provinces. It is made up of nine Counties of Ireland, counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kingdom); t ...
, culminating in a provincial convention at Dungannon on 15 February 1793. Dickson had been a leading spirit at many of the preliminary meetings, and, as a delegate from the Barony of Ards, he had a chief hand in the preparation of the Dungannon resolutions. Their avowed object was to strengthen the throne and give vitality to the constitution by “a complete and radical reform.” Dickson was nominated on a committee of thirty to summon a national convention. The Irish parliament went no further in the direction of emancipation than the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1793, which received the royal assent on 9 April, and remained unextended till 1829; while the passing of Lord Clare's Convention Act, still in force, made illegal all future assemblies of delegates “purporting to represent the people, or any description of the people.”


Rebellion of 1798 and imprisonment

In March and April 1798 Dickson was in
Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...
arranging some family affairs. During his absence a plans were made for an insurrection in Ulster, and soon after his return Dickson agreed to take the place of Thomas Russell, who had been arrested, as adjutant-general of the United Irish forces for county Down. A few days before the county was to rise Dickson was himself arrested at Ballynahinch. Dickson was conveyed to Belfast, and lodged in the 'black hole' and other prisons, till 12 August when he was removed to a prison ship with William Tennant, Robert Hunter and Robert Simms,
David Bailie Warden David Bailie Warden (1772-1845) was a republican insurgent in the Irish Rebellion of 1798 and, in later exile, a United States consul in Paris. While in American service Warden protested the corruption of diplomatic service by the "avaricious" s ...
and Thomas Ledlie Birch, and detained there amid considerable discomfort. On 25 March 1799, Dickson, Tennant, Hunter, and Simms joined the United Irish 'State Prisoners' on a ship bound for
Fort George, Highland Fort George is a large 18th-century fortress near Ardersier, to the north-east of Inverness in the Highland council area of Scotland. It was built to control the Scottish Highlands in the aftermath of the Jacobite rising of 1745, replacing a '' ...
prison in
Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...
. This group, which included Samuel Neilson, Arthur O'Connor, Thomas Russell, William James MacNeven, and
Thomas Addis Emmet Thomas Addis Emmet (24 April 176414 November 1827) was an Irish and American lawyer and politician. In Ireland, in the 1790s, he was a senior member of the Society of United Irishmen as it planned for an insurrection against the British Crown ...
arrived in Scotland on 9 April 1799. Dickson would spend two years there. Unlike the more high-profile prisoners like O'Connor and MacNeven who would not be released until June 1802, Tennant, Dickson, and Simms were permitted to return to Belfast in January 1802.


Later life and death

Dickson returned to liberty and misfortune. His wife had long been a helpless invalid, his eldest son was dead, his prospects were ruined. His congregation at
Portaferry Portaferry () is a small town in County Down, Northern Ireland, at the southern end of the Ards Peninsula, near the Narrows at the entrance to Strangford Lough. It is home to the Exploris aquarium and is well known for the annual Gala Week Fl ...
had been declared vacant on 28 November 1799. William Moreland, who had been ordained as his successor on 16 June 1800, at once offered to resign, but Dickson would not hear of this. He had thoughts of emigration, but decided to stand his ground. At length, he was chosen by a seceding minority from the congregation of Keady, County Armagh, and installed minister on 4 March 1803. Dickson’s political engagement ended with his attendance on 9 September 1811 of a Catholic meeting in Armagh, on returning from which he was cruelly beaten by Orangemen. In 1815 he resigned his charge in broken health, and henceforth subsisted on charity. Joseph Wright, an Episcopalian lawyer, gave him a cottage rent-free in the suburbs of Belfast, and some of his old friends made him a weekly allowance. His last appearance in the pulpit was early in 1824. He died on 27 December 1824, having just passed his eightieth year, and was buried 'in a pauper's grave' at
Clifton Street Cemetery Clifton Street Cemetery, Belfast, holds the graves of a number of Belfast's most distinguished figures. The cemetery, whose entrance is at Henry Place in Belfast, is cared for by Belfast City Council and can only be accessed by prior arrangement w ...
, Belfast.Devlin 2016


Notes


References

* * * *Richard R Madden (1860), ''The United Irishmen: Their Lives and Times, with Several Additional Memoirs, and Authentic Documents, Heretofore Unpublished, the Whole Matter Newly Arranged and Revised, Volume 4'', James Duffy, 1860 – Ireland. * A.T.Q. Stewart (1998), "1798 in the North", ''History Ireland'', Issue 2 (Summer 1998), The United Irishmen, Volume 6 (available online at: http://www.historyireland.com/18th-19th-century-history/1798-in-the-north/. Retrieved 3 March 2016)


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dickson, William 1744 births 1824 deaths United Irishmen Christian clergy from County Antrim 18th-century Irish Presbyterian ministers 19th-century Irish Presbyterian ministers People from Newtownabbey