Belfast Literary Society
Videos
The Belfast Literary Society was founded in 1801, the second oldest learned society in Belfast. Its first meeting was held in the old Exchange and Assembly Rooms on the junction of Bridge, North, Wari
The Exchange Rooms in 1841
James MacDonnell (physician)
Videos
James MacDonnell was an Irish physician and polymath who was an active and liberal figure in the civic and political life of Belfast. He was a founding patron of institutions that have since developed
Belfast Literary Society
…congregation and historian, Dr. William Bruce; proprietor of the Belfast News-Letter Henry Joy; and the polymath and "father of Belfast medicine", James McDonnell. The members met "on the first Monday before each full moon" to hear and discuss papers on "literature, science of the arts". Given the still considerable…
Bust by Charles Moore, Ulster Museum