Catholic Emancipation

"Courtesy of the University of Texas Libraries, The University of Texas at Austin."

In the waning years of the 18^th century, English leaders became increasingly concerned about the growing independence of the Irish Parliament. They determined to coerce the Irish to end any pretense of independence and become a part of the powerful English empire. To obtain Catholic support for this radical change, the Prime Minister promised Catholics they would obtain equality within the new union. Catholic leaders fulfilled their agreement and delivered their share of the needed votes, but the promised Catholic independence proved to be worthless words floated to deceive. The majority Catholic population continued to endure lives restricted by the remaining Penal Laws which enforced their second-class status.

In the early years of the 19^th century, the Catholics of Ireland finally found a strong and charismatic leader to fight for their rights, Daniel O’Connell. His great popularity with the Catholic population forced a number of concessions from Parliament. Unfortunately, one particularly galling restriction remained. Catholics were forbidden to hold public office or seats in Parliament where all the laws for Ireland were enacted. Finally, the unrest in Ireland produced long overdue action in England. Sir Robert Peel, the Home Secretary for the current Prime Minister, the fabled military leader the Duke of Wellington, addressed members of the House of Commons in the early days of 1829. England “must either grant further political concessions or that they must retract those which have already been granted.” The current laws for Ireland “poisoned the springs of social life.”

In order to gain support in Parliament, Peel proposed to raise the property standard for the right to vote, effectively removing the right to vote from laborers on the mainly Protestant estates who had previously been able to vote. Once this legislation had passed through Parliament, Sir Robert turned to the daunting task of obtaining enough votes to pass the Roman Catholic Relief Act, thus ending the last restriction created by the Penal Laws.

This legislation was strenuously opposed by the Protestants of Ulster. Localities and organizations flooded Parliament with petitions, 120 of them, protesting any further concessions to their Catholic neighbors. Notwithstanding their objections, Sir Peel’s legislation passed all the stages of the House of Commons on March 30, 1829 and moved on to the Lords. Irish Protestants were certain the legislation could never pass this stage. However, Prime Minister Wellington skillfully led the legislation through all the obstacles opponents of the legislation could erect. On April 10^th, the Emancipation legislation passed the critical second reading by 105 votes. It was clear that the last of the Catholic restrictions would be removed. Royal Assent was given on April 13^th. Since Daniel O’Connell had already been elected to a seat in Parliament, he would become the first Catholic from Ireland to participate in crafting the English laws for Ireland.

Alexander Peacock, who was then the owner and editor of the Newry Commercial Telegraph, wrote an impassioned plea to all the local residents. He hoped that these new laws would be greeted by “feelings of amity and good will by all classes of our fellow countrymen.” This English action represented “a complete revolution in Irish affairs and politics."

Mr. Peacock concluded, “Long, very long has she [Ireland] been the hapless victim of the fell demon of Party. Religion and politics have each, in turn, become subservient to its blighting influence.” All citizens must “cultivate a mutual spirit of charity and kindness.” Their only competition should be in “extending the right hand of friendship.”

The Henderson Newspaper Dynasty

There was a time before radio, TV, and smart phones when newspapers were the only public source of information. Not surprising then, that at the beginning of the 19th century, there were hundreds of them published around Ireland. The earliest among them was the Belfast Newsletter which was first published during the previous century.

Papers were usually published once or twice a week, usually containing four pages. They followed a similar pattern: advertisements, local news, reports on the actions of Parliament, and finally, a literary page with poetry, and a serialized fictional story. Some included birth, marriage and death notices of the most prominent Irish citizens. Most newspapers supported a political perspective, either Whig or Conservative, nationalist or loyalist. Papers cost a few pennies a copy. Those who could afford a subscription could instead subscribe to a reading room many newspapers offered. There they could read multiple newspapers from Ireland and England for the price on a single subscription. For years, they were very popular.

None of this was of much help to the majority of Irish citizens who had no spare pennies or were unable to read. But that didn't mean that they had no interest in the news or no way to access it. People like James Harshaw, who subscribed to two papers, the Newry Commercial Telegraph, which was a Conservative, loyalist newspaper, and the Banner of Ulster, which was published for a Presbyterian audience, shared each copy with his poor, but literate, workers and neighbors. Some of these shared newspapers found their way to the local pubs where they would be read aloud to illiterate patrons.

James Henderson and his wife Amelia were the first Hendersons to live in Newry. They weren't in the newspaper business when they came. The Newry paper was owned by Alexander Peacock. But they found Newry to their liking and settled in to raise a large family there. George Henderson, who is one of the principal writers in the Dragon books, was one of the younger sons in the family, the oldest son being James Alexander Henderson. It was this first son who started the Henderson newspaper empire. James #2 acquired control of the Newry Telegraph, by marrying Peacock's daughter Anne. He found greater opportunities in Belfast and left the Newry paper to younger brother George to manage.

A few years later, James #2, though still a very young man, was given the opportunity to go to Belfast and join Alexander Mackay in running the Belfast Newsletter. Not long after Mackay died, this James followed his father's example and married Agnes Mackay, thus gaining control of another very prominent newspaper. Ownership and management of this Belfast newspaper continued in this branch of the Henderson family for many generations. They embraced each new form of communication as it was invented, through radio and into the post World War II world of television, largely through the leadership of James and Agnes's son James Alexander #3. He became the first Lord Mayor after Belfast became officially a city. He led the building of the Belfast City Hall, and received a knighthood from Queen Victoria.

Sir James Alexander Henderson

Under George Henderson's leadership the Newry Telegraph also continued to play an important roll in Ulster society. However, when George left and moved to Dublin, the paper began to decline in readership and revenue. In 1873, the paper had hit "low water" financially. So James #2, who was still managing the Newsletter, dispatched James #3 back to Newry to rescue the paper. He continued to edit the paper until 1883 when his father died and he returned to Belfast to manage the paper there.

The Henderson family remains an important and well known media family in Belfast. Sadly, the current members of the family have no information on George Henderson or his contribution to Irish history. Hopefully, Dueling Dragons will provide him the recognition he deserves.