Isaac Nelson (1809 – 8 March 1888 Myrtle Hill, ‘Nelson, Isaac (1809–1888)’, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 200
accessed 16 March 2013
/ref>) was a

Presbyterian minister Presbyterian (or presbyteral) polity is a method of church governance ("ecclesiastical polity") typified by the rule of assemblies of presbyters, or elders. Each local church is governed by a body of elected elders usually called the session or ...

and an Irish

Nationalist Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Th ...

politician. Nelson was born in Belfast and educated at Belfast Academical Institution. In August 1837 he was ordained minister of First Comber Presbyterian Church. In 1842 he was installed in Donegall Street Presbyterian Church, Belfast. In 1860 he published THE YEAR OF DELUSION, which denounces the

1859 Ulster Revival The 1859 Ulster revival was a Christian revival in Ulster which spread to the rest of the United Kingdom. It has been reported that the revival produced 100,000 converts. The revival began in Kells and Connor in County Antrim. In late 1857, throu ...

as an outbreak of religious hysteria and criticises the official Presbyterian Church for treating it as miraculous while concealing its less edifying experiences. He also criticises the Irish Presbyterian Church for accepting assistance from American Presbyterian upholders of slavery. He stood for Parliament while still minister at Donegall Street. Having been elected, he resigned his pastoral charge and served as the

Irish Parliamentary Party The Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP; commonly called the Irish Party or the Home Rule Party) was formed in 1874 by Isaac Butt, the leader of the Nationalist Party, replacing the Home Rule League, as official parliamentary party for Irish nation ...

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

for

Mayo Mayo often refers to: * Mayonnaise, often shortened to "mayo" * Mayo Clinic, a medical center in Rochester, Minnesota, United States Mayo may also refer to: Places Antarctica * Mayo Peak, Marie Byrd Land Australia * Division of Mayo, an Aust ...

in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

of the

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was a sovereign state in the British Isles that existed between 1801 and 1922, when it included all of Ireland. It was established by the Acts of Union 1800, which merged the Kingdom of Grea ...

from 1880 to 1885. In November 1873, at a home rule conference in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

, Nelson emphasised the historical nationalism of Ulster Presbyterianism and expressed his view that no candidate in the next election would succeed without embracing

home rule Home rule is government of a colony, dependent country, or region by its own citizens. It is thus the power of a part (administrative division) of a state or an external dependent country to exercise such of the state's powers of governance wit ...

. His views were published in '' The Northern Whig Newspaper'' and were promptly condemned by William Johnston (not the prominent Orangeman of that name), the moderator of the

General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland is the sovereign and highest court of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, and is thus the Church's governing body. The General Assembly normally meets annually, during the first full wee ...

. The following year, Nelson attended and addressed the fourth annual meeting of the "Home Rule Association", held in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, England. In 1877, he was a founding member of the "Home Rule Confederation". He returned to Belfast and lived there in retirement until his death in 1888.

Named building

Nelson Memorial Church
is located on the

Shankill Road The Shankill Road () is one of the main roads leading through West Belfast, in Northern Ireland. It runs through the working-class, predominantly loyalist, area known as the Shankill. The road stretches westwards for about from central Belfast ...

at Sugarfield Street which currently is a Grade B1 Listed Building.'' The church, in 1887 was designed by William J Gilliland who also designed the Former Gresham Life office, Belfast by Albert Bridge, designed the Bank of Ireland building on High Street Belfast and the Crumlin Road Methodist Church. The bust of the Rev Isaac Nelson and the two World War Plaques have are located within th
Spectrum Centre
of safety. Nelson Memorial Church no longer functions as a church.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nelson, Isaac 1809 births 1888 deaths UK MPs 1880–1885 Protestant Irish nationalists Irish Parliamentary Party MPs Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for County Mayo constituencies (1801–1922) Christian clergy from Belfast People educated at the Royal Belfast Academical Institution 19th-century Irish Presbyterian ministers Politicians from Belfast