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WILLIAM DRENNAN (1754-1820) Political Figure and Educationalist Born in Belfast on 23rd May 1754 at the manse of First Presbyterian Church, Rosemary Street where his father was minister,William Drennan studied Medicine in Glasgow and Edinburgh and qualified as a doctor. He practised briefly as a gynaecologist in Belfast before going to work in Newry. He is acknowledged as one of the pioneers of inoculation against smallpox, and for promoting hand washing to prevent the spread of disease. In 1789 Drennan went to Dublin. A man of nationalistic beliefs, he was the originator of the United Irishmen and wrote many political and religious pamphlets. In 1794 he was tried for sedition on 10 counts. Acquitted, he withdrew from the United Irishmen but remained committed to radical politics and was particularly interested in Catholic emancipation. In 1800 he married a wealthy Englishwoman, Sarah Swanwick, gave up Medicine and returned to Belfast to live at Cabin Hill (now the site of Campbell College's Preparatory School). In 1807, determined education should be non-denominational, he founded the Belfast Academical Institution ('Inst.') in College Square East in collaboration with John Templeton and John Hancock. (Inst. became the Royal Belfast Academical Institution in the 1830s.) Drennan was also interested in literature. He was the founder and editor of The Belfast Magazine for several years. In 1795 he coined the phrase 'The Emerald Isle' in the verse 'When Erin First Rose'. In 1814 he blended satire, comment and translations in Fugitive Verses. In many ways, he was the only writer of his era to have stood the test of time. Drennan died on 5th February 1820. He had requested that his coffin pass by Inst.'s grounds.'Let six poor Protestants and six poor Catholics get a guinea piece for carriage of me, and a priest and a dissenting clergyman with any friends that chuse.' His cortege stopped for a few minutes at the gate of the new college on its way to Clifton Street Graveyard. Drennan had four sons and a daughter. One of his sons, Dr John Swanwick Drennan, carried on the family medical and literary tradition. His poetry was posthumously published in Poems and Sonnets. A liberal Unionist, his writings reflected anti-Home Rule sentiment, eschewing the nationalistic beliefs of his father. John Swanwick Drennan lived in Belfast from 1809 until 1893. An extract from the Appletree Press title Celebrated Citizens of Belfast by John Bradbury. |
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