– 1833) was a Belfast linen draper[1] and founding member of the Society of the United Irishmen, a revolutionary organisation in late 18th century Ireland.
[3] The United Irishmen were initially founded as a group of liberal Protestant and Presbyterian men interested in promoting Parliamentary reform, and later became a revolutionary movement influenced by the ideas of Thomas Paine and his book ‘The Rights of Man’.
McIlveen seems to have taken no part in the plans or execution for the rebellion, and he was never imprisoned, unlike fellow founders like Henry Haslett and Thomas Russell.
On 5 April 1803, responding to rumours of a renewed rebellion (the conspiratorial plans of Robert Emmet and Anne Devlin for which Russel and Jemmy Hope vainly sought to raise northern support) citizens in Belfast proclaimed their readiness to repel the attacks of foreign or domestic enemies.
[clarification needed][5] Like other early members of the United Irishmen, such as William Drennan, it is possible that McIlveen was put off by the growing radicalism of the organisation.