Slavery, Ireland and Dr Nini Rodgers Part 1, by James O'Fee

The background to Chess Master Alexander McDonnell's role in the West India Committee and, before that, his business career in Demerara is clearly slavery. Last year I was frustrated in my desire to discover the background to the 1833 Act abolishing slavery, and McDonnell's role in it.

Two or three weeks ago I visited my local public library, enlisted the help of a librarian, and entered the two key words 'slavery' and 'ireland' into a search of the catalogue. Two books came up and I ordered both. Within a few days the first had arrived. It was;-

Equiano and Anti-slavery in Eighteenth-century Belfast, by Nini Rodgers, (Belfast Society, Belfast, 2000).

For Equiano see Proslavery apologist (Saturday, September 20. 2008) where I wrote;-

Belfast was then described as the "most radical town in the Three Kingdoms". In July 1791, the freed slave Olaudah Equiano visited Belfast as part of of a tour of the British Isles to support the campaign to abolish slavery. In Belfast he saw the town en fête to celebrate the second anniversary of the fall of the Bastille. A parade carried banners demanding freedom for Ireland and an end to the slave trade. Belfast and the entire North of Ireland had close links with North America because of the migration in the 18th century of large numbers of Irish Presbyterians from Ireland to America, a flow which peaked about the time of the American Revolution.

I was to learn that this was a misleading assessment. The former slave Olaudo Equiano (1745-97) was also known as Gustavus Vassa - the former was his African name, the latter the name given him by his owner. Equiano sailed to Dublin in May 1791 to make arrangements for the publication of the fourth edition of his book The Interesting narrative of the life of Olaudo Equiano or Gustavus Vassa, which had already made a great impact in antislavery circles. Equiano stayed in Ireland for eight months. he came to Belfast in October and stayed in Belfast until January 1792.

The town of Belfast was united in desiring parliamentary reform, but divided between the radicals, who favoured immediate and total Catholic emancipation, and those who favoured a gradual approach. Antislavery became a totem of the radicals, among whom was numbered Dr James McDonnell, an intimate of all the leading radicals who make frequent mention of him in their diaries.

On 28 January 1792 a huge public meeting was held to discuss political reform in Rosemary Street Presbyterian Church, Belfast, attended by over 800 men (the Town Hall was too small to hold these numbers). It's likely that Equiano attended the meeting, since he sailed for Scotland the following day.

At that meeting Dr James McDonnell drew an analogy between the Westminster's handling of the slave trade and of the issue of reform in Ireland: 'The situation of the African was to be meliorated; they would cease exporting them from time to time according to expediency.' The meeting ended in a victory for the radicals, with over 600 voting for immediate emancipation; whereas 269 signed the gradualists' own petition for reform.

We suppose that Dr James was the uncle of Alexander McDonnell, the Chess Master. It would seem curious that the latter was sent to the West Indies to make his way in the world and became a leading apologist for the slaveowning interest.

Dr James became one of Belfast's most eminent and honoured citizens. He later broke with the radicals, for he did not support the armed rebellion of the United Irishmen in 1798. Soon the radicals came to regard him as a traitor, for he gave £50 towards the £1500 on the head of Thomas Russell "the man from God knows where" who sought to forment a second rebellion in 1803.

In 1792 Dr James founded the charitable Belfast General Dispensary to meet the needs of the poor. In 1817 the dispensary moved to larger premises to become "The Belfast Dispensary and Fever Hospital". In 1899 it moved to its present site on Grosvenor Road to become the Royal Victoria Hospital, today Northern Ireland's leading teaching hospital.

Dr James took a keen interest in the Belfast Academical Instition, "Inst", from its foundation in 1810 (with support from the radicals). Then in 1831 his was the top signature on the petition calling for the Inst proprietors to send thanks to William IV on his gracious accolade of "Royal" to Inst; and he moved the vote of thanks at the joint boards to Lord Belfast for "his exertions" in bringing this honour about. (a)

Note

(a) This from the article of 31 pages Dr. James MacDonnell, MD (1763-1845),by Peter Froggatt. This appeared in 'The Glynns', Volume 9, 1981, journal of the Glens Historical Society.
I have a photocopy sent me by the author.

Blog Link

Alexander McDonnell (1798-1835) Chess Master: Part 3, Friday, August 3. 2007

To be continued