The origins of the 1798 Rebellion in Ireland can be traced to the setting up of the Society of United Irishmen in Belfast in October 1791, led by Theobald Wolfe Tone, Thomas Russell, Henry Joy McCracken and William Drennan. They came together to secure a reform of the Irish Parliament by uniting Protestant, Catholic and Dissenter in Ireland into a single movement. The society was suppressed in May 1794 and driven underground. 

Shortly after the defeat of the Rebellion in the North in June 1798, Robert Major was listed as a “fifty pounder” in a notice in the Belfast News-letter by General George Nugent, along with 20 other fugitives from County Antrim. This fifty pound reward came with a sharp warning to anyone who would aid or assist these men. They would be penalised and their property burnt. The residents of Cairncastle secretly hid him from the authorities and arranged for his escape to Norway.

Colin Shaw is a volunteer guide at Clifton House, the old Belfast Poorhouse and delivers a walking tour in Belfast, “1798, a Belfast Rebellion” for leading tour company, D.C. Tours. He has recently retired from public service and lives in Belfast.