Robert James Patterson

Last updated

Rev Robert James Patterson Portrait of Rev RJ Patterson 1912.png
Rev Robert James Patterson

Rev Robert James Patterson B.A LL.B (also styled as R.J Patterson) (1 January 1868 - 9 October 1930) was an Irish Presbyterian minister, social reformer, and the founder of the worldwide Catch-My-Pal Total Abstinence Union. [1] He was born in Whitecross, County Armagh and was brought up by his Aunt (Helena Reid) and Uncle (Rev. James Patterson) in Bray, County Wicklow. [2]

Rev Patterson read Law, gaining his LLB at Trinity College Dublin.

He met his wife, Sophia ('May'), when working in London and she returned to Ireland with him where they had two sons, Samuel Canon Wiltshire Patterson, and James Hamilton Reid Patterson, whilst living in Armagh.

Rev. Robert Patterson was the Minister of the 3rd Armagh Congregation of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, [3] where he was ordained, [4] who went on to become full-time Organising Secretary of the Union and was later Minister of the Crumlin Road Congregation in Belfast. Patterson was a pioneer in the field of Presbyterian/Roman Catholic Inter-Church relations. The movement attracted a large number of followers in Ireland and Great Britain. In 1914 Patterson claimed that "About 140,000 men and women joined the Union during the first year in Ireland; and almost 500 branches were formed in less than two years'.

As the Catch-My-Pal movement grew, and Patterson's book 'The Happy Art of Catching Men: A story of Good Samaritanship' was published in 1914, his travel schedule became extensive, travelling over 21,000 miles in just one year around the USA and Canada. [2] The dedication in his book to his wife referenced this frequent travel. [1]

Rev Patterson died at home in Belfast in October 1930 from a heart condition, surviving his two sons, and three and half years before the birth of his first grandchild. He is buried in Dundonald Cemetery with his wife. [5]

Related Research Articles

The United Free Church of Scotland is a Scottish Presbyterian denomination formed in 1900 by the union of the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland and the majority of the 19th-century Free Church of Scotland. The majority of the United Free Church of Scotland united with the Church of Scotland in 1929.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Non-subscribing Presbyterian Church of Ireland</span> Irish Christian denomination

The Non-subscribing Presbyterian Church of Ireland is a non-creedal Christian denomination, which maintains a great emphasis on individual conscience in matters of Christian faith. Today, the denomination has thirty-four congregations on the island of Ireland, divided into two Presbyteries and one synod, with a total of about four thousand members. The denomination currently has twenty-five ministers on its roll with both women and men serving as ministers. The NSCPI is also a member of the International Association for Religious Freedom. It has also recorded year-on-year growth in recent years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Belfast Royal Academy</span> Oldest school in Belfast, Northern Ireland

The Belfast Royal Academy is the oldest school in the city of Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is a co-educational, non-denominational voluntary grammar school in north Belfast. The Academy is one of 8 schools in Northern Ireland whose Head is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tandragee</span> Village in County Armagh, Northern Ireland

Tandragee is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. It is on a hillside above the Cusher River, and is overlooked by Tandragee Castle. The town is in the civil parish of Ballymore and the historic barony of Orior Lower. Earlier spellings of the name include 'Tanderagee' and 'Tonregee'. It had a population of 3,545 people in the 2021 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Abernethy (minister)</span> Irish presbyterian minister and church leader (1680–1740)

John Abernethy was an Irish Presbyterian minister and church leader.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Joy McCracken</span> Irish republican (1767–1798)

Henry Joy McCracken was an Irish republican executed in Belfast for his part in leading United Irishmen in the Rebellion of 1798. Convinced that the cause of representative government in Ireland could not be advanced under the British Crown, McCracken had sought to forge a revolutionary union between his fellow Presbyterians in Ulster and the country's largely dispossessed Catholic majority. In June 1798, following reports of risings in Leinster, he seized the initiative from a leadership that hesitated to act without French assistance and led a rebel force against a British garrison in Antrim Town. Defeated, he was returned to Belfast where he was court-martialled and hanged.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal Belfast Academical Institution</span> Voluntary grammar school in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom

The Royal Belfast Academical Institution is an independent grammar school in Belfast, Northern Ireland. With the support of Belfast's leading reformers and democrats, it opened its doors in 1814. Until 1849, when it was superseded by what today is Queen's University, the institution pioneered Belfast's first programme of collegiate education. Locally referred to as Inst, the modern school educates boys from ages 11 to 18. It is one of the eight Northern Irish schools represented on the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference. The school occupies an 18-acre site in the centre of the city on which its first buildings were erected.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1944 in Northern Ireland</span>

This is a list of events that happened in Northern Ireland in 1944.

James Seaton Reid MA DD (1798–1851) was an Irish presbyterian minister and church historian.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Presbyterian Church in Ireland</span> Protestant denomination in Ireland

The Presbyterian Church in Ireland is the largest Presbyterian denomination in the Republic of Ireland, and the largest Protestant denomination in Northern Ireland. Like most Christian churches in Ireland, it is organised on an all-island basis, in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. The church has approximately 210,000 members.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rutherford Waddell</span> New Zealand Presbyterian minister and social reformer

Rutherford Waddell (1850–1932) was a notable New Zealand Presbyterian minister, social reformer and writer. He was born in Ireland and after failing to finding a position as a missionary or a minister Waddell and his wife migrated to New Zealand in 1877. Settling in Dunedin he led St Andrew's Presbyterian Church for forty years from 1879 to 1919. An important liberalizing influence in the Presbyterian church in New Zealand he was an active believer in the value of the ministry to promote social justice. This led him to oversee the setting up a mission hall, savings bank, free library and free kindergarten within his parish, as well as promoting the founding of a variety of cultural and sporting groups.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Steel Dickson</span>

William Steel Dickson (1744–1824) was an Irish Presbyterian minister and member of the Society of the United Irishmen, committed to the cause of Catholic Emancipation, democratic reform, and national independence. He was arrested on the eve of the United Irish rising in his native County Down in June 1798, and not released until January 1802.

Samuel Hanna (1772?–1852), Irish presbyterian divine, was born at Kellswater, near Ballymena, Co. Antrim.

James Downham, D.D. was Dean of Armagh from 1667 until his death in 1681.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catch-my-Pal</span> Former Irish anti-alcohol organization

Catch-my-Pal, alternatively known as the 'Protestant Total-Abstinence Union', was an anti-alcohol organisation founded on 13 July 1909 in Armagh, Ireland. The organisation closed down in January 1970, when its last club stopped operations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Ledlie Birch</span> Irish minister

Thomas Ledlie Birch (1754–1828) was a Presbyterian minister and radical democrat in the Kingdom of Ireland. Forced into American exile following the suppression of the 1798 rebellion, he wrote A Letter from An Irish Emigrant (1799).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Kirkpatrick (minister)</span> Irish presbyterian minister

James Kirkpatrick was an Irish Presbyterian minister.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dundonald Cemetery</span>

Dundonald Cemetery is a large cemetery in Dundonald, Northern Ireland. It opened in 1905 as a municipal burial ground. It is a closed cemetery, except for spaces in existing plots. It is located beside Ardcarn, on the Upper Newtownards Road, East Belfast. The site was originally known as Donall’s Fortress, named after a nearby fort.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Patterson, RJ (1914). The Happy Art of Catching Men. New York: George H Doran. ISBN   9781147890105.
  2. 1 2 Villiers, Eric (February 2010). "'Third Armagh' produced world famous temperance activist" (PDF). History Armagh. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
  3. ↑ "History". Mall Presbyterian. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
  4. ↑ McGonagle, Suzanne (21 September 2019). "Armagh clergyman behind movement aimed at rescuing alcoholics honoured with blue plaque". The Irish News. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
  5. ↑ "Down Dundonald, Patterson". IGP Web. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.