Editing Lisburn (section)

===Irish Volunteers, Croppies and Orangemen===
[[File:The Lisburn and Lambeg Volunteers Firing a 'Feu de Joie' in Honour of the Dungannon Convention, 1782.jpg|thumb|left|Lisburn Volunteers in Market Place firing a ''[[feu de joie]]'' in honour of the Dungannon Convention1782.]]
Mechanisation, tied first to water, and then to steam, power, drove the growth of industry, but displaced independent weavers. In 1762, over 300 paraded through Lisburn brandishing blackthorn sticks as a protest against the threat of unemployment.<ref name=":0" /> In the 1780s they were gripped by the spirit of "combination"—the formation, in defiance of the law, of unions to press for higher [[Piece work|piece rates]]. This brought workers into a sometimes uneasy relationship with the Volunteer militia.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Gray|first=John|title=The San Culottes of Belfast: The United Irishmen and the Men of No Property|publisher=Belfast Trades Union Council and the United Irishmen Commemorative Society|year=1998|location=Belfast|pages=7–13}}</ref>

The [[Irish Volunteers (18th century)|Volunteer militia movement]], formed in response to the defence emergency caused by French intervention in the [[American Revolutionary War|American War of Independence]], served the town's merchants and tradesmen as an opportunity to protest (with their kindred in the American colonies) the restrictive [[Navigation Acts|English Navigation Acts]] and to insist on the independence of the [[Parliament of Ireland|Irish Parliament]] in [[Dublin]]. In 1783 [https://www.dib.ie/biography/jones-william-todd-a4348 William Todd Jones],<ref>{{Cite web |last=Woods |first=C. J. |date=2009 |title=Jones, William Todd {{!}} Dictionary of Irish Biography |url=https://www.dib.ie/biography/jones-william-todd-a4348 |access-date=2023-02-24 |website=www.dib.ie |language=en}}</ref> a captain of the Lisburn Fusilier Corps of Volunteers, took this patriot programme (approved at a [[Dungannon Convention of 1782|convention in Dungannon]]) a step further. He successfully challenged the parliamentary nominees of the town and district's principal landlord, the Hertfords, on a platform of a representative reform to include votes for Catholics.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Kelly|first=James|date=1988|title=The Parliamentary Reform Movement of the 1780s and the Catholic Question|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25487483|journal=Archivium Hibernicum|volume=43|pages=(95–117) 99|doi=10.2307/25487483|jstor=25487483|issn=0044-8745|access-date=6 May 2021|archive-date=6 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210506205808/https://www.jstor.org/stable/25487483|url-status=live|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

In the wake of the [[French Revolution]] the cause of religious equality and representative government for Ireland was taken up in a still less compromising form by the [[Society of United Irishmen]]. The society won support of working men in the town, and of its leading Catholic family, the Teelings of Chapel Hill, wealthy linen manufacturers. [[Bartholomew Teeling]] (destined to hang) and his brother [[Charles Hamilton Teeling|Charles]], were an important connection between the largely [[Presbyterian Church in Ireland|Presbyterian]] "United men" and Catholic [[Defenders (Ireland)|Defenders]] in rural areas.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Smyth|first=Jim|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rEyvCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA118|title=The Men of No Property, Irish Radicals and Popular Politics in the Late Eighteenth Century|publisher=Macmillan|year=1998|isbn=9781349266531|location=London|pages=118–119|access-date=6 May 2021|archive-date=6 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210506193505/https://books.google.com/books?id=rEyvCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA118|url-status=live}}</ref> It is likely, however, that the greater strength in the district was the fraternal [[Orange Order]], newly formed in defence of the [[Protestant Ascendancy|Protestant [Church of Ireland] Ascendancy]]. In 1797 the Order paraded 3000 loyalists in the town before the British commander [[Gerard Lake, 1st Viscount Lake|General Lake]].<ref>{{Cite web|last=Gray|first=John|date=2010-07-01|title=The Twelfth of July|url=https://www.culturenorthernireland.org/features/heritage/twelfth-july-0|access-date=2021-05-12|website=Culture Northern Ireland|language=en|archive-date=12 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210512150320/https://www.culturenorthernireland.org/features/heritage/twelfth-july-0|url-status=live}}</ref>

The neighbouring military camp at Blaris, ensured that when in 1798 the United Irishmen, decided upon insurrection, there could be no rebel demonstration in the town.<ref>{{Cite web|title=1798 Rebellion {{!}} Lisburn.com|url=http://lisburn.com/history/history_lisburn/1798_rebellion.htm|access-date=2021-05-06|website=lisburn.com|archive-date=6 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210506193507/http://lisburn.com/history/history_lisburn/1798_rebellion.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> Blaris supplied troops that helped ensure defeat for the forces of the "Republic" to the north of the town at the [[Battle of Antrim]] on June 7, and to the south at the [[Battle of Ballynahinch]] on June 12 where the "[[Croppy|Croppies]]" had been under the command of the Lisburn linen draper, [[Henry Munro (United Irishman)|Henry Munro]]. For over a month, the severed heads of Munro and three of his lieutenants were displayed on pikes, one on each corner of the Market House.<ref>{{Cite web|date=1952|title=Lisburn, the Official Guide|url=https://eddiesextracts.com/books/lisburnc1952.html|url-status=live|access-date=2021-05-13|website=eddiesextracts.com|archive-date=13 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210513131523/https://eddiesextracts.com/books/lisburnc1952.html}}</ref>