and cambric, and it is estimated that eight thousand people were employed in the various branches of the trade within a radius of fifteen miles of the town.19 Fortunes were quickly made and many were as quickly lost. By the 1830s largely owing to recurring war with America, the industry had virtually died, but to the original promoters belongs the credit of introducing mechanised spinning and weaving, thus making possible the revival of linen manufacture on a factory basis.
Lest Robert Joy be accused by the cynical of merely exploiting child labour for his own ends it must be added that he and McCabe paid reasonable rates for work done and arranged the hours to be spent at spindles and looms.
So we come to the last public achievement. Already a newspaper proprietor and co-editor by profession, a paper manufacturer by trade, by interest and inclination an architect and industrial engineer, Robert now turned his attention to military affairs, for it was none other than he, with that directness and foresight that characterised all his projects, who inaugurated the 1st Belfast Volunteer Company – the pattern for the Volunteer movement. War with France had already caused alarm and throughout the country groups of young men had, as formerly, banded themselves together for local protection. When, on April 13th 1778, Paul Jones the American privateer sailed into Belfast Lough fears for the safety of the town increased. Three days later, the anniversary of the Battle of Culloden, sixteen survivors of the hastily collected volunteers who manned the fortress at Carrickfergus in 1745 dined together at the Donegall Arms. No doubt it was an occasion for convivial remembrance, and we are told that the toasts were expressive of “loyalty and constitutional liberty”, but the intention of the diners was “to give their countenance and approbation to the spirit now springing up in the place for self-defence, similar to that which appeared here … in the year, 1745.”20
Henry and Robert Joy were certainly there and Robert, immersed though he was in his cotton schemes, realised that the present grave danger demanded a defence force far more carefully organised than previous efforts had been, more especially as the country was denuded of military forces, army headquarters in Dublin being able to provide no more than 60 troopers for the protection of Belfast. He set to work and by the last Sunday in June
the 1st Belfast Volunteer Company paraded, and marched to church in their uniform, which is scarlet turned up with black velvet, white waistcoat and breeches. After the sermon, which was delivered by the Rev. Mr. Graham, a very sensible and polite address was made from the pulpit, in commendation of that laudable spirit which had so early occasioned the formation of the company, and pointing out the very valuable purposes it was calculated to promote. – The clothing of the majority of the Company was of IRISH MANUFACTURE; [an illusion to the widespread movement in the North to support home industry] and the whole made a brilliant and pleasing appearance.21
Amongst the first rush of recruits to this famous company was Robert Joy’s nephew, young Francis McCracken, Mary Ann’s eldest brother. Some weeks later the Chief Secretary wrote from Dublin Castle, seat of the Irish government, that His Excellency the Lord Lieutenant “very much approves of the spirit of the Inhabitants of Belfast who have formed themselves into companies for the defence of the town.”22 And so the great Irish Volunteer movement was established.
The remaining years of Robert’s life must have been crowded with incident. Though the fear of invasion receded, trade continued to decline: “We think ourselves most loudly called upon” declared the Sovereign and Burgesses in 1779, “ by the present crisis, to express our sense of the distresses and calamities in which this ill-fated country is involved, by the decay of trade, by the want of manufactures, and by the impolitic restrictions on our commerce, under which we labour.”23 Such agitation, and the influence that the Volunteers were beginning to wield, induced the British Parliament in 1780 to revoke some of the restrictions previously imposed on Irish trade, and these concessions were welcomed by illuminations and demonstrations in the town, and a long address of thanksgiving was sent to George III. In the same year the Test Act was repealed so that Presbyterians were no longer debarred from holding official positions. Nevertheless uneasiness and distrust continued, “and an opinion daily gained ground, that without a legislature totally independent of the British parliament, the privileges of a commerce granted to this country would be quite precarious.”24 The subsequent spectacular progress of the Irish Volunteers – the reviews in Belfast, Lord Charlemont’s stirring message: “Go on – Persevere – Oppression is impossible, and Ireland must be happy”; their meetings, their addresses, their dinners and toasts; the great convention at Dungannon in 1782 and, finally, independence and “Grattan’s Parliament” – belongs in detail to the general history of Ireland, though in spirit to this story. The Volunteer movement grew from Robert’s plan, its political triumph – four years after its inception – was in no small measure due to the constant support of the “Principal Inhabitants of Belfast”, and it constituted the milieu in which the next generation grew up.
We have no record of Robert Joy’s personal feelings at the achievement of Irish freedom: probably, in his wisdom, he realised that much would still need to be done before all the benefits could be reaped, but even he could not foresee that in less than four years after his death a revolution in France would turn his world upside down, and that because of it, the next generation would use to such different purpose the tool that he had fashioned.
At the end of his full but not long life [he was sixty-three when he died in 1785] the Rev. J.T. Bryson, Minister of the 2nd Presbyterian Congregation and Chaplain to the Belfast Volunteers, wrote these words:
Sunday night last died Mr. Robert Joy, one of the proprietors of the Belfast News-Letter. His character was uniformly marked with striking characteristics of unaffected Piety, and extensive Goodness. Possessed of an imagination capable of conceiving largely; of an understanding capable of digesting minutely; and of a Heart capable of attempting and promoting liberally the designs of public and private good – his life is a fitter subject of History than of Description. The extensive share he had in designing, promoting and bringing into use the Establishment in the Town in favour of the young and aged poor; his attempt to preserve Industry among the old, and the knowledge of useful Arts among the young; his being the Introducer of the Cotton Manufacture into this Province, and the Father – the Venerable Father of the Volunteer Army in it – are sufficient Illustrations of his worth and the Writer’s sincerity. His Modesty as a man, his Kindness as a neighbour, and his exalted Sensibilities as a Parent and Friend, need no praise among those who knew him well, and by those who did not know him, a just picture would be deemed flattery. In his Public Character he was bold and wise in his designs, persevering and circumspect in their execution. It may be truly said of this good man, that he lived more for his Country than for himself or Family, but he possessed the happy Talent of putting great machines in motion without material injury to his own Fortune, which others might continue with great improvement of theirs. Thus without hurting himself in any Thing, he became the Instructor of the Province in many things. May that God who sent him as an Instrument and Example of Industry and Goodness bless this country with many successors to his Virtue in both.25
Robert’s brother, Henry, survived him by some four years. From 1759 to 1772 he was deputy Town Clerk of Belfast, the designation of “deputy” being in all probability a convenient method of by-passing the prohibitions of the Test Act; certainly there is no suggestion that Henry Joy was merely a second in command. He was one of the group of merchants who established in 1783 the Belfast Chamber of Commerce, following “the plan which has been adopted by our Worthy and Highly Respected Brethren, the Merchants of Dublin.”26 The Belfast Chamber must rank among the oldest in the three Kingdoms, and it is of interest that one of its first public acts was to petition the Irish House of Commons for assistance in developing the harbour, by substituting for the difficult “meandering line” of deep water connecting the Pool of Garmoyle [where it was necessary for ships to await the high tide] with the Quay, a “straight cut which would for ever be kept open by the Waters of the River Lagan running therein”, 27 and which would enable vessels of large burthen to pass conveniently up and down, – the first of the engineering feats that have resulted in the great Port of Belfast.
The
