Wilson’s Court – The Story of a Belfast Entry and its Northern Star
Introduction
Wilson’s Court is an example of Belfast’s fascinating but often forgotten history. An inconspicuous narrow alley running from High Street to Anne Street, not only was it once home to businesses and families, it was also the scene of revolutionary activity and government repression.
Belfast’s Entries
Two of Belfast’s oldest streets, High Street and Anne Street (see links to respective posts below) are linked by a number of narrow entries.
This was the commercial centre of the burgeoning town and home to many of its early residents. The lanes such as Pottinger’s Entry (see link below to the post: Pottinger’s Entry – One of Belfast’s Oldest Streets) and Joy’s Entry were named after Belfast’s influential families of the time.
“The entries, as they were now termed locally, soon gained credence as right and proper places of business and can therefore be regarded as strategic centres of trade in the expanding town. They were also becoming residential areas. Wealthy merchants anxious to be in close touch with the commercial life of Belfast found it expedient to live in proximity to their business premises”
Kenneth McNally, The Narrow Streets, 1972
Wilson’s Court
Location
Wilson’s Court, named on a map of 1791 as ‘Willams Entry’, is a narrow lane that opened out into a courtyard. Precisely which Wilson it was named after, we have yet to discover.
In the 19th century the High Street entrance to Wilson’s Court was adorned by a pair of carved figures and lion’s heads. These were removed for some reason in the 1960’s.
The Northern Star in Wilson’s Court
The Newspaper
In the 1790’s Wilson’s Court was home to the printing presses of the Northern Star newspaper. The publication reflected the views and opinions of the Society of United Irishmen. This organisation had been formed in 1791 with the aims of reforming the biased political system in Ireland and extending voting rights to Catholics. The paper was liberal and egalitarian in outlook.
The newspaper was established by a group of Presbyterian businessmen – William Magee printer and bookseller, Gilbert McIlveen linen draper, William McCleery tanner, John Haslett woollen draper, John Rabb clerk, Robert Caldwell banker, and William Tennant, William Simms, Robert Simms, John Boyle and Henry Haslett all local merchants. Together they contributed £2,000.
The editor and main share-holder was Samuel Neilson, one of the founding members of the United Irishmen. Neilson’s shop and home was on Waring Street on the site of today’s Commercial Buildings (see link below to the post: Waring Street- one of Belfast’s oldest streets with links to Gulliver’s Travels).
“The twelve proprietors were opulent Presbyterian merchants in the town, who founded the Journal for the purpose of disseminating the aims of the newly formed Society of United Irishmen, and advocating the revolutionary views that had been so successful in France”
Francis Joseph Bigger, Ulster Journal of Archaeology, Vol 1 1894
Early Publication
The first issue of the Northern Star was printed by John Tisdall. It was published on 4th January 1792. The paper was subsequently printed by John Rabb. Rabb was one of the founding members of the Belfast Library and Society for Promoting Knowledge, today’s Linen Hall Library
“The entries were the source of a great deal of the literary outpourings of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century in Belfast. Stirring times and events demanded suitable vehicles in which the view points of the day could be brought squarely to the notice of the public”
Kenneth McNally, The Narrow Streets, 1972
The Northern Star was produced twice a week and cost two pence. It consisted of four pages of densely packed wording. The paper was of good quality and measured 13 inches by 20 inches.
The masthead of the Northern Star consisted of two female figures either side of a shield bearing a harp within an 8-pointed fiery star. Originally the shield was surmounted by a crown but subsequently this was replaced by a star and the left-side figure’s sword was exchanged for a set of scales representing justice. The motto was ‘The public will our guide, the public good our end’.
Northern Star Writers & Content
As well as its political message, the Northern Star focussed on local events and issues. The newspaper also supported the promotion of Irish culture and included poetry and music within its pages. This brought it a widespread readership, at one point reaching an audience of 4,000. Its aim was to encourage people to believe that reform was not only essential but within their grasp.
“A central objective of the United Irishmen was ‘to make all men politicians’, to encourage people to think about government, about the order of society and about the possibility of effecting change. Their newspaper, the Northern Star played a vital role of the politicisation of its predominantly Ulster-based readership and in shaping public opinion as a catalyst for political movement”
Brian MacDonald, Ulster Local Studies, Vol 18 No 2 1997
Among those who wrote for the newspaper were Presbyterian ministers Sinclair Kelburn (see link to post Sinclair Kelburn – the Minister with a Musket) and William Steel Dickson (see post William Steel Dickson – Confinement and Exile).
Another regular contributor was the Rev James Porter whose satirical, thinly disguised comments on Lord Londonderry, published in the paper, were to bring about his downfall (see post The Execution of Rev James Porter).
“By 1792, the call for parliamentary reform was, to the Castle, sedition in disguise. Even if the writers did not themselves desire rebellion, it was argued, they encouraged it by criticizing the government”
Brian Inglis, The Freedom of the Press in Ireland, 1954
Legal Proceedings
The Northern Star continued to be a ‘thorn in the side’ of the authorities. As the content criticised the English government and the corrupt political system in Ireland, and displayed overt support for the French Revolution, the paper was subject to continual harassment and intimidation.
In 1792 the proprietors were prosecuted for seditious libel. The original charge was for publishing an Address to the Volunteers by the Society of United Irishmen on 5th December 1792.
The owners were summoned to Dublin in January 1793. Here the charges were confused/ unclear and the defendants were refused sight of the warrant.
The trial did not take place until May 1794 before judge Viscount Clonmell. Now the charge stated was publishing the ‘inflammatory proceedings of a Belfast club’. The judge did not hesitate to give his own opinion, declaring “the publication was the most mischievous, flagitious and seditious that he had ever had the misfortunate to read”.
However, the newspaper was ably defended by lawyer and orator John Philpott Curran. The proprietors were found not guilty although the unfortunate printer, John Rabb, was sentenced to a term of imprisonment.
The “not guilty” verdict was obviously a popular one, for the accused men were treated to a lavish banquet in the Star and Garter Tavern in Essex Street, by delighted Dubliners.
Escalation of Violence
The Dragooning of Ulster
In 1793 the Society of United Irishmen was declared an illegal organisation. The offices of the Northern Star were attacked by an unruly mob of soldiers. Other premises of those suspected of liberal views were also damaged (see post Thomas McCabe – Champion of the Poor and the enslaved).
Ireland was placed under martial law and the brutal period known as the “Dragooning of Ulster” commenced. Burnings and beatings were commonplace; hundreds were deported and interned without trial.
Northern Star – Return to Court
In November 1794, the newspaper proprietors were again brought to trial on the original charge of publishing the United Irishmen’s Address to the Volunteers .
“How easily the judicature could be manipulated by the Castle (English government) in these actions was shown in the proceedings against the Northern Star”
Brian Inglis, The Freedom of the Press in Ireland, 1954
However, in a ‘flourish’ worthy of any television legal drama, Curran asked a prosecution witness to review the contents of a Belfast Newsletter article. This copy of the Belfast Newsletter, dated the day before the Northern Star’s publication, contained the very same Address.
The Newsletter originally characterised for its liberal views was by now a trenchant pro-government paper. To prosecute one newspaper for the publication of the Address and not the other was obviously unacceptable. The jury returned with a ‘Not guilty’ verdict.
The Arrest of Samuel Neilson (and Others)
In September 1796 the editor of the Northern Star, Samuel Neilson, was arrested and held without trial for 18 months in Dublin. The warrant was based on information from an escaped convict named Bird (alias Smith) who had been employed by the English government to infiltrate the newspaper organisation.
Brothers Robert and William Simms and the Rev Sinclair Kelburn, who took over the running of the Northern Star met a similar fate. Even clerks in the newspaper’s offices – William Kean and William Templeton, were arrested in the government’s attempts to stamp out opposing views.
“In late eighteen century Ireland the purchase of The Northern Star was as potent a symbol of freethinking, independent citizenship as bearing arms”
Gillian O’Brien, Eighteenth Century Ireland 13, 1998
Suppression
A printer, Thomas Corbett, was appointed by the owners, but he was refused permission to restart the publication. Subsequently, the military under Colonel Barber raided the premises and confiscated all the printing equipment from Wilson’s Court.
Despite these actions and threats of government reprisals, the Northern Star reappeared on the streets of Belfast.
In May 1797 General Gerald Lake, the Englishman in charge of the military forces wrote to Thomas Pelham, Chief Secretary of Ireland, expressing his wish to supress the Northern Star “…as it causes much mischief”.
Shortly afterwards, on 19th May, the government-backed Monaghan militiamen on a violent rampage broke into the premises of the Northern Star, smashed the printing presses and threw the type out onto Wilson’s Court.
The reason given for this action was that they wished to prove their loyalty to the Crown as four of their comrades had recently been executed for United Irishmen affiliations. Daniel Gillen, Owen McKenna, William McKenna and Peter Carron had been convicted on the word of two notorious informers William Newell and Belle Martin (see post Sugarhouse Entry – Belfast’s Forgotten Lane).
The Northern Star was silenced.
“The proprietors of the Star afterwards endeavoured to obtain compensation by law for this outrage, but the times were not favourable for them, and it appears that their claims were unheeded, or, at any rate, were unsuccessful”
George Benn, A History of the Town of Belfast, Vol 1 1877
No action was ever taken against the perpetrators.
The Belfast Commercial Chronicle
In 1805, in very different times, a very different newspaper was printed in Wilson’s Court. This was the Belfast Commercial Chronicle. It was published 3 times a week.
By 1840 the printing operation had moved to 6 Arthur Street, under the proprietorship of Anderson, Drummond & Son. The Belfast Commercial Chronicle ceased publication on 30th August 1855.
“The needs of commerce were served by the Belfast Commercial Chronicle, first published in 1805 from Wilson’s Court; it appeared three times weekly, on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday”
Kenneth McNally, The Narrow Streets, 1972
Wilson’s Court Residents
In 1822 Wilson’s Court contained 22 houses, the residences of 71 men and 73 women.
In 1861 Wilson’s Court was home to a number of businesses including James McAteer a tailor at No 21, Edward Nicholson, a picture frame maker, and E & G Pimm’s Wine Store. Other residents were George Rodgers, an engineer, John Rookin, a seaman, and James Rodgers who was a whitesmith. (A “whitesmith is a metalworker who performs finishing work on metals, such as polishing or filing, in contrast to a blacksmith who does heavy forging).
It seems strange to us today that so many folk could have inhabited such a narrow alleyway and courtyard.
Food and Refreshments
The historian George Benn, mentions one of Belfast’s principal inns – Gillets, as being situated in Wilson’s Court in 1804. The proprietor, Henry Gillet, also offered hairdressing services.
Writing of the 1820’s Thomas Gaffikin mentions Sheals in Wilson’s Court as one of the “places for our local epicures to meet”. This was later known as McNabb’s Tavern.
In 1822 the Donegall Tavern was situated here and The Harp Tavern in 1829.
Other establishments offering refreshments in Wilson’s Court were the Oyster Rooms of Peter McGahan, spirit dealer Mrs Peake (1868), the rear entrance to the China Tea House (1877), Mac’s Oyster and Fish Supper Saloon (1908), Baldo Meli’s Grotto Oyster Rooms and Restaurant (1918) and The Waldorf (1937).
The Mermaid Inn
In 1800 the Mermaid Inn was a popular ‘watering-hole’ in Wilson’s Court. This subsequently became the Rainbow Hotel and Tavern. In 1861 Mr Hugh Rafferty was the proprietor and in 1868 Mr Samuel McBride.
Today, back to its original name The Mermaid, you can still enjoy a drink and a chat in this hidden city centre pub.
Residents of Wilson’s Court
In 1890 Wilson’s Court is merely recorded in the street directory as ‘several stores and small houses’. However, in 1894 the residents of this cramped lane include E Gibson, a saddlers’ ironmonger, P McGahey a billiard marker, Hugh Campbell a butcher and William Thompson a porter.
At the turn of the 20th century there were around 40 people who called Wilson’s Court home. The occupants were mainly employed in manual jobs such as fishmonger, window cleaner, paper bag maker and general labourers.
In 1901 No 4 Wilson’s Court was a lodging house run by John and Catherine Campbell. As well as two sons, a daughter, a grandson and a granddaughter the building was home to four boarders.
Nos 5-7 was a public house; the manager David Griffin was from County Monaghan. In its long history Wilson’s Court housed grocery shops, bakeries, ladies’ drapers, a servant’s registry and even in 1800, a circulating library! (A circulating library is a commercial business that loans books to subscribers for a fee).
Wilson’s Court Today
Wilson’s Court today is only home to a couple of businesses, the most frequented being the bookies and the Mermaid pub.
The single-file width of the alley makes it had to believe that it was once such a populous, busy and important thoroughfare!
If only we could hear the voices that once echoed off these high walls!
Related Posts
High Street Belfast – A History
Ann Street, Belfast – The Early Days
Pottinger’s Entry – One of Belfast’s oldest streets
Waring Street Belfast – One of Belfast’s Oldest Streets with links to Gulliver’s Travels
Sinclair Kelburn – The Tale of the Minister with a Musket
William Steel Dickson – Confinement and Exile
The Execution of Rev James Porter
Thomas McCabe – Champion of the Poor & the enslaved
Sugarhouse Entry – Belfast’s Forgotten Lane
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