In 1530 Catholic Irish owned 100% of the land in Ireland. In 1703 they owned 14% of the land in Ireland.

From early times the land in the west of Ireland was under the control of landlords while tenant farmers maintained small holdings at little or no profit. Although they had to pay rent to the landlord the Irish peasantry were very attached to the land on which their forbearers had lived and would do almost anything to remain in the place of their ancestry. Many landlords, who actually lived on their estates, had a paternalistic relationship with their tenants. However, since the landlord had total economic control over his tenants, he also had control on the political and social relationships that existed under his domain.

Many tenants were "tenant at will" meaning they held no lease on the land, could be evicted at any time, and had no recourse in disagreements with the landlord. Tenant eviction and land agitation were issues in Ireland from at least the early 1700s when landlords determined that they could make more money from grazing than from the rents of their tenant framers.

Some land issues agitations were covered by the English press.

Charlotte Elizabeth Tonna (nee Browne) (1790-1846) was and English evangelist and writer who lived in Ireland from 1818 to 1824. Irish Recollection was first published in 1841. Much of the book is an anti Catholic diatribe. She makes this comment on eviction.

" On these occasions, a keeper was set over the property; some legal papers were served, and all the household goods, consisting of iron kettles, wooden stools, broken tables, a ragged blanket or two, and the little stores of potatoes, the sole support of the wretched inhabitants, were brought out, piled in a long row down the street, and "canted", that is, put up for sale, for the payment of perhaps, on or two pre cent, of the arrears."

The Ejectment of Irish Tenantry

Two images and text.

A vast social change is gradually taking place in Ireland. The increase of emigration on the part of the bulk of the small capitalists, and the ejectment, by wholesale, of the wretched cottiers, will, in the course of a short time, render quite inappropriate for its new condition the old cry of a redundant population. But this social revolution, however necessary it may be, is accompanied by an amount of human misery that is absolutely appalling. The Tipperary Vindicator thus portrays the state of the country:_

"The work of undermining the population is going on stealthily, but steadily. Each succeeding day witnesses its devastation - more terrible than the simoon and more deadly than the plague. We do not say that there exists a conspiracy to uproot the 'mere Irish'; but we do aver, that the fearful system of wholesale ejectment, of which we daily hear, and which we daily behold, is a mockery of the eternal laws of God - a flagrant outrage of the principles of nature. Whole districts are cleared. Not a roof-tree is to be seen where the happy cottage of the labourer or the snug homestead of the farmer at no distant day cheered the landscape. The ditch side, the dripping rain, the cold sleet are the covering of the wretched outcast the moment the cabin is tumbled over him; for who dare give shelter of protection from 'the pelting or the pitiless storm?' Who has the temerity to afford him the ordinary rites of hospitality, when the warrant has been signed for his extinction? There are vast tracts of the most fertile land in the world in this noble country now thrown out of tillage. No spade, no plough goes near them. There are no symptoms of life within their borders, no more than if they were situated in the midst of the Great Desert- no more than if they were cursed by the Creator with the blight of barrenness. Those who laboured to bring these tracts to the condition in which they are capable of raising produce of any description- are hunted like wolves, or they perish without a murmur. The tongue refuses to utter their most deplorable - their unheard- of suffering. The agonies endured by the 'mere Irish' in this day of their unparalleled affliction are far more poignant than the imagination could conceive, or the pencil of a Rembrandt picture. We do not exaggerate; the state of things is absolutely fearful; a demon, with all the vindictive passion by which alone a demon could be influenced, is let loose and menaces destruction. Additional sharpness, too, is imparted to his appetite. Christmas was accustomed to come with many healing balsam, sufficient to remove irritation if not to stanch wounds; but its place is usurped by other and far different qualifications. The howl of misery had succeeded the merry carol which used to usher in the season; no hope is felt that an end will soon be put to this state of wretchedness. The torpor and apathy which have seized on the masses are only surpassed by the atrocities perpetrated by those who set the dictates of humanity and the decrees of the Almighty at equal defiance."

Curious to see an example of an eviction notice I went on line to try and find one. I could not find one for Mayo so I bought one from Gortnamoney, parish of Moira, Division of Newry, County Down, dated March 19th 1868. Sir Thomas Bateson was the plaintiff and John Hull the defendant.

"Sir Thomas Bateson" (4 June 1819-1 December 1890), 1st Baron Deramore had estates in Belvoir Park near Belfast and at Moira Park, County Down, Ireland. He was a staunch supporter of the Church of England and a Conservative Member of Parliament. He was a adamant opponent of electoral reform saying it would lead to "emasculation of the aristocracy".

Vanity Fair ran an article on him in January 28, 1882 called "Landed Estates in Ireland." Prints of the caricature of Thomas Bateson that accompanied the article are widely available on the Internet.

Landlords and tenants in mid Victoria Ireland, William Edward Vaughan page 56:

"...in 1866 Sir Thommas Bateson decided to have part of his estate in County Londonderry revalued: as the Salters Company have lately increased their rental, Sir Thomas Bateson is of the opinion that the present is a suitable occasion to have the work done"

Rhetoric on Stilts. — The Evening Post of yesterday makes game of the rhetoric of and "English Squire" — Sir Thomas Bateson — who recently said in Parliament that
"This new born sympathy for the workingman had been begotten by a lust for power, suckled by the unctuous pap of peripatetic stump orators, and dry-nursed by the insolent threats and swaggering bluster of domineering agitators"

See The Fenian Movement

TYPES DE FENIANS IRLANDIAS [Fenian Types, Ireland]

L'Univers Illustre

No date.

Image and text

'In sooth," Cowper says, "the sorrow of such days is not to be expressed, when he that takes and he that pays are both alike distressed." That he who pays should be distressed is not to be wondered at, but that the receiver should be in like evil case would certainly be surprising if the poet had not given an all-sufficient reason in the fact that "well he knows each bumpkin of the clan, instead of paying what he owes, will cheat him if he can." This was written concerning tithes, but will apply equally well to the subject of our illustration, that bugbear of Irish politics, the rent, a matter in which it is held by some perfectly legitimate, we will not say to cheat, as that is rather a strong word, but to circumvent the landlords, who on the other hand, on the principle of diamond cut diamond, keep a sharper count of their tenants' earnings than is quite consonant with that personal freedom which we all like to enjoy. The season may have been a prolific one in the matter of potatoes, the pigs may have thriven, the cattle been free from disease, the harvest a fat one, but all this instead of being an unmixed cause of congratulation to the lucky tenant, raises, should he be only a tenant at will, a horrid spectre of increased rental, for well he knows that "a chiel," the land bailiff to wit, has been "takin' notes" that he has the whole docketted, and can tell within a reasonable margin what the yield of the farm, or it may be only a farmlet, has been, and will be ready, when rent-day comes round to report his worldly prosperity, and give the agent an excuse for adding another pound or so to the rent.

There is a practice much in favour with defendants to breach of promise cases, who, with a fine knowledge of the weakness of human nature, have observed that the ear is not the only organ to be assailed with appeals for merciful consideration, but that a beggar who in a decent cast might starve very comfortably, has only to tear his garment into shreds and refrain from washing to make a good livelihood. Putting these maxims in practice, with a view to the reduction of damages, they will select their worst clothes in which to appear before a jury of their countrymen, as though their tailors refused them credit, and ready money was a blessing for which they sighed in vain. The case is much the same with the tenants our artist has drawn; their wardrobes have been made to yield their refuse, perhaps a scarecrow had been robbed for the occasion, and their tongues are ready with a lamentable list of misfortunes as a vivid imagination can invent. Frost and blight have withered the crops, the murrain has fallen on their cattle, the rot has seized their sheep, the measles have destroyed their pigs, and in fine, there is no rent "sorra ha'porth". But there beside the agent is their natural enemy the bailiff, and it is to be a contest of wits between their protestations and shabby wardrobes and his figures; blarney sometimes getting the better of facts, sometimes being lamentably routed. An Irishman has a persuasive tongue, a quick invention, a ready wit, and driven from one post will retire skirmishing to another; but on the other hand, some Irish landlords have a genius for extracting rack rents from their land, and with such, "no rent", what ever plea may be brought forward in its palliation, has but one remedy-"Eviction." It is difficult to say from the illustration who will be victor in the present case, for while the tenants look plausible enough to soften the heart of the sheriff's officer, as their countryman Sheridan is once said to have done, the land agent has a countenance resembling in its expression the portrait of Sheridan's creation, Uncle Oliver.

Notes:

• Murrain literally means disease. A highly contagious disease in cattle and sheep, it is mentioned in the Bible relating to the fifth plague of Egypt.

  Exodus 9:3 "Behold, the hand of the LORD is upon thy cattle which is in the field, upon the horses, upon the asses, upon the camels, upon the oxen, and upon the sheep: there shall be a very grievous murrain."

• Look at the images of the evictions and see what the people were wearing. Did they also dress down for the evictions?

• Anyone know what the reference to Uncle Oliver and Sheridan means?

The next week, on June 11, 1870, the Graphic ran the above image in contrast to the June 4th image. The same couple is now presented in their best clothes and with a different demeanor as the greet the parish priest outside of mass.

" The question of rent, on the present occasion, we may presume, has been settled; the bailiff has carried his point and the money has been produced, or the tenant has cajoled the steward into an abatement, or postponement, or what not; at any rate the evil day is past, and the tenant can appear without danger in his decent habit, which, by the time rent-day comes round once more, with its sorrows and anxieties, will be a s pitifully ragged as ever."

Mayo landlord, Lord Mountmorres (William Browne de Monmorency, 5th Viscount Mountmorres) was murdered at about 8:00 on Saturday evening September 25, 1880 on the road between Clonbur and Ebor Hall (his home) as he was driving himself from a magistrates meeting in Clunbar. He was shot six times, several times at very close range, and from the nature of the wounds must have died instantly. The perpetrators presumably escaped over the hills and across Lough Carrib. When the horse and empty carriage arrived at Ebor hall the servants went searching for Mountmorris.

Clunbur is in the middle of a strip of land between Lough Corrib and Lough Mask on the border between Galway and Mayo.

While Mountmorris was portrayed in some newspaper articles as a kindly landlord, he had apparently recently refused a reduction in rents to some of his tenants. The motive for the murder was never officially clarified and no one was ever convicted. However, the incident was believed to be associated with Land League activities.

1. Ebor Hall, the house of Lord Mountmorres. 2. The spot where he was murdered, and 3. Flanagan's cottage.

Note: I never know if images like these are meant to be ironic. The accompanying article was in general positive about Lord Mountmorres. However, juxtaposing the images of the house of the lord with the cottage of the peasant and the image of the gentleman in his carriage with the poverty stricken woman and child seems to emphasize the differences between the haves and have nots.

The writer of the accompanying article calls Mountmorris:

"the poor half-ruined, well intentioned nobleman, endeavoring to do his duty as a county magistrate, and to keep up friendly relations with all classes of the people about him."

Lord Mountmorris, we are told, never evicted any of his tenants for nonpayment of rent, though he must have wanted the rents badly to support his moderate household expenses."

He lately had some fault to find with a herdsman in his employment, and dismissed the man from service, requiring him, at the same time, to quit the cottage allotted for the herdsman's dwelling. This man, however, claimed to be an agricultural tenant, and to have a right to hold the cottage and bit of ground. In order therefore to settle the question regarding the legal character of a piece of property, Lord Mountmorris sued for a formal degree of evection, which was granted upon sufficient evidence."

Flanagan and his wife were later suspected of being connected with the murder and were arrested. At the inquest into the death of Lord Viscount Mountmorris, Patrick Sweeney, an Irish speaker and the disgruntled former herd for Lord Mountmorris needed a translator in the court.

In October 1880 all of the suspects in the Mountmorris case were dismissed.

Lady Mountmorres was granted £3,000 for the murder of her husband under the Crimes Act.

Charles Boycott, an Englishman by birth, rented a farm three miles from Ballinrobe, Co. Mayo from Lord Erne. Boycott also acted as estate agent for Lord Erne, who was an absentee landlord. Tenants of Lord Erne asked for a reduction of their rents. Boycott not only refused but started evictions. Land League leaders suggested that everyone in the locality refuse to deal with him. Soon he was without workers on his farm, the local merchants refused to sell to him, crowds booed him as he passed. He was, in effect, unable to continue to live as he had before. The military was brought in to assure Boycott's safety. Orangemen from the north volunteered to help bring in Boycott's crops. The troops and Orangemen were booed by the locals. The situation escalated as the press covered the incident. "Boycotting" proved an effective means of change through social ostracism. For more information go to Boycott

Lord Erne, John Crichton (1802-1885), was the third Earl of Erne and was an an Irish Representative Peer from 1845-1885. He inherited his title from his uncle, Abraham Creighton, in 1842. The family seat was in County Fremanagh, Ulster. Lord Erne held 31,389 acres of land in Fremanagh and 2,184 acres in Mayo. Captian Boycott was the agent for 1,550 acres near Lough Mask and Castlebar.

The Graphic, Nov. 20, 1880

IN CAMP AT LOUGH MASK — TASTING THE BEER

The Graphic, Nov. 20, 1880

RECEPTION OF OUR ARTIST AT THE LODGE GATES OF CAPT. BOYCOTT'S HOURS

The Graphic, Nov. 20, 1880

THE GAY HUSSAR — EVERYTHING DAMPED BUT HIS SPIRITS and AT BALLINROBE — THE CAR DRIVER REFUSES TO GO ON : "POLICE TO GET DOWN"

The image on the right shows the Valkenberg Hotel. The Valkenburg family came to Ballinrobe from Germany. They ran the Volkenberg Hotel on Main Street from the mid 1848 until 1950. The hotel is now owned by the Langan family. See The Valkenburg and Old Photos of Ballinrobe

The Graphic, Nov. 20, 1880

TTHE TROOPS ESCORTING THE RELIF LABOURERS FROM CLARMEORRIS TO BALLINROBE SPIRITS and

The Graphic, Nov. 20, 1880

CONSTABULARY AND LINE ENCAMPMENT IN THE GROUNDS OF LOUGH MASK HOUSE

The above pictures from the Graphic were under the title "LAND AGITATION I IRELAND". Unfortunately, the article that accompanied these images was missing when I bought them.

The Graphic Dec. 4, 1880

THE ORANGE LABOURERS' FARWELL

The Graphic Dec. 4, 1880

1. "WE WILL BE FREE" 2. SLUMBERING IN THE BOAT HOUSE . THE LAST LUNCHEON AT CAPTIAN BOYCOTT'S 4. BALLINROBE : SOCIAL RELAXATION OF THE LIGHT HORSEMAN 5. BALLINROBE : EVEN THE STATELY SUB-CONSTABLE UNBENDS

The Graphic Dec. 4, 1880

CHEERING THE 84TH

The above images were from the Graphic of Dec 2, 1880 unDer the title "THE LAND AGITATION IN IRELAND — DEPARTURE OF THE BOYCOTT EXPEDITION FROM LOUGH MASK

THE LAND AGITATION IN IRELAND — SKETCHES AT BALLINROBE

The Graphic — Dec 4, 1880

1. The Captain's Quarters and 2. Military Life; A Nice Day's Work

THE LAND AGITATION IN IRELAND — SKETCHES AT BALLINROBE

The Graphic — Dec 4, 1880

3. Captian Boycott's Horses going to Ballinrobe to be Shod.

THE LAND AGITATION IN IRELAND — SKETCHES AT BALLINROBE

The Graphic — Dec 4, 1880

4. A sketch in the Market Place. and 5. Going to Market; "Ga'an wid ye &mdash ye're as stubborn as Boycott."

Harper's Weekly, December 18, 1880

Notice the difference between the clothes of Captain Boycott's family and the clothes of the Irish peasant as seen in other pictures.

ILLUSTRATED LONDON NEWS December 4, 1880

ILLUSTRATED LONDON NEWS December 4, 1880

The paper and date were cut from the print.

The Illustrated London News December 4, 1880:

"A band of fifty volunteers from the counties of Cavan, Fermanagh, and Monaghan, came to Lough Mask , as we have related to perform this work gratuitously for Captain Boycott. The government send a large military force to protect them, as well as to protect the gentleman and his family, and a regular encampment was formed in his grounds. The party of Ulstermen, mostly sons of farmers, under the leadership of Captain Somerset Maxwell, and the soldiers, hassars, infantry, and sappers, commanded by Lieutenant-colonel W. L. Twentymen, 19th Hassars, have borne many days of fatigue, worry, and exposure to bitter wintery weather, in an exemplary spirit. No attempt has been made to molest them; and the work of reaping and digging the various crops, and of threshing the corn has duly finished. On Saturday last, at two in the afternoon, the camp was broken up; and the Ulster party, taking leave of by Captain and Mrs. Boycott , marched to Ballinrobe. Our Special Artist furnishes two or three Sketches of the scenes of their departure, and of the subsequent journey of Captain Boycott and his family, with the military escort, who started early on Saturday morning for Claremorris. They were in a covered ambulance cart, and Captain Boycott carried a favorite parrot in a cage. Captain Boycott and his family proceeded to Dublin by railway, the infantry of the escort going on the Curragh Camp."

A kind of rural Irish loan shark, the Gombeen man was a moneylender who charged exorbitant interest. The word comes from the Irish gaimbin=usury

"Farewell to Lough Mask".

SHOT DEAD

A tenant farmer named Mullen while returning from Ballinrobe market last nigh was fired upon by six men concealed behind a wall on the road to Hollymount. He died immediately, all the bullets taking effect. It is thought the murder originated in a land disputer. Nor arrests yet.

Oshkosh Wisconsin, December 21, 1880

Oshkosh Daily Northwestern

Pictures from the Illustrated London News from January 1, 1881 indicate that boycotting continued after Captain Boycott returned to England.

Clearly boycotting in this instance meant more than not shopping in the store of this tradesman. The townsmen have come out to "groan" and make unpleasant noises and comments.

Unfortunately the the article that accompanied this picture and the one following was not available.

The Irish Land League was a political organization who's aim was to free the poor tenant farmers from the burden of the rents imposed by landlords. The Land League wished to abolish landlordism and to enable each farmer to own his or her own land. The Irish National Land League was founded in Castlebar in October 1879. Prominent members were Charles Steward Parnell, Thomas Brennan, Michael Davitt, John Dillon, and Andrew Kettle.

The Land League organized tenant groups to withhold rent and resist evictions. The period from 1880 to 1892 was known as the Land War, a period of much agitation and violence.

In November 1880 Parnell and other members of the Land League were charged with seditious conspiracy. They were brought to trial in January 1881. The Scots guards and other troops were sent to Dublin to prevent the outbreak of violence.

THE IRISH LAND LEAGUE; MR BOYTON BURNING THE DUKE OF LEINSTER'S LEASES ON A '"'98 PIKE" IN THE MARKET-PLACE OF KILDARE

Michael Boyton was an Irish American member of the Land League. He was also one of the 14 people brought to trial in Dublin in 1881 for seditious conspiracy. The demonstration depicted in this engraving occurred "on the eve" of the trial in Dublin.

The building in the background is the market house in Kildare.

The '98 Pike refers to the Irish Rebellion of 1798.

The Duke of Leinster in 1881 was Charles William FitzGerald, the 4th Duke of Leinster. He held 67,00 acres on his estate in Kildare. There were about 400 tenants holding from 75 to one hundred and twenty acres. Holders of leases on the Leinster estates were not compensated for any improvements they made on the property unless the had the written approval of the Duke.

DISTURBED IRELAND: A VISIT FROM "RORY OF THE HILLS"

Land League agitators appeared at night with blackened faces to threaten those who "resist the illegal mandates of the association."

"Rory of the Hills" was a signature adopted circa by agitators threading landlords and tenants who would not go along with the land reform movement.

Charles Joseph Kickham a member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood wrote the Irish rebel poem "Rory of the Hill". Information on Kickham and the words to the poem are easily available on the Internet. James Joyce made allusions to this poem in Ulysses. It has also been set to music.

James Conner Roach wrote and performed in a melodrama called "Rory of the Hill" which was performed in New York City in 1895.

Rory of the Hills: A Tale of Irish Life a book by Robert Curtis.

ILLUSTRATED LONDON NEWS MARCH 26, 1881

On March 5, 1881 there was an "attempt by shooting" on the life of John Hearne of Killoshine cottage. Hearne was a Land Agent for the Mountmorrency Estate in Cloongowla. He was hit several times but walked home and survived the attack. Three men, Patrick Hession of Cloongowla and two of his nephews, Richard and John Nally of Ballykinave, Claremorris were charged with the attack but for some reason were not sent to trial.

THE STATE OF IREALND; SEARCHING FOR ARMS

Accompaning article missing.

SURRENDERING ARMS IN A PROCLAIMED DISTRICT, The Illustrated London times, July 30, 1881

The above image is a sketch from County Galway where as a result of Peace Preservation Act of 1881.

"It is the room of the local police barracks, where a sergeant and one constable are seated to receive the fire-arms, guns and pistols of various description, which all unlicensed persons, in the district are strictly required to bring in, and to deliver into the charge of the guardians of the public peace. A label is written and attached to each weapon so received, stating the name and address of its owner, and the price he would pretend to claim for it; but. Whether from sheer ignorance, or from impudent cunning, or with a derisive purpose, some of these people do not scruple to mention preposterous sums of money as the value they set upon worthless articles, which could be dangerous only to the shooter- old flint-locks, rusty barrels tied on with wire or sting, and some pieces lacking the hammer or trigger, priced at many shillings, when they are not worth as many pence for mere old iron. There are, however, a number of the old Enfield muzzle-loading rifles formerly used in the Army. The inspector will afterwards come to the barrack and make a correct valuation."

The Irish Land League

One images and text.

....." most of the prisoners are rather obscure persons, and there are a few of the peasant or small farmer class. In the case of some of these, who have left their farms in Mayo or Connemara, a demonstration of sympathy has been got up by assembling numbers of people, men and women, as shown in our Artist's Sketch, to dig and plant in their fields."

"The renewed prevalence of fierce outrages in Connemara has excited serious apprehensions. The murder of John Lyden, a caretaker in the service of Mr. Francis J. Graham, at Letterfrack, was a most shocking crime. On the night of Sunday, the 24th, nine armed men broke open the door of Lyden's house, dragged him and his son, Martin Lyden, out of bed, in the presence of his wife and young children, took them outside the house, and then fired a volley of bullets into the unfortunate old man, and finished by battering him with heavy stones; they then fired at his son, who fell, they thought, dead with four bullets in his body; but he is still live. The surgeons have no hope of his recovery. Two men, named Joyce and Walsh, have been arrested on the charge of taking part in this murder. At another place a bailiff, named King, was seized by a gang of these villains, and was roasted over a fire till his whole body was covered with blisters and the hair burnt off his head. At Deergrove, near Castlebar, and at Ballyhean, houses were attacked last week, in the night, and shots were fired in at the windows. In several instances bailiffs or hinds of the landlords have been savagely beaten and stoned, and cattle and horses have been cruelly mutilated."

THE ILLUSTRATED LONDON NEWS Nov. 12, 1881

At Garkill, a hamlet near Belmullet on the north-west coast of Co, Mayo, there was a confrontation between local inhabitants and the police on October 28, 1881. Grawkill "perched on the side of a mountain overlooking the Atlantic" consisted of "about a dozen houses of the meanest and poorest class". A process server accompanied by about 60 police was about to serve "summonses for the rates."

"The people of the neighborhood, seeing the police approaching, gathered to the number of about three hundred. When the police were ascending the mountain path that leads to the village, they were assaulted by the crowd, from the heights above, with showers of stones. The police charged them up the hill several times but they returned to the assault. The sub-inspector in command at length gave the order to fire, which was obeyed, and some of the shots took effect, but even after some of the rioters were wounded, they did not retire. Twenty-four shots were fired. An elderly woman who received a wound in the throat and a charge of buckshot in the chest, is dead, and a young woman who received a bullet on the left side. Many others were less seriously wounded. Several of the police were injured. More than twenty persons were arrested and sent to Castlebar Jail."

HARPERS WEEKLY, December 17, 1881

The Condition of Ireland — Posting the Government Proclamation in Connemara

Unfortunately, the relevant part of the accompany article is missing.

An article in the The illustrated London News of March 13, 1886 shows how the idea of boycotting took hold all over Ireland and was used as a method to push at the English dominance in society.

"The social condition of Ireland has in all ages been deplorable; from one case to another, that country has never been at peace for seven years in the course of seven centuries. The peculiar symptom exhibited at this moment of its chronic malady is the organized system of interference with private dealings and personal affairs by the arbitrary decrees of the local branches of the National League, formerly known as the Land League. These decrees are enforced by putting every man or woman who disobeys them under a species of interdict or excommunication, forbidding all members of the League, who are the majority of the neighbors, to render the commonest services of life to the obnoxious person."

""Here is and "emergency man," one specially employed by the Defense Association to take charge of the house from which a tenant has been evicted; the neighbouring baker and butcher have been prohibited from selling him food, so he is obliged to order it from a distant town, and the package, sent by the parcel post is handed to him though a window."

"A cartload of boycotted turf is stopped on the road, upset, and scattered, by a mischievous assembly of peasants; while the deputy of the National League, turning his back on this petty outrage, pretends not to be aware of it, and reads, United Ireland as if all were quite and serene.

"In another scene, the cart bringing provisions for a party of "caretaker" on a boycotted estate is waylaid by a family, man, wife, and boys who have been recently ejected from one of the farms, and whose insults might proceed to acts of violence but for the presence of armed police."

"The Kilkenny Hunt, being a pastime for the landed gentry, was severely boycotted, and here we see the farmers, on the bank of a stream, treating a gallant horseman as a trespasser, and driving him off when he attempts to land in their fields. What would the hard-riding, free-living, cross-county gallopers of Charles' Lever's entertaining tales have said to such an interruption of their sport?"

"These minor annoyances keep up a bad feeling between different classes, interfere with trade and industry, deprive home life of its comfort, and spoil the naturally pleasant temper of the Irish people. The continual reports of their occurrence have greatly prejudiced English minds against consideration of those plans for the benefit of Ireland which statesmen are disposed to entertain. It is extremely impolitic, on the part of leaders of the Irish political movement, to permit within reach of their influence, such unjustifiable exhibitions of spite and malice, which are likely to create a false idea of the national character, and to impede salutary legislation."

No date. Publication unknown.

Notice the difference in dress between these "ladies of the manor" and the peasant ladies on their estates.

The guards were provided by the government. It would be interesting to know how much the government spent on soldiers to escort "ladies of the manor" on visits during the "troubles" in the 1880s.

"A Brutal agrarian murder was committed in the early hours of the morning of Jan. 31, 1888" in County Kerry. The victim was a feeble man of sixty-six years of age named James Fitzmaurice. Having retaken a farm from which he and his brother had been evicted, he was denounced as a land-grabber, and boycotted."

Norah Fitzmaurice gave evidence against the accused murderers, Daniel Hayes and Daniel Moriarty, at the trial. They were convicted and sentenced to death. Daniel Hayes and Daniel Moriarty were executed in April 1888. Norah Fitzmaurice was boycotted for testifying at her father's murder trail.

The Boycotting of Norah Fitzmaurice

"On January 31st, an agrarian murder of a remarkable cold-blooded and deliberate kind was committed near the village of Lixnaw, Kerry, an old man named James Fitzmaurice being assassinated in the presence of his daughter, Norah. Two men, who have since been executed, were afterwards charged with the crime, and Norah gave evidence on the part of the Crown against them. From that time onwards she was rigorously and vindictively boycotted. On Sunday, April 15th, she attended service at the Lixnaw Roman Catholic Chapel for the first time since the conviction of her father's murderers at the Wicklow Assizes in March. She was protected by twenty armed policemen, some of whom entered the chapel, while other remained outside. Just before the part of the service called "The Gospel" was reached, two men, named Thomas Dowling and Mortimer Galvin, got up off their knees and walked down the aisles; and, in consequence of signals given by them, the majority of the congregation, numbering about fifty persons, left the chapel and refused to return. No word was spoken to Norah Fitzmaurice herself. The result of these proceedings was that on April 21st, at a special Court held by Captain Massey and Mr. Cecil Roche, at Listowel, Dowling and Alvin were charged with intimidating Norah Fitzmaurice, and were each sentenced to imprisonment with hard labor for six months. The defendants appealed, and were admitted bail. We may add that an urgent appeal is being made to the loyalist of Great Britain and Ireland on behalf of Norah Fitzmaurice, her sister, and their widowed mother. Their lives are in such danger that they are continually guarded by police. They find it impossible to a labourer to work for them, and have no funds to employ men from a distance. Several influential gentlemen have undertaken to collect subscription; among them are the Ven. Archdeacon Orpen, the Rectory Tralee; S M Hussey, Esq., Tralee; and J A Frounde, Esq., 5 Onslow Gardens, London. S. W.

On delivering judgment Captain Massey said: "The case is a peculiar one, but is part and parcel of the dread system of boycotting which is carried on in this county. This instance of sympathy with murders surpassed all that has gone before, for it had led to the desecration by the people of their own house of worship". And Mr. Roche added: "The girl Norah Fitzmaurice had committed no offence against the laws of God or man; she simply told the truth, and brought to justice the ruffians who so cruelty and foully murdered her father. In any civilized country the poor girl would be an object of pity and compassion. Whereas she had been subjected to the most cruel persecution; her enemies had even t racked her into the house of God, and there exposed her to what was the greatest possible form of intimidation by forbidding others to worship in her presence."

See Religion for the accompaning picture.

STUDIES FROM LIFE IN IRELAND — VIII

OUTSIDE THE CHAPEL — BOYCOTTED POLICE

The accompanying article is missing.

There were numerous evictions in Woodford in the 1888. (See evictions below.) I assume the boycotted police were those serving eviction notices.

THE CONDITIONS OF IRELAND "PLEASURES OF THE HUNT"

The image can be dated to around 1882 based on the mention of the recent publication of a pamphlet by Fortrell called "How to Become the Owner of Your Farm". The accompanying short article stated that things were generally quite in Ireland.

The image represents:

"a condition of things which has of late become quite common in various parts of Ireland, the peasantry turning out with sticks, stones, and other missiles to attack the hounds, horses and riders whenever they show themselves in the hunting-field."

"Obstruction — Scene in a disturbed district in Ireland"

The tenant frequently built his cottage himself from local materials. However his rent and taxes were higher if he had windows, if his door was over a certain height and if he made any type of improvements or enlargements to the dwelling.

The landlords practiced "Rack Renting" in order to get rid of unwanted tenants. Rents were raised to the point that the tenant could not afford to pay them. The landlord then had the tenant evicted for non payment of rent. There were no appeals and no mercy shown.

Although the only legal reason for eviction was non payment of the rent there were numerous examples of landlords who evicted tenants if they did not conform to the landlord's wishes.

"The Eviction" [A Scene from Life in Ireland"], 1871

Photographer Robert French for the Eblana/Lawrence Collection per Ciaran Walsh, April 2006

The accompanying article indicates that it was extremely difficult to find process servers due to the hostile and dangerous conditions they met while trying to serve evictions notices. Walter Burke, a Claremorris landlord and a candidate for a county constituency, took it upon himself to serve writs to his tenants at Curragh Leigh. He galloped up on horseback, strode into the house with his pistol drawn, and presented the writ to the surprised tenant. He was backed up by his servant who was also armed. At one point he spied one of his tenant, Malachy Fallon, in town and chased him into a building, up the stairs and from room to room until he cornered him in the garret where the poor fellow as obliged to accept the writ. [Illustrated London News, May 14, 1881]

Michael Scanlan of Middle Mase, Claremorris was one of six families evicted by Walter Burke of Carraleigh, Claremorris. Michael and his family were forced to live in a sod hut constructed in a ditch by the side of the road. There was no room for their furniture and they were forced to keep their table and chair by the roadside. [Hansard's parliamentary debates, Volume 262, By Great Britain. Parliament, Thomas Curson Hansard]

Walter M Bourke owned a "moderate size estate" of 4,141 acres near Claremorris The 1878 rents on some parts of the Bourke estate were 57 per cent above the government valuation in 1878. On other parts of the estate they were 91 percent above the government valuation. Fifty families were evicted from the Bourke estate in 1881. Various reports stated that the land was of poor quality and that the rents were paid not from monies earned off the land by seasonal migration to England. When the seasonal migration was no longer profitable the tenants could not meet they rent. [Land and Popular Politics in Ireland: County Mayo from the Plantation to the to the Land War, By Donald E. Jordan]

CARRYING A GUN INTO CHURCH. A singular scene has just occurred at Claremorris. Mr. Walter Bourke, J.P., who has been Boycotted and his life threatened, attended mass with his family on Sunday, and carried a gun into the chapel with him. The people became excited, and demanded that he should leave the gun outside, which he refused to do. They then demanded that he should be put out himself, but the Rev. Canon Bourke persuaded him to go into the sacristy. The congregation still demanded the removal of Mr. Walter Bourke and the gun, but the Rev. gentleman declined to order his removal. The congregation then left in a body, carrying the Rev. Canon and his clerk with them in the crowd. Quiet was restored, and the congregation returned on Mr. Bourke, his family, and servants leaving the chapel. A memorial has been presented to the Lord Lieutenant by the Eev. Mr. Corbett, CC, complaining of Mr. Bourke bringing his gun into another chapel.

The Maitland Mercury & Hunter River General Advertiser

Walter Bourke of Carraghleagh Co, Mayo and Rahasane Park, Co. Galway was shot and killed outside Castle Taylor, Ardrahan, Co Galway in June 1882. Walter Bourke and his military escort, Robert Wallace were shot in "board daylight" in a public place. The killers walked away carrying their own arms and the rifle and carbine they had taken from Bourke and Wallace. It is believed that the shooting was work of the IRB (Irish Republican Brotherhood).

Compare the difference between the Irish Catholic's cottage and the surroundings of the landlord.

" "Agrarian outrages, murders, and other crimes of violence and cruelty, not including the practice of "boycotting," are pretty well confined to certain notorious districts [of the west]......The peasantry, in general, can barely keep themselves alive...... Their greatest hardships are those which Nature has inflicted upon them by the niggardliness of the soil, a large proportion of the country being moorland or mountain, rock and bog, and by the unfavorable climate, stormy, wet, and cloudy, from the neighborhood of the Atlantic Ocean. In the judgment of scientific agricultural economists, a considerable part of the land in those western counties is so poor that it cannot afford to pay any rent whatever; its quality, with the effect of the weather that ordinarily prevails, is such that it only just enables the cultivators to earn mere subsistence for themselves and their families. Rent has usually been paid from money earned by one or two men of each family going yearly to England or Scotland for harvest work, and in some cases also by women or young persons going to work for the farmers of Ulster; when this expedition has failed the peasant has sold his last cow, heifer, or pig, or the horse needed for the plough, to pay the rent; but it is seldom paid for the produce of the soil. This is the position, generally of the poor Connaught tenantry, of whom, in that province, there are seventy thousand having less than five acres each, many with land that yields no crops but potatoes and oats and rye; and in some districts, last season, these crops were an utter failure. Our readers will therefore consider what is the meaning of an "eviction" for non-payment of rent, in such a district of Mayo as that where our Artist, Mr. Claude Byrne, the other day made his sketch of the girl, shut out with her father, mother, and the children from the cottage built by their own hands - waiting in charge of their few household goods while they go to find shelter for the ejected family; but it happens too often that they have no roof to cover them at nightfall, and, with little food and scanty clothing, it is likely that the weaker may perish."

THE DISTRESS IN THE WEST OF IRELAND

From a Sketch by Mr Claude Byrne

The Illustrated London News, April 10, 1886

A Touch of Nature: Scene at an eviction on Clare Island

"Battle of Saunders' Fort" - the eviction of Thomas Saunders, one of Lord Clanricarde's tenants, Woodford, Galway.

Lord Clanricarde, the second Marguis of Clanricarde, owned estates at Portumna Castle and at Woodford.

The accompanying article was not available with the print when I bought it. However, the story is told at Moving Here, Migration Histories . This site contains some original records including a copy of a letter written by the Marquis to his land agent, John Blake, in January 1881.

The second Marguis of Clanricarde, Hubert George de Burgh was born in 1832. The name Canning was added later. He was: Lord Somerhill or the United Kingdom, the Viscount Burke of Clanmorris in County Mayo, Baron Dunkellin of County Galway, Earl Clanricarde of Ireland, and Marguis of Clanricarde.

Hubert George de Burgh-Canning, was the second son and had not expected to be the heir to the estate and titles. When his older brother died at age 40 Hubert inherited the estates. He was a "confirmed bachelor" who collected paintings and ceramics. He was the master of 52,000 acres in Galway from which he received an income of $104,180 a year in 1907. At that time he had visited his Irish estates only once in his lifetime, to attend the funeral of his father in 1874.

The agents of Hubert George de Burgh-Canning evicted 359 families in 33 years.

He was deprived of his rights to administer his estates by the English Parliament in 1907 due to incompetency.

John Henry Blake, a land agent for the the Marquis of Clanricarde was shot and killed in June 1882 on his way to attend mass in Loughrea. No one was tried for the incident.

For information on Portumna Castle to Portumna.net

The Illustrated London News carried an article and pictures on May 1 1886 concerning evictions for non payment of rent in the west. This particular article focused on evictions in Galway.

"On one estate we found that the rents, which previously seemed high, had been raised 4s. in the pound about two years ago. Thus holdings which gave 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 acres of oats and about as much of potato, with a wild mountain run for a cow, calf, or pony, had been raised from 5 (pounds) 5 s to 6 (pounds) 6 s......some paid more rent, other less. These little mountain farmers usually had four or five cows or young beasts and twenty or thirty sheep each."

"It as like a military invasion of the country; they were prepared for fighting; there was an army surgeon with them, and a box, with a red cross on it, containing bandages and medicine for the wounded.

No resistance was offered; scarcely anywhere did people enough gather to be called a crowd."

Landing the troops from a gun-boat in Roundstone Bay

Troops jumping over a stream on their march

Driving on cars to the estate where tenants are to be evicted.

The constantabulary rode in the cars, the soldiers marched.

Surgeon of the force examining the sick wife of a tenant

Lest you get the wrong impression, this was to make sure she was not malingering.

"At most of the cottages or hovels only the members of the squalid family to be driven out were found; if any were ill, or feigned illness, the army surgeon, examined the state of the patient."

Clearing out a tenant's furniture

Marching to another eviction

The sheriff giving possession to the bailiff, handing him a wisp of straw from the thatched roof.

"Their few poor articles were carried out of doors; and the Sheriff, according to custom, plucked some straw from the thatched roof and handed it to he landlord's bailiff in token of possession."

An evicted peasant family and Straw hut on the mountain side, the only shelter after eviction

THE ILLUSTRATED LONDON NEWS January 29, 1887

The Rent War in Ireland; Burning the houses of evicted tenants at Glenbeigh, County Kerry

Evictions took place at Glenbeigh county Kerry on the estate of Rowland Winn in January 1887. No rent had been paid for at least five years, some as long as seven or eight. Various attempts were made to come to some agreement on how much rent would be paid, but the negations kept falling through. Eventually on Wednesday the 12th a party, made up of the sub-sheriff's deputy, four bailiffs, the land agent, and six emergency bailiffs from Dublin, set out to execute the evictions. They were accompanied by a force of fifty policemen. The locals were aware of what was happening and so gathered in large crowds to watch.

The first eviction was at the house of Patrick Reardon of Droum three miles from Glenbeigh. He barely had time to remove the furniture from his house when a match was set to the roof. The door was hacked with a hatchet and the walls were felled with crow bars.

"The tenant's rent was £4 10s his valuation £2 17. He was eight in the family and had no stock."

"The rent is this case was £4 19s, and the valuation £3. There was a family of six"

"The former had eight in family and the latter ten. The judicial rent was £8, having been reduced from £12, and the valuation £5 15s. There were four cows in the entire place."

See Rootsweb, County Kerry The Irish Question The Truth About Glenbeigh: By Pierce Mahony M.P. for North Meath London: The Irish Press Agency, 25 Parliament Street. 1887

Harper's Weekly, March 17, 1888

This is the same image as the Graphic March 10, 1888. See below.

This image was cut from a book. The caption says that the family were Vandeleur tenants. There were 21 evictions on the Vandeleur estate in Kilrush in July 1888. These evictions became an international incident. See Kilrush Local History, Clare Library for more information on the Vandeleur evictions.

See Clare Library Lawrence Collection for more images of this eviction.

Cut from a book, title unknown. Written in pencil on margin, "1890"

The Graphic March 10, 1888

The following three images are from an article entitled "STUDIES FROM LIFE IN IELAND — IV in the Graphic of March 10, 1888.

A group of peasants in the mountains near Woodford, Co. Galway prepared to resist the eviction party by barricading their homes with rocks and anything they could find at hand. The women prepared large pots of hot water to throw at the police. However, men arrived with crowbars and took out a corner of the cottage in order to enter and serve the notice of eviction.

BARRICADING A HOUSE TO RESIST EVICTION THE EVICTION

STUDIES FROM LIFE IN IRELAND — IV

THE EVICTION

STUDIES FROM LIFE IN IRELAND — IV

AFTER THE EVICTION

STUDIES FROM LIFE IN IRELAND — IV

From Harper's Weekly, March 24, 1888

The above two images are from one postcard that shows a before and after picture of the same area in Castlebar.

After centuries of oppression by English landlords the Irish peasant began to gain control of the land through a series of Acts that allowed them to purchase the land they had been living on:

• In 1885 the Ashbourne Land Purchase Act provided for a system of government-assisted land purchase, which enabled many tenants to buy out their landlords.
• The 1887 Land Act was an extension of the Ashbourne Land Act. It allowed excluded leaseholders into the system set up two years previous.
• The Land Act of 1891 created a board to purchase land and create holdings in the poorest areas in the western counties and a loan fund for tenants who wished to purchase their lands.
• The Wyndlam Act of 1903 provided loans to tenants at reduced interest for the purchase of land and gave bonuses to landlords who sold.
• The 1907 Evicted Tenants Act provided for compulsory sale of land needed for evicted tenants.

By 1921 two-thirds of land was in the hands of Irish tenants.