1774 To 1904 The Old St Annes
1754 City: Belfast's second Linen Hall is erected on the present cathedral site in Donegall Street.
1754 City: David Manson opens the first school in Belfast.
1759 IRL: Guinness is brewed for the first time
1760 IRL: Landowners enclose common land for grazing cattle. Men called whiteboys (because they wear white shirts or smocks to disguise themselves) destroy fences and attack cattle.
1769 - 71 City: Fifteen years after its inaugural meeting the attempts of the committee of the Belfast Charitable Society to found a Poor House and Hospital gains the support of the Earl of Donegall and on August 1st 1771, the foundation stone is laid.
1770s IRL: Protestants form secret societies, the Oakboys and the Steelboys to protest about rents and rates
1774 The Linen Hall is demolished to provide the site for the Church of St Anne. The Belfast News Letter of May 10 reports that, 'On Saturday last the Church of this town was thrown down, and on the Monday following the foundations of a new one were begun to be sunk.' The Church is the old Corporation Church in High Street where St George's now stands. The Linen Hall in Donegall Street is demolished to provide a site for the new church, a gift from town landlord, the fifth Earl of Donegall. It is called St Anne's. It is not known whether its title is in honour of his first wife or of the grandmother of Jesus.
The architect is Francis Hiorne of Warwick, assisted by Belfast architect, Roger Mulholland. While the church is being built the congregation has the use of Second Presbyterian Church, Rosemary Street.
The rights and parish silver of the old Corporation church are transferred to St Anne's.
1771 City: Belfast Charitable Society is formed. Shipbuilding begins in Belfast.
1775 City: The bell of St Anne’s Church is given to the Charitable Society for the church it proposes to build as part of its proposed Poorhouse and Hospital. In the event the church is not built but the bell is placed prominently in the new premises and used into the 20th century.
1776 Consecration of St Anne’s Church. An entry in the “Henry Joy: Historical Collection” for Sunday, October 27 reports that “The elegant new Church erected here by the Earl of Donegall was consecrated by the Bishop of Down and Connor” - Dr Traill.
1777 City: Cotton spinning is introduced into Belfast.
1778 John Wesley preaches in St.Anne’s
IRL:A Catholic Relief Act allows Roman Catholics to lease land for 999 years. They are also allowed to leave their land to a single heir.
1780 IRL: Protestant dissenters are allowed to hold Public office.
1781 June 24 William Ware inaugurates the new Snetzler organ, a gift from Lord Donegall.
1782 IRL: Catholics are allowed to buy land. Most restrictions on Catholic education and the Catholic clergy are removed. Poyning's Law is repealed.
1783 IRL: The Bank of Ireland opens.
1785 City: A Harbour Board is formed with responsibility for the upkeep of the harbour.
1786 City: Belfast Academy is founded on a site adjacent to the cathedral - hence Academy Street.
1788 City: Belfast Reading Society is formed. Currently it is better known as The Linenhall Library. The White Linen Hall is opened; evidence of the growth in the linen trade.
1791 IRL: The Society of United Irishmen is formed.
1792 City: Belfast Harp Festival. Irish airs are recorded by Edward Bunting and saved for posterity. They are made popular as Moore’s Melodies.
IRL: Catholics are allowed to practice as lawyers. Catholics are allowed to marry protestants.
1793 IRL: Catholics are allowed to vote
1795 IRL: The battle of the Diamond between 2 secret societies, the Catholic Defenders and the Protestant Peep O' Day boys. The Defenders are severely defeated.
1798 IRL: The Society of United Irishmen rebel but the rebellion is crushed at the battle of Vinegar Hill in June. Wolfe Tone commits suicide after being captured.
1800 City: Belfast has a population of around 20,000. A Paving Board is formed to pave the streets.
IRL: The Act of Union joins England and Ireland (the act comes into effect in 1801)
1800 - 1850 City: As in all early 19th century cities conditions in Belfast in the years 1800-1850 were appalling. Streets were dirty and houses were overcrowded. The Lagan was used a sewer. Not surprisingly in 1847 there was an outbreak of typhus (a disease spread by lice). In 1848 cholera struck Belfast.
1803 IRL: Robert Emmet's rising in Dublin. The rising is crushed and Emmet is executed.
1803 IRL: Famine in Ireland.
1807 City: The Harp Society is formed.
1810 City: Foundation stone of Belfast Academical Institution (Inst) is laid on July 3rd by George Augustus Chichester, 2nd Marquis of Donegall.
1813 City: The city’s population is 27,832.
1814 City: The Anacreontic Society is founded - now known as the Belfast Philharmonic Society.
1815 City: Building starts on the first hospital in Frederick Street - the Belfast Fever Hospital - foundation stone laid by Second Marquis of Donegall.
1817 IRL: Famine and typhus in Ireland
1819 City: St George’s Church is built.
1820s IRL: Agrarian unrest is led by a secret society called the Ribbonmen.
1821 - 1822 IRL: Famine strikes Ireland again.
1821 City: The city’s population is 37,117.
1822 City: Foundation stone of Belfast Gas Company’s works is laid by Second Marquis of Donegall. A year later Belfast gets gas light.
IRL: Daniel O'Connell founds the Catholic Association.
1827 City: A Botanic and Horticultural Society is formed. It creates a private botanic garden. The Palm House is built in 1840. The botanic garden becomes a public park in 1895.
1829 City: Belfast and District Hospital for the Treatment of the Insane opened. It closed in 1924.
IRL: The Catholic Emancipation Act allows Catholics to enter parliament and to hold public office.
1830 - 1834IRL: Famine stalks Ireland again.
1831 City: The city’s population is 53,287.
1832 IRL: Cholera epidemic in Irish towns.
1833 City: The Ulster Museum concept is formed.
1834 City: Belfast Ropeworks are opened and continue to trade until 1983. In the early 20th century it is the world’s largest manufacturer of rope and twine.
1836 IRL: Famine strikes again.
1838 IRL: Tithes (a tax of 1 tenth on farm produce paid to the Church of Ireland) are reduced by 25%.
1839 City: A railway is built to Lisburn. Horse drawn trams begin in Belfast in 1872.
1840 IRL: The Young Ireland Movement is founded.
1841 City: The city’s population is 70,447.The port is booming. The River Lagan is shallow and winding so in a channel was dug to by-pass one of its curves. In this way Queen’s Island is formed. The channel is extended in 1849 and the extension is named Victoria Channel. Both it and Queens Island were named after the visit of Queen Victoria to Belfast in 1849. Clarendon Dock is built in 1851. Dufferin and Spencer Docks follow in 1872. York Dock is built in 1897.
IRL: The population of Ireland is 8,175.000.
1842 City: Belfast is raised to borough status.
1843 City: Queen’s Bridge is built.
IRL: The first raiway in Ireland is opened from Dublin to Kingstown.
1844 City: St Malachy’s Church is built.
1845 - 49 IRL: Potato blight causes a famine. In the region of 1 million people die. Many more emigrate. The population of Ireland falls dramatically. The famine is at its worst in the West and Southwest of Ireland.
1847 City: The harbour of Belfast is placed under the management of the Belfast Harbour Commissioners, a body established by the Belfast Harbour Act (1847). Over the years extensive land reclamation is carried out. The present harbour area covers 668 ha/1,650 acres and includes a shipyard and an aircraft components factory, as well as 102 ha/252 acres of commercial docks. The port also contains what was the world's largest working dry dock.
1848 - 50 IRL: Cholera epidemics.
1849 City: Queen Victoria visits Belfast. The Queen’s University is founded as The Queen’s College, Belfast, and is associated with two other Queen's Colleges at Cork and Galway until it receives its royal charter as an independent university in 1909. The Lanyon Building in University Road, is the most significant High Victorian building in Ulster It is designed by Charles Lanyon and is built between 1846 and 1849. It is constructed in a red-brick Tudor style, reproducing parts of the 15th-century Founder's Tower at Magdalen College, Oxford, England. There are extensions designed by W H Lynn (1911–12), W A Forsyth (1933), and John MacGeagh. Victoria Channel is named in the port.
1850 - 1900 City: In the late 19th century conditions improve. New by-laws mean that all new houses are much better. Unfortunately the old ones still remain. In the late 1880s and early 1890s Belfast Council builds a network of sewers. From the mid 19th century the linen industry is industrialised and is woven in factories. However the cotton industry declines severely in the mid-19th century. There are several iron foundries in Belfast in the mid 19th century and in the late 19th century a large engineering industry grows up. Also in the late 19th century there is a whiskey distilling industry in Belfast and a tobacco industry.
1850 IRL: The Irish Franchise Act greatly increases the number of people allowed to vote. The population of Ireland has fallen to 6,552,000.
1851 City: Clarendon dock is constructed.
1853 City: Sinclair Seamens’ Church is built.
1854 City: The Harbour Commissioners’ Office is built.
IRL: The Catholic University of Ireland opens. Oscar Wilde is born.
1857 City: The Customs House is built.
1858 IRL: The Irish Republican Brotherhood is formed.
1861 City: In April Edward Harland and Gustav Wolff first entered into formal partnership and Harland and Wolff was created. At its peak, it was the biggest shipyard in the world and employed more than 30,000 people.
1862 City: The Ulster Hall is built. Harland and Wolff shipyard commences.
1865 City: Belfast Castle is built on the slopes of the Cave Hill for the Marquis of Donegal.
1867 IRL: The Irish Fenian Rising.
1869 The Church of Ireland is disestablished.
City: The Albert Memorial clock is built.
1870 City: Belfast Castle is built by Marquis of Donegall.
IRL: Gladstone's Land Act gives tenant farmers the right to compensation if they have made improvements to the land. The Home Government Association is formed.
1872 City: Horse drawn trams introduced. Dufferin and Spencer Docks are constructed.
1873 IRL: The Home Government Association is replace by the Home Rule League.
1874 IRL: Lewis Harris is the first Jew to be elected to Dublin Corporation as an Alderman for South Dock ward. His death two years later, on the eve of his appointment, deprives him of becoming Ireland's first Jewish Lord Mayor.
1879 IRL: The Irish National Land League is formed. It demands the 'three f's', fair rent, fixity of tenure and free sale of land.
1880 IRL: A new verb enters the language 'to boycott'. Charles Stewart Parnell, the leader of the Land League declares that if a tenant is evicted and somebody else takes over the land that person is to be ostracised. The first person so treated is a Captain Boycott.
1881 IRL: The Land Law Act grants the '3 f's'. (See 1879). The Land Commission is formed to fix rent and to give loans to purchase land. Parnell is imprisoned.
1882 IRL: James Joyce is born. Parnell is released.
1884 IRL: The franchise is extended again. The Gaelic Athletic Association is formed.
1885 IRL: Under the Ashbourne Act loans are given to tenant farmers to buy their land. The loans are to be repaid at low rates of interest.
1886 IRL: The first Home Rule bill is rejected by the British parliament.
1888 City: Belfast is established as a city by Royal Charter of Queen Victoria. This adds impetus to the cause of the city having a cathedral. Belfast is now the largest city in Ireland. The American Civil War helped to make the city the world centre of the linen industry: Union troops marching through plantations created a cotton famine in Manchester, and the nearest available substitute was linen.
The central Belfast Public Library is opened.
1890 City: The Albert Bridge is built.
IRL: Michael Collins is born. Oscar Wilde publishes The Picture of Dorian Gray. Parnell is named as co-respondent in a divorce case.
1891 IRL: Another Land Act makes more money available to tenant farmers to buy land.
1893 IRL: The Gaelic League is founded. The second Home Rule bill is passed by the British House of Commons but is rejected by the House of Lords. Another Land Act makes it easier for tenant farmers to borrow money to buy their land.
