Isaac Nelson

Who was Isaac Nelson?

Isaac Nelson was a Presbyterian minister and an Irish Nationalist politician.

Nelson was born in Belfast and educated at Belfast Academical Institution. In August 1837 he was ordained minister of First Comber Presbyterian Church. In 1842 he was installed in Donegall Street Presbyterian Church, Belfast.

He stood for Parliament while still minister at Donegall Street. Having been elected, he resigned his pastoral charge and served as the Irish Parliamentary Party Member of Parliament for Mayo in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 1880 to 1882.

In November 1873, at a home rule conference in Dublin, Nelson emphasised the historical nationalism of Ulster Presbyterianism and expressed his view that no candidate in the next election would succeed without embracing home rule. His views were published in The Northern Whig Newspaper and were promptly condemned by William Johnston, the moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland.

The following year, Nelson attended and addressed the fourth annual meeting of the "Home Rule Association", held in Manchester, England. In 1877, he was a founding member of the "Home Rule Confederation".