October 14, 1791

Wolfe Tone visited Belfast for the first time on this day in 1791 and established the Society of the United Irishmen. Tone founded the United Irishmen with the help of other famous nationalists like Henry Joy McCracken, Thomas Russell and Samuel Neilson. The United Irishmen was inspired by both the French and American revolutions and tried to achieve parliamentary reform. Eventually the society would go on to lead the 1798 rebellion, which failed.