The Life and Times of Mary Ann McCracken, 1770–1866. Mary McNeill
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 provision of facilities for marketing white linens in Belfast was one of Henry’s projects. Lisburn and Lurgan were at this time the principal linen markets of the North, and it was only in 1773 that the Marquis of Donegall had given Belfast its Brown Linenhall. Brown or unbleached linens were bought by bleachers and, after being treated, were taken to Dublin where the central market for white linen was attended by buyers from England and the Continent. Naturally it would be most beneficial if some of this trade could be diverted to Belfast, and no doubt the enterprising owners of the extensive bleach greens that were being set up around the town – for example the Sinclaires – welcomed such a scheme. Henry’s efforts resulted in the building, by a group of citizens, of the White Linenhall in 1783 to the cost of which he and Robert made generous contributions, and which remained one of the dignified landmarks of the city until it was demolished at the close of the 19th century to make way for the present City Hall.28
On May 1st 1781 Henry was elected a burgess of the town. This had no particular democratic significance, for the electoral roll was confined to the Sovereign and the Burgesses whose doings were closely scrutinized by Lord Donegall, but his election, coming a year after the repeal of the Test Act, testifies to the high regard in which this uncompromising Whig was held. For such were Henry’s political views, and as he trained his nephew, another Henry, in the News-Letter office, strong Whig principles were anchored in the young man’s mind. This second Henry is known always as Henry Joy, jun., and on his uncle’s death he assumed sole responsibility for the paper.
Once again Henry senior was honoured by his fellow-citizens when, just a few months before his death, they expressed to him their “gratitude for the innumerable services rendered by him in a long series of years to his fellow-citizens: as a promoter of concord, by preventing litigious suits, as an able and upright Counsellor, an impartial Arbitrator – and an Honest Man.”29 He was much pleased by this recognition. In his will he left to his son Henry, known for many years as Counsellor Joy, the cup and cover “lately presented to me by the principal inhabitants of Belfast, in the hope that his conduct through life may be such as to entitle him to be as honourably remembered by his fellow-citizens.”30 Henry’s wife had predeceased him many years. In this same will he charges his two youngest daughters, Harriet and Grizell, “to pay all respect and obedience to their Aunt Dunbar who has behaved to them as an affectionate parent since the death of my dearly beloved wife.” and he bequeaths to this lady “thirty guineas and a ring as a token of my gratitude, respect and esteem.”31
For, however notable were his public achievements, Henry Joy was essentially a family man. His children loved him, and he must have watched with pride his young son Henry embark on a career that was to end as Chief Baron of the Irish Court of Exchequer. It is an interesting sidelight on the rising financial status of the Joy brothers that Henry, as well as providing liberally for his other children, was able to educate this son in Dublin, London and Paris.
To his sister Ann McCracken Henry was a constant friend and adviser, especially during the long absences from home of her sea-faring husband; the two families lived side by side in High Street. He was always sociable – in the early days when, perhaps, life was not quite so full, he had time to go round to Tim’s Coffee House in Bridge Street, to listen to old Dominick Mangan playing his harp, – he considered Dominick a good harpist; and when that interesting young man David Manson opened his little brewery Henry Joy would turn in for a mug of ale and long discussions on politics and education.
He died in January 1789. An obituary notice, long and formal, emphasises the affection with which he was regarded “Too modest to court the attentions of any he was beloved by all”. “He was the blessing of the town and neighbourhood” for, professional lawyer though he was, “he prevented law suits, composed differences and gave opinions which were received with almost unbounded confidence, because they were known to proceed from enlarged ideas, and inflexible integrity. While every other person admired his prudence and revered his knowledge, he alone beheld them with diffidence … he lived the wise, the kind, the invaluable friend of all, and dies without the enmity of any.”32
CHAPTER 3
CAPTAIN AND MRS. MCCRACKEN 1745–1770
ANN, the youngest of Francis Joy’s children by his first wife, was still a child when her mother died. About the time of the move to Randalstown [1745] her father married again and there is no indication that his daughter accompanied him to the new home; probably she remained in Belfast to keep house for her, as yet, unmarried brothers. But housekeeping was not to occupy all her energies, and, while in her early twenties, she opened a milliner’s shop in High Street.1 This enterprise cannot have been prompted by necessity, for Francis Joy was in a position to provide his daughter with every comfort; rather, it was an expression of that independent, practical outlook later to be so characteristic of her own two girls. One’s imagination plays with the thought of the little shop; the wide-brimmed bonnets and the great feathered hats, the straws, the beavers and the velvets, the ribbands and other trimmings; and the young woman with her clever fingers taking pride and pleasure in making her