James Hope (Ireland) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
James "Jemmy" Hope
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| Born | 1764 Templepatrick, County Antrim, Kingdom of Ireland
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| Died | 1847 |
| Nationality | Irish |
| Occupation | Weaver, Revolutionary |
| Movement | Irish Volunteers,  Society of United Irishmen |
James "Jemmy" Hope (born August 25, 1764 – died February 10, 1847) was an important Irish leader. He worked to unite farmers, tradesmen, and workers for the Society of the United Irishmen. This group wanted Ireland to be more free and fair. In the Irish Rebellion of 1798, Jemmy Hope fought bravely alongside Henry Joy McCracken at the Battle of Antrim. Later, in 1803, he tried to start another uprising with Robert Emmet to challenge British rule. Jemmy Hope was special among the United Irishmen because he truly believed that the most important issue was "the condition of the labouring class" – meaning, how working people lived.
Contents
Early Life and Family
Jemmy Hope was born in Mallusk, a small area in County Antrim, Ireland. His father, John Hope, was a linen weaver from Scotland. He moved to Ireland to keep his strong Presbyterian faith.
When Jemmy was ten, he started working on a farm. In the evenings, his boss would read to him from history books about Greece, Rome, Ireland, Scotland, and England. Jemmy remembered that this made him think about "the nature of the relations between the different classes of society." He saw how landlords often treated their tenants unfairly. He came to believe that the land belonged to God, and those who worked it were His tenants. Landlords who abused their power were oppressors.
Later, Jemmy became a linen weaver, learning the trade. He also kept studying in night classes. He married Rose Mullan, whose brother, Luke Mullan, was also a United Irishman. They had four children who survived. Rose passed away in 1830. Jemmy said she was a "gifted" woman and that his happiness went with her when she died.
Joining the Irish Volunteers
After the American Revolution, Jemmy Hope joined a group called the Irish Volunteers. These were armed groups formed to protect Ireland. He said his interest in politics began with them. He felt they helped break the "penal chain," which meant the unfair laws against many Irish people.
Jemmy saw that Ireland was poor because its people had no say in making their own laws. He believed that the poor were forced off their land, and powerful people took it over unfairly.
In 1792, at a big parade in Belfast, Jemmy Hope marched with 180 ordinary people. They carried a banner he designed. It said, "Our Gallic brother was born on the 14th July 1789; alas we are still in embryo. Superstitious galaxy. The cause of the Irish Bastille; let us unite to destroy it." This showed their support for the French Revolution and their wish for freedom in Ireland.
It was in the Volunteers that Jemmy first met other important leaders like Henry Joy McCracken and Samuel Neilson. When the Volunteers split up and the government tried to stop them, Jemmy joined the Society of the United Irishmen. He wished they could have been more open about their goals instead of meeting in secret.
Becoming a United Irishman
Jemmy Hope realized that some people just wanted to change who had power, not truly help everyone. But in 1795, he took the United Irish pledge. This promise was to "form a brotherhood of affection among Irishmen of every religious persuasion." It also aimed "to obtain an equal, full and adequate representation of all the people of Ireland." This meant they wanted all Irish people to have a fair say in their government. At this point, the Society started thinking about a rebellion and getting help from France.
Jemmy quickly became a key organizer. He was chosen for the northern committee in Belfast. He believed that only a few leaders truly understood the main problem: "the conditions of the labouring class." For Jemmy, Belfast was a place where society was divided into three groups: those who produced goods, those who sold them, and those who lived off others' work.
He agreed with Thomas Russell, another leader. Russell encouraged workers to form "combinations" (like early labour unions) to improve their lives.
In 1796, Jemmy went to Dublin to help organize workers there. He started with textile workers and then helped the group spread among Protestant artisans. When the rebellion happened in May 1798, many of these workers left Dublin to join the rebels in the countryside.
Jemmy also traveled to other parts of Ireland, sharing ideas and organizing local groups. He even tried to bring together different groups, like the Peep o'Day Boys and the Catholic Defenders, for the common cause of "The Union" (meaning unity among Irish people).
The 1798 Rebellion
Jemmy Hope noticed that when times were tough, some wealthier members of the United Irishmen became less active. But after the French tried to land in Bantry in 1796, more ordinary people joined, hoping for French help.
When the call to fight came in June 1798, Jemmy "remained steadfast." He led a small group of weavers and labourers. They bravely covered the retreat of the rebels led by Henry Joy McCracken at the Battle of Antrim. Jemmy managed to rejoin McCracken and his remaining fighters on Slemish mountain.
After the rebellion failed, Jemmy avoided being captured. But McCracken was caught and executed. Jemmy refused an amnesty (a pardon) offered by the government. He felt that accepting it would mean giving up his beliefs and agreeing that his friends were punished fairly.
The 1803 Rising
After the 1798 rebellion, some young leaders, like Robert Emmet and William Putnam McCabe, tried to restart the United Irishmen. They wanted to organize a new rebellion, hoping for French help again.
Jemmy Hope lived a difficult life, working various jobs. But when Thomas Russell returned from prison, Jemmy got involved in new plans. Robert Emmet and others in Dublin were organizing another uprising to take over Dublin Castle.
In early 1803, hopes for help from a British uprising faded. Also, French help was still uncertain.
Jemmy contacted Michael Dwyer, a rebel leader in the Wicklow Mountains. He helped arrange meetings between Dwyer and Emmet. Emmet promised weapons, but couldn't provide them. Jemmy went north to try and raise support in Antrim, but people there were hesitant. Russell also failed to get support in south Down.
In Dublin, an accidental explosion at a rebel weapons store made their plans public. After a short street fight on July 23, Emmet called off the rising. Jemmy was saddened by the violence he saw.
Later Years
Jemmy Hope avoided being caught after the 1803 rising. He found work in Belfast and eventually received a political pardon in 1806. He continued to work as a weaver, wrote poetry, and wrote down his life story.
He also worked with Mary Ann McCracken, Henry Joy McCracken's sister. They helped historian R. R. Madden research his big book, The United Irishmen, their lives and times. Jemmy noted that after their cause was lost, their enemies tried to attack the memory of those who had fought.
Jemmy had doubts about Daniel O'Connell, a later Irish leader. Jemmy's own ideas were more like Robert Owen's cooperative teachings. But in the 1840s, when he was in his seventies, Jemmy chaired meetings for O'Connell's Repeal Association. This group wanted to undo the Acts of Union 1800 and bring back an independent Irish parliament.
Death and Commemoration
Jemmy Hope died in Belfast in 1847 at the age of 83. He was buried in Mallusk cemetery. His friends, including Mary Ann McCracken and Israel Milliken, put up his headstone. The historian Richard Robert Madden wrote the inscription, which called Jemmy "One of nature's noblest works, an honest man." It said he was a "soldier in her cause" and "remained to the last unchanged and unchangeable in his fidelity." Below the words is an outline of a large dog. People say this dog brought food to Jemmy and his friends when they were hiding after the Battle of Antrim.
Mary McNeill, who wrote about Mary Ann McCracken, said Jemmy Hope represented the strong revolutionary spirit of Presbyterian workers. She called him "the most radical of the United Irishmen." Historian A. T. Q. Stewart thought Jemmy was "a pioneer socialist before socialism had been articulated." The poet John Hewitt also saw Jemmy as an early thinker like William Thompson, calling them "the brave old pre-Marx Marxists of Ireland."
Jemmy Hope is remembered by some Irish republicans. However, there is debate about how his ideas fit with later Irish nationalism. Seán Cronin, a former leader of the IRA, said Jemmy Hope was to 1798 what James Connolly was to 1916. This means he saw Jemmy as a socialist leader who linked workers' rights to Irish freedom. In 2014, a Blue Plaque marking Hope's birthplace was broken. The mayor of Newtownabbey, Fraser Agnew, said the vandals were wrong to link Jemmy to modern Irish Republicanism. He said, "Jemmy Hope was a good Presbyterian man. He wanted the working class to unite for better conditions, he was a champion of ordinary people."
James Hope was played by Des McAleer in the 1984 film Anne Devlin.
