25/06/2025
John Templeton and his family were originally neighbours of the McCracken’s. Templeton was a respected botanist and established a collection of exotic trees and plants at his Malone residence. He helped set up the school that would become Inst along with fellow United Irishman William Drennan. Templeton and Thomas Russell shared a mutual love of natural sciences, and they went on a walking tour of County Antrim in the early 1790s. When Russell was imprisoned in 1796 for his seditious activities, Templeton wrote to him reminding him of their time spent roaming Rathlin Island and the Glens of Antrim.
Templeton became a United Irishmen in 1797 but was not involved in the Rebellion the following year. Thomas Russell had been imprisoned during the 1798 rebellion and was only released in 1802 on the condition that he went into exile. Instead, he returned to Ulster to command the North during Robert Emmets 1803 Rebellion. Their mutual friend and another member of the Linen Hall Library, Dr James McDonnell contributed £50 for information leading to the arrest of Russell. Russell was later executed in Downpatrick for the rebellion. John’s sister Eliza, tried to reconcile the two men in 1825. However, mixed feelings remained as Templeton recorded in his diary “Disagreeable sensations yet pass across my mind when I recollect the deed of 1803…”.
