province of Ulster were requested to attend. The date of this meeting was pencilled in for "the 15th day of February next, at ten o'clock in the forenoon." On the arranged date, 15 February 1782, delegates from 147 Volunteer corps arrived at the Presbyterian church, at Scotch Street, Dungannon for what would become known as the "Dungannon Convention of 1782". This church has formerly been the favourite meeting place of the Presbyterian Synod of Ulster and later the supreme ecclesiastical court of Irish Presbyterians. After the Volunteer convention it was afterwards known as the "Church of the Volunteers", although some later writers claim the actual meeting place was the Church of Ireland parish church at Drumglass. This church was used for the next three conventions of Ulster Volunteer corps: 21 June 1782, with delegates from 306 companies attending; 8 September 1783, with delegates from 270 companies; and almost a decade later on 15 February 1793, when the "fires of patriotism that marked the birth of the movement were burning low", which the meeting "failed to kindle them anew". The meetings The first meeting is the best known. Many of the Volunteers were just as concerned with securing Irish free trade and opposing English governmental interference in Ireland as they were in repelling the French. This resulted in them pledging support for resolutions advocating legislative independence for Ireland, whilst proclaiming their loyalty to the British Crown. The first convention according to Sir Jonah Barrington, saw 200 delegates marching two by two into the church "steady, silent, and determined", clothed in their uniform and bearing arms. A poem by Thomas Davis states how "the church was full to the door". The lower part of the church was reserved for delegates with the gallery for their friends who required tickets for admission. Some people who attended the first and second conventions however consider them to be equally important. After pressure from the Volunteers and a Parliamentary grouping under Henry Grattan, greater autonomy and powers (legislative independence) were granted to the Irish Parliament, in what some called "the constitution of 1782". This resulted in the Volunteers at the third convention proceeding to demand parliamentary reform, however as the American War of Independence was ending, the British government no longer feared the threat of the Volunteers. The fourth convention in 1793 was held after a period of steep decline in Volunteer membership (see Demise below).