← The British Act of Union is passed
Act of Union goes into Effect, merging the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland →- January 1, 1801
George Benn, (1801–1882), businessman and historian of Belfast, was born on 1 January 1801 at Tandragee, Co. Armagh, the youngest son in the family of four sons and five daughters of John Benn (1767–1853), a Belfast brewer, and his wife Elizabeth (d. 1859), daughter of James Craig of Tandragee.
His grandfather, Jonn Benn, came from Cumberland about 1760 as engineer of the Newry canal. His father, also John Benn (1767-1853), was proprietor of a brewery in Belfast; George was his fourth son. He was educated at the Belfast Academy, under Rev. Dr. Bruce; afterwards under Sheridan Knowles, then a teacher of English at Belfast. He entered the collegiate classes of the Belfast Academical Institution in 1816, being one of the original alumni, and took gold medals in logic (1817) and moral philosophy (1818).