BALLYMENA 1914-1918

All else he knew of the Wilsons was largely hearsay, though he had confidence in its accuracy. Grandfather William Wilson claimed descent from one of three brothers who had come to Ireland from the Scottish Borders with William of Orange. He thought the original family name might have been Wolffson and that it may have had a Danish Viking origin.

Wilson is a common Scottish surname in Ulster and especially so in County Antrim, and Wilson’s family genealogy reveals the close ties between his family and others of similar stock in the area. His grandmother was Killen, a well-known family who owned land at Glenville, Glenwherry (also Glenwhirry).  He believed them to be have been mainly businessmen, parsons and doctors. One of that family, according to James Kenny in his little book ‘As the Crow Flies over Rough Terrain’, was Edward Bryce, born Edward Bruce in Airth in 1569, and a Church of Scotland minister after 1595 serving in the Parish of Drymen, Stirlingshire after 1602. Following opposition to the appointment of a particular moderator, he left his post in 1607 and was, falsely accused of adultery, forced to flee Scotland by the Archbishop and Presbytery of Glasgow. He became a minister in what is now Ballycarry, Co. Antrim, Ireland’s oldest Presbyterian church, after 1619, but was deposed in 1636 by the Bishop of Down for his opposition to the Canons. He died before anything could be done to him and he is buried in Ballycarry, his headstone adorned with the Royal Arms of Scotland.

Barnett Wilson, though his grandmother’s sister, was also linked to the Orr family of Newgrove, Broughshane. That family, having no children of their own, had William Orr Wilson, as their godson and he inherited Newgrove when they passed away. Indeed, Newgrove was the family home of the Wilsons until the purchase of Knowehead House some years later.  That family too had an interesting pedigree.  It was linked to William Orr, hanged as a United Irishman.

Orr was born in 1766, at Farranshane, County of Antrim, his father a well-heeled farmer and bleach-green owner. He received a good education and he was locally well-known. He apparently stood six feet two inches high, unusual for this time, and was always impeccably dressed, his trademark a green necktie, which he wore "even in his last confinement." He was undoubtedly active in the Irish Volunteers and then joined the United Irishmen. He contributed several articles to their newspaper, the Northern Star, thereby making himself a target for the Crown.

The Society of United Irishmen members were the original Irish republicans who would rebel in 1798 and who had a huge following among Ulster Presbyterians. The government wanted to make examples of individuals to deter rebellion and in 1797 Orr was convicted at Carrickfergus on the false charge of having administered a treasonable oath to a serving soldier. This had recently been deemed a capital charge by George III's legislation. The only witness against him, Hugh Wheatly of the Fife Fencibles, was of bad character and perjured himself, and several members of the jury were drunk when they brought in their verdict. The United Irishmen knew from their own personnel that Orr had not administered the oath, and there was apparently also the evidence of another eye-witness for the defence, Jamie Hope. The man who genuinely had administered the oath in question was a member of the Society, William McKeever, and he subsequently fled to America. Orr, nevertheless, was condemned to die, his execution indeed expedited in unsettled times. Many saw it as ‘judicial murder’ and ‘Remember Orr’ became a cry of local United Irishmen. In a speech prior to the verdict being given Orr allegedly said: "I trust that all my virtuous countrymen will bear me in their kind remembrance, and continue true and faithful to each other, as I have been to all of them." Just 31 years old, he was hanged on the 14th October 1797, most of the inhabitants leaving town on the day of execution to show their opposition. The "Wake of William Orr," by William Drennan, was one of the most popular revolutionary ballads of the period.

Orr of Newgrove was also arrested, sentenced to deportation and then pardoned. He escaped from custody before being pardoned and fled India, returning later with a fortune. His son took a commission in the British Army, a possible reaction to attacks upon Presbyterians during the 1798 Rebellion, and to the Act of Union, 1801. The former turned Presbyterians forever against their Roman Catholic brethren, the later gave them hope of a better future. He was a major in Wellington’s army at Waterloo, 1815. Another Orr later commanded the 18th Battalion of the Royal Irish Rifles.

Barnett Wilson was also related via the Killens to the Gilliland family who could trace their genealogy back to the highlands of Scotland, notably to William "Willy" Gilliland, a Covenanter who had fought against the forces of Charles II in 1696 and who had, defeated, subsequently fled Scotland to hide out in the wilds of the Antrim Plateau around Glenwherry. (This is the same area where, between 1682 and 1685, the Rev Alexander Peden, one of the most famous Covenanter ministers, took refuge around a small farmstead called "Misty Burn”. This site on the Douglas Road, now marked by a basalt memorial stone, is not far from St Patrick’s Slemish and is adjacent to the "Wee Collin” refuge of Gilliland.) He enjoyed the protection of the local people but his hideout was eventually located by soldiers. He evaded them. He later took revenge for the killing of his dog and the theft of his horse by killing a soldier in Carrickfergus. He took back his horse and led the troops on a 30 mile chase that ended when he escaped them amid the rocky uplands around Skerry (Newtowncrommelin).  He was, however, eventually caught, tried and thrown into prison. Later, he too was pardoned, Presbyterianism having acquired official acceptance in Scotland, and the Government gave him a grant of land. William subsequently married a Scottish girl by the name of Elizabeth and they had at least one child. This John Gilliland was born in Londonderry, Ireland in 1689 during the siege of the city by forces of James II of England.