
William Sampson (1764-1836) was a lawyer who often provided legal defence for many United Irishmen throughout Ulster. Sympathetic to the cause of religious liberty in Ireland and in America, Sampson was arrested during the 1798 rebellion and eventually forced into exile into Europe, living for a time in Portugal, France and Germany, constantly trying to evade arrest. However, he finally settled in the United States in 1806, and become instrumental in establishing the right of confessional privilege for Catholic priests in American law. He would die in 1836 in New York, buried in the same plot as the family of Wolfe Tone.