Monthly Archives: March 2021

The James Kane Foundation was set up in 2016 with the key purpose to advance education, mainly for people living in Portadown and its environs but also elsewhere in Northern Ireland. The Foundation, through Clifton House and Belfast Charitable Society, are currently recruiting for a Foundation Manager. For more information on the post and to apply click here  

Dr William Drennan was the youngest son of Rev Thomas Drennan, minister of the First Presbyterian Church Belfast, and Anne Lennox. During this period Presbyterians were impacted by the Penal Codes, and as such many ‘sons of the manse’ attended university in Scotland. William Drennan studied arts in Glasgow (1772) and completed his medical studies in Edinburgh (1778). On his return to Ireland he practised in Belfast, Newry and Dublin. During his time in Belfast he took an active interest in the Poor House, having been one of the original subscribers in 1774. On this day (9 March) 1782 Dr Drennan [...]

A number of members of the Belfast Charitable Society were involved in the 1798 rebellion. Dr William Drennan, visiting physician to the Poor House, came up with the concept of an organisation to unite Catholic, Protestant and Dissenter, which became the Society of United Irishmen. Thomas McCabe, a prominent member of the Belfast Charitable Society, was active in within the movement. Thomas lived at the Vicinage on Buttle’s Loney, behind the Poor House, on which St Malachy’s College now stands. It is said that much of the 1798 rebellion was planned in McCabe’s house. Mary Ann McCracken’s brother, Henry Joy McCracken [...]