Samuel Neilson (17 September 1761 – 29 August 1803) was an Irish businessman, journalist and politician. He was a founding member of the Society of United Irishmen and the founder of its newspaper, the ''Northern Star''. Along with many other

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

s of

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 ...

, he was radicalised by the French Revolution. In 1797 he was arrested and the ''Northern Star'' suppressed by the Irish authorities. In prison during 1798, he took no part in the failed rebellion of that year. Later he went into exile in the United States, where he died of yellow fever.

Background

Neilson was born in Ballyroney,

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 the north of

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

, the son of

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...

minister Alexander, and Agnes Neilson and was, therefore, a " son of the manse".Dickson p.216 He was educated locally, but like many of his contemporaries was influenced by English Whig and Scottish Enlightenment thinking. Neilson was the second son in a family of eight sons and five daughters. At sixteen years of age, Neilson was apprenticed to his elder brother, John, in the business of woollen drapery in

. At the age of twenty-four, he established his own business in the town.

United Irishman

Despite his commercial success, Neilson was drawn to politics and had early on been a member of the reformist Volunteer movement.Mark, Joshua J., "‘A planet of light and heat’: Samuel Neilson and the Northern Star", ''History Ireland'', Issue 6 (November/December 2015), Vol. 23
/ref> In 1790 he acted as the election agent for Robert Stewart, the future Lord Castlereagh, when he successfully stood for the

constituency of the Irish Parliament. In 1791, inspired by the French Revolution, he suggested to Henry Joy McCracken the idea of a political society of Irishmen of every religious persuasion. He helped establish the

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 ...

in Belfast, at first a quasi- Masonic society. He was also a founder of the

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

United Irishmen, which functioned as a more open political club. His hardline support of the French Revolution led to him being dubbed "the

Jacobin The Society of the Friends of the Constitution (), renamed the Society of the Jacobins, Friends of Freedom and Equality () after 1792 and commonly known as the Jacobin Club () or simply the Jacobins (; ), was the most influential political cl ...

" by his friend and associate

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 Protestantism in ...

.Elliott p.132 In 1792 he launched the newspaper of the United Irishmen, the ''Northern Star'', which effectively bankrupted him. As its editor he was a high-profile target for the authorities and was prosecuted for libel several times, being twice imprisoned between 1796 and 1798. When war broke out between Britain and France in 1793 the United Irishmen became involved in military efforts to help liberate Ireland from the control of Britain while Britain was distracted due to the war with France. With the assistance of France, the United Irishmen began to wage a war against Britain to release Ireland from the control of Britain. Samuel Neilson was a driving force on the ground in Ireland, helping organise groups of Irishmen as soldiers in the battle of gaining independence from Britain.

Plans for rebellion

Along with several other "state prisoners" (persons imprisoned indefinitely without charge) Neilson was released in February 1798 following several petitions by influential friends, on grounds of bad health. Upon release he immediately involved himself in the

, aligning with the radicals among the leadership who were pressing for immediate rebellion and opposed to the moderates who wished to wait for French assistance before acting. The

were, however, severely infiltrated by informers, among them Thomas Reynolds, who kept

Dublin Castle Dublin Castle () is a major Government of Ireland, Irish government complex, conference centre, and tourist attraction. It is located off Dame Street in central Dublin. It is a former motte-and-bailey castle and was chosen for its position at ...

abreast of their plans and discussions. In March 1798, information of a meeting of the United Irish executive at the house of Oliver Bond led to the arrest of most of the leadership, leaving Neilson and Lord Edward Fitzgerald the only figures of national importance still at liberty. Opposed by the Sheares brothers, who were working to subvert the conscript militia and to initiate a coup, they decided to press ahead as soon as possible and on the basis of the movement's own resources.Cullen, Louis. (1993), "The internal politics of the United Irishmen", in D. Dickson, D. Keogh and K. Whelan eds., ''The United Irishmen: Republicanism, Radicalism and Rebellion,'' Dublin: Lilliput Press, , (pp. 176-196) pp.195-196.

Arrests

As the date, finally set for 23 May, loomed closer, the authorities went into overdrive to sweep up the rump leadership, and on 18 May Lord Edward was betrayed in his hiding place and critically wounded while resisting capture. Neilson, now with the responsibility for finalising plans for the looming rebellion, decided that Fitzgerald was too valuable to do without and decided to try and rescue him from Newgate Prison in

. Wary of confiding his plans too early for fear of betrayal, Neilson went on a reconnaissance of the prison but was spotted by one of his former jailers, and after a fierce struggle, he was overpowered and dragged into the prison.

Imprisonment and exile

Neilson was indicted for high treason and held in Kilmainham Jail with other "state prisoners" for the duration of the doomed rebellion outside. After the execution of John and Henry Sheares, Neilson and the remaining prisoners agreed to provide the authorities with details of the organisation of the

and plans for the rebellion in exchange for a sentence of

exile Exile or banishment is primarily penal expulsion from one's native country, and secondarily expatriation or prolonged absence from one's homeland under either the compulsion of circumstance or the rigors of some high purpose. Usually persons ...

. Following the suppression of the rebellion, he was transferred to Fort George in Inverness-shire,

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 ...

, and in 1802 he was deported to

the Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. From there he made his way to America, arriving in December 1802. Neilson was preparing to revive the ''Northern Star'' and bring his family over from Ireland when an outbreak of yellow fever struck the city in August 1803. He took ill while travelling up the Hudson River and landed at Poughkeepsie on Sunday, August 28. He died the next morning.

References

Bibliography

* Dickson, David. ''The First Irish Cities: An Eighteenth-Century Transformation''. Yale University Press, 2021. * Durey, Michael. ''Transatlantic Radicals and the Early American Republic''. University Press of Kansas, 1997. * Elliott, Marianne. ''Wolfe Tone: Prophet of Irish Independence''. Yale University Press, 1989. * Smyth, Jim. ''The Men of No Property''. Springer, 1998. {{DEFAULTSORT:Neilson, Samuel 1761 births 1803 deaths 18th-century Irish businesspeople 19th-century Irish businesspeople Burials at Poughkeepsie Rural Cemetery Irish exiles Irish newspaper founders Irish Presbyterians Writers from County Down Protestant Irish nationalists Ulster Scots people United Irishmen Irish emigrants to the United States Businesspeople from County Down