0:00:04 > 0:00:08He was imprisoned for his prominent role in the 1798 Rebellion
0:00:08 > 0:00:10against British rule in Ireland,
0:00:10 > 0:00:14and considered fortunate not to be hanged.
0:00:14 > 0:00:19Yet he went on to become Belfast's richest man.
0:00:21 > 0:00:24He was the son of a Scottish Presbyterian minister
0:00:24 > 0:00:27of traditional Calvinist views.
0:00:28 > 0:00:31And yet his private life was cloaked in scandal.
0:00:33 > 0:00:38I've counted 13 children that he had
0:00:38 > 0:00:40with a number of different women.
0:00:40 > 0:00:43His name was William Tennent.
0:00:43 > 0:00:45And he was a man who was to shape the cultural,
0:00:45 > 0:00:48commercial and political life of Belfast.
0:00:50 > 0:00:53You know, this is a man whose position in society
0:00:53 > 0:00:54didn't happen by chance.
0:00:54 > 0:00:57He was kind of a calculating individual, I think.
0:00:58 > 0:01:00And very, very shrewd.
0:01:02 > 0:01:07And he was the central figure among Belfast's radical reforming elite.
0:01:07 > 0:01:10A man of business who not only made money,
0:01:10 > 0:01:13but he wanted to transform the face of the town in which he lived.
0:01:15 > 0:01:19The late 18th and early 19th century was a defining period
0:01:19 > 0:01:20in the history of Belfast.
0:01:21 > 0:01:23It was a place of change,
0:01:23 > 0:01:26where the population was doubling every decade.
0:01:27 > 0:01:30Not only a developing centre of commerce and industry,
0:01:30 > 0:01:33but a place of ideas and debate.
0:01:33 > 0:01:37A town that defined the extraordinary life of William Tennent.
0:01:53 > 0:01:55DOOR SQUEAKS
0:01:55 > 0:01:56FLOORBOARDS CREAK
0:02:02 > 0:02:06This striking and elaborate memorial in First Presbyterian Church
0:02:06 > 0:02:11in Belfast's Rosemary Street was placed here in the 1850s.
0:02:11 > 0:02:14It depicts one of the leading citizens of this town
0:02:14 > 0:02:17and for many years its wealthiest.
0:02:17 > 0:02:19This is William Tennent.
0:02:23 > 0:02:26Now, this is the first time I've ever seen this memorial
0:02:26 > 0:02:30and yet it provides a window into a very different Belfast
0:02:30 > 0:02:32to the one we think we know today.
0:02:35 > 0:02:37The memorial gives us some clues
0:02:37 > 0:02:40to William Tennent's many achievements.
0:02:40 > 0:02:43He is shown in a classical pose, reading a book,
0:02:43 > 0:02:47a work of literature or maybe a company ledger.
0:02:49 > 0:02:52For when you look at the inscription underneath, it says
0:02:52 > 0:02:54his intellectual pursuits were funded by
0:02:54 > 0:02:56"an arduous mercantile career".
0:02:59 > 0:03:02At first glance, this seems a tribute to an educated
0:03:02 > 0:03:04and respectable businessman.
0:03:06 > 0:03:09Now, this inscription begins to tell us a little bit of his story.
0:03:10 > 0:03:14It says that Tennent was a consistent advocate of free enquiry,
0:03:14 > 0:03:17that he believed in principles of liberty
0:03:17 > 0:03:20and that he was moderate in times of popular excitement.
0:03:20 > 0:03:23So, we're beginning to get a little bit of a clue
0:03:23 > 0:03:26about the extraordinary life and times of William Tennent.
0:03:32 > 0:03:36This is pew number 65, where William Tennent once sat.
0:03:36 > 0:03:39And from here, we can revisit his life.
0:03:46 > 0:03:49Out into the heart of Belfast.
0:03:49 > 0:03:53A town whose streets in the late 1700s and early 1800s
0:03:53 > 0:03:58were alive with liberal, rebellious and charitable citizens.
0:03:58 > 0:04:02It was a vibrant world of change and possibility.
0:04:07 > 0:04:11As an adult, William Tennent may have lived and worked
0:04:11 > 0:04:14amidst the noise and tumult of Georgian Belfast,
0:04:14 > 0:04:17where his private life, where his scandal
0:04:17 > 0:04:19and his political views put his life in danger.
0:04:20 > 0:04:23But he spent his early years in a very different environment.
0:04:25 > 0:04:29He was born near Ballymoney in County Antrim in 1759,
0:04:29 > 0:04:32the eldest son of a Scottish Presbyterian minister
0:04:32 > 0:04:36and his wife Anne, who had settled in Ireland eight years earlier.
0:04:36 > 0:04:41Together they raised a large family of five boys and three girls.
0:04:51 > 0:04:55As well as bringing their children up in the Presbyterian faith,
0:04:55 > 0:04:56both parents were vocal
0:04:56 > 0:04:59about challenging those in power when necessary.
0:05:03 > 0:05:07William's mother, Anne, was said to be possessed of a singular
0:05:07 > 0:05:11aversion to any of her family being slaves to landlords,
0:05:11 > 0:05:14while the Reverend John supported Catholic emancipation
0:05:14 > 0:05:17and parliamentary reform.
0:05:19 > 0:05:23These are the values William Tennent absorbed as a boy
0:05:23 > 0:05:25here at the family homestead.
0:05:25 > 0:05:28He would live by them until the end of his life.
0:05:33 > 0:05:37So, I'm in the townland now of Ballyrobin, you can see here.
0:05:37 > 0:05:39I've just been down at the Bush River
0:05:39 > 0:05:41and walked up a path along here
0:05:41 > 0:05:44and here we are, round about here, at this moment in time.
0:05:44 > 0:05:48This is a map from 1805 and this was formerly Tennent family land.
0:05:48 > 0:05:51You can see that from a ledger
0:05:51 > 0:05:55from the period in which plot number three, which we've just been on,
0:05:55 > 0:05:58the Reverend John Tennent, which is William Tennent's father,
0:05:58 > 0:05:59in this area at this time.
0:06:04 > 0:06:09William's father, Reverend John Tennent, died in 1808.
0:06:09 > 0:06:11But more than 200 years later,
0:06:11 > 0:06:13the church that he established at Roseyards
0:06:13 > 0:06:15is still flourishing today.
0:06:24 > 0:06:28So, Mark, what can you tell me about the Reverend John Tennent?
0:06:28 > 0:06:33John Tennent was the first minister here at the Roseyards.
0:06:33 > 0:06:35I am the tenth.
0:06:35 > 0:06:40He began here in the year 1751.
0:06:40 > 0:06:44He would go on to be the minister here for 57 years
0:06:44 > 0:06:46until his death in 1808.
0:06:48 > 0:06:50Later generations would say that he preached here every single
0:06:50 > 0:06:54Sabbath, every Sunday, throughout that whole time.
0:06:54 > 0:06:58So what was life like back here in the middle of the 18th century
0:06:58 > 0:07:00for the Tennent family?
0:07:00 > 0:07:05It would have been a fairly simple, rural lifestyle.
0:07:05 > 0:07:09They wouldn't have been all that well off, financially,
0:07:09 > 0:07:12because the congregation would have been made up mostly
0:07:12 > 0:07:16of tenant farmers, maybe a few tradesmen, craftsmen,
0:07:16 > 0:07:22but none of the landed gentry, few, if any, wealthy professionals, and
0:07:22 > 0:07:26his salary would have come out of the offerings given by this church.
0:07:26 > 0:07:28So, William Tennent left this area.
0:07:28 > 0:07:32What ideas and what notions would we have taken from his father
0:07:32 > 0:07:33and from the congregation?
0:07:33 > 0:07:36Loving God with all his heart,
0:07:36 > 0:07:38the importance of education would have been there too,
0:07:38 > 0:07:43because everybody ought to be able to read the Bible for themselves.
0:07:43 > 0:07:49Also, to show respect for civil government
0:07:49 > 0:07:52and yet at the same time, not to give it your absolute
0:07:52 > 0:07:55allegiance, because such allegiance should be given to God alone.
0:07:58 > 0:08:01Tennent never forgot the values that he had been taught
0:08:01 > 0:08:04during his Presbyterian upbringing.
0:08:04 > 0:08:07But his ambition and lust for adventure
0:08:07 > 0:08:09took him away from Roseyards.
0:08:12 > 0:08:17He went first to Glasgow, where he served as an apprentice merchant.
0:08:17 > 0:08:21Then in 1781, he settled in Belfast,
0:08:21 > 0:08:25a town that was alive with trade and commerce,
0:08:25 > 0:08:29a town with opportunities for a young man like William Tennent.
0:08:33 > 0:08:36At the time, Belfast consisted of not much more than
0:08:36 > 0:08:40a handful of streets, built around the mouth of the lough.
0:08:40 > 0:08:43It was owned by just one
0:08:43 > 0:08:46aristocratic and Anglican family, the Chichesters.
0:08:48 > 0:08:49For his services to the Crown,
0:08:49 > 0:08:52Sir Arthur Chichester had been granted 250,000 acres
0:08:52 > 0:08:56in the early 1600s by King James I.
0:08:56 > 0:09:00This included Belfast and the surrounding land.
0:09:00 > 0:09:03From this vantage point at the top of the Belfast Hills,
0:09:03 > 0:09:07you can really get a sense of the vastness of the Chichester estate,
0:09:07 > 0:09:09which stretched as far as the eye can see.
0:09:13 > 0:09:17The Chichesters built an impressive castle on a high street,
0:09:17 > 0:09:20said to be the glory and beauty of the town.
0:09:20 > 0:09:24They effectively ruled Belfast until 1708,
0:09:24 > 0:09:29when a fire swept through the castle and burned it to the ground.
0:09:32 > 0:09:35Afterwards, the Chichesters left for England
0:09:35 > 0:09:39and for the next 100 years, they were to be absentee landlords.
0:09:43 > 0:09:46This was the Belfast that William Tennent arrived in.
0:09:46 > 0:09:49It was a town on the brink of great change,
0:09:49 > 0:09:52a change in which Tennent was to play a leading role.
0:09:58 > 0:10:03In 1781, it would have taken William Tennent almost a day
0:10:03 > 0:10:06to ride from the family home in Antrim to Belfast,
0:10:06 > 0:10:09where he had established himself in business.
0:10:10 > 0:10:14So Reverend John Tennent kept in touch with William by letter.
0:10:17 > 0:10:21This correspondence was the start of an extraordinary family
0:10:21 > 0:10:25archive that is preserved here at the Public Record Office in Belfast.
0:10:28 > 0:10:31All of William Tennent's life, both professional and personal,
0:10:31 > 0:10:35is laid out here in these boxes in meticulous detail.
0:10:47 > 0:10:49The first thing that really jumps out of these letters
0:10:49 > 0:10:53is that Tennent's influence stretches far and wide
0:10:53 > 0:10:57and most of that comes through industry and commerce and trade.
0:11:01 > 0:11:04These documents provide not only an insight into Tennent
0:11:04 > 0:11:08and of course the Tennent family, but into Belfast itself.
0:11:08 > 0:11:12And at the time, it was a town full of money and excitement.
0:11:12 > 0:11:15Something that was of great concern
0:11:15 > 0:11:18to the Reverend John Tennent back in Antrim.
0:11:22 > 0:11:25"Oh, William, William, dear William,
0:11:25 > 0:11:28"I fear you're now in a most dangerous situation
0:11:28 > 0:11:32"if you be not changed from what you was when I saw you last.
0:11:32 > 0:11:34"Did you ever consider the difference
0:11:34 > 0:11:37"between the gracious favour of Almighty God
0:11:37 > 0:11:40"and his awful and just frown?"
0:11:55 > 0:11:59From the mid-1600s, A steady stream of Scottish Presbyterian merchants
0:11:59 > 0:12:04had sailed up this lough and settled here in Belfast.
0:12:04 > 0:12:06They leased plots of land from the Chichesters
0:12:06 > 0:12:08and began trading out of the port.
0:12:17 > 0:12:20The merchants exported linen and agricultural goods
0:12:20 > 0:12:24across the Atlantic to North America and the West Indies.
0:12:24 > 0:12:29The returning ships brought back cargoes of tobacco and sugar.
0:12:32 > 0:12:36At the dawn of the 1760s, a traveller came to Belfast
0:12:36 > 0:12:39and he observed the hive of local activity.
0:12:39 > 0:12:41And he wrote,
0:12:41 > 0:12:44"There are many traders and merchants of substance here.
0:12:44 > 0:12:47"It seems to me to be the London of the North of Ireland."
0:12:54 > 0:12:57The town, however, was in dire need of improvement.
0:12:57 > 0:13:02In the 1760s, it was still contained within earthen defensive walls.
0:13:02 > 0:13:07It lacked public meeting places and broad, well laid out streets.
0:13:07 > 0:13:09The current Chichester,
0:13:09 > 0:13:13who had recently acquired the grand title of the Earl of Donegall,
0:13:13 > 0:13:17was keen to make Belfast a shining example of a Georgian town.
0:13:19 > 0:13:23But in order to achieve this, he needed the help of the wealthiest
0:13:23 > 0:13:27group of people in Belfast, the Presbyterian merchant class.
0:13:28 > 0:13:32This is a map of Belfast from 1791.
0:13:32 > 0:13:33Now, that's significant,
0:13:33 > 0:13:37because Tennent would have been in Belfast for ten years by that
0:13:37 > 0:13:41stage, and actually, what's striking about it is just how small
0:13:41 > 0:13:43the built-up area of the town is.
0:13:49 > 0:13:52Most of the names are actually very recognisable.
0:13:52 > 0:13:56So, you have the Newtownards Road going out to the east.
0:13:56 > 0:14:00You have the Lisburn Road, the Falls Road, the Antrim Road.
0:14:00 > 0:14:02The Shankill up here.
0:14:02 > 0:14:05But actually, these are just fields,
0:14:05 > 0:14:09tree-lined avenues with a few gentlemen's homes and a few farms.
0:14:09 > 0:14:12The key thing, really, is that all those roads are pointing
0:14:12 > 0:14:16right into the centre, right into the commercial hub of the town.
0:14:23 > 0:14:27And it's in this tighter knit series of streets and alleyways
0:14:27 > 0:14:31that one really gets a sense of the world of William Tennent.
0:14:31 > 0:14:32So there's Waring Street,
0:14:32 > 0:14:36which was the main commercial hub coming in from the docks.
0:14:36 > 0:14:39High Street, where the main shops would have been.
0:14:39 > 0:14:43Rosemary Street - First Presbyterian Church, where he worshipped.
0:14:43 > 0:14:46And just round the corner, Hercules Lane, where he lived.
0:14:48 > 0:14:52The merchants of Belfast also leased land along the lough shore
0:14:52 > 0:14:55and built new quays to accommodate larger ships.
0:14:55 > 0:14:58And there was one addition in particular,
0:14:58 > 0:15:02a new building that was to become the lifeblood of Belfast.
0:15:09 > 0:15:12This building lay at the heart of the new, fashionable town.
0:15:12 > 0:15:16It was a building that William Tennent knew well.
0:15:16 > 0:15:19It stands at the junction known in the late 1700s
0:15:19 > 0:15:21as the Four Corners -
0:15:21 > 0:15:26Rosemary Street, North Street, Donegall Street and Waring Street.
0:15:28 > 0:15:33It was initially built as a market house by the Donegall family.
0:15:33 > 0:15:36Then, an extra storey was added and it gained its present name,
0:15:36 > 0:15:38the Assembly Rooms.
0:15:38 > 0:15:40Today, the upper floor is missing,
0:15:40 > 0:15:45but you still get an impression of the sheer grandeur of the building.
0:15:45 > 0:15:49This is where the young men of Belfast, merchants and preachers
0:15:49 > 0:15:51and teachers and doctors and lawyers,
0:15:51 > 0:15:53all met together to do business
0:15:53 > 0:15:58and exchange goods and services, but they also exchanged ideas.
0:15:58 > 0:16:01Radical ideas, ideas from the Scottish Enlightenment
0:16:01 > 0:16:05and thinkers such as Francis Hutchinson and Adam Smith.
0:16:10 > 0:16:13These philosophers and economists began to challenge
0:16:13 > 0:16:16the foundations of the political order.
0:16:17 > 0:16:22Young men like William Tennent followed suit and started
0:16:22 > 0:16:26to question what was unreasonable in their own town and country.
0:16:29 > 0:16:31At the top of their list was the way Belfast chose
0:16:31 > 0:16:35its representative in the Irish Parliament.
0:16:35 > 0:16:40The local MP was nominated by a 13 man corporation,
0:16:40 > 0:16:44that was essentially hand-picked by the Earl of Donegall.
0:16:44 > 0:16:46So it was Donegall's friends
0:16:46 > 0:16:49and family who kept a vice-like grip on the town.
0:16:49 > 0:16:51For all their money,
0:16:51 > 0:16:55merchants like Tennent had no say over who represented them.
0:17:00 > 0:17:04A new buzzword began to circulate - reform.
0:17:04 > 0:17:06And discussion about how to bring it about
0:17:06 > 0:17:09fuelled the intellectual life of the town.
0:17:20 > 0:17:24It's easy to understand why the Belfast of the late 1700s
0:17:24 > 0:17:29was so alluring for a young man of William Tennent's background.
0:17:29 > 0:17:32Not only was it a hotbed of radical ideas
0:17:32 > 0:17:36and a place with a vibrant social and cultural life, it was
0:17:36 > 0:17:42also a place where with hard work came the promise of untold riches.
0:17:45 > 0:17:49William began his career as a merchant in this street in 1781,
0:17:49 > 0:17:52and the clue to his choice of trade lies in the name of this
0:17:52 > 0:17:55passageway, Sugarhouse Entry,
0:17:55 > 0:17:58named after the large sugar warehouse that once stood here.
0:18:05 > 0:18:09Having come from the Caribbean plantations as raw cane,
0:18:09 > 0:18:13the sugar was refined and sold on as a luxury good.
0:18:17 > 0:18:21It was a lucrative business, and within a couple of years,
0:18:21 > 0:18:26the Reverend John Tennent commented wryly that his son, William,
0:18:26 > 0:18:29was rolling in money.
0:18:29 > 0:18:33However, William's new trade was already embroiled in a wider
0:18:33 > 0:18:36debate taking place in Belfast.
0:18:36 > 0:18:39A debate on the morality of slavery.
0:18:46 > 0:18:47Nini, could you tell us about
0:18:47 > 0:18:50the growing popularity of sugar in the 18th century?
0:18:50 > 0:18:56Well, in the 18th century, sugar was a really, really important
0:18:56 > 0:18:57and popular crop.
0:18:57 > 0:19:01It was new, and from the point of view of making money out of it,
0:19:01 > 0:19:04it was really like owning an oil well.
0:19:04 > 0:19:07All over Ireland, for example, every port in Ireland,
0:19:07 > 0:19:11by the 18th century, would have a sugar house.
0:19:11 > 0:19:15Sugar can be seen, of course, as a luxury item at this stage,
0:19:15 > 0:19:19and of course it goes into things like...
0:19:19 > 0:19:22sweetening alcohol,
0:19:22 > 0:19:25and then at the time that you get sugar coming in, you also get -
0:19:25 > 0:19:27the sugar coming in from the West -
0:19:27 > 0:19:31at the same time, you're getting tea coming in from the East.
0:19:31 > 0:19:34And when this arrived, the tea and the sugar,
0:19:34 > 0:19:39which were both fashionable and new crops in the 18th century,
0:19:39 > 0:19:41when this arrived, everybody sugared their tea.
0:19:41 > 0:19:45It was a great thing if you were well-established
0:19:45 > 0:19:48and thought of in a place like Belfast, to have money.
0:19:48 > 0:19:50You would have a beautiful tea table
0:19:50 > 0:19:54and you would have sugar on the tea table.
0:19:54 > 0:19:58On the table you could have sugar tongs,
0:19:58 > 0:20:01and then you would drop the sugar into your tea.
0:20:01 > 0:20:07Then you'd have a sugar bowl and you'd have a silver jug as well.
0:20:07 > 0:20:12So all these things were a sign that you had arrived,
0:20:12 > 0:20:15that you were a wealthy merchant in Belfast.
0:20:17 > 0:20:20So we have sugar, which is a real luxury good in this era,
0:20:20 > 0:20:23people are using it for their tea parties and also
0:20:23 > 0:20:26in the creation of alcohol, but there's a contradiction here,
0:20:26 > 0:20:28isn't there? Because on the other end of the spectrum,
0:20:28 > 0:20:31those involved in the produce and the making of sugar are actually
0:20:31 > 0:20:34slaves living in very difficult conditions.
0:20:34 > 0:20:37People in Belfast who read the newspapers are well aware
0:20:37 > 0:20:41that a lot of people are saying that sugar depends on slavery,
0:20:41 > 0:20:43slavery depends on the slave trade,
0:20:43 > 0:20:46the slave trade is cruel and vicious.
0:20:46 > 0:20:51In Ireland, William Tennent believed in Catholic emancipation,
0:20:51 > 0:20:53he believed in parliamentary reform,
0:20:53 > 0:20:59but he was not interested or excited by the fate of the slaves.
0:20:59 > 0:21:03If you were a radical in Belfast at this time,
0:21:03 > 0:21:07you might be excited by this new anti-slavery
0:21:07 > 0:21:10and your conscience might be pricked, or you might not.
0:21:10 > 0:21:16But what you would be aware of is that anti-slavery was
0:21:16 > 0:21:19a growing movement at this time.
0:21:25 > 0:21:28William Tennent was rising up the social ladder,
0:21:28 > 0:21:32and before long, he was one of Belfast's richest men,
0:21:32 > 0:21:35thanks to his aptitude for trading goods
0:21:35 > 0:21:37back and forth across the Atlantic.
0:21:37 > 0:21:41He was also becoming one of the town's most well-known
0:21:41 > 0:21:43and influential citizens.
0:21:43 > 0:21:46He had joined the board of the newly formed Chamber of Commerce
0:21:46 > 0:21:51and was a keen supporter of the Society for Promoting Knowledge,
0:21:51 > 0:21:55which would later become Belfast Linen Hall Library.
0:21:55 > 0:21:58However, he was about to jeopardise both his wealth
0:21:58 > 0:22:02and his meteoric rise to the top of Belfast's society by becoming
0:22:02 > 0:22:06involved in a movement that was gathering momentum in Ireland.
0:22:07 > 0:22:09GAVEL BANGS ON DESK
0:22:17 > 0:22:20Today, 60 local councillors meet in this chamber
0:22:20 > 0:22:25in Belfast City Hall to debate the city's most pressing issues.
0:22:25 > 0:22:28And in doing so, each and every one of them
0:22:28 > 0:22:32represents the interests of the citizens who elected them.
0:22:36 > 0:22:40Local politics was very different in Tennent's time, however.
0:22:40 > 0:22:43For all the money and for all the wealth that he and his friends
0:22:43 > 0:22:47brought to the town, they had very little political influence.
0:22:47 > 0:22:49In fact, they didn't even have a vote.
0:22:53 > 0:22:56That right was still monopolised by a Belfast landlord,
0:22:56 > 0:22:58the Earl of Donegall.
0:22:58 > 0:23:02Much to the frustration of men like William Tennent.
0:23:02 > 0:23:06And that frustration was stoked by events taking place far
0:23:06 > 0:23:12from Belfast and driven by the twin ideals of liberty and democracy -
0:23:12 > 0:23:17the American War of Independence and the French Revolution.
0:23:17 > 0:23:18GUNFIRE
0:23:20 > 0:23:22Belfast was considered to be the most radical town
0:23:22 > 0:23:26in Ireland, perhaps the whole of the British Isles.
0:23:26 > 0:23:30And its political activists sought to make connections with those
0:23:30 > 0:23:33who shared their views.
0:23:33 > 0:23:36And so, in the autumn of 1791,
0:23:36 > 0:23:41they joined forces with the Dublin solicitor Wolfe Tone and founded
0:23:41 > 0:23:45a new society that was to change the history of Ireland forever.
0:23:48 > 0:23:52Its objectives included equal rights for citizens of all faiths
0:23:52 > 0:23:57and the reform of Ireland's unrepresented parliamentary system.
0:23:57 > 0:24:02It was called the Society of the United Irishmen.
0:24:06 > 0:24:09William Tennent publicly demonstrated his support
0:24:09 > 0:24:12for the United Irishmen by providing financial
0:24:12 > 0:24:15backing for their newspaper, the Northern Star,
0:24:15 > 0:24:18which was first published in 1792.
0:24:21 > 0:24:25The paper's masthead proclaimed, "The public will our guide,
0:24:25 > 0:24:27"the public good our end."
0:24:27 > 0:24:29And for the next five years,
0:24:29 > 0:24:33it was to be a constant thorn in the side of the Government.
0:24:34 > 0:24:37And its popularity can be measured by the fact that
0:24:37 > 0:24:41at its peak, it had a circulation of 4,000 copies.
0:24:41 > 0:24:45Larger than any other contemporary newspaper.
0:24:45 > 0:24:49There were reports from London, where the slave trade was being
0:24:49 > 0:24:53debated in the British Parliament. But here in 1797,
0:24:53 > 0:24:56you really have the pinnacle of Ulster radicalism.
0:24:56 > 0:25:00A letter in the Northern Star, from the United Irishmen, which is
0:25:00 > 0:25:05essentially a call to arms, Ireland should be free, urging them
0:25:05 > 0:25:08to cast off the yoke of England.
0:25:08 > 0:25:12And here, in the midst of all this excitement and news from France
0:25:12 > 0:25:15and the revolution there, William Tennent is doing business.
0:25:15 > 0:25:19It says here that William Tennent has for sale barrels of raisins
0:25:19 > 0:25:24and figs, and he is also well supplied with old port wine,
0:25:24 > 0:25:26sherry and Jamaica rum.
0:25:29 > 0:25:31A year after the launch of the Northern Star,
0:25:31 > 0:25:36the French Revolutionaries beheaded their monarch, Louis XVI.
0:25:36 > 0:25:37Alarmed by this,
0:25:37 > 0:25:40the British Government took a hard line with potential
0:25:40 > 0:25:45revolutionaries in Ireland, and in Dublin ruthlessly suppressed
0:25:45 > 0:25:47the Society of United Irishmen.
0:25:50 > 0:25:53The only remaining solution for the members left in Belfast was
0:25:53 > 0:25:58to go underground, and they began planning an uprising in earnest.
0:26:00 > 0:26:06The Irish House of Lords now viewed Belfast as a disloyal town,
0:26:06 > 0:26:10condemning it as the rankest citadel of treason in the kingdom.
0:26:13 > 0:26:16In this climate of intrigue and rising tension,
0:26:16 > 0:26:20the Reverend John Tennent heard a rumour that William had become
0:26:20 > 0:26:25involved in the revolutionary politics spreading across Ireland.
0:26:26 > 0:26:31Perturbed by this news, he wrote an anguished letter to William.
0:26:31 > 0:26:34'When I mentioned it to your mother, she could not rest till
0:26:34 > 0:26:39'I wrote you to keep far distant from such dangerous combinations.'
0:26:39 > 0:26:45His father's worst fears were realised, because on 6th June 1798,
0:26:45 > 0:26:47as rebellion raged across the country,
0:26:47 > 0:26:50Belfast was flooded with the military
0:26:50 > 0:26:53and William Tennent was arrested and imprisoned.
0:27:00 > 0:27:02So, 6th June 1798, can you give us
0:27:02 > 0:27:06a sense of the scene of Belfast at that moment in time?
0:27:06 > 0:27:08I would imagine it would be pretty chaotic.
0:27:08 > 0:27:12The Army had been active in Belfast before that, there had been
0:27:12 > 0:27:16a riot where they closed the offices of the Northern Star.
0:27:16 > 0:27:19The Northern Star was the mouthpiece of the United Irish
0:27:19 > 0:27:23organisation, that had been shut down in 1797, but the atmosphere
0:27:23 > 0:27:28would have been absolutely chaotic in Belfast on 6th June 1788, and
0:27:28 > 0:27:34before that as well, because news of the outbreak of the rebellion down
0:27:34 > 0:27:39south in Wicklow and Wexford would have reached Belfast by that time.
0:27:39 > 0:27:42So William Tennent was a very wealthy man with a lot to lose.
0:27:42 > 0:27:45What was the nature of his involvement with the United Irishmen?
0:27:45 > 0:27:50Tennent had been involved in the United Irishmen right from the very beginning.
0:27:50 > 0:27:53He was a member of what was called the "secret committee" of the volunteers,
0:27:53 > 0:27:58some of the volunteers in the 1780s were not satisfied with what
0:27:58 > 0:28:01they achieved, the legislative independence of the
0:28:01 > 0:28:05Irish Parliament, and they wanted to press on for more radical reform.
0:28:05 > 0:28:07And they would have met Wolfe Tone,
0:28:07 > 0:28:09when Wolfe Tone came to Belfast in 1791,
0:28:09 > 0:28:13so he was a United Irishmen right the whole way through.
0:28:13 > 0:28:18And his involvement in 1797, 1798.
0:28:18 > 0:28:20First of all, he was a wealthy man,
0:28:20 > 0:28:24so he was probably giving money for arms purchases.
0:28:24 > 0:28:28He was certainly, because of the status in Belfast,
0:28:28 > 0:28:31he would have been in the upper ranks of the movement,
0:28:31 > 0:28:34and he would have come to the Government's attention through that.
0:28:34 > 0:28:38So these are very dramatic scenes, the military swoops in on Tennent.
0:28:38 > 0:28:43- What happens to him after he's arrested?- Tennent's name crops up in the Black Book of the Rebellion,
0:28:43 > 0:28:48which shows how serious the Government took his United Irish activities.
0:28:48 > 0:28:53He's sent on board the Postlethwaite, which was a prison ship moored in Belfast Lough,
0:28:53 > 0:28:57where suspects like William Tennent would have been placed
0:28:57 > 0:29:00until the Government knew what to do with them.
0:29:00 > 0:29:03Tennent, as I said, was a wealthy Belfast businessman
0:29:03 > 0:29:06and it would have been a tremendous shock to the system
0:29:06 > 0:29:10to being placed on board a prison tender, like a common criminal.
0:29:10 > 0:29:13But it probably saved his life, because undoubtedly, Tennent,
0:29:13 > 0:29:18as a young man, would have been involved in the 1798 Rebellion.
0:29:18 > 0:29:21He would either have been killed in battle or arrested
0:29:21 > 0:29:23and subsequently hung.
0:29:26 > 0:29:31The authorities considered Tennent a dangerous figure,
0:29:31 > 0:29:35not merely the financial backer of the Northern Star newspaper.
0:29:35 > 0:29:39He was accused of trying to enlist men in the rebellion
0:29:39 > 0:29:42against King and constitution,
0:29:42 > 0:29:46and was to stand trial on a charge of high treason.
0:29:46 > 0:29:48If found guilty,
0:29:48 > 0:29:52he risked meeting the same fate as Henry Joy McCracken,
0:29:52 > 0:29:55the leader of Belfast's United Irishmen,
0:29:55 > 0:29:57who was hanged in Corn Market in 1798.
0:30:04 > 0:30:07On board the Postlethwaite, the prison ship
0:30:07 > 0:30:12moored in Belfast Lough, Tennent endured miserable conditions.
0:30:13 > 0:30:16Below deck, portals remained open
0:30:16 > 0:30:21and the prisoners were buffeted by the wind and drenched in seawater.
0:30:22 > 0:30:25On deck, conditions were even more treacherous,
0:30:25 > 0:30:29as William Tennent discovered when he slipped and fractured his leg.
0:30:29 > 0:30:33As a result of his injury, he was brought back to shore
0:30:33 > 0:30:35and placed under house arrest.
0:30:40 > 0:30:45Then, in the winter of 1799, the Government decided that Tennent
0:30:45 > 0:30:50and 19 other United Irishmen were still so great a threat that they
0:30:50 > 0:30:55should be transported to a fortress in a remote corner of Scotland.
0:30:57 > 0:31:00As William Tennent set sail under armed guard,
0:31:00 > 0:31:05he was unsure whether he would see his family or Belfast ever again.
0:31:13 > 0:31:18After a gruelling two-week journey, on 9th April, 1799,
0:31:18 > 0:31:22Tennent and his fellow prisoners finally arrived in this forbidding
0:31:22 > 0:31:27place, Fort George, just outside Inverness in the Scottish Highlands.
0:31:34 > 0:31:38Tennent had become accustomed to all the luxuries that money could buy.
0:31:38 > 0:31:42He'd been free to travel wherever he wanted and he'd also dined
0:31:42 > 0:31:46at the lavish tables of the cream of Belfast society.
0:31:54 > 0:31:56Now, as he entered the cell that was waiting for him,
0:31:56 > 0:32:00he left all those trappings behind.
0:32:05 > 0:32:10William Tennent was incarcerated here for three years.
0:32:10 > 0:32:14In a diary entry, one of his fellow prisoners at Fort George
0:32:14 > 0:32:19captured just how desperate and grim their situation was.
0:32:19 > 0:32:22He wrote...
0:32:22 > 0:32:25'We were captives in a foreign land.
0:32:25 > 0:32:28'Under the control of military strangers.
0:32:29 > 0:32:32'Far removed from friend or acquaintance
0:32:32 > 0:32:37'and the consoling endearments of parents, brother, wife or children.'
0:32:44 > 0:32:48Tennent also kept his own diary, and it offers brief glimpses
0:32:48 > 0:32:52into the physical toll that the long hours of confinement took upon him.
0:32:56 > 0:32:58He was often in poor health.
0:32:58 > 0:33:01He writes that he took a mixture of salts,
0:33:01 > 0:33:05vinegar and water to soothe severe stomach pains.
0:33:05 > 0:33:09He also writes that he suffered with inflammation of the eyes
0:33:09 > 0:33:13and underwent some rough surgery for swollen tonsils.
0:33:15 > 0:33:19There were, however, some consolations.
0:33:19 > 0:33:21The prisoners were allowed books,
0:33:21 > 0:33:23and in these Tennent took great comfort.
0:33:23 > 0:33:26In fact, he built up quite a substantial library
0:33:26 > 0:33:31with texts on a range of subjects from medicine to ancient Greece
0:33:31 > 0:33:36and Rome, history, philosophy and, of course, politics.
0:33:40 > 0:33:43Still the time dragged for Tennent.
0:33:43 > 0:33:47He struggled to endure the grinding monotony of prison life.
0:33:51 > 0:33:56But finally, in November 1801, after three long years,
0:33:56 > 0:33:59he received the news that he had hoped for.
0:33:59 > 0:34:01He was to be released.
0:34:07 > 0:34:11Along with four other prisoners, also suspected United Irishmen,
0:34:11 > 0:34:15he was a free man and he set sail for Ireland.
0:34:18 > 0:34:20After a pleasant crossing,
0:34:20 > 0:34:24carriages were waiting at Holywood to take them to Belfast,
0:34:24 > 0:34:27where their friends and family were ready to welcome them home.
0:34:35 > 0:34:38While Tennent was imprisoned in Fort George,
0:34:38 > 0:34:42Belfast had undergone its own transformation.
0:34:42 > 0:34:45Enthusiasm for revolutionary politics had been dampened,
0:34:45 > 0:34:49to say the least, by the public execution of the United Irishmen.
0:34:51 > 0:34:55The political landscape had also changed.
0:34:55 > 0:34:58The rising had convinced the British Government to exert greater
0:34:58 > 0:35:02control over Ireland, and to dissolve the Irish Parliament.
0:35:02 > 0:35:08Irish peers and MPs now sat in Westminster.
0:35:08 > 0:35:11And so it was that the United Kingdom of Great Britain
0:35:11 > 0:35:15and Ireland came into effect in January 1801.
0:35:22 > 0:35:27So, Belfast in 1798 is really, arguably, the most radical town,
0:35:27 > 0:35:29not only in Ireland but the whole of the British Isles.
0:35:29 > 0:35:33Where does the radical energy it used to have go?
0:35:33 > 0:35:37It's tempting to say actually that it doesn't go anywhere.
0:35:37 > 0:35:39That that radical energy, if you like, is still there,
0:35:39 > 0:35:42but that the political context has changed.
0:35:42 > 0:35:461798, the rebellion, the bloodshed in Ireland changes the context,
0:35:46 > 0:35:48makes people think again.
0:35:48 > 0:35:52And so that radical energy in people like William Drennan
0:35:52 > 0:35:57and people like Robert and William Tennent is still there,
0:35:57 > 0:35:59but, if you like, it's modified,
0:35:59 > 0:36:02it's maybe moderated a little by the change of context.
0:36:02 > 0:36:05The point is, these people are still pushing for reform, they're pushing
0:36:05 > 0:36:08for parliamentary reform, they are pushing for Catholic emancipation.
0:36:08 > 0:36:13These are the things that they had been pushing for in the 1790s,
0:36:13 > 0:36:17but they're doing them in a changed political context, and they're doing them within, or pushing for them
0:36:17 > 0:36:21within the context of the union between Great Britain and Ireland.
0:36:21 > 0:36:25So, tell us about the culture of Belfast in this period
0:36:25 > 0:36:27after the rebellion, after the Act of Union.
0:36:27 > 0:36:29What type of things are going on in town?
0:36:29 > 0:36:35People, when they think about 19th-century Belfast, tend to think about shipyards, heavy industry,
0:36:35 > 0:36:38they think of Belfast as a workshop of the British Empire.
0:36:38 > 0:36:40But in the early 19th century,
0:36:40 > 0:36:42there's a sort of different Belfast that exists.
0:36:42 > 0:36:44Belfast is known at that time, among some people,
0:36:44 > 0:36:47as the Athens of the North.
0:36:47 > 0:36:50And that phrase "the Athens of the North" is first used in relation
0:36:50 > 0:36:53to Belfast in the late 18th century.
0:36:53 > 0:36:57And it is used, in a sense, to refer to the kind of libertarian
0:36:57 > 0:37:00or radical principles of the people of Belfast.
0:37:00 > 0:37:03But it also has a cultural connotation and a cultural dimension.
0:37:03 > 0:37:05Because Belfast at that time was starting to develop
0:37:05 > 0:37:09a kind of civic society, cultural and intellectual institutions.
0:37:09 > 0:37:12And that process develops, then, on into the early 19th century,
0:37:12 > 0:37:15so you have in Belfast the Society for Promoting Knowledge,
0:37:15 > 0:37:18you have the Literary Society, the Historic Society.
0:37:18 > 0:37:21You have some short-lived societies as well,
0:37:21 > 0:37:25the Galvanic Society, the Phrenological Society in the 1820s.
0:37:25 > 0:37:30And then established in 1821, the Natural History and Philosophical Society.
0:37:30 > 0:37:34So you get this sense, when you look at these societies, of Belfast being still a fairly small town,
0:37:34 > 0:37:38not quite the industrial powerhouse that it becomes
0:37:38 > 0:37:39later in the 19th century,
0:37:39 > 0:37:44but a town with a sort of vibrant, energetic middle class
0:37:44 > 0:37:46that's establishing these societies,
0:37:46 > 0:37:51and really creating a place for itself in public life.
0:37:54 > 0:37:58Under the Act of Union, Belfast was to flourish as a crucial cog
0:37:58 > 0:38:01in the wheels of the British Empire.
0:38:01 > 0:38:04The completion of Clarendon Dock at the beginning of the 19th century
0:38:04 > 0:38:08had opened up the port to even more global trade.
0:38:09 > 0:38:13And now the increasingly wealthy middle class,
0:38:13 > 0:38:17dominated by Presbyterian merchants such as William Tennent, began
0:38:17 > 0:38:21to take the lead in the cultural and intellectual life of the town.
0:38:26 > 0:38:29William Tennent was aware of his luck.
0:38:29 > 0:38:33His radical politics had led him to the brink of ruin.
0:38:33 > 0:38:36But he was now a free man, ready to resume his career as one
0:38:36 > 0:38:39of Belfast's most successful merchants.
0:38:42 > 0:38:47He was ready to cultivate a new image as a pillar of respectability
0:38:47 > 0:38:51in the town through public service and philanthropic work.
0:38:59 > 0:39:03When, in 1804, the Belfast Newsletter observed that
0:39:03 > 0:39:07the new stately and elegant homes around the town reflected the taste
0:39:07 > 0:39:10and opulence that reigned in Belfast,
0:39:10 > 0:39:14it was referring to the dwellings of men like William Tennent.
0:39:18 > 0:39:22Tennent lived in a residence like this on Hercules Place.
0:39:22 > 0:39:26A street that was demolished during the Victorian expansion of Belfast
0:39:26 > 0:39:29to make way for Royal Avenue.
0:39:29 > 0:39:32But behind closed doors,
0:39:32 > 0:39:36Tennent conducted a private life that was far from conventional,
0:39:36 > 0:39:40which involved mistresses and more than a whiff of scandal.
0:39:40 > 0:39:42You would expect the details of such a colourful private life
0:39:42 > 0:39:44to be hidden or destroyed.
0:39:44 > 0:39:48Far from it. They are in fact preserved in the family archive.
0:39:52 > 0:39:55So it's fair to say that William Tennent had
0:39:55 > 0:40:01- an unconventional private life.- Yes, I think it is. He did get married,
0:40:01 > 0:40:06he was married for two years from 1805 to 1807.
0:40:06 > 0:40:10He was married to a woman called Eleanor Jackson,
0:40:10 > 0:40:14but she died very shortly after they were married.
0:40:14 > 0:40:20They had one child, Letitia, who then becomes his legitimate heir.
0:40:20 > 0:40:24But in between his marriage, before his marriage and after
0:40:24 > 0:40:29his marriage, William Tennent did live an unconventional life.
0:40:29 > 0:40:33He had a series of mistresses and
0:40:33 > 0:40:36he had a large number of children
0:40:36 > 0:40:40outside marriage, apart from Letitia.
0:40:40 > 0:40:45I've counted 13 children that he had
0:40:45 > 0:40:48with a number of different women.
0:40:48 > 0:40:53We know the most about two of the mistresses, who wrote to him
0:40:53 > 0:40:55and whose letters we have here.
0:40:55 > 0:40:59One is Anne Henry, the other is Margaret McCabe.
0:40:59 > 0:41:01And he treats them very differently.
0:41:01 > 0:41:04With Margaret McCabe, he gives her money.
0:41:04 > 0:41:07And she's clearly sending him, as we can see there,
0:41:07 > 0:41:10begging letters asking for money.
0:41:10 > 0:41:15Two of her sons live with another mistress, Anne Henry,
0:41:15 > 0:41:20who's the second woman who turns up a lot in the correspondence.
0:41:20 > 0:41:24And Anne Henry is the woman that William Tennent has the most
0:41:24 > 0:41:27long-term relationship with.
0:41:27 > 0:41:31He met her before he went to prison in the 1790s,
0:41:31 > 0:41:35and he's still with her in the 1820s,
0:41:35 > 0:41:37when I think she probably died.
0:41:44 > 0:41:47So he has this lifelong relationship with Anne Henry,
0:41:47 > 0:41:50both before and after he gets married.
0:41:50 > 0:41:52Why didn't he simply marry her?
0:41:52 > 0:41:56Yeah, that is the key question in their relationship.
0:41:56 > 0:42:00I think his marriage to Eleanor Jackson
0:42:00 > 0:42:04was going to move him up that social scale
0:42:04 > 0:42:07that he was anxious to climb.
0:42:09 > 0:42:14Anne Henry is well looked after, both before and after he marries,
0:42:14 > 0:42:16but if you read her letters,
0:42:16 > 0:42:21she's saying all the time, "I live a very quiet life."
0:42:21 > 0:42:26At one stage she says, "I'm ashamed to go out if I'm pregnant,"
0:42:26 > 0:42:28and she frequently was, with his children,
0:42:28 > 0:42:33"or to go out even just after I've given birth to a child."
0:42:37 > 0:42:39- YOUNG WOMAN'S VOICE: - 'I am present in your house.
0:42:39 > 0:42:42'I slept in your bed last night.
0:42:42 > 0:42:46'I hope to hear from you soon, and receiving a letter from you,
0:42:46 > 0:42:51'my dear Mr Tennent, will give me a great deal of satisfaction.
0:42:51 > 0:42:54'I long to know how you have been since you left home.'
0:42:58 > 0:43:01Now, what's interesting also about the letters that have
0:43:01 > 0:43:04survived from Anne Henry,
0:43:04 > 0:43:07is that William kept
0:43:07 > 0:43:09the letters she wrote to him
0:43:09 > 0:43:12when he told her he was getting married.
0:43:12 > 0:43:16She was clearly absolutely devastated by it.
0:43:16 > 0:43:20But, indirectly, I think, you could almost see his affection for her,
0:43:20 > 0:43:22that he kept them.
0:43:26 > 0:43:29Tennent may have had a deep affection for Anne Henry,
0:43:29 > 0:43:33and other women in his life, and provided for as many children,
0:43:33 > 0:43:36but by marrying into a landed family,
0:43:36 > 0:43:40he was, first and foremost, taking care of business.
0:43:40 > 0:43:43And doing so extremely successfully.
0:43:47 > 0:43:50In the years following his incarceration at Fort George,
0:43:50 > 0:43:53he became Belfast's richest man.
0:43:53 > 0:43:57He became director of a successful shipping company
0:43:57 > 0:43:59and bought and resold a range of goods,
0:43:59 > 0:44:04from beef and pork to tobacco and whisky and rum.
0:44:04 > 0:44:07He also, along with his fellow merchants,
0:44:07 > 0:44:10established Belfast Commercial Bank.
0:44:12 > 0:44:16Tennent also became deeply involved in the running of the town.
0:44:16 > 0:44:18Serving as a committee member
0:44:18 > 0:44:21on a number of newly established public bodies,
0:44:21 > 0:44:23ranging from the police commissioners
0:44:23 > 0:44:26to the Belfast Society For Promoting Knowledge.
0:44:28 > 0:44:31There are very few images of the elusive William Tennent,
0:44:31 > 0:44:35but here is a portrait commissioned in 1810.
0:44:35 > 0:44:38And the painting tells a story in its own right.
0:44:38 > 0:44:41Tennent appears as an elder statesman.
0:44:41 > 0:44:44He is grey around the temples, he's dressed like a gentleman.
0:44:44 > 0:44:46He, of course, has asked for this painting to be completed
0:44:46 > 0:44:48and has paid for it,
0:44:48 > 0:44:52so he's clearly thinking in terms of his reputation and his legacy.
0:44:52 > 0:44:55Indeed, he's looking to his future. Perhaps also wanting to leave
0:44:55 > 0:44:57some of the whiff of scandal behind him.
0:44:57 > 0:45:00And he is to become an even more important
0:45:00 > 0:45:02citizen in the history of Belfast.
0:45:15 > 0:45:17One area of the city's life
0:45:17 > 0:45:21in which William Tennent was to have a lasting influence was education.
0:45:21 > 0:45:24This was something he believed in passionately.
0:45:24 > 0:45:28And in 1814, he became one of the founders
0:45:28 > 0:45:31of the Academical Institution,
0:45:31 > 0:45:34the city centre grammar school we know today as Inst.
0:45:38 > 0:45:42Tennent, and other former radicals such as William Drennan,
0:45:42 > 0:45:46gave money for the building to be constructed on this land.
0:45:46 > 0:45:48Land granted to them by the Marquess of Donegall,
0:45:48 > 0:45:52which at the time was just a green space at the edge of town.
0:45:59 > 0:46:02The aim of the new college was to educate boys
0:46:02 > 0:46:04from the middling orders of society.
0:46:04 > 0:46:08To be a place where education would be seen as a necessity,
0:46:08 > 0:46:10not a luxury, of life.
0:46:11 > 0:46:14However, just two years after it opened,
0:46:14 > 0:46:17the school was almost forced to close its doors, thanks to
0:46:17 > 0:46:21a flare-up of the old rebellious spirit at a dinner
0:46:21 > 0:46:24attended by William and his brother, Robert Tennent.
0:46:26 > 0:46:30This was an extraordinary affair that occurred on St Patrick's Day,
0:46:30 > 0:46:351816, in Gillett's Hotel in Arthur Street, Belfast,
0:46:35 > 0:46:38where 50 Of Belfast's...
0:46:38 > 0:46:41radicals, I suppose,
0:46:41 > 0:46:44gathered to celebrate St Patrick's Day.
0:46:46 > 0:46:49Perhaps fuelled by an overindulgence in wine,
0:46:49 > 0:46:52a considerable number of what, at the time,
0:46:52 > 0:46:55were regarded as disloyal oaths, were drunk.
0:46:55 > 0:46:59And there were long-term consequences,
0:46:59 > 0:47:03both for the individuals involved and for the Institution.
0:47:05 > 0:47:08In an increasingly conservative Belfast,
0:47:08 > 0:47:11news of the dinner soon reached the newspapers.
0:47:11 > 0:47:13And there was a public outcry
0:47:13 > 0:47:16of what were considered disloyal toasts.
0:47:18 > 0:47:21I can see here this cutting from the Belfast Commercial Chronicle,
0:47:21 > 0:47:24maybe from the Monday after the dinner,
0:47:24 > 0:47:26"St Patrick's day evening,
0:47:26 > 0:47:28"Gillett's Hotel, Dr Tennent is called to the chair."
0:47:28 > 0:47:31And a whole list of toasts are read out,
0:47:31 > 0:47:35like "Eirinn go Brach", and "a toast to civil liberty
0:47:35 > 0:47:36"and political independence
0:47:36 > 0:47:39"to the people of every clime and every colour."
0:47:39 > 0:47:42- Could you tell me a little bit more about these?- Yes.
0:47:46 > 0:47:49I suppose one of the more contentious of the oaths
0:47:49 > 0:47:54that were drunk on this occasion, to the memory of Marshal Ney,
0:47:54 > 0:47:55Marshal Michel Ney,
0:47:55 > 0:47:59one of Napoleon Bonaparte's most loyal military officers,
0:47:59 > 0:48:02who only months earlier, I believe, in December, 1815, had been
0:48:02 > 0:48:07sentenced to death and executed following the Battle of Waterloo.
0:48:07 > 0:48:10Reading these now, they appear innocuous enough,
0:48:10 > 0:48:14but at the time, given that we are within 20 years
0:48:14 > 0:48:17of the ending of the 1798 Rebellion,
0:48:17 > 0:48:20these toasts would have been seen,
0:48:20 > 0:48:23perhaps, as provocative and inappropriate,
0:48:23 > 0:48:25even inimical to the British constitution.
0:48:25 > 0:48:29- And so that embroiled the school in some controversy?- Absolutely.
0:48:29 > 0:48:33The school lost its annual grant of £1,500,
0:48:33 > 0:48:37a considerable sum of money in the early 19th century,
0:48:37 > 0:48:39bringing long-term financial hardship
0:48:39 > 0:48:41to Belfast Academical Institution.
0:48:41 > 0:48:45So, did this represent, if you like, an attempt to keep alive
0:48:45 > 0:48:49the spirit of 1798 and the rebellion of that year?
0:48:49 > 0:48:51I wouldn't say "being kept alive".
0:48:51 > 0:48:55I would have thought that this was the dying embers
0:48:55 > 0:48:58of radical Belfast,
0:48:58 > 0:49:02the death throes of the men of 1798.
0:49:02 > 0:49:05These were old men who, 20 years on,
0:49:05 > 0:49:08were having their last jaunt, if you like.
0:49:12 > 0:49:17By the 1820s, Belfast was entering another phase of development.
0:49:17 > 0:49:21The population had expanded to more than 40,000 people.
0:49:21 > 0:49:23The intellectual life of the town,
0:49:23 > 0:49:27although no longer revolutionary, was still incredibly vibrant.
0:49:29 > 0:49:31In a sign of the times, in 1820,
0:49:31 > 0:49:36the cottages that once stood here on Waring Street were knocked down
0:49:36 > 0:49:39and replaced by this grand commercial building,
0:49:39 > 0:49:42a hotel and a gentleman's club.
0:49:43 > 0:49:47But an even more significant development was on the horizon.
0:49:47 > 0:49:50And it was to come about thanks to
0:49:50 > 0:49:52the fall in the fortunes of another man,
0:49:52 > 0:49:57Belfast landlord George Augustus Chichester,
0:49:57 > 0:50:00Second Marquess of Donegall.
0:50:00 > 0:50:04The Marquess and his family arrived in Belfast in 1802,
0:50:04 > 0:50:09after almost 100 years of being absentee landlords.
0:50:09 > 0:50:12But he did so with a stack of gambling debts
0:50:12 > 0:50:14and creditors at his heels.
0:50:17 > 0:50:21The Marquess moved his family here to what is now Ormeau Park.
0:50:22 > 0:50:25But he wanted to build a bigger and grander home
0:50:25 > 0:50:28and was in dire need of cash.
0:50:28 > 0:50:33His only asset, though, was the land he owned in and around Belfast.
0:50:33 > 0:50:36So he put almost all of it up sale.
0:50:36 > 0:50:39It was quickly bought up by the wealthy people of Belfast,
0:50:39 > 0:50:43eager to own the land on which their homes and businesses stood.
0:50:44 > 0:50:48The biggest investor of all was William Tennent.
0:50:48 > 0:50:50He bought 20 pieces of property and land,
0:50:50 > 0:50:55stretching from the High Street right through to the Shankill Road.
0:50:55 > 0:50:57So, the Donegalls had their Tudor mansion,
0:50:57 > 0:51:00of which this is the last remaining part.
0:51:00 > 0:51:03But the merchants and professionals of Belfast
0:51:03 > 0:51:05finally owned their own town.
0:51:13 > 0:51:17William Tennent also bought up land elsewhere in Ireland,
0:51:17 > 0:51:21including estates in Tyrone, Sligo and Donegal.
0:51:22 > 0:51:24Among his acquisitions was this
0:51:24 > 0:51:28beautiful domain in Tempo, County Fermanagh.
0:51:29 > 0:51:32More than he could ever have imagined, when he set out
0:51:32 > 0:51:35from his modest rural home at Roseyards,
0:51:35 > 0:51:38as a young man eager to make his fortune.
0:51:42 > 0:51:45Now, as he entered old age, Tennent was able to enjoy
0:51:45 > 0:51:48the fruits of his labour on his occasional stays at Tempo.
0:51:51 > 0:51:53Ironically for a man who ended up owning
0:51:53 > 0:51:58so much of Belfast, Tempo Manor is the only one William Tennent's
0:51:58 > 0:52:01properties that has remained in the hands of his descendants.
0:52:03 > 0:52:07Tempo itself was 18,000 acres when he bought it.
0:52:07 > 0:52:09And I think he paid £1750 for it.
0:52:09 > 0:52:12But it would have been a very beautiful estate.
0:52:12 > 0:52:15I mean, it's got lakes, rivers. A very pretty part of the world.
0:52:17 > 0:52:19This is something of a rags to riches story.
0:52:19 > 0:52:22William Tennent is famous as a merchant and that's how
0:52:22 > 0:52:25he makes his money, but then he buys into the land.
0:52:25 > 0:52:28Is that something that still echoes in the family?
0:52:28 > 0:52:32I think there's quite a lot, I mean, we've all lived off, really,
0:52:32 > 0:52:35been living off a lot of the work that hey did,
0:52:35 > 0:52:37and through generations, or through time,
0:52:37 > 0:52:39different families to have people
0:52:39 > 0:52:41that do very, very well for themselves,
0:52:41 > 0:52:44and I think that William Tennent did terribly well,
0:52:44 > 0:52:46which has sort of kept us going since, but, I mean, you know,
0:52:46 > 0:52:49obviously, it's still trying to keep it as best as we can to the end,
0:52:49 > 0:52:51but it's not getting quite the same breaks
0:52:51 > 0:52:53as maybe they got at their time.
0:52:56 > 0:52:59William Tennent and his friends never quite achieved
0:52:59 > 0:53:04the radical, sweeping reforms that they had envisaged as young men
0:53:04 > 0:53:08in the United Irish movement. But the system did begin to change.
0:53:08 > 0:53:13And in 1832, the Great Reform Act of that year began to push
0:53:13 > 0:53:16Britain along the road to democracy.
0:53:19 > 0:53:23Crucially, the Marquess of Donegall no longer had the sole right
0:53:23 > 0:53:24to choose Belfast MPs.
0:53:25 > 0:53:29Now, 1,300 property owners in the town could vote
0:53:29 > 0:53:32to select their Parliamentary representatives.
0:53:49 > 0:53:53William Tennent was identified the candidate to stand at the election.
0:53:53 > 0:53:57Before he could do so, tragedy struck.
0:53:57 > 0:54:00A cholera epidemic swept across Belfast.
0:54:00 > 0:54:03More than 400 people died.
0:54:03 > 0:54:05And William Tennent was one of them.
0:54:07 > 0:54:12Perhaps it was William Tennent's determination to remain
0:54:12 > 0:54:15in the heart of Belfast that sealed his fate.
0:54:15 > 0:54:17Long after the wealthier citizens had moved
0:54:17 > 0:54:21to the tranquillity of the rural outskirts,
0:54:21 > 0:54:25William Tennent stayed at his home in Hercules Place.
0:54:25 > 0:54:29When cholera struck, he was right at the centre of the epidemic.
0:54:36 > 0:54:39But there was one last twist in the story.
0:54:39 > 0:54:42At the 1832 election,
0:54:42 > 0:54:47it was William Tennent's son-in-law, James Emerson Tennent,
0:54:47 > 0:54:49husband of his daughter Letitia,
0:54:49 > 0:54:52who was elected as one of Belfast's two MPs.
0:54:53 > 0:54:57But James' political inclinations were very different
0:54:57 > 0:55:00to those of William and the wider Tennent family.
0:55:01 > 0:55:05James Emerson Tennent, in fact, became a Conservative.
0:55:05 > 0:55:08While his father-in-law would have been horrified,
0:55:08 > 0:55:12it was a sign of how Belfast was changing in the Victorian era,
0:55:12 > 0:55:15moving away from Liberalism to Conservatism.
0:55:15 > 0:55:19And it was James Emerson who took the Tennent family name
0:55:19 > 0:55:23to London, becoming close friends not only with Charles Dickens,
0:55:23 > 0:55:27but the British Conservative Prime Minister, Sir Robert Peel.
0:55:35 > 0:55:39In the 1850s, Tennent's family erected the elaborate memorial
0:55:39 > 0:55:43to him in First Presbyterian Church in Belfast's Rosemary Street.
0:55:49 > 0:55:53But here among the great and good of Clifton Street Cemetery,
0:55:53 > 0:55:57it's curious that there is no trace of such an eminent man's name
0:55:57 > 0:55:59on any of these gravestones.
0:56:08 > 0:56:10Now, that is...
0:56:10 > 0:56:12the Sinclair family.
0:56:12 > 0:56:14Famous Belfast family.
0:56:18 > 0:56:21Now, that is William Drennan,
0:56:21 > 0:56:24famous, famous citizen of Belfast,
0:56:24 > 0:56:27which means...that...
0:56:36 > 0:56:38Now, this is the Tennent family plot.
0:56:38 > 0:56:42It was bought by William Tennent in 1802 in Clifton Street Cemetery,
0:56:42 > 0:56:45but actually there's nothing left on the headstone.
0:56:48 > 0:56:51Which means that you could say the final resting place
0:56:51 > 0:56:54of William Tennent remains a mystery.
0:57:01 > 0:57:06And yet it would somehow be fitting if Tennent's grave was here,
0:57:06 > 0:57:10alongside those of the United Irishmen he outlived.
0:57:10 > 0:57:14Henry Joy McCracken, Thomas Sinclair and William Drennan.
0:57:14 > 0:57:18For, after all, he shared their passions and believed
0:57:18 > 0:57:21until the end of his days that change was possible.
0:57:24 > 0:57:27In the words of one historian, in the period
0:57:27 > 0:57:31when William Tennent played such an important role
0:57:31 > 0:57:34in its development, Belfast was a Presbyterian town.
0:57:34 > 0:57:39Now it was poised to become a mighty industrial city.
0:57:39 > 0:57:41Within a century of Tennent's death,
0:57:41 > 0:57:45its population would expand from 40,000 people
0:57:45 > 0:57:47to 350,000.
0:57:52 > 0:57:55And perhaps more than any inscription on a gravestone,
0:57:55 > 0:57:59or any fancy memorial, this extraordinary man,
0:57:59 > 0:58:03who was self-made, and perhaps somewhat flawed, should be
0:58:03 > 0:58:05remembered in the following way -
0:58:05 > 0:58:07as a citizen who devoted his life
0:58:07 > 0:58:12to Belfast and whose efforts helped shape the city it was to become.