Updated September 16, 2005
William was born on the outskirts of the small town of Larne in County Antrim on the Northern Ireland coast on Feb. 2, 1711 to Robert and Janet (Hare) Allen--one of twenty-three children in that family. At the doorway to adulthood he set out on a fantastically risky adventure, leaving home and family behind forever to brave the uncertainty of life in a frontier land thousands of miles away. Why did he do this? To understand, we need to look at both the socio-political context of life in Larne in the 1720s and the particular circumstances of his family.
Northern Ireland, until the early 1600s, had been a land of Irish Catholics. Since the 12th century they had been under pressure from the Norman kings of England, who were trying to extend their rule over all of Britain and Ireland. The attack on Ireland began under Henry II (r. 1154-1189) when, armed with the support of the Pope, he began diplomatic and ultimately military efforts to "pacify" the island. Not having the time to devote to managing the enterprise himself, he turned it over to his youngest son John in 1185--who botched the effort and had to return to England in shame (thus earning the nickname Lackland). This was the famous Prince John of Robin Hood fame, who was later forced to sign the Magna Carta (in 1215) under pressure from members of the nobility.
Over the centuries, the combination of Irish tribal chiefs, Norman barons, and English kings all trying to control Irish affairs led to an increasingly complicated political situation, punctuated frequently by armed conflict. In one such affair, King James I (r. 1603-1625 - and, yes, of "King James Bible" fame) defeated the Irish lords who ruled the northern counties of Ireland (known collectively as Ulster). He jailed one and forced two others to flee to the European continent. Many Irish peasants were driven off their land as a consequence. In order to secure the area more permanently, James began what was called the Irish Plantation. He encouraged English and Scottish lords to occupy the land, bringing settlers with them. The Scots, especially, were enthusiastic at the prospect. Times were tough in Scotland in the early 17th century, and the possibility of getting free land only a few miles across the Irish Channel was too tempting to resist. During the 1600s, County Antrim, and the town of Larne especially, became almost totally populated by Scottish Presbyterians, though there were a few English Anglicans and Irish Catholics in the area as well.
This was the century of religious wars between Protestants and Catholics throughout Europe. One's religious convictions had political ramifications, since church and state were decidedly not separate. As a consequence, a three-tiered society evolved where Anglican "conformists" ruled by virtue of their acceptance of the official ("established") Church of Ireland; the Irish, as "papists" were cast to the bottom tier where they suffered major deprivations, both political and economic; and the Scottish Presbyterian "dissenters" occupied a tenuous middle ground. Because they did not accept the authority of the Church of England (the head of which was the English monarch), they were excluded from holding public office much of the time, and found it difficult to participate fully in the economic life of the country. While they shared the Anglican disdain for "papists," their "dissent" from the established church (which was interpreted by the ruling authorities as dissent from the authority of the government) made them outsiders in their own way. It is interesting, and somewhat ironic, that their disdain for both lower and higher rungs on the socio-political hierarchy sprang from the same cause: disagreement over religious doctrine and religious patterns of governance. Both Catholic and Anglican Churches were governed from the top, through bishops who reported to a single head of church (pope and king respectively). "Dissenters" (the term applied at the time to Presbyterians, Quakers, and the like) favored church rule from the bottom up, with local congregations firmly in control of their own affairs--including the choosing of ministers and other church leaders.
In addition to being in the middle of this rigid socio-political hierarchy, the Ulster Scots (as they came to be identified) also suffered from the general economic restrictions which the English enforced against Ireland. The main export trade of Northern Ireland at the end of the 17th century was wool. By law, it could only be sold to English merchants, not traded directly to other nations. The natural result was a buyer's market, with prices set by the English. The linen trade which evolved around the turn of the 18th century partially offset this, but it was subject to the same kinds of restrictions.
Partly as a result of this economic squeeze at the hands of the British, Irish landlords began to raise tenant rents. "Rack-renting" was devastating to small farmers who operated on the basis of long leases (31 years was standard at the time). A severe hike in annual rents when it came time to renew the lease could drive tenants off the farm, creating significant unemployment problems throughout the community.
As a "final straw," during the late 1720s, and occasionally throughout the rest of the century, the region suffered years of famine. While not as severe as the potato blight of the 1840s, they spurred many Scots and Irish to head across the Atlantic in a search for survival. During the 1720 to 1776 period somewhere between 250,000 and 400,000 Scots-Irish made the journey. (Note: "Scots-Irish" is a term usually applied to Ulster Scots in America, not in Ireland.)