In 1770 in Templepatrick, County Antrim a local landlord evicted tenants and replaced them with speculators who could outbid the locals for the land. At some point a local was arrested and charged with maiming cattle belonging to a merchant from Belfast, which spurred the farmers of Templepatrick to take up arms and march on Belfast to demand his release. The protestors surrounded the barracks and threatened to burn the house of Waddell Cunningham, who was one of the new speculators in Templepatrick. The soldiers in the barracks fired upon the protestors killing several and wounding others. The protestors eventually set fire to Cunningham's house and as the fire threatened to spread and destroy the town of Belfast itself, its mayor decided to free the prisoner.