23 May, 1754 - 5 february, 1820

Co - founder of United Irishmen in Belfast, 1791. Graduated as a Doctor of Medicine from Edinburgh. Arrested and imprisoned he was released on a technicality and thereafter took a bck seat in the Revolutionary politics. he opposed the act of union and was a promoter of catholic emancipation. disagreed with O' Connell however as Drennan believed strongly in a United Ireland with 'catholic, protestant, and dissenter' all being able to live and work together. O' Connell had used the term 'catholic Ireland' many times which offended Drennans' principles. He was a poet and is given the credit of having coined the phrase "The Emerald Isle" in "when Erin First Rose" (1795). There is a plaque erected to him in Belfast at the site of an old manse where he was born. He was buried in Clifton Street burial ground in Belfast. At his funeral his coffin was deliberately carried by three Catholics, and three Protestants.