William Steel Dickson

William Steel Dickson (1744–1824) was an Irish Presbyterian minister and member of the Society of the United Irishmen, a revolutionary republican organisation in late 18th century Ireland.

Early Life

Dickson was born on December 25 1744, the eldest son of John Dickson, a tenant farmer of Ballycraigy, in the parish of Carnmoney, co. Antrim. His mother was Jane Steel and on the death (May 13 1747) of his uncle, William Steel, the family added his Mother's maiden name to their own.

In his boyhood Dickson was educated by Robert White, a Presbyterian minister from Templepatrick and entered Glasgow College in November 1761. On leaving college he seems to have been employed for a time in teaching; and in 1771 he was ordained as a Presbyterian minister. Till the outbreak of the American war of independence he occupied himself mainly in parochial and domestic duties. His political career began in 1776, when he spoke and preached against the ‘unnatural, impolitic and unprincipled’ war with the American colonies, denouncing it as a ‘mad crusade.’ On two government fast-days his sermons—on ‘the advantages of national repentance’ (December 13 1776), and on ‘the ruinous effects of civil war’ (February 27 1778) created considerable excitement when published, and Dickson was reproached as a traitor. Political differences were probably at the root of a secession from his congregation in 1777. The seceders formed a new congregation at Kirkcubbin, in defiance of the authority of the general synod.

In 1771 he married Isabella Gamble, a woman of some means, who died on July 15 1819. Dickson had least 8 children, but outlived them all. One of his sons was in the Royal Navy and died in 1798.

Volunteers and politics

Dickson entered with zest into the volunteer movement of 1778, being warmly in favour of the admission of Roman Catholics to the ranks. This was resisted ‘through the greater part of Ulster, if not the whole.’ In a sermon to the Echlinville volunteers (March 28 1779) Dickson advocated the enrollment of Catholics, and though induced to modify his language in printing the discourse, he offended ‘all the Protestant and Presbyterian bigots in the country.’ He was accused of being a papist at heart, ‘for the very substantial reason, among others, that the maiden name of the parish priest's mother was Dickson.’

Though the contrary has been stated, Dickson was not a member of the Volunteer conventions at Dungannon in 1782 and 1783. He threw himself heart and soul into the famous election for County Down in August 1783, when the families of Hill and Stewart, competed for the county seat in Parliament. Dickson, with his forty mounted freeholders, failed to secure the re-election of Robert Stewart. But in 1790 he successfully campaigned for the election of Stewart's son (also Robert), better known as Lord Castlereagh. Castlereagh proved his gratitude by referring at a later date to Dickson's popularity in 1790, as proof that he was ‘a very dangerous person to leave at liberty.’

Society of the United Irishmen

As early as December 1791, Dickson took the oath of the first Society of United Irishmen, organised in October at Belfast by Theobald Wolfe Tone. According to Dickson himself he attended no further meetings of the Society, but devoted himself to spreading its principles among the volunteer associations, in opposition to the ‘demi-patriotic’ views of the Whig Club. At a great volunteer meeting in Belfast on 14 July 1792 he opposed a resolution for the gradual removal of Catholic disabilities, and assisted in obtaining a unanimous pledge in favour of total and immediate emancipation. Parish and county meetings were held throughout Ulster, culminating in a provincial convention at Dungannon on February 15 1793. Dickson had been a leading spirit at many of the preliminary meetings, and, as a delegate from the Barony of Ards, he had a chief hand in the preparation of the Dungannon resolutions. Their avowed object was to strengthen the throne and give vitality to the constitution by ‘a complete and radical reform.’ Dickson was nominated on a committee of thirty to summon a national convention. The Irish parliament went no further in the direction of emancipation than the Relief Act, which received the royal assent on April 9, and remained unextended till 1829; while the passing of Lord Clare's Convention Act, still in force, made illegal all future assemblies of delegates ‘purporting to represent the people, or any description of the people.’

Rebellion of 1798 and imprisonment

In March and April 1798 Dickson was in Scotland arranging some family affairs. During his absence a plan of insurrection in Ulster was digested, and Dickson soon after his return agreed to take the place of Thomas Russell as adjutant-general of the United Irish forces for county Down. A few days before the projected insurrection he was arrested at Ballynahinch. He was conveyed to Belfast, and lodged in the ‘black hole’ and other prisons, till August 12 when he was removed to a prison ship with William Tennant, Robert Hunter and Robert Simms, and detained there amid considerable discomfort. On 25 March 1799, Dickson, Tennant, Hunter, and Simms joined the United Irish 'State Prisoners' on a ship bound for Fort George, Highland prison in Scotland. This group, which included Samuel Neilson, Arthur O'Connor, Thomas Russell, William James MacNeven, and Thomas Addis Emmet arrived in Scotland on April 9 1799. Dickson would spend two years there.

Unlike the more high-profile prisoners like O'Connor and MacNeven who would not be released until June 1802, Tennant, Dickson, and Simms were permitted to return to Belfast in January 1802.

Later life and death

Dickson returned to liberty and misfortune. His wife had long been a helpless invalid, his eldest son was dead, his prospects were ruined. His congregation at Portaferry had been declared vacant on November 28 1799. William Moreland, who had been ordained as his successor on June 16 1800, at once offered to resign, but Dickson would not hear of this. He had thoughts of emigration, but decided to stand his ground. At length he was chosen by a seceding minority from the congregation of Keady, County Armagh, and installed minister on March 4 1803. His political career ended with his attendance on September 9 1811 of a Catholic meeting in Armagh, on returning from which he was cruelly beaten by Orangemen. In 1815 he resigned his charge in broken health, and henceforth subsisted on charity. Joseph Wright, an Episcopalian lawyer, gave him a cottage rent free in the suburbs of Belfast, and some of his old friends made him a weekly allowance. His last appearance in the pulpit was early in 1824. He died on December 27 1824, having just passed his eightieth year, and was buried ‘in a pauper's grave’ at Clifton Street Cemetery, Belfast.