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 did NOT live in Ireland. Their properties were administered by local agents.

Some 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 farmers.

Many land agitations issues were covered by the English, American, Australian and New Zealand press.

Charlotte Elizabeth Tonna (nee Browne) (1790-1846) was an 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, one or two pre cent, of the arrears."

Irish Rebellion of 1798 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

There is a lot on the internet about the 1798 Irish Rebellion.

Eviction was the most common way for a landlord to rid his land of unwanted tenants. Many of these evicted tenants made their way overseas to England, the Americas, Australia and New Zealand. some landlords even paid the tenants way - just to get them off the land.

Irish agrarian organizations were active in several movements from the mid 1700s to the mid 1800 including, Whiteboys, Ribbonmen and Molly Maguires.

"In consequence of disturbances by roving bands of Ribbonmen, the Government has ordered two squadrons of dragoon and a company of infantry to be stationed at Ballinrobe and Castlebar."

(New York Times October 9, 1879)

Whiteboys

Ribbonism

"The Fenian movement did not represent anything like the full force of Irish patriotism, or even, indeed, a considerable portion of it, the bulk of the millions who believed in O'Connell and Smith O'Brien stood with folded arms outside the movement. Its policy was disbelieved in, although the Fenians worked with an energy worthy of the highest admiration, while an honest, mainly, self-sacrificing spirit of patriotism marked the men who were its martyrs. Never did braver men stand in the dock; and to the Fenians, Ireland owes that stirring-up of public opinion upon Irish subjects which hitherto had slumbered in a wasting inactivity."

Frank Leslie April 1880

See The Fenian Movement

TYPES DE FENIANS IRLANDIAS [Fenian Types, Ireland]

L'Univers Illustre

No date.

THE NEW IRISH MOVEMENT - THE POLICE AND THE FENIANS AT TALLAGHT IN 1867

In February 1867 there were several confrontations between the Fenians and the Irish Constabulary. The largest took place near Tallaght Hill where several hundred Fenians were attacked and driven off by the police.

Fenian Trials for High Treason in 1867

Note: The image is from Frank Leslies's magazine of April 1880 although the event took place in 1867.

The Graphic June 4, 1870

HOW NOT TO PAY THE RENT

'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^1. 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. ^2.

^1.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."

^2. Richard Brinsley Sheridan's comedy of manners School for Scandal examines "the deceptive nature of appearances, the fickleness of reputation, [and] the often disreputable guises behind which goodness and honesty can conceal itself". Sir Oliver, the uncle Oliver referred to in this article, assumes various disguises to test the integrity of several characters in the play.

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 as pitifully ragged as ever."

Ireland in the early 1800s

Several events took place in the early 1800s that put the lives of AngloIrish landlords and land agents in danger. These included: the murder of David Feerick in April 1880 in Ballinrobe, the murder of Lord Mountmorres in September 1880 near Clonbur, the ostracizing of Captain Boycott in October 1880 in Ballinrobe, the shooting of John Hearn in March 1881 in Ballinrobe, the murder of Luke Dillon in November 1881 at Claremorris, the murder of Joe and John Huddy near Clonbur in January 1882, the murder of John Blake in June 1882 in Loughrea, the murder of William M. Bourke and his military escort, Robert Wallace, in June 1882 in County Galway and others.

The government was forced to provide military and police escorts to persons considered to be in danger.

"REIGN OF TERROR IN IRELAND

An English journal says: It is simewhat difficult for an ordinary Englishman to realize the present condition of affairs in Ireland, as they were described by the noblemen and gentlemen who, assembled in conference the other day in the Irish metropolis, and subsequently waited upon the Lord Lieutenant and Chief Secretary as a representative deputation of the whole body of Irish landlords. In Dublin, the third city of the United Kingdom, the residence of the Viceroy, the seat of the law courts, and the capital of Ireland, within 11 hours of London by rail, the landed proprietors of the country are actually obliged to meet in private and discuss measures for the preservation of their lives and property without venturing to do so in public, or allow the names and statements of the speakers to be made known. When her Majesty's Representative and the Minister who is specially charged with Irish interests in the Cabinet are compelled to receive a deputation of 105 landlords and agents almost by stealth, and to listen to the statements of men in the highest social position who tell them that it would cost them their lives were their names to be made known outside the Council chamber of Dublin Castle, the people of this country will begin to ask themselves whether such a state of things is to be allowed to go on, and if the Government are prepared to admit that it is no longer in their power to protect human life or uphold the public tranquillity and the supremacy of the law in Ireland."

The Sydney Morning Herald, Friday 3 December 1880

Many of the "Land War" incidents were said to have been carried out by members of the Land League. There is a lot on the internet about the Land League and tons of books have been written about the movement and its leaders. Suffice to say that it was a political organization whose prime aim was to abolish landlordism and to allow Irish farmers to own the land they lived and worked on. The movement was founded in County Mayo in the fall of 1879. It fought for "Fair Rent, Fixity of Tenure and Free Sale."

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 an image like this is 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 on the side of the road seems to emphasize the differences between the haves and have nots.

Excerpts from the accompanying article:

"An Irish nobleman, of ancient family and title, but of extremely impoverished state, resided in a lonely district of Galway with his wife and children; one of the poorest of country gentlemen, living the plainest style, hopeless of improving his fortunes, and deprived by comparative indigence of the enjoyment of social pleasures and honours befitting his legitimate rank. Of a quite, homely, studious disposition, and willing to do any good among his humblest neighbors.... He had but few tenants, and these had ever found him a consistent and indulgent landlord. But his position, not his personal character or conduct, made him a mark for the class hatred systematically provoked and organized to deeds of blood by the infamous conspirators of the Land League.....

"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."

The Flanagan family who lived in a cottage not far from the site of the murder refused to allow the body to be brought into their cabin. The Flanagans said "if they admitted it, nothing belonging to them would be alive that day twelve months". In other words, they and their animals would be killed or maimed. It is not clear if this was due to suspicion or fear of retribution.

The body of Lord Mountmorres was left in the yard until arrangements could be made to cart it away.

A £1,000 reward was offered for information leading to a conviction of the murder (or murderers) of Lord Mountmorres.

Hugh Flanagan and his wife were later suspected of being connected with the murder and were arrested. They were released.

The finger was pointed at Pat Sweeney, the disgruntled former herdsman, as the possible assailant. Pat Sweeney was arrested in Queenstown as he was about to emigrate. He was sent to Sligo for trial. Patrick Sweeney, an Irish speaker, needed a translator in the court. The case against him was dismissed.

In October 1883 it was reported a tinker (or a man named Tinker) who was present at the murder of Lord Mountmorres turned informer and gave the name of the assassins some of whom had left the country.

No possible assassins were ever caught and the crime remained unsolved.

Michael Davitt, the Irish national agrarian agitator, "held" that

"Lord Mountmorres was murdered because he 'eked our his wretched income as a landlord' by doing spy's work for the Castle, and taking bribes."

(Diary of the Parnell Commission: Rev. from "The Daily News.". By John MacDonald, Great Britain. Special Commission to Inquire into Charges and Allegations against Certain)

It was pointed out in the Parnell Commission that Lord Mountmorres had become "unpopular long before he took eviction proceedings against Sweeney, which started in July, 1880". The local population believed that "their landlord" had been "in constant communication with Dublin Castle" and that this had added to his increasing unpopularity. He was also vocally opposed to the Land League.

"Lord Mountmorres became unpopular because of his known opposition to the League — an opposition which he professed in public." Witness, a police-Constable

"It came out that Lord Mountmorres had been under police protection months before the League was started in the district."

Diary of the Parnell commission By John Macdonald

"RECENT MURDERS IN IRELAND

LORD MOUNTMORRES'S VIOLENT DEATH

The meeting of magistrates, which was attended by Lord Mountmorres just previous to his death, had passed a resolution calling on the Government to adopt coercive measures in Ireland."

New York Times, September 28, 1880

Lady Mountmorres was granted £3,000 for the murder of her husband under the Crimes Act. However, she was boycotted by the local population and she and her children were forced to leave Ebor Hall and move to England.

Interestingly enough there had been a threat in 1855 on a previous Lord Mountmorres, who may have been William Browne's father, Hervey.

"OUTRAGE ON VISCOUNT MOUNTMORRES.

We regret very much to find that a threatening notice has been served on Count MOUNTMORRES, Dean of Achonry, menacing him with assassination. The Roman Catholic clergy of the parish, we are glad to say, denounced those who were connected with the outrage in the most indignant terms. Lord MOUNTMORRES, when in this county, during the famine period, was most benevolent towards the poor, and built the Farrahy Agricultural School, now one of the most flourishing of these establishments. We should rejoice to learn that the cowardly rascals concerned in this proceeding were discovered and punished, as they so richly deserve to be. The offence for which his lordship has been threatened with assassination is the simple expression of the desire that interments should not take place in the grave ground of Achonry on Sundays while divine service was being celebrated in the church." -Cork Reporter.

Cumberland and Westmorland Newspaper Carlisle Journal September 21 1855

Ebor Hall, Clonbur, Galway, Residence of the late Lord Mountmorres

THE GRAPHIC, October 9, 1880 THE LATE LORD MOUNTMORRES MURDERED AT CLONBUR, COUNTY GALWAY

Illustrated London News October 8, 1880

Viscount Mountmorres, Sir William Browne de Montmorency, Baron Mountmorres of the Peerage of Ireland was born April 21, 1832. He succeeded his father as the fifth Peer and eleventh Baronet in January 1871. He was descendant of a Captain in Cromwell's Army. The family had once been wealthy but by William Browne's time were left with a small estate near Clonbur "in the narrow strip of rocky moorland that separates two considerable lakes, Laugh Carrib and Laugh Mask, forming a natural peninsula of Connemara."

He was said to have only 15 small holdings tenants with an income of only £300 a year. The house was "modest"... "with a space of lawn and wood around it on the slope of the hill, overlooking the beautiful expanse of Lough Carrib and its multitude of picturesque island."

Print collection of Maggie Land Blanck

Rusheen, Where the Assassination Took Place.

(The Cross shows the spot here the body was found, and the Arrow the place from which the assassins fired)

THE MURDER OF LORD MOUNTMORRES IN IRELAND THE GRAPHIC, October 9, 1880

Note: I added the red arrows for clarity MLB

Hugh Flanagan, his wife and daughters - refused aid to Mountmorres

When the body of Mountmorres was found an attempt was made to move it to a nearby cabin belong to a farm couple named Flanagan. The cabin was just a few hundred yards from the murder site. The Flangans refused to allow the body in the house, saying everything that belonged to them would be dead within twelve months. Initially it appears that Hugh Flanagan was willing but his wife and daughters prevented it. Was that superstition or fear of retaliation? There is some agreement that it was suspicion. It was stated that the Flanagan house was close enough to the murder site for them to have heard the shots. The Flanagans were held for a while on suspicion of the murder.

Pat Sweeney, Francis Gannon, Patrick Heffernan, William Sepncer and others - suspected in the Mountmorres murder

On October 8, 1880 Patrick Sweeney and Francis Gannon were arrested on suspicion of the murder of Lord Mountmorres and brought before the magistrate in Clonbur.

Patrick Sweeney, an Irish speaker (with no English) born circa 1833, was a herd on the Mountmorres estate. The week before the murder he had been evicted for failure to pay his rent to Lord Mountmorres. Sweeney was described in the papers as dejected and despondent, old (around age 70) and infirm.

Francis Gannon was married and was described as "a smart, active man" between 30 and 40 years of age who walked into the courtroom with a "Jaunty air" waving to friends.

Sweeney and Gannon were placed in custody for eight days.

October 14, The Times London:

"Two further arrests were made on Tuesday for the murder of Lord Mountmorres. The prisoners are Patrick Heffernan and William Spencer. The former is a plasterer at Clonbur, and is believed to be a chief accomplice in the crime. Spencer is a steward of Lord Ardilaun, living near Ashford, Cong. Spencer left Clonbur shortly before Lord Mountmorres, and was drinking at midnight in the village. He had a revolver for his own protection, being unpopular in the county. The two prisoners were conveyed to Galway Gaol."

"THE STATE OF IRELAND. THE MURDER OF LORD MOUNTMORRES. DISCHARGE OF THE PRISONERS. CONG, FRIDAY, TWO O'CLOCK. P.M. The prisoners, Patrick Sweeney, the late Lord Mountmorres's herd; Francis Gannon, a slater of Ballinrobe, Patrick Hefferan, a plasterer, working at Clonbur; and William Spencer, under-steward to Lord Ardilaun, were brought before Mr. Dennehy, the resident magistrate, at Clonbur, this afternoon, charged with complicity in the murder of Lord Mountmorres."

1881:

"Two more men have been arrested on the charge of having been concerned in the murder of Lord Mountmorres. Their names are Patrick Heffernan and William Spencer. Heffernan, who is a plasterer, and has been recently married, was arrested at his house at Clonbur at about eight o'clock on Monday night, and his house was searched. He is believed to be one of Gannon's principal witnesses. Spencer, who is also a married man, serves as steward to Lord Ardilaun at Ashford. Gannon and Sweeney, who were brought before the Clonbur magistrate on Friday, were again remanded, and sent back by steamer from Cong to Galway. Gannon is to be defended at the expense of the Land League, who have also awarded £5 to his family. The Queen has sent through the Marchioness of Ely a letter of sympathy to Lady Mountmorres." (Pall Mall)

In June 1883 Patrick Sweeney was arrested at Queenstown as he was about to emigrate. He was detained from the 13th or June to the 7th of July when he was sent to Sligo to give evidence. He was released on July 14th.

July 1883: A report in the Sydney Herald:

"THE MURDER Of LORD MOUNTMORRE8. At Queenstown, on June 12, a detective constable arrested a man named Patrick Sweeney on a charge of complicity in the murder of Lord Mountmorres two years ago. The man held in his possession a ticket for New York, which he had purchased on the previous day, and he intended to sail by the Inman steamer on June 12. The prisoner said he had been arrested before on the same charge, but had been set at liberty on account of no incriminating evidence being forthcoming. His arrest is said to be the result of a private inquiry now being held at Cong. A special warrant was subsequently granted for his re-conveyance to Cong, He is a man about 50 years of age, and speaks only Irish.

In 1888 and 1890 an informer named Mike Burke testified that Pat Sweeney and others had tried to persuade him to "do away with Lord Mountmorres". Later they had told him that they had "done away with Lord Mountmorres." Mike was apparently not a reliable witness. He could not keep his facts straight.

William Spencer was the steward of Lord Ardilaun of Ashford Castle. In January 2017 Spencer decendent Mike Stone found another aricle about the Mountmorres murder in which reference was made to William Spencer:

"THE STATE OF IRELAND. THE MURDER OF LORD MOUNTMORRES. DISCHARGE OF THE PRISONERS. CONG, FRIDAY, TWO O'CLOCK. P.M. The prisoners, Patrick Sweeney, the late Lord Mountmorres's herd; Francis Gannon, the slater of Ballinrock, Patrick Hefferan, a plasterer, working at Clonbur; and William Spencer, under-steward to Lord Ardilaun, were brought before Mr. Dennehy, the resident magistrate, at Clonbur, this afternoon, charged with complicity in the murder of Lord Mountmorres."

"Soon after this Spencer got off the car, and saying that he had been threatened fired on a revolver twice, declaring that he should like to see the man who would shoot him. The shots could not have reached the place where Lord fell."

After this the prisoners were discharged.

Lord Mountmorris had stated before his death that some of his tenants were four years in arrears in their rent. He had offered the a 20% deduction but had been refused.

Lord Mountmorres, 5th viscount

Lord Mountmorres, was born in 1872 and succeed his father as Viscount in 1872. He married Harriet Brodick of Hamphill Stubbs, Yorkshire. He was succeeded by his son the Hon. William Geoffrey Bouchard de Montmorency who was born in 1872.

There were insinuation in the press that Mountmorres was a drinker and a bottle of whiskey was found in his carriage. He had fallen from his car more than once and his horse had more than once made its way back home without him. He only had a few tenants - 15 or so. His holding were only 350 acres. He was not popular with his tenants - there was a lot of animosity - about his unwillingness or inability to reduce the rents and his threats of evicting his tenants.

Funeral:

"The funeral of the late Lord Mountmorres took place in Dublin on Thursday. At five o'clock on Wednesday morning a hearse and mourning coach arrived to remove the corpse from Ebor Hall to Galway, en route to Dublin. Some distressing incidents occurred in connection with the removal of the remains. The two men who had driven the hearse and mourning coach and who were employed to take the remains and the mourners to Galway were asked by one of the deceased's relatives to assist in placing the corpse in the coffin, but they refused to do so. In this dilemma the driver of a car from Tuam expressed his willingness to assist, and with the police laid the body first in a zinc and then in an oaken coffin. For this act the man was publicly thanked by Major Brothrick. This did not end the difficulty with the Galway drivers. From information received, it was advised that the corpse should not be taken through the place where the fair was being held. It was therefore suggested that another route to Galway should be taken; but to this the drivers refused to consent, and it was only on threats of violence that they suggested a compromise which would enable them to avoid the fair. The body arrived in Dublin on Thursday morning. (The Pall Mall Budget)

NO ONE WAS EVER CONNIVICTED FOR THE MURDER OF LORD MOUNTMORRES

William Sepncer - suspected in the Mountmorres murder

In March 2017 William Spencer descendant, Michael Stone, shared some information on William Spencer.

"He was born in England in 1838. He became employed by Lord Ardilaun as a steward, and eventually head steward of Ashford.

As a result of being employed by Lord Ardilaun, he moved to Ireland sometime before 1863. He married Elizabeth "Bessie" Grant (we believe she was also of England) in Sinrone, Kings, Ireland on Nov. 26th, 1863.

They had three children, Thomas (1865), Mary Anne (1867) and Elizabeth "Bessie" (1869). His wife died a day after her birth, and that is why she was named in honor of her mother. Unfortunately, Bessie died around age three.

William married Sarah Spunner (of Ireland) between 1869 and 1872 in Tipperary, Ireland. They had the following children: George Henry (1872), John Joseph (1873), William Robert (Joseph) (1875), Sarah Ellen (1877) - Astbury, Margaret Jane (1879), Maria Lilie (1881) - Smith, Susan (1883) - Pogue, Frederick Peter (1886) (my great-grandfather), Samuel Blackwell (1889) - he died in 1897

William Robert Spencer lived at Ashford until his death in 1920 and is buried on the castle grounds next to his first wife, Bessie. After his death, Sarah moved to England to live with family (not sure if it was Spencers or Spunners) and died and was buried there.

It seems, according to what I read in your page, and the article I found, that William was travelling along the road in a carriage when they happened to pass by the place where Mountmorres was murdered, and for some reason, exited the carriage and took a couple of shots at someone down the road. Apparently, he felt threatened in some way.

The event did not appear to negatively affect his employment, or his remaining at Ashford castle, as he continued to live there for many years. This account was news to myself, and my mother."

1911: Deerpark, Cloonbur, County: Galway, William Spencer 71, steward land, Sarah Spencer 63, total number of children born 10, 8 living, both Church of Ireland, both born Tipperary

1920: William Spencer Estimated birth year: abt 1839 Date of Registration: Oct-Nov-Dec 1920 Death Age: 81 Registration district: Ballinrobe Volume: 4 Page: 37 FHL Film Number: 0101608

Grave Stone: In the church ruins outside the Ashford Castle Grounds: "In loving memory of William Spencer, died 21st, November 1920, aged 82 years". Next stone: "SACRED to the memory of Elizabeth Spencer who departed this life, February 1st, 1869, Aged 28 years, May she rest in peace"

In 1917, Fred P Spencer, the son of William Spencer and Sarah Spunner, born May Ireland December 26, 1886, was a mechanical engineer living in St. Louis Mo. with his wife and six children.

Pat Kearney - in regards to Lord Mountmorres

In March 2014 Barbara Anne Kearney wrote that her ancestor, Pat Kearney, was involved in the Land League in the 1880. Pat Kearney was "cited in various transcriptions of depositions and hearings of the Parnell Commission. Specifically, he - and his pub in Clonbur - were implicated by those testifying in the plotting of the murder of Lord Montmorres."

See The Parnell Commission: The Opening Speech for the Defence Delivered By Charles Russell Baron Russell of Killowen and more in this book. And Special commission act, 1888: reprint of the shrothand notes of ..., Volume 2

Ebor Hall, April 2014

Pat Kearney's pub in Clonbur, 2014

See Barbara Kearney's website at Patrick Kearney, Clonbur

The Whites of Mohill, Country Leitrim in regards to Lord Mountmorres

In October 2015 Cushla Randle shared a letter giving a taste of the concerns of the landed gentry in 1880. In a letter to her sister, Mary Charlotte White (the widow of Captain George White of Cloone Grange, Lertrim) wrote:

" You will have heard of the murder of Lord Mountmorres he is well known to Audley's people* and I have met several of his family - they are all poor but he was the worst off and could not latterly live like a gentleman - there will I fear be more murders before the winter is over. Altogether we are getting it hot and heavy - you will wonder at my thinking of moving in such times but the unusual chance of getting a suitable house in the Co. Leitrim - within four miles of Willie** - moderate rent 50 a year - with good garden and twelve acres of land. I shall let the land."

*Audley White was the wife of William Henry White. **William Henry (Willie) White (1855 - 1892) was the son of George and Mary Charlotte White.

Captain George White, died in 1874 aged 47 and his son died at 39 in 1892. They were both High Sherrif. They lived at Cloone Grange and are in Burkes landed gentry, but George is very invisible. He came to New Zealand in 1853 married Mary Catherine (sic) in 1854 had a son in 1855 and they returned to Ireland before 1861.

George White married 25 April, 1854, Mary Charlotte, dau. of Henry Hill, of Ruislip Park, Middx. and had an only son, WILLIAM HENRY WHITE, of Cloone Grange, co. Leitrim, J.P. P.I.: ; b. 31 Jan. 1855; d. 1887, having m. 1st--6 July, 1876, Audley Harriette, youngest daughter of John Reynolds Dickson of Woodville, So Leitrim . She died in 1887. They had George, Audley Mary, Alice, Helen. In 1888 William Henry White married Mariam Charlotte daughter of W. H. Hayes. William died in 1892. Mariam Charlotte married John Weston in 1892. (In 1892 Mariam Charlotte widow of the late Major W. H. White of Cloone Grange, Mohill, County Leitrim married John J. Weston of New South Wales.)

George White was high sheriff of Leitrim in 1861. William Henry White of Cloone Grange was high sheriff of Leitrim in 1879. In 1861 George White Esq., was listed at Drumkeeley, Mohill.

In 1908 John M'Kiernan, Drumshambo North, Aughavas, asked to be reinstated on farm land at Drumkillvy, Mohill, County Leitrim, "on the estate fo Mr. George White, from which his father was evicted some years, ago." (The Parliamentary Debates By Great Britain Parliament)

In 1910 evicted tenants from the estate of George White at Cloone Grange were asking to be reinstated to their farms.

Charles Boycott, an Englishman by birth, rented a farm from Lord Erne three miles from Ballinrobe, Co. Mayo. 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 should 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.

Coercion was a force in getting everyone to comply with the isolation of the Boycott family.

1. Patrick Harte, age 55 [?] had two shots fired into his house on November 14, 1880. The motive was believed to be to encourage him to give up his emploment by Boycott.

2. On December 24th 1880 shots were fired at Thomas Harigan, age 20, medical student, Robert Wilderspin, grooom age 25 and a unanmed third "young man" (Captain Boycott's nephew) while they were out checking rabbit traps at night. Harigan and Wilderspin were wounded slightly. All were staying at Loughmask house. Harigan was a guest of Captian Boycott's nephew.

3. On March 13, 1881 a shot was fired through the door of the home of Patrick Farragher, labourer, age 60 at Caherobbent who's son, Michael, had been a laborer on the Boycott property.

No one was arrested or prosecuted for these offences.

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 national and international press covered the incident. In the end Boycott left Ireland and returned to England.

"Boycotting" proved an effective means of change through social ostracism.

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.

For more information on the Boycott story and for images from the International press covering the story go to Boycott now or at the bottom of the page.

The Graphic, Nov. 20, 1880

THE LAND AGITATION IN IRELAND - A RESIDENT LANDLORD: THE DAILY FAREWELL

This image was in the same issue of the Graphic which carried a number of images of the Boycott incident in Ballinrobe. See Boycott

An accompanying article notes that this image "does not represent Captain Boycott at Lough Mask, but is merely a general sketch of the conditions under which many Irish landlords and agents are now living". In other words military protection was offered to other landlords and land agents.

The Graphic, Nov. 20, 1880

A detail of the above print. Compare the "Resident Landlord's" abode to the homes of his tenants.

The Graphic, Nov. 20, 1880

An Irish Landlord's constitution.

"Boycotting" continued throughout Ireland and the world to bring changes to socioeconomic situations.

Illustrated London News from January 1, 1881

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 article that accompanied this picture was not included when I bought the image.

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.

Unfortunately, the article that accompanied this picture was not included when I bought the image.

The Wire Pullers and the Puppets

This image insinuates that the well fed and well dressed leaders of the Land League sat around a warm dry place making decisions that were executed by the destitute, thin, poorly attired peasant in the dark and cold rainy night.

Down with Him & Administer a Boycott Pill Boys

THE LAND AGITATION IN IRELAND

Unpopular land agents, bailiffs and other who worked for the English landlords were frequently stoned or had garbage and mud thrown at them.

Another popular "punishment" was boycotting.

In this and in so many other images of the Irish they are depicted as coarse and brutish looking - frequently with simian features.

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.

SERENADING THE IMPRISONED LAND LEAGUERS ON ST. PATRICK'S NIGHT

Members of the Land League who were incarcerated in Kilmainham goal in County Meath were serenaded by sympathizers on St. Patrick's day night 1881.

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 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.

Rory of the Hills, Mayo, 1879, New York Times

October 18, 1879

SHOOTING AT LANDLORDS; INCIDENTS OF THE IRISH RENT AGITATION. RORY OF THE HILLS AND HIS WARNINGS--FIRING UPON THE MARQUIS OF SLIGO'S AGENT-- HOW ANOTHER NOBLE LORD REPLIED TO THREATS-

See Scenes from the west of Ireland

Threats and warnings were made by Land Leaguers to the landlords and land agents.

Typically, many images in the AngloIrish and English papers depicted the Irish as miscreant, raggedy, drinkers. While the AngloIrish were portrayed as sophisticated, nicely dressed, proper, gentlepeople.

The 1881 Arms Act proved

"an effective check on the possession and sale of arms because each applicant for a license had to be certified as loyal by the local police inspector"

Dear, dirty Dublin: a city in distress, 1899-1916 By Joseph V. O'Brien

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 Illustrated London Times, May 7, 1881 (The artist was Aloysius O'Kelly born Dublin, Ireland, 1851 died 1936)

"The State of Ireland: Tilling the farm of an imprisoned Land Leaguer"

....." 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 Illustrated London News, July 30, 1881

The Graphic, November 12, 1881

The first represents the Dublin branch of the Ladies Land League at work overhauling clothing, &c., intended for the use of the evicted, and the families of the imprisoned suspects. At a recent meeting these patriotic ladies unanimously pledged themselves never to marry an Englishman, and never to give a policeman a drink. The other sketch shows the removal by order of the Government of the name-plate from the door of of the Land League Office in Sackville Street, Dublin.

Process servers represented the landlord. They collected the rent and evicted tenants for being in arrears on the rents and other infractions. Several process servers became the objects of tenant resentment and were stoned or shot. These included: David Feerick in Ballinrobe in 1880 and Joe and John Huddy Clonbur, Galway in 1882. See below.

THE IRISH LAND LEAGUE AGITATION: ATTACK ON A PROCESS SERVER

According to the accompanying article: William Daly, a process server, suffered from a "broken head", a bailiff named Conners in the employ of Lord Dinsdale was shot and killed.

John Hearne was a land agent for the Mountmorency Estate in Cloongowla. He was shot on February 28, 1881.

ILLUSTRATED LONDON NEWS MARCH 26, 1881

On Febraury 28, 1881 around 2 in the afternoon only 200 yards from his house there was an "attempt by shooting" on the life of John Hearne, age 65 of Killoshine cottage, as he returned from the Ballinrobe Petty Sessions to his home. He was about three quarters of a mile from the courthouse and had stopped to watch some work going on in his fields when he was atacked by two men who shot him six times. Hearne age 65, was a Land Agent for the Mountmorency Estate in Cloongowla and a Petty Sessions clerk. 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. No one was tried for this event. A possible motive for the attack was the eviction of three tenants in May 1880 on the de Montmorency estate for non payment of rents.

Hearn had reportedly received some threatening mail warning him not to evict anymore tenants from Cloongowla signed "A Boycotter".

John Hearne, esq. (1815-1899)

The Hearne family of Killoshine were Methodists. They rented a house, Killoshine Cottage, and 30 or 40 acres from Colonel Knox.

In 1881 John Hearn, Market Street, was a Petty Sessions clerk for Ballinrobe and an agent for the estates of: Captain Harvey J. de Montmorency in Cloongowla, Ballinrobe, the Kenny estates in Ballinrobe and the Livesy estate in Kilbride. He was listed in the 1881 Directory for Ballinrobe as clerk of the petty sessions. He must have known my ancestor John Walsh who was a steward on the Kenny Estate John Walsh (1827-1894 - Ballinrobe

A list of Irish Census substitutes from the web site "Tracing your Mayo Ancestors:

1852- 1854 Tenants of Ballinrobe - Index to the tenants of Mr. John Hearne, Agent for the estate of F.J. DeMontmorency. Alphabetically arranged listing 240 tenants name, townland, rent and year. SMFHRC Jnl. 1989 p. 22-26.

John Hearne born 1815 and died 1899 at Ballinrobe married Frances Anderson, on August 18, 1853. They had a son, Robert Ernest Hearne (1863-). Robert Ernest Hearne died in Ballinrobe Dec 1942. The subject of the Hearne attack was revisited at a hearing on the Land League in October 1888. At that time it was stated that there had been some eviction in the area on October 18, 1880. Several men were evicted and then reinstated as caretakers. Also on October 18th one of Heanre's sons "was pointed at by J. W. Nally... and mobbed when he returned home." It was not clear if Hearne actually had anything to do with the evictions or merely that he was "connected with the law". A month later Hearne received some threatening letters regarding evictions at Cloongowla where he was the agent. He lost some of his hearing as a result of the shooting and suffered greatly from his wounds. He gave up his "agencies" and his clerkship at the Petty Sessions.

In 1894 probate was filed for Frances Hearne effects £202 19 s and 11 d, late of Killoshine Cottage, Ballinrobe Mayo who died June 1, 1894 granted a Ballina to John Hearne of Killoshine cottage, farmer the husband.

John Hearne, farmer, late of Killoshine Cottage, Ballinrobe, died 20 February 1899 and left an estate of £796 10s 9d to his son, Robert Ernest Hearne of Killoshine cottage, Ballinrobe Clerk of Petty Sessions.

John's son, Robert Ernest Hearne (1863-1942, was listed in Ballinrobe in the 1901 and 1911 censuses:

• 1901 census: Killosheheen, Ballinrobe, Kilmaine, Mayo, Household, Hearne, Robert Ernest (38) farmer/not married, clerk of petty sessions, land agent, commission for Oaths [?] farmer, Methodist, Mary Frances Moran (51) servant/not married, Roman Catholic, Mary Burke(22) servant/not married, Roman Catholic

• 1911: Robert Ernest Hearne age 48, Killosheheen, married 3 years, clerk of petty sessions, Church of Ireland, wife Marian E age 30, church of Ireland, servant Kate Clarke age 22, Roman Catholic

Killosheheen [Killoshine] Cottage

Killosheheen cottage was built by John H. Hearne (1814-1899) Clerk of the Petty Sessions at Ballinrobe.

KILLOSHEHEEN COTTAGE

Patrick Hession of Cloongowla - implicated in the Hearne shooting

Patrick Hession had been evicted by Hearne for non payment of rent. He was later reinstated as caretaker on the property. He was accused (with his two nephews, Richard and John Nally) of shooting Hearne.

List of those in prison under the Protection of Person and Property Act 1881, published as a supplement to United Ireland, 10th Sept 1881: KILMAINHAM PRISON DUBLIN - Patrick Hession, Ballinrobe, Co. Mayo. Farmer - Richard Nally, Claremorris, Mayo. Labourer - John Nally. Claremorris, Mayo. Labourer.

In a speech given by Parnell in August 1881 he stated: "of the 22 who had been arrested in Mayo, and who were still retained in prison, all belonged to most respectable trades and occupations, with the exception of one who was returned as having no occupation. Seven were farmers, five labourers, one a land steward, one a newspaper correspondent, one a baker, three shopkeepers, two shoemakers, and one tailor." And further: "On those 22 men 100 women and children were dependent for their support. One man had a family of nine, another of 10, another of six, and so on; and all these families were left without support."

Parnell averred that were being held to prevent any danger to "witnesses and persons on whose information the arrests took place." He called the grounds of the arrest of Patrick Hession "vague and untenable" and declared local public opinion was that Patrick Hession was imprisoned for his "connection and sympathy with the Land League."

Richard Nally and John Nally of Ballykinava (Claremorris) - implicated in the Hearne shooting

Richard Nally and John Nally, young men, sons of a herd, and relatives of the wife of a Patrick "Hessian" (who had recently been evicted by Mr. Hearne) were arrested in connection with the incident and were held in the Claremorris barracks. They claimed to have been sowing potatoes on their father's farm at Ballykinave the time of the shooting. Ballykinave is near Ballindine. It is about a four hour walk from Ballindine to Ballinrobe. Hearne said it was possible they were the men who shot him. He said the men were wearing blue jackets with fur caps pulled over their heads. A young woman swore she had seen John Nally loitering near the wall in the area where Hearne had been shot. The Nally borothers were committed for trial.

March 7, 1881: BALLINROBE, Sunday, At one o'clock this morning, John and Richard Nally, charged with attempting to assassinate Mr. John Hearne, were brought into Ballinrobe from Castlebar, under the escort of constabulary.

In Parnell's speech in August 1881 he mentioned the case of John and Richard Nally:

"They were charged with shooting at and wounding a Mr. Heard; and though the magistrates before whom they were brought refused to return them for trial, because of the absence even of a prima facie case, the Chief Secretary in London considered that he had evidence enough to justify him as a juror in practically finding them guilty of an offence of which they were previously practically acquitted. "

Kilminham, 1882:

LIST of all Persons Detained in Prison under the Statute 44 Vict. c. 4, entitled "An Act for the Better Protection of Person and Property in Ireland".

Ground stated for his Arrest in the Warrant under which he is Detained.

Reasonably suspected of having, since the 30th September 1880, been guilty, as principal, of a crime punishable by law, that is to say: - Intimidating divers persons, with a view to compel them not to pay rent, committed in a prescribed district, and being an act of intimidation, and tending to interfere with the maintenance of law and order: Richard Nally, John Nally and others

THE SUSPECTS IN KILMIAINHAM

Mr. John Lavelle, of Westport, visited Mr. John W. Nally in Kilmainham on Monday, February 6, and found him suffering from palpitation of the heart and a severe cough. He has now been eleven months in confinement. (Freeman's Journal (Sydney, NSW)

Captain Harvey J. De Montmorency - Landlord Cloongowla

Captain Harvey J.de Montmorency is recorded in Griffith's Valuation as holding the townlands of Cloongowla, parish of Ballinrobe, barony of Kilmaine.

Mr. De Montmorency resided for much of the year in England. He was not related to Lord Mountmorres murdered in 1880.

NO ONE WAS CONVICTED IN THE SHOOTING OF JOHN HEARNE

See Feerick in Ballinrobe

The crime occurred very close to the home of my ancestors. In 1880 the family of John Walsh lived in Carronalecka, near the "Kenny" estate and the house of the Caulfield family. My great grandfather, Joseph Walsh, would have been seven years old at the time of the Feerick shooting.

See John Walsh

James Hynes - implicated in the Feerick murder - from Ballyglass

James Hynes from Ballyglass was identified by Feerick as the man who had shot him. His brother Peter also of Ballyglass was arrested with him.

James Hynes was confined in Castlebar and held for trial in June and tried in the 1880 winter Assises. Others arrested with him were released in July.

Ultimately James Hynes was cleared of the murder of David Feerick.

Ballyglass is a village about 10 miles from Castlebar and about as far from Ballinrobe.

Patrick Macken - implicated in the Feerick murder - from Brownstown and a cousin of David Feerick

Patrick Macken living near Brownstown - cousin of David Ferrick - farmer's son - suspected of murder of David Feerick.

He was released at the Petty Sessions in July.

George E Browne - Landlord Brownstown

George E Browne, esq. of Kensington, London and Brownstown, County Mayo, was for many years a member of Parliament from Mayo. The Browne owned 2,809 acres in county Mayo. The Browne estate, Brownestown, near Hollymount, was on the shores of Lough Carra.

NO ONE WAS CONVICTED FOR THE MURDER OF DAVID FEERICK

Joe Huddy and his Grandson (or nephew) John Huddy murdered Galway 1882 - agents for Lord Ardilaun

Joseph Huddy, age 70, bailiff and process server for Lord Ardilaun, and John Huddy bailiff, assistant, age 19, were assassinated by pistel shots on 3 January 1882 at Cloughbrack, Clonbur, Co. Galway.

Joe Huddy was employed on the estate of Lord Ardilaun who was a member of the Guinness family and the owner of Ashford Castle.

In January 1882 bailiff Huddy and his grandson (or nephew) went to the village of Cloughbrack on a hill overlooking Lough Mask about four miles from Clonbur to serve writs on several homes. When they did not return it was thought that they had been murdered and their bodies hidden. After an extensive 23 day search their bodies were found in sacks weighted with stones in the middle of Lough Mask. It was reported that the murders had taken place in the daytime and were witnessed by a crowd of villagers.

Sixteen people were arrested on suspicion, including Mathias Kerrigan, who later became the key witnesses for the state. Kerrigan spent 9 months in jail and was "liberated" after he named Patrick Higgins, Thomas Higgins and Michael Flynn, fellow villagers.

Kerrigan who spoke only "Erse" needed a translater at the trial. He testified that the Joe and John Huddy were driven up against a wall where they were first stoned and then shot. Their bodies were carried in cleaves (baskets for carrying sod) to Lough Mask. Kerrigan reportedly revealed the name of three of the murderers: Patrick and Thomas Higgins and Michael Flynn. They were convicted and executed based on the testimony of the Kerrigan family.

Matthias Kerrigan, age about 35, was married with two sons Mathias age 16 and Martin age 12. He also had two daughters, age 18, and 10. His wife was Bridget. He had been a tenant of Lord Ardilaun for about 26 years. It was stated that he had blood on his cloths and that he was to have been served an eviction notice which was found torn on the ground near his cabin. Mrs. Kerrigan, "a short squab-figured, dumbly little woman she was, with the face of Punch's typical Hibernian"* and the two sons also testified at the trial. Mrs. Kerrigan wore a bright tartan shawl over her head "in the manner of Irish peasant women"*. She testified in Erse. ( *Diary of the Parnell Commission By John Macdonald, 1890)

Judy (or Julia) Halloran, a married sister of the prisoner, stated that her brother was home all day. It was said on several occasions that Mathias Kerrigan had the strongest motive for the murders as he was three years behind in his rent.

The testimony as covered in the newspapers is rather confusing. However, other villagers named included: Kate Higgins, the daughter of Patrick Higgins, a girl with the surname Connor, two persons called Holloran, Pat Manion (an old man deposed in Irish), James Corbett, another Pat Higgins (Sarah), James Corbett, Mary Walsh who lived off the main road and was served a process by Huddy and his grandson, she was the wife of "Walsh" of Cloughbrand a tenant of Lord Ardilaun's, in the same direction by a country road was a man named Pat Moran, across the fields to another road (which was on the map) to a place called America, were the houses of people named Coyne and Kenny, along the main road passed the house of Flynn, in the direction of the house was one John Mackens, "two others persons named Halloran, father and son", a lad named Manion, along the boreen was a man named Kyne, and Tom Higgins.

In addition "Six witnesses" were named on 8 December 1881 by the Times of London "the four Kerrigans and the two Hallorans" - (Matthew Kerrigan about 35 years old, his wife, and two sons one son Martin Kerrigan was a boy of 12).

It was insinuated that the Kerrigans gave their testimony to save the skin of the father, Matthew.

Other witnesses listed in the same article were: Mary Walsh and Catherine Moran wife of Patrick Moran.

The two Hallorans were called the "truth telling witnesses" by the morning News Belfast, Dec 9, 1882. On Dec 16, 1882 in the same paper it was stated "remember that the evidence of the Hallorans proved nothing." They heard shots but their backs were turned and they could not say who fired the shots.

Another witness was Mary Conroy age about 17, and English speaker she said that Patrick Higgins had been thrashing oats in the barn when the shots rang out. She swore he had been in the barn and did not touch the boides.

Cloughbrack townland was "rather densely inhabited for a county district. There was no town or village there, but the farms were small and the houses were close together."

The situation was described by Katharine Tynan thus:

"I was living in Cong then, and I knew Joe Huddy well. He wasn't a Western man. Many a time I saw him going down the street with drink on him and he shouting, 'Up Kerry!' He was a Kerry man. He was an old man when I knew him first, twenty years before the murder. I believe he was always old. He didn't dress like the people of these parts. His hair was fair and straight, falling down on his neck. He wore a Caroline hat, a brown frieze coat, and corduroy knickers with boxcloth leggings that ended in spats over his shoelaces. A queer thing about him was that he used to kneel outside the chapel at Mass. Many a time I saw him kneeling on a big flat stone just beyond the chapel door.

"It was after the famine years he made his name as a bailiff. D'Arcy of Houndswood was broke and his property sold in the Encumbered Estates Court. There were a lot of evictions on the estate and Joe was the bailiff. He was very good at the work; for when others of the Sheriff's posse held back Joe 'ud be up on the thatch of the wretched cabins with a crowbar, tearing the creatures' little homes to pieces. By this the people were prevented going back into the cabins, and had only the roadside, unless some charitable neighbour took them in.

"There was an eviction one day at a place called Townroe, and it used to be said that twelve cradles stood out in the rain that day and each cradle with a baby in it. The mothers had ranged the cradles to get what shelter they could from the bitter wind under a low wall that edged a little lane running down to an old graveyard. They were thinking to stay there the night, as the lane was a No Man's Land. They had gathered sticks and lit a fire, and had hung a pot from a stick in the wall, and with a few handfuls of Indian meal they had they were making stirabout. Joe came up with a great pretence of friendliness by the way that he was going to light his pipe at the fire. He stood there, puffing at the pipe and talking quietly, till the stirabout was near cooked, and then, before anyone could hinder him, he pulled down a big stone from the top of the wall right into the pot, and the bottom was knocked out of the pot, and, all the poor hungry people's food spilled out on them. And with that he ran away.

"The parish priest of Cong at that time was Father Waldron, a very holy, good man. He denounced Joe for his cruel act the following Sunday at Mass, and said he: 'He'll never die till he's put in a bag,' a saying the people couldn't make out, only that they took it to mean that Joe wouldn't get Christian burial. But it was a prophecy, as was proved in time.

"The time came - and that was in the midst of the troubles - when Joe and his grandson, a young man of nineteen or so, drove from Cong to the village of Cloughbrack, by way of Clonbur, to serve processes for Lord Ardilaun. They reached the village by a rugged stony path, having left the car and horse with the driver on the side of the road to wait for them. The people of the village set upon the Huddys. The boy took to his heels, and ran for his life across the fields, with a couple of men after him, and they killed him. "Some of the men had revolvers, and they fired them into Joe. The story was that they got him into a yard. At the first shot he fell, sitting down, on the dunghill. While the fellows were loading the revolvers again, Joe kept calling out to them in Irish: 'Tharraidh aristh a diabhal!' ('Come on again, ye divil! ') And so till they finished him. He died game.

"Meanwhile the man that was driving them waited a bit and then quietly drove back to Cong; but said nothing about Joe and the grandson till the hue and cry started and then he told where he'd left Joe. Perhaps he guessed what was going on and thought it wisest to keep out of it; and small blame to him!

"Well, they tied the two bodies up in sacks and for fear the blood would betray them, they carried the sacks in a turf-creel all along the river-bed from the village down to the lake, so that the clear, running stream would carry away the dripping blood. And they dropped them into the lake.

"At first they could get no word at all of what had happened to Joe and the grandson. The police used to be up examining the people, and they were trying to get it out of the children. But the men that did it had got Joe inside the yard, so the children couldn't see the murder done. And all they got out of the children was - they were all Irish - speaking: 'Ni fhaca me Joe marbh na beo ' ('I did not see Joe dead or alive').

"A few weeks after the murder a message was sent to the police, and it was told in letters cut out of a newspaper to say that they'd find Joe in Lough Mask. So a pinnance was sent over from H.M.S. Banterer, then lying in Galway Bay, with a crew of bluejackets; and for three weeks they harrowed and dragged the bottom of the lake till they brought up the sacks with the bodies."

I have mentioned in my "Twenty-Five Years " that I was present at the trial in Green Street, Dublin, of the Huddy murderers. Quite by accident, I was put to wait till a seat in the court was found for me, into the room with the relatives of the men who were being tried for the murder. They were all women-folk, and I can remember to this day the strange pathos of the hooded figures, some of them nursing a baby at the breast, seated on the wooden benches around the walls. They were like so many Fates, these creatures of a destiny too strong for them, helpless, uncomplaining, doomed. Afterwards I saw the trial of the Irish-speaking peasants for the murder. The evidence had all to be translated by an interpreter. I remember how they protested their innocence, their arms extended in the shape of a cross, murmuring their deep Irish, their tragic, haggard faces uplifted to the judge who was to condemn them.

The talk flows on:

"The men that were arrested were lodged in Galway Gaol, and while the depositions were being taken they were brought over to Cong every day. One day, as they walked along the street, the wife of one, named K, by way that she wanted a word with him, walked by him and slipped a £3 note into his hand. He found a way of speaking with a woman who was giving information, and he passed her the £3, whispering, 'Say nothing about me, ye divil.' So, when she named the others she left him out of it; and he turned informer and got off.

"Here's another story about the same K. He had to have a police escort for fear the people would kill him. It was a good while after that another man in these parts was brought over by The Times to give evidence at the Commission. The people thought very bad of that act of his, and when he came back no one would look the side of the road he was walking on.

There was himself and there was K , and the two of them walking about with a couple of big Constabulary men at their heels, and they were no more civil to them than other people. Well, he was feeling pretty sick of his life one day when he caught sight of K with his escort. 'Here's a man,' said he to himself, 'that'll be glad enough to speak,' and he calls out: 'Hello, K!' Only it was in the Irish. K turned on him, and says he, 'How dare you address me, you damned informer!' 'Informer yourself!'said the other fellow. 'What's the difference between us, except that you hanged four men?' 'There's the difference of the world between us,' said K , 'for I informed to save my neck, and you informed to put dirty money in your pocket.' With that they set to, and they hammered each other till neither could see out of his two eyes. And all the time the four policemen lay stretched on the grass -it was fine summer weather - playing a game of Spoil-Five, while the two blackguards pounded each other black and blue."

The middle years, 1917 By Katharine Tynan

Lord Ardilaun

LADY ARDILAUN - Nice site with lots of images of the Guinness family at Ashford Castle.

THERE WERE THREE CONVICTIONS AND THREE HANGINGS FOR THE MURDER OF THE HUDDYS - PATICK HIGGINS, THOMAS HIGGINS, AND MICHALE FLYNN WERE HUNG AT GALWAY - ALL PROCLAIMED THIER INNOCENCE

John Henry Blake, agent for Lord Clanricarde, and Blake's servant Thady Ruane, murdered, Harriett Blake injured, Loughrea, County Galway, June 1882

John Henry Blake age 70 (the agent for absentee landlord, Lord Clanricarde) his wife Harriett and his servant Thady Ruane, bailiff, were shot on their way to mass in June 1882. Blake and Ruane died. Harriett survived the attack. It was said that Mr. Blake was an "elderly married man with a young family" (The Times London). The did have a son, Edmond, born in 1876. The Blakes were generally under police protection but somehow had forgone it for the six mile ride in a jaunting car from their home to the town on that fateful morning.

July 8, 1882: The Tablet:

"And on Thursday, the Feast of St. PETER and PAUL, Mr. JOHN HENRY BLAKE, of Rathville, a magistrate, cousin and agent of the Marquess of CLANRICARDE, and his servant-man, THADY RUANE, were shot dead at eleven o'clock in the morning, within a few hundred yards of Loughrea, as they were proceeding to Mass in that town. Loughrea is a municipal town of over 3,000 inhabitants, of which Mr. BLAKE had been for many years chairman. Mr. BLAKE and his wife occupied the left side of an outside car, and RUANE, the driver, sat on the other. The driver was shot dead, but Mr. BLAKE, who fell off first, lived for some fifteen minutes, and received absolution from a priest who had driven past them on the road, but returned when apprised of the sad tragedy. Mrs. BLAKE received some slugs, and the horse was also wounded."

Frank Joyce became the next agent for the Earl of Clanricarde. He was agent from 1882 to 1887. Frank Joyce brought action of libel against Lord Clanricarde in 1883 asking £100,000 for alledged libel and £1,560 commission during his management of the Galway estates of Lord Clanricarde. (The Law Times, Volume 83)

In 1886 the Pall Mall Budget reported that there were four honest hardworking tenants of the Marquis Clanricardein Woodford who had been paying their rent in full fro the pervious eighteen to forty years. They and their fathers had made numerous improvements to the land and their dwellings. They asked for a reduction in their rents due to a bad economy. Most landlords in the area had given a reduction of at least 15 per cent.

"His agent, Mr. Frank Joyce, a fine manly, courageous gentleman, whose life would not be worth five minutes' purchase were he not constantly covered by the rifles of at least a couple of constables, was on the spot. I believe if he had been allowed a free hand the whole affair could have been settled in half an hour, but the capable competent agent on the spot was absolutely forbidden to make any reduction whatever by the landlord, who, in his chambers at the Albany, Piccadilly, insisted upon the exaction in full of the whole rent. This absentee Marquis in the Albany, Piccadilly, who had never spent a single penny on his tenants, whose face is absolutely unknown to them, who has never discharged one solitary duty of those which are supposed to be attached to the possession of the rights and privileges of property, then set the machinery of the law in motion against these four tenants."

The New Zealand Tablet reported in 1888 that the two houses of an evicted tenants on Lord Clanricarde's estate near Woodford were demolished by a party of Emergencymen under the direction of Mr. Tener, the landlord's agent. Mr. Tener warned that any tenant who obstructed the sheriff would have his house razed. He claimed Lord Clanricarde had given him £20,000 "to carry on the struggle against obstreperous tenants".

Frank Joyce of Tally-ho, Loughrea, died in 1890 when a side car he was driving was upset by an uncontrollable horse. He suffered fatal head wounds.

A year later in 1891 after three years of fighting and the eviction of about 100 tenants, Lord Clanricarde came to the conclusion that it might be better to make a reduction in the rents and he suggested 20 per cent. The tenants demanded that the evicted tenants were reinstated. Clanricarde refused. About 150 more tenants were evicted. About 800 tenants remained on the estate.

John Henry Blake J. P. of Rathville House, Raford, Parish of Kiltullagh

John Henry Blake was a "peer of the realm". He was the younger son of John Blake of Furbough and his wife, Marie Elizabeth Gallway of Cork. In 1869 he was listed as a magistrate for county Galway.

He was the land agent for Lord Clanricarde.

In 1881 John Blake was listed in the town directory: AGENTS Blake John H (land), Barrack st

His wife tried to clear his reputation after his death. She claimed that he was really concerned about the tenants on the estate and wanted to reduce their rents but Lord Clanricarde would not agree.

He was, however, portrayed as a cruel agent by his enemies.

The Blakes was members of the Tribes of Galway - merchant families of mixed origin who controlled the political, social and commercial life in Galway form the 13th century to the 19th century.

His wife Harritt died in 1918. They had two sons, Edmond (1876-1944) and Henry.

Rathville House, County Galway

Thady Ruane

His name was also given in the papers and reports as Kane and Ryan. His wife was named Bridget. They lived in Rathville, Loughrea (this is possible on the property of his employer). He was reported in the various papers as a: driver, servant and bailiff.

What happened to Mrs. Ruane? Were there children?

Thady Ruane died in this incident. Despite that fact, Mrs. Blake gave testimony in 1889 insinuating that Thady had some for knowledge of the ambush. On the day of the murders on the way to town she saw a boy on the road who looked at them in an "unkind" way. She asked her husband who the boy was. He said he did not know. Mr. Blake then asked "the servant" who said he did not know. Mr. Blake remarked: "Oh Thady, that is the first time I have heard you say that you did not know who any one was." Just then they came to the turn in the road and a shot was fired. Under further examination she said that between herself, her husband and the servant they know almost everyone in the area.

Mrs. Blake also stated that no one on the road gave her any assistance after the shooting. Mrs. Blake was wounded. Mr. Blake had fallen off the car and Ruane's boddy "was lying across the well of the car". Mrs. Blake begged for help but none was given. The horse proceeded on into the town at a easy trot.

In 1889 she said she lived near Loughrea, but had not lived in Loughrea since the murders. She testified that around 1881 there had been a change in the attitude of the local peasant for instance they no longer touched their hats.

Frank Joyce (18-- - 1890) land agent for the 2nd Marquis of Clanricarde

Frank Joyce resigned as agent in 1887.

Frank Joyce died in an accident in 1890

"JOYCE, Frank (son of Pierce Joyce of Merviev, Galway, d. 1883). Agent for marquess of Clanricarde, resigned and brought an action against his employer for libel; well known sportsman in Galway; resided at Tallyho, Loughrea; upset in a jaunting car and d. at Loughrea from a wound in his head May 1890. Times 9 May 1890 p. 10. (Modern English Biography: I-Q By Frederic Boase)

In 1890 E. S. Tener was agent and John Whelan was the bailiff for the Clanricarde estates. There were three assistants.

In 1887 Mr. Whelan was the only bailiff remaining on the Clanricarde estate. At that time he had a police escort. See Evictions

In 1888

"September 1, fierce resistance to evictions on the Clanricarde estate. .... The bailiff Whelan strikes Bridget Bowles in the mouth breaking her teeth.

September 4, "John Fahy, of Douras, died at Woodford from injuries received while being evicted on the Clanricarde estate, on August 31st. He was lying ill at the time. His parents begged the agent to postpone the eviction on the ground of his ill-health, but the agent refused."

Journal of the Home Rule Union, Volume 1

In October 188 a tenant named "Dr." Tully was evicted and severely beaten. His house was surrounded by emergency men. A battering ram was used to break down the front door. Ladders were put against the house. Buckets of scalding water were carried to the roof. Stones were hurled at the emergency men. A fierce battle ensue between the tenants and the police. The police eventually took the house through holes in the slate roof. The tentants surrendered and were taken away in handcuffs. Tully was badly beaten and had been hit in the ribs with the butt of a rifle. Bridget Bolwes, a sister of Tully's, ran out into the yard to catch a calf that bailiff Whelan had taken. Whelan shoved her inside and struck her in the face. She was arrested. Whelan proceeded in helping Tener to clear the land. The police then attacked other houses.

Edward Shaw Tener (1832-1915) - land agent for the 2nd Marquis of Clanricarde

By 1888 Tener the new agent for Lord Clanricarde "had established himself in Portumna Castle like some baron out he middle ages. Surrounding himself with police and Emergency men." (The Parliamentary Debates )

The castle had been destroyed by fire some years before and by 1888 was a ruin.

He frequently emerged from his stronghold at midnight with his escorts to make raids on the tenant's cattle, rounding them up and impounding them or to make raids destroying the tenants crops. Mr. Tener claimed to have been given £20,000 by Lord Clanricarde as a kind of war chest to use in his fight against the tenantry.

Edward Shaw Tener was an Ulster Protestant.

Fear and Loathing in East Galway

Edward Shaw Tener died November 15, 1915 in Galway.

Hubert de Burgh-Canning (1832-1919) 2nd Marquis of Clanricarde

Lord Clanricarde, Hubert de Burgh (Burke) the second Marquis of Clanricarde was one of the most hated absentee landlords in Ireland. Clanricarde owned estates at Portumna Castle and at Woodford. He was referred to by the locals as Lord Clanrackrent. The agents of Hubert George de Burgh-Canning evicted 359 families in 33 years.

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 Clanricarde estate stretched from the Shannnon to within a mile of Galway City and included: Loughrea, Woodford, Portumna, Galway, Eyrecourt, and Craughwell. The tenants were mainly Irish speaking.

"The worst rack-renter has been the Marquis of Clanricarde, a heartless usurer, who has not visited his estates for some twenty years (not even coming over to the funeral of his own mother), who has refused all concessions, and who upon a late occasion dismissed an agent primarily for forwarding to him a respectful memorial for his tenants. The Nation, Volume 46, February 2, 1888

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

In 1909 The Earl of Clanricarde was an old and infirm man - not expected to live much longer. He had no direct heirs. He lived in Piccadilly in London. His heir was his nephew, Lord Sligo of Westport an old man himself. Lord sligo's heir was his son, Henry Ulick Browne, born circa 1851.

Freeborn County Standard Albert Lea, Minnesota July 20, 1882

"AN IRISH LANDLORD

Something About the Marquis of Clanricarde and His Irish Estates.

Most Irishmen who know anything of the personal character of the Marquis of Clanricarde will regret that if there was to be a murder like that of Thursday week the victim should not have been the landlord himself rather than his old agent and his bailiff. Lord Clanricarde is the only surviving descendant of the great orator, George Canning, Pitt's protege who married one of the three daughters of the famous gambling Scotchman, general John Scott, who pursued a regime of perfect abstinence from drink in order that he might fleece the less temperate players of that generation. General Scott accumulated a fortune large enough to give each of his daughters a million sterling, and as Canning was penniless, his marriage set him on his feet at once. Another daughter of General Scott married the Duke of Portland, father of the late eccentric bearer of title and joined her family name with that of the Bentincks, and the third heiress was captured by the Earl of Moray. George Canning's only daughter inherited all the immense fortune of her mother on the death of her brother, Viscount Canning, in 1862. She had married the father of the present Lord Clanricarde and her brother's private estate went to her second son, who, on the death of his older brother, about eight years ago, came into the title and estates. The family name of the Clanricardes is De Burgh, to which Canning was added on the marriage with the heiress. The estates lie in Galway and the seat is Portumna Castle, which exists only in name; having been long ago destroyed by fire. The father of the present Marquis planned and began the construction of a new house, and meanwhile fitted up his residence over the extensive stables, which were the pride of the West country huntsman. But when the present Marquis succeeded to the estates he decided to return from Paris, where he passes most of his time in a life of elegant bachelor loafing, and he has allowed the immense Irish estates to go practically to waste in the hands of agents and factors, whose orders have been to make the rents as large as possible. The marquis of Clanricarde has no personal interest in the Irish estates beyond the revenues, and his perpetual absence and indifference have brought the dissatisfaction of the men of Galway to the point of violent resistance to his orders. He is probably one of the worst cases of absentee landlordism in Ireland, and the evicted farmers would certainly never have murdered his agents if they could have got a shot at the Marquis himself. A man who would refuse, as he did, to make any abatements on rent in the famine year of 1870 has very little occasion to show himself in Galway in the present condition of affairs.

See Woodford stood up to the power of Lord Clanricarde GALWAY ADVERTISER, MAY 06, 2010 for the story on Lord Clanricarde and John Henry Blakes' murder.

Extraordinary victory for the people of east Galway

NO ONE WAS TRIED OR CONVICTED FOR THE MURDERS OF JOHN BLAKE AND THADY RUANE

The 2nd Marquis of Clanricarde, "the most hated landlord of Irish landlords".

Born December 15, 1822. He collected paintings and china. He never married and had no heirs.

Luke Dillon, bailiff, Logboy [Loughboy] - estate of John Nolan-Farrell, Claremorris - murdered November 1881

On November 17 1881 Luke Dillon, a 45 year old bailiff on the Logboy estate owned by John Nolan-Farrell, was found dead on a public road in Cornacarty[a], Claremorris with three bullets in his body. He was reported to have either been on his way to serve 18 evictions or simply to visit a friend. The New York Times said he was killed near Ballyhaunis.

"November 17, 1881, Luke Dillon was murdered. He was bailiff to Mr. Farrell. The Land League having some idea that Farrell might have some pressure brought to bear on him, vengeance was wreaked upon his agent. On November 17 he was shot about halfpast 8 o'clock in the evening."

(Parnellism and crime, Part 1 By Baron James Hannen Hannen, Great Britain. Special Commission to Inquire into Charges and Allegations against Certain Members of Parliament and Others, 1888)

Arthur Edmund Denis Dillon, 16th Viscount Dillon (1812 - 1892) and his son Harold Arthur Dillon, 17th Viscount Dillon (1844 - lanriccrde) where the Lord Dillons of the time period.

In 1906 Anthony Trollope in The Kellys and the O'Kellys said:

"The Dillons, of Ballyhaunis, who had three thousand a-year, and spent six; they were really a delightful family, - three daughters and four sons, all unmarried, and up to anything: the sons all hunted, shot, danced, and did everything that they ought to do- at least in the eyes of young ladies; though some of their more coldly prudent acquaintances expressed an opinion that it would be as well if the three younger would think of doing something for themselves;"

James Brennan - Creeslough, County Donegal - shot and injured

In May 2014 Margie McBride wrote about her ancestor and sent the following articles"

Belfast News-Letter, 28 March 1881 page 4 of 8 Advertisements and Notices A bailiff named James Brennan, while sitting in his house near Creeslough, in a remote part of County Donegal, was fired at through the window, and injured, on the hand, upon which his head at that moment was leading. Two arrest have been made.

Alleged Shooting at and wounding a bailiff in Co. Donegal (by Telegraph) (From Our Correspondent The Belfast Morning News, Monday, March 28, 1881 Two men named Diver and M'Bride have been arrested in connection with an outrage on a process-server named Brennan residing near Creeslough, Dunfanaghy, in the County Donegal. The report of the affair states that while Brennan was sitting in his house with his head leant on his hands, shots were fired through the window, and one took effect in his head, a ball passing through it. The Belfast News-letter, 28 March 1881 Same article as above.

While Lord Ardilaun was considered by many as a beneficent landlord, there were complaints. Some tenants were evicted to make way for Ashford Park, a game reserve, which was home to herds of deer. He diverted water that fed a local mill to his property to feed a fountain on his estate. This forced the mill to close affecting the local economy. He strictly enforced no trespassing on his fishing and game reserve. Grouse hunting was so important to him that in 1874 he fined 30 tenants for pulling heather that they needed for fuel to cook and heat. Two of his land agents, the Huddys, were murdered at they attempted evictions in 1882. See Huddy. Another land agent, William Burke was forced to have police protection. Some of the antipathy towards Lord Ardilaun was directed towards his land agent, Walter Burke.

1882 Evictions:

CONG Branch, Co. Mayo. Bridget Murphy, 1, evicted 20th Nov. by Pat Foy, Cong, not readmitted.

Richard Higgins and Mrs Andrew Conway, The Neale, Claremorris, Co. Mayo. Lord Ardilaun, Landlord, Captain Boycott, Agent.

A MAN SHOT BY A BAILIFF A caretaker of Lord Ardilaun named, Cartwright discovered last night two men taking away some timber from Ross Hill, near Lough Mask and as they refused to bring it back he fired at them wounding one severely. (The Morning News from Belfast)

In October 1881 "Father Conway, parish priest of Clonbur, was sentenced to to months imprisonment at hard labor for assaulting a bailiff who served him a writ at the suit of Lord Ardilaun." (NY Times). In December 1881 Father Watt Conway wrote a letter to the Freeman in which he stated that Lord Ardilaun ordered him to removed a "certain causeway" which "obstructed his right-of-way, flooded his mountain lands". Conway claimed the causeway was a pile of loose stones placed according to plans of an eminent engineer to form a passageway across a deep and dangerous ferry crossing on Lough Mask. The construction of the causeway gave local employment over three or four week to over a hundred families. There was no possible flooding of Lord Ardilaun's mountain lands which, in addition to being elevated, were six to seven miles from the causeway. The 250 families who lived near the ferry had not other means of crossing themselves or their stock except swimming if the ferryman did not answer their call. Frequently people were left out in the cold and inclement weather unable to wake the boatman. The news of Father Conway's imprisonment was carried around the world.

In 1886 a traveler from Oregon in the US reported:

"Though Lord Ardilaun has a ---- roads and given much employment to working men at Cong he is unpopular there. I met his agent walking, followed by two well appointed constables with their rilles. Ardilaun, it appears, has evicted tenants, and pays low rates to his laborers." (The Oregon Scout. (Union, Union County, Or.)

Dr. Ambrose (Mayo W.) "I beg to ask the Chief secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland wether he is aware that within the past months a man named Deskin, a bailiff on the property of Lord Ardilaun, accompanied by other bailiffs, attacked the hut of an evicted tenant named Nicholas Noonan, living near Ballinrobe, and forcibly ejected him and his family without any decree of ejectment or other process of law, and that the hut was completely destroyed; whether Deskin was armed with any legal warrant for such proceedings: whether he is aware that Noonan offered no resistance, Deskin presented a loaded revolver at his face and and threatened to blow his brains out: whether Deskin had a licence to carry a revolver: and, if so, will it be revoked, whether Deskin had not a licence, the authorities will prosecute him for carrying a revolver without legal authority whether Noonan was prosecuted for resisting the bailiff, and returned for trial, while Noonan's application for a cross-summons was refused? Mr. J. Morley testified that the bailiff acted under a degree of eviction obtained on July 20. He claimed that the bailiff did not draw his gun on Noonan until Noonan had stabbed one of the bailiff's assistants with a pitch fork. "and was about to make another attempt to stab." He claimed the bailiff was licensed to carry a revolver. (ALLEGED MISCONDUCT OF A BAILIFF, CO. MAYO.)

At his death in 1868 Benjamin Lee Guiness left and estate in England of £60,000.

At his death in 1915 Ardilaun, Authur Edward, baron of Ashford Castle Cong, left and estate of £332,705 in England

Arthur Edward Guinness, Lord Ardilaun, was childless and the barony ended with his death.

Lord Ardilaun

Ashford Castle

LADY ARDILAUN - Nice site with lots of images of the Guinness family at Ashford Castle.

Lord Kilmaine

John Cavendish Browne, Lord Kilmaine, was the third Baron Kilmaine in 1866. He sat in the House of Lords as an Irish Representative Peer from 1849 to 1873. He was born 22 June 1849 and died 13 Jan 1873.

Sir John Brown, a Mayo Landlord, purchased the title of Lord Kilmaine. (The Fall of Feudalism in Ireland: Or, The Story of the Land League Revolution By Michael Davitt, 1904)

1878: certain portions of the Mountains and Townlands following (the Estate of LORD KILMAINE) WILL BE POISONED for the Destruction of Vermin, that's to say: Sughafadda, Ballyrourke , Loughanaganky, Ballyglass, Ballinchalla, Bunavaunish, Bunnadober, Carrowuagurraun, Cahernicole (East and West), Castletown , Inishc--g, Inishmaine , C-hcrhagollum , all in the Parish of Ballinchalla and Barony of Kilmaiue and County Mayo. Ballytrasna , Munnadesha Hall -argadaen, Ballywalter, Neale Park, Caherngry (East and West), Cusblaoernt, Carrowkee-, Tobernashee, Creevagh (North and South), Ballyshingadauu, Knockroe , Kildotia, Caherbernash, Parkmore or Demesne all in the Parish of Kilmolara, Barony of Kilrea, and County Mayo. Lecarrow, Killee- in the parish of Cong, barony of Kilmaine, and county Mayo. Cabernablauh y, Curraboy (Kilmaine) all in the parish of Ballinrobe, barony of Kilmaine, and county Mayo. Shanafarrag --- in the parish of Ross, barony of Ross, and county Galway. Dated this, 22nd day of March, 1878. WILLIAM BURKE, Land Agent to Lord Kilmaine.

Lord Clanmorris

John George Barry Bingham, 5th Baron Clanmorris was born in 1852 and died in 1916. He was the son of the 4th Baron John Charles Robert Bingham. He lived mainly at Ardrahan in County Galway.

He had houses at Cregclare and Seamount in Co. Galway and Newbrook, Ballyglass, Co. Mayo.

THREE MEN WERE TRIED AND CONVICTED IN THE MURDER OF THOMAS GIBBONS - SENTENCED FOR MANSLAUGHTER AND SERVED TIME

Huddy process servers on Lord Ardilaun's estate who were murdered in 1882.

Patrick Freely, Ballyhaunis, Mayo, February 1882 - Murdered

In February 1882 Patrick Freely, farmer's son age 23, was attact by a party of men at his father's house. They dragged him outside and beat him with sticks. He was then shot in the chest and died the same night. The attack was intended for the father, who was accused of paying his rent, but when he hid and could not be found the son was attacted instead. No one was accused.

"A shocking murder was commited last night at Ballindrehid near this town. A farmer's son, named Freely, was taken from his bed and shot dead outside his own door by a party of disguised men. The father of the deceased had paid his rent, and it is alleged that this was the cause of the crime". (Telegraph from a Ballyhaunis corespondent - The Parliamentary Debates By Great Britain. Parliament, William Cobbett, Thomas Curson Hansard)

John and Martin Lydon, father and son, Letterfrack Ballinahinch, County Galway murdered - And Constable James Kavanagh Letterfrack - murdered - Apring 1881

Martin Lydon and his father, John were attacked at their home in Banouglis (Bannogaes) Letterfrack County Galway on Sunday April 24, 1881. Seven or eight men burst into the cabin and severely beat the two Lydons. They were then dragged outside and shot. John Lydon died immediately. Martin survived long enough to finger one of his attackers, Patrick Walsh, who was tried and hung at Galway Gael on September 22, 1882.

Constable James Kavanagh a leading witness in the case was shot and killed February 15, 1882. Michael Walsh, the brother of Patrick Walsh, was tied in September and found guilty of the murder of Constable Kavanagh. Michael Walsh was sentenced to death but it was reduced to penal service for life in consideration of his youth. He was 18 years old at the time of the murder.

The Irish Case Stated By Charles Russell Baron Russell of Killowen, 1889:

"This is a very sad but a very simple story. It appears that a landlord called Graham, who had some land sloping down to the bay, had a tenant named Walsh. That tenant was evicted, and these poor people (Lydon and his son) were simply there to herd the cattle of Graham on the land. Walsh continued to live in a cottage by the crossroads leading to Renvyle, to Clifden, and to Kylebeg. It really, is enough to say in relation to this case that it was proved that this was an act of individual vengeance on the part of the Walshes and their friends in concert with the Walshes. One of the sons of the Widow Walsh was hanged for that murder, and another son was sent to penal servitude for being connected with the murder of the police constable engaged in getting up the evidence against his brother. I shall refer to the evidence of the clergyman who lived at the placa at the time, but your lordships see from the evidence given that there was no pretence for saying that there was any connection between the Land League and this murder; and it is quite properly pointed out to me that this man Mangan attempts to impose himself on your lordships as being a member of the Land League. His evidence is very important. He says he never heard of Fenianism before 1881. He himself was charged with Lydon's murder, he was in prison, and only let out when his mind gave way. Then he was taken to an asylum, and afterwards allowed to leave the asylum. I never heard of Fenianism before 1880. Father M'Andrew is the PP (that means he was the PP at the time). I did not know him to be president of the Land League, nor did I know Father Q'Connor to be secretary to the Land League. I would not call these Fenian meetings, because Fenians shoot a man before his face. All the meetings at Mrs Walsh's were of Fenians. We knew one another by signs. I got a card of membership.- Pat Ronan, of Fallilly, joined the League. Fallilly is near Letterfrack. I cannot swear there was a Land Lessue at Letterfrack, Pat Walsh was one. Mrs Walsh's sons were hanged for the murder."

Walter M Bourke, and his military escort, Corporal Robert Wallace, murdered June 1882 - Galway

Walter M Bourke was a wealthy West Irish landlord. He was born circa 1836 the son of Mr. J, Bourke, Crown Solicitor for Mayo County. Walter Bourke received a degree from Trinity college, Dublin. He owned two estates in Ireland, at Curraleagh (near Claremorris in County Mayo) and at Rahasane Park (in county Galway). He had made a fortune as a barrister in India before returning to Ireland to buy Rahasane. He inherited the property at Carraleagh.

He had several "disputes" with his tenants and was in the process of carrying out evictions at the time of his death.

The Illustrated London News of May 14, 1881 carried a story about Walter M Bourke evicting his tenants near Claremorris, Co Mayo. A year later he was shot near his estate in Galway.

It was extremely difficult to find process servers due to the hostile and dangerous conditions they met while trying to serve evictions notices. Walter Bourke, 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 Bourke 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 Rev. Mr. Corbett, CC, complaining of Mr. Bourke bringing his gun into another chapel."

The Maitland Mercury & Hunter River General Advertiser

Mr. Burke had been mentioned in an Illustrated London News article of May 21, 1881:

"Some remarks were made last week, having reference to the instance of a landlord near Claremorris, Mr. Walter Burke, who finding that none of the ordinary process-servers in the county would venture to go round and deliver writs of ejectment to his defaulting tenants has resolved to do it himself."

" He took an active part in the prosecution of Father Conway a few years ago. A few months ago he entered the church at Carraro, armed with a repeating rifle while mass was being celebrated. The priest ordered him to leave the church, and he escaped by a side door in order to avoid being mobbed."

New York Times, June 9, 1882

"Mr. Walter M Bourke, J. P., a barrister who had made a considerable fortune at the practice of his profession in India, and who had settled down as a landed gentleman, and his guard, Corporal Wallace, of the Royal Dragoons, were shot dead on the highroad at Ardrahan. Mr. Bourke was a Catholic, and had earned some considerable notoriety by attending mass at Carroroe Church with a repeating rifle, and would not leave the Church even at the request of the clergyman."

Reminiscences of John Adye Curran, k.c., late county court judge and chairman of quarter sessions; (1915)

• £2,000 for information leading to a conviction of the murderers

• £1,000 for private information leading to "a similar result"

• £500 for information followed by the conviction

1882 The Parliamentary Debates: The three dragoons provided as protection to Bourke were not provided with horses. By riding in the same vehicle together they lost the advantage that a separate would have afforded. However, it was also argued that a mounted escort could not shoot as accurately as one in a vehicle.

Corporal Wallace left a widow. Unfortunately, the Widow Wallace "was not on the married establishment, he having married without leave." She did in the end receive compensation o £300. Ballinrobe Chronicle June 17, 1882:

THE MURDER OF MR. BOURKE AND HIS ESCORT CORPORAL WALLACE

The Dublin Correspondent in alluding to the murder of Mr. Bourke and his soldier escort, writes:

"The fate of Mr. Bourke and his escort has called the attention of the authorities to the expediency of altering some of the existing arrangements with a view to greater efficiency of the system of police and military protection. Mr. Bourke was one of tbe bravest of men; his courage might be called foolhardiness, but it was indomitable. He knew for more than a year that his assassination had been resolved upon. A correspondent of the Daily Express states that he was told twelve months ago that twenty-four men were lying in wait to shoot him on his way home from Claromorris to Curraghleagh, but he declined protection, saying that he would shoot any head that appeared where it ought not to be. He always carried a Winchester rifle, and when approaching his own woods used to fire several shots into them to clear them. An incidont occurred some time ago which illustrated this practice in a rather startling manner. A constable was reconnoitering in a wood which he knew Mr. Bourke was to pass, when he drew up and fired 10 bullets into it before he passed. The constable, it is said, found it necessary to get quickly under cover or he would have had a bad chance. Mr. Bourke was repeatedly warned to have protection, but he refused it, and it was only within the lost two or three months that he was persuaded to allow it. He had three dragoons at Rahasine and two infantry soldiem at Curraghleagh. By a singular omission of the authorities, however, the dragoons were without their horses, and these would only be provided at the expenee of the person protected. The result was that, bringing but one guard with him and having him on the same vehicle as himself, he lost the advantage which a separate and double guard would have afforded. It was a dear piece of economy which cost him and the poor, trooper their lives. The fact that the soldler's carbine, was unloaded was due to another regulation the folly of which is unhappily proved by this outrage - namely, that no trooper is to carry his carbine loaded unless at full cock, and, as it is liable to go off by the slightest accident, the practice is not to load until the occasion arises. Poor Wallace was in the act of getting out his cartridges to load when the messenger of death intercepted him. The authorities are now considering the propriety of arming escorts with tho Winchester repeater. Better, experience ought by this time to have taught both the persons threatened and their protectors the necessity of adopting the most efficient means of defeating the purpose of the assassins, who are ever vigilunt and prepared.

Two fowling pieces and a Snider rifle which appear to have been used in the murder of Mr. Bourke and his guard on Thursday were found on Saturday in a field near an old abbey about two miles from Castle Taylor. Two of them had been recently discharged, and the third had a charge about 6 in. deep in it. The funeral of the unfortunate soldier, Corporal Wallace took place on Monday. His remains , whioh reached Dublin on Saturday evening by mail train, were interred with full military honours at Arbor Hill Military Cemetery. The deceased belonged to the 1st Royal Dragoons, was barely 25 years of age, and a native of Scottland. He was a young soldier, having completed six years and 105 days of irreproachable service. The bands of the Coldstreams, the 21st. Hussars, the 63rd Shropshire Regiment, and the 1st Royals followed the remains, which were on a gun carriage, drawn by six horses of the Royal Horse Artillery. A contingent of corporals was furnished by each regiment in the garrison. The public were most respectful in bearing, the greatest sympathy being expressed."

1903:

"the late ill-fated Walter M. Bourke, of Curraleagh, near Claremorris, himself a counsellor, who after a brilliant and successful career in India, returned to Ireland in the Land League days, made a losing race as candidate for M. P. of Mayo, had various disputes with his tenantry, and was unfortunately shot to death, with a soldier escort, near his residence in Rahassane Park, near Gort, Co. Galway, June 8, 1882, the last Bourke of prominence in the affairs of Mayo." Gaodhal, Volume 22

1. Spot where Mr. Bourkes' body was found. 2. Where the body of Corporal Wallace lay. 3. Loophole to wall, through which the shots were fired. (Gate by which the murders afterwards came out)

SCENE OF THE MURDER OF MR. WALTER BOURKE AND CORPORAL WALLACE, AT ARDRAHAN, COUNTY, GALWAY

In October 1888 the London Times had a multi page report on the Land League issues in which the Attorney general spoke against the Land League actions. He stated that P. J. Gordon at Claremorris encouraged the "boys" to keep their powder dry, the flag flying, and to continue the battle against the land thieves in particular to "blow Bourke to blazes one fine morning - Walter of Curraleigh" who had all the money his father had robbed from the poor tenants. Gorden had added that "In one case he threw our 13 weak children and brought 300 police to evict them." The Attorney General declared that this was a direct incitement of the crime that was subsequently committed.

According to the New York Times account of the murder, Bourke took an active part in the prosecution of Father Peter Conway. Peter Conway was a activist priest from the famine days until his death in 1872. He was the curate of Ballinrobe Parish for a number of years. See Religion

Corporal Robert Wallace

Corporal Robert Wallace of the Royal Dragoons (1st Dragoons) was accompanying Walter Burke when they were shot. It was reported that Wallace, a six foot tall Scotsman, had only arrived from the Curragh Camp two days before. Anxious to see the countryside he exchanged duties with a comrade. Corporal Wallace was shot three times - twice in the head and once in the heart.

"Funeral Of Corporal Wallace. - The funeral of Corporal Wallace, 1st Dragoon Guards, who had been shot dead while escorting the late Mr. Walter M. Bourke, near Ardraban, County Galway, took place with full military honours June 13th. The deceased, who was only 25 years old, was a native of Scotland, having been born at Shotts, Lanarkshire. He had been six years and 105 days in the army, and during that entire period he had borne an irreproachable character. He was, indeed, a man of high military training, excellent conduct and steadiness, and had been especially selected for dangerous service. Previous to his promotion he had formed one of the personal guard of a gentleman named Digby, residing at Tuilamore.......... A melancholy circumstance in connection with his murder was that he had, it appears, volunteered to be one of the protection party in attendance on the late Mr. Bourke, and had been only a few days engaged in discharging that duty when he was assassinated. Shortly before three o'clock the cortege, which included a contingent of corporals from each regiment in the Dublin garrison, started for Arbour Hill Cemetery. First advanced the Firing Party, consisting of fifteen men of Wallace's own regiment, headed by a non-commissioned officer, followed by the band of the 58rd Shropshire Regiment; the drum and fife band of the Coldstream Guards, the full band of the 21st Hussars, and the band of the Royal Dragoons, playing in turn a Miserere. Next came the body of the murdered man, borne on a gun-carriage of the Royal Horse Artillery, drawn by six horses, draped in black. The Union Jack was spread over the coffin, and on this pall were placed wreaths of flowers sent by the Lord Lieutenant, the officers and men of the 18th Hussars, stationed at Gort, and by the Soldiers' Institute. The deceased's charger, led by one of Wallace's comrades, next followed, and then came the mourning-coach, in which sat the murdered soldier's mother and brother, who had arrived from Scotland on Sunday. Next in processional order followed a large party of the 1st Royal Dragoons, under command of Col. Hutton. Then came some veterans from the R. Hospital, Kilmainham, and detachments from the 53rd Light Infantry, the 13th Regiment, the Coldstream Guards, the Royal Artillery, tho 21st Hussars, the Royal Horse Artillery, and a contingent of Royal Irish Constabulary Phoenix Park. Major-Gen. Lord Clarina and several officers brought up the rear. As the funeral passed onward to the cemetery it wis received with the utmost manifestations of respect by the people who stood in the streets to see its mournful progress, all remaining uncovered as the gun carriage upon which rested Wallace's body slowly moved by. At the grave tho customary volley was fired ; and the last honours having been paid to the dead, those taking part in the funeral returned from the cemetery.

The British Flag & Christian Sentinel, Volume 1

"The funeral of Corporal Wallace, at Dublin, on the day before, was also attended by a public demonstration. The Corones jury in Galway returned a verdict of murder by some person or persona unknown." (Mysteries of Ireland 188?)

Widow Rawn Wallace was awarded £300 for the death of her husband.

"Mrs. Rawn Wallace, wife of Corporal Wallace, £300 for the murder of her husband while he was escorting Mr. Walter Bourke, who was also murdered"

At Hollymount, Baila, on Saturday, "Peter" Mullen was charged with the murder of his father, Peter Mullen, at Kiltrone, in December, 1880. I cannot access the article as of August 2017.

It was claimed that it was common knowledge among the local population just who had committed these crimes. The events were freely talked about in the community. But despite the large rewards offered everyone remained silent to the authorities. Although hundreds of troops were poured into the West of Ireland "crimes" continued to be committed right under the noses of the military and the police.

1883 Court claims for compensation for crimes in 1880, 1881, and 1882 in Mayo and Galway awarded by the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland

Under the Crimes Act monetary awards for loss of relatives or personal injuries were given for crimes committed.

Awards for deaths in counties Mayo and Galway were as follows:

1. Mountmorres, Viscount, Ebor Hall, Clonbur, county Galway, £3,000 in three installments, £1000 at once, 12 months and 2 years to the representative of the deceased (his widow).

   To Harriette Viscountess Mountmorres for murder on Sept. 25, 1880 of her husband Viscount Mountmorres, at Clonbur, County Galway £3,000 (Oamuru Mail).

   See above.

2. Bourke, Walter M Rahasane, Gort, County Galway

   Bourke, Walter, M., Rahasane, Gort, County Galway, £1,500, to the person representing the deceased (his widow), in three installments, at once, 12 months and 2 year.

   See below.

3. Thomas Barrett a small farmer from Doolough was murdered on 10 May, 1882.

   Barrett, Thomas, Doolough, Bangor Erris, County Mayo, £400 to personal representative of the deceased - his widow Bridget (October 31, 1882 The Morning News from Belfast, Page 3)

   Thomas Barrett a small farmer of Doolough was shot in his house in March 1882. He had just returned from the fair at Bangor when he was murdered. One suspect was arrested and released.

   Will - Thomas Barrett, £290 estate of Thomas Barrett late of Doolough county Mayo, farmer who died 10 May 1882 granted at Ballina to Bridget Barrett, widow

   Reason for murder:

   "The next case is that of Thomas Barrett, who had done nothing calculated to bring down upon him the dislike of his neighbours except taking some grazing land which a man named Reilly had given up. The suggestion made in cross-examination is that Barrett had made some reference to the murder of a man called Carter which had happened some years before. His widow was cross-examined and stated that up to the date of her husband's murder she never received any unkindness from her neighbours and thought she was on good terms with everybody. She admitted that her husband had said that some particular man had shot Carter. She was asked, " Did your husband tell you whether he had been saying that elsewhere to many people?" She replied, " I never heard him say that except at the time." She was again asked, " Did he tell you that he had said anything of the kind at the fair?" and her answer was, " I don't know whether he did or not. I never heard him say anything of the kind except on this occasion." Here, again, there is no evidence to connect the Land League with this man's death" (Parnellism and Crime, Part 19)

   Thomas Barrett, age 50 farmer, as he was about to go to bed a shot was fired through the window which hit him on the hip, he died two hours later from the wound. It was stated that he had taken some land from which another had been evicted. (Special Commission Act, 1888: Reprint of the Shrothand Notes of ..., Volume 2)

   The following story was reported in the London Times: "On May 11, 1882 Thomas Barett was murdered.......A landlord named Bigham who had a farm of 12 acres from which he evicted a tenant in 1871, and Barrett occupied the farm for four or five years." In October 1880 a notice was posted on Barrett's farm stating that for the welfare of the Irish tenant farmer grazing must be discouraged and land grabbing put down so Irish hands could till Irish lands. Everyman was obliged to observe the rule. It added "your second notice shall be a bullet so drop the grazing in time before November 1." Barrett gave up the farm on November 1, 1880 and the property was rented to a person named Carter. But in May 1882 Barrett took the farm back from the same landlord. He was fired upon as he and his wife were getting ready for bed and in the same room in which his children wer sleeping. He was wounded in the hand and hip and died several hours form his wounds. It was not clear if the intended victim was Carter or Barrett.

4. Conway, James, Killariff, Athenry, County Galway £800 to personal representative

5. Dillon, Luke, Curnacarta, Ballyhausnis, Mayo to the person representing the deceased (his son John), £500, in one sum

   to John Dillon for the murder of his father at Culnacorla County Mayo on November 18, 1881 £500 (Oamuru Mail)

   See Dillon

6. Huddy, John, Creevagh, Cong, County Mayo, £300, three installments £100 at once, 12, months and 2 years to the representative of the deceased (his father, Michael).

   See above

7. Huddy, Joseph, Creevagh, Cong, County Mayo, £200, three installments, 66 l 13 s 4d at once 12 months and 3 years to the representative of the deceased (his, son Thomas).

   See above.

8. Gibbons, Thomas, Drigheen, Cong, £250, to be raised in three installments, of 83 l. 6.s 8 d each, immediately, 12 months, and two years to the person representing the deceased (his parents, John and Bridget)

   See above.

9. Lydon, John, Lydon, Martin, "Banouglis", Ballinahinch, County Galway £700* (*This amount awarded for the benefit of the surviving family of the said John Lydon, exclusive of his eldest son Partick Lydon.)

   October 31, 1882 - Awarded to Nappy Lydon, Gurtmilsih, for the murder of her husband, John Lydon, and her son, Martin Lydon, at Banonglis, Co Galway The Morning News from Belfast.

   See Lydon

10. Feerick, David, Brownstown, Ballinrobe, to the person representing the decease (his father, Michael Feerick) £450 in one sum. to Michael Feerick for the murder of his son David at Ballinrove, County Mayo £400 (Oamuru Mail)

See Feerick

11. Wallace, Robert, Rahasane, Gort, Galway, £300, three installments, to the representative of the deceased (his widow Mrs. Fanny Wallace, Chale Farm, Isle of Wight).

    to Mrs. Fanny Wallace of Chale Farm Ilse of Wight for murder of Robert Wallace at Castle Taylor, county Galway on June 8, 1882 £300 (Oamuru Mail)

    Corporal Wallace of the first Dragoons, was the companion of Walter M Bourke of Rahasane, Cor. county Mayo. They were shot near Ardrahan in May 1882.

    See Bourke

12. Freehilly [Freehill, Friely & Freely], Patrick, Bracklowboy, [Brackloughbay, Blackloughbay, - Bracklinboy] - Bracklaghboy - Civil parish of Bekan - Poor Law Union of Claremorris Ballyhaunis, Mayo, £600 in one sum to the person representing the deceased (his father, David)

    Patrick Freely farmer's son, age 23 was attact by a party of men at his father's house. They dragged him outside and beat him with sticks. He was then shot in the chest and died the same night. It was said the attack was in in retribution because the father had paid his rent. The assault was intended for the father, David Freeley, but he hid and could not be found so the son was attacked instead. No one was accused.

    David Freeley was described as a "poor old man" (the Parnell Commision report)

    1889: "The next case is that of Patrick Friely, of Blackloughbay, the son of David Friely, the poor old man called before your Lordship, to whom my sympathy went out very naturally" David Friely expressed doubts that the Land League was involved in his son's murder and stated that his son's murder was perpetrated by a gang of moonlighters "or some such class" who set upon father and son. He escaped but his son was taken by them and shot. David Friely claimed all his neighbors payed rent and he himself was a member of the Land League. (Parnellism and Crime, Part 19)

13. John Henry Blake (the agent for absentee landlord, Lord Clanricarde) his wife Harriett and his servant Thady Ruane were shot on their way to mass in June 1882. Blake and Ruane died. Harriett survived the attack.

    Blake, John H Rathville, Loughrea, county Galway-

    Harriet, the widow of John Henry Blake was awarded £1,200 for personal injury and £3,000 for the murder of her husband.

    £3,000 to Mrs. Harriett Blake for the murder of her husband John Henry Blake June 29, 1882, in the county of Galway to be raised off three baronies in the county within three years (Oamuru Mail) - to Mrs. Harriett Black for personal injuries sustained on the occasion of her husband's murder £1000 (Oamuru Mail)

    Bridget, Ruane, the widow of Blake's servant, Thady Ruane, Rathville, Lounghrea was awarded £400 for the murder of her husband. See Woodford stood up to the power of Lord Clanricarde GALWAY ADVERTISER, MAY 06, 2010 for the story on Lord Clanricarde and John Henry Blakes' murder.

    Lord Clanricarde, Hubert de Burgh (Burke) was one of the most hated absentee landlords in Ireland.

    See Evictions for and image of evictions from the estate of Lord Clanricarde and some additional information on the the Blake murder.

14. In 1883 Peter Dogherty [Doherty] of Carrigeen East, Gort, co. Galway, [Carrigan, Craughwell] was awarded £600 for the murder of his son Peter November 2, 1881.

    To Peter Dogherty for the murder of his son at Currigeens, County Galway on June 29, 1882 £400 (Oamuru Mail) "Peter Doherty, a young farmer, living at Carriagn, who took a farm surrendered by another tenant wao was refused a reduction, was shot dead at his own door". (The truth about the Land league, its leaders, and its teaching By Hugh Oakeley Arnold-Forster, 1883). Doherty had been boycotted.

    Peter Doherty, a farmer's son age 25, was shot near the heart at about 9 0'clock in the morning. Some men had released a mare from the barn. Dohery went to secure the mare. Whereupon he was shot. Shots were also fired at the house of his uncle John. Pat Finnegan and Michael Muldowney were accused of the murder and conviced on the testimony of two informers. Pat Finnegan maintained his innocence. Finnegan and Muldowney were later reprieved.

    A bizarre meeting on the Galway train GALWAY ADVERTISER, JUNE 14, 2012

15. In 1883 Bridget Connell (Conwell) of Coolaght, co Mayo was awarded £130 for injuries to herself received on the night of July 17, 1882.

    Bridget Connell farmer age 65 was shot in the left hand. She was accused of having taken a farm surrendered by another tenant. No one was accused or apprehended.

16. In 1883 Mary Dempsey [Dempsy] of Riverville near Loughrea was awarded £800 for the murder of her husband, Peter, on May 29, 1882 at Hollypark

    To Mary Dempsey of Riverville County Galway for the murder of her husband on May 29, 1882 at Holly Park £800 (Oamuru Mail)

    Peter Dempsey small farmer age 43, was shot twice about 11 o'clock while entering a gate at the rear of Hollypark House near Loughrea, Riverville, the residence of Mr. Peter Blake, J. P.

    Peter Dempsey was reported to have taken the farm of Murty Hines [Hynes]. Two men were accused; both were acquitted.

Awards for injuries in county Mayo and Galway were as follows:

1. Byrne, John, Loughanboy, (Logboy) Ballyhaunis £300 for injury

2. Harriett Blake, Rathville, Loughrea Count Galway £,200

3. Connell, Bridget, Coolaght, Kilcolman, County Mayo, £130

4. Carter, George T. S., Belmullet, Co. Mayo £1,500

5. Dolan, James, Derryvenny, Cappaduff, co. Mayo £100

6. Gibbons, Bridget, Dringeen, con, Co. Mayo £75

   Gibbons, Bridget, Dringeen, Cong, for injuries, £75 to be raised in three installments of 25 each, 1st installment at once, 2nd in 12 months and 3rd in 2 years.

   See above.

7. Hearne, John, Killeshien, Ballinrobe, £600 personal injuries

   See above.

8. Horkan, Martin, Drumshinagh, Swinford, Co Mayo, £150

9. Hernon, Bartholomew, Kilronan, Arran Island, co. Galway £100

10. Reid, Michael, Cloonlumney, Kilcolman, co. Mayo £100

Awards for Deaths in co. Mayo and Galway made by the Grand Juries of Ireland were:

1. James M'Donagh, dunmore, co Galway to Mary M'Donagh £1000

Awards for injuries in co Mayo and Galway by the grand Juries of Ireland were:

1. John O'Connor, Dunmore co. Galway to John O'Connor £250

Parliamentary Papers, House of Commons and Command, Volume 63 (1884) and COMPENSATION FOR MURDERS IN IRELAND. OAMARU MAIL, VOLUME IV, ISSUE 1322, 11 SEPTEMBER 1883, National Library of New Zealand

It was said that there were 27 agrarian murders in Ireland in 1882:

chief amongst which were those of the Joyce family, five in number, slaughtered while asleep in their little cabin in the mountains of Maamtrasna ^1.; of the two bailiffs of Lord Ardilaun, (an old man and his grandson,) who were shot dead when they went to serve eviction notices on tenantry dwelling near the shores of Lough Mask, Connemara, and whose bodies were then tied in sacks and sunk in the deep waters of the lake^2.; of Mrs. Smythe, whose head was blown literally into fragments at Barbavilla, Westmeath, as she drove home from church one Sunday afternoon in a carriage with her sister and her brother-in-law, (a local landlord)^3.; of Mr. Walter Bourke (a landlord) and Corporal Wallace (one of Mr. Bourke's military bodyguard,) who were both shot dead in broad noon-day on the public road near Rapassane, Galway^4.; of Mr. Blake (land agent of the Marquis of Clanricarde) and his servant man, who were both shot dead on the road near Longhrea, Galway^5.; of Constable Kavanagh, who was shot dead at Letterfrach, Galway^6.; and of Mr. Herbert, a grand juror, who was shot dead at Castle-island, Kerry^3.. All these twenty-seven murders were assassinations, pure and simple, and in no case whatever could even the palliation be urged that death resulted as the consequence of a fight. The murderous design was always stealthily and deliberately carried into execution. In one instance in which a herdsman named Linnane, seventy years old, was shot dead while sitting at his fireside at Miltown, Mally, Clare, because he had worked on a "boycotted" farm, the circumstances of the case were more than ordinarily mournful, for his son, who had been sitting at his side when the fatal shot was fired by the " Moonlighters" who attacked the house, lost his reason through his fright and horror, and died crazy some months afterwards. But besides this fearful catalogue of crime, in very few instances of which any one was brought to justice, were the startling assassinations of Lord Frederick Cavendish (the Chief Secretary for Ireland) and Mr. Burke (the Under Secretary for Ireland,) on Saturday evening, May 6th, in Phoenix Park, Dublin. Then, also, frequent assassinations occurred in Dublin streets; these, thongh undoubtedly political, cannot be exactly classed with agrarian crime. In different parts of the city, four informers were assassinated, and a police constable named Cox was shot dead while aiding in an attempt to arrest a party of armed Fenians, thus bringing the entire number of political and agrarian murders committed in Ireland during the past year up to thirty-four.

The Criminal Law Magazine, Volume 4, 1883

^1. There is a ton on the internet on the Maamtrasna murders and there are a number of books about it. It is still a mystery why five members of the Joyce family, the parents and three children, were murdered and who murdered them. There was a major language issue during the trial. Three people were hanged for the murders and five were sentenced to life imprisonment. While it became a symbol of the Irish question, it is not completely clear that it was indeed an Irish issue.
^2. See Huddy
^3. I only followed the Galway Mayo murders.
^4.See Bourke
^5. See Blake
^6. Constable Kavanagh was shot in connection with the Lydon murders. See Lydon<

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.

THE ILLUSTRATED LONDON NEWS Nov. 12, 1881, (Aloysius O'Kelly born Dublin, Ireland, 1851-1936)

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."

The Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and officials of Dublin Castle had the authority to "proclaim" a meeting unlawful and further had to right to order force to suppress the meeting in question.

HARPERS WEEKLY, December 17, 1881 (Aloysius O'Kelly born Dublin, Ireland, 1851-1936)

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 as seen in other images.

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.

Boycotting of James and Norah Fitzmaurice, County Kerry 1888

"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.

The Graphic April 21, 1888

STUDIES FROM LIFE IN IRELAND — VIII

OUTSIDE THE CHAPEL — BOYCOTTED POLICE

The accompanying article is missing.

I assume the boycotted police were those who accompanied the agents who were serving eviction notices.

DISTURBED IRELAND: BEFORE THE MAGISTRATE

by A. O'Kellly (Aloysius O'Kelly born Dublin, Ireland, 1851-1936)

The Illustrated London News, February 5, 1881

No text accompanied this print when I bought it. A restricted access Internet site (Project Muse, O'Sullivan, Niamh. Imaging the Land War) suggests that this print is related to a land reform issue in Ireland.

Aloysius O'Kelly: Art Nation Empire By Niamh O'Sullivan, notes that this images "operates as a ironic meta-marrative" countering the accompanying text that denounces the need to deal with 'seditious Fenian and agrarian intrigues' perpetrated by 'those misguided dupes who are tempted to acts of vilence and outrage'. Court investigations were extremely common at the time but O'Kelly treated the incident with solemnity "imbuing it with a highly charged sence of drama".

The Illustrated London News, June 18, 1881 (Aloysius O'Kelly born Dublin, Ireland, 1851-1936)

"THE LAND LEAGUE AGITATION IN IRELAND: A SHERIFF'S SALE OF CATTLE, TO PAY THE RENT"

The placards read: DOWN WITH LANDLORDISM, HOLD THE HARVEST AND THE LAND FOR THE PEOPLE,

According to the accompanying article few auctioneers could be found who were willing to officiate. Consequently, it was left to the sheriff or sub-sheriff to run the auction which was generally held in the market square. "These proceedings have during the last few months, been frequently attended with scenes of turbulence and riot".

"Emergency Committee" members (generally friends of the landlord) where in attendance to make bids if no other bidders came forth.

The crowd jeered, yelled and cursed as each lot came up.

"They assemble and march in procession to the place, with a band of music and banners; and, if they get possession of the cattle, will parade them, decorated with the Irish national colors, through the streets of the town."

The total number of "outrages" committed in May of 1881 was as follows: "Murder, 3; firing at a person, 5; assault on police, 7; aggravated assault, 14; assault endangering life, 2; assaults on bailiffs and process-servers, 6; cutting or maiming the person, 3; incendiary fire and arson, 24; burglary and robbery, 6; taking and holding forcible possession, 8; killing cutting or maiming cattle, 15; demand or robbery of arms, 1; riots and affrays, 10; administering unlawful oaths, 7; intimidation - by threatening letters or notices, 140; otherwise, 36; attacking houses, 11; resistance to legal process, 3; injury to property, 31; firing at dwellings, 5. the total number of outrages reported in the return for March was 146, and in April 295."..........

The total number of persons now detained in prison without trial, under the Coercion Act, is 110, of whom 49 are in Kilmainham Goal, Dublin".

THE CONDITION OF IRELAND - STOPPING THE KILDARE HOUNDS AT KNOCKACREEE

The Kildare Hunt was one of the most prestigious in Ireland.

Few tenant farmers whose lands contained coverts full of foxes relished the sight of the local hunt charging across fields sprouting winter and spring crops, not to mention the damage often done to fences and gates.

Nationalism and Popular Protest in Ireland By Charles H. E. Philpin

THE CONDITIONS OF IRELAND "PLEASURES OF THE HUNT"

The image can be dated to around 1881 based on the period of protest against fox hunting and 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."

1. Before We start for out twenty mile Drive to Mushroom Hill We are paraded and instructed "to take Notes of all" We may see, and to prevent a Breach of Peace"

2. Taking notes with Difficulties

3. "Thirteen Hares were killed after a most enjoyable Day's Sport (!?) and in a most sportsmanlike manner (Vide Local Newspaper).

Accompanying article:

"These sketches may be best explained by a leaf from Constable P. Murphy's note-book: —"Left Ballynamuch at 1:30 A.M., for Mushroom Hill, to prevent Land League Hunt taking place. Twenty Irish miles. March to the mountain. Crowd assembled with dogs. Men all armed with bludgeons. We are 'to prevent a breach of the peace, and to take notes of all we see.' Begor, we'd want a powerful note-book. I wonder would it be a breach of the peace to break my rifle over the returned Yankee blagyard's head? Mem. Ask the Head when we go home. 12:30 P.M. Raining like the divil. No more note-taking. The boys have just killed a hare, after a fine course of fifty yards. There are ten dogs at it, a big fellow, for fear it would escape, gave it a 'polthogue' with a wattle. The League will have fine soup these times. It is very cold. What the divil did they send us for I'd like to know. I wish I was back in Ballynamuck again. The rain is making porridge of my notes. No whiskey, and tobacco wet!" "

"These nationalists hunts often turned into festive occasions with hundreds of farmers and labourers gathering near a covert or woods. After much cheering and blowing of horns, not to mention some consumption of liquid refreshments along the way, they would move of with their dogs and hunt until they had killed enough hares and rabbits for their needs. Farmers who owned horses capable of clearing a low fence or narrow ditch would often join in the chase and ride after any four-footed game".

Nationalism and Popular Protest in Ireland By Charles H. E. Philpin, Stopping the Hunt 1881-1882

BOYCOTTING IN IRELAND: REFUSING THE RENT

The Graphic, March 31, 1888

"A LEAGUE BAND IN THE RAIN"

Brass bands played at Land League meetings, evictions and havestings: Ballinrobe, Ballintubber, Ballyroan Brass Band , Ballyshannon, Claremorris Brass Band and more.

"...the Land League band turned out, playing round the town, and collecting the young and fiery spirits of the locality."

Ireland under the Land League: a narrative of personal experience By Charles Dalton Clifford Lloyd

From Harper's Weekly, March 24, 1888

"POLICE AND HUSSARS CHARGING THE PROCLAIMED MEETING AT ENNIS; SCENE IN THE COURTYARD"

The Illustrated London News, April 21, 1888

This image and the image that follows were on the same page of the Illustrated London News of April 21, 1888

"DISPERSING THE NATIONAL LEAGUE MEETING AT LOUGHREA

The Illustrated London News, April 21, 1888

In protest to a Coercion Act*: William O'Brien

"called a public meeting at Loughrea, which was perhaps the best proclaimed district in Ireland. An enormous crowd attended the meting from all parts of the County of Galway. But an army of soldiers and constabulary was poured into the town, the demonstration was proclaimed and suppressed.

Recollections of an Irish judge ... By Matthias M'Donnell Bodkin

"Meanwhile the Coercion Act has been further employed as an engine of oppression in the hopes of quelling the spirit of the tenants by imprisoning their leading men. On Agpril 8 another great meeting was held at Loughrea.........the people attended in vast multitudes, all with the National League cards in their hats.The Government proclaimed the meeting and endeavored to suppress and disperse it, but did not succeed in preventing Mr. O'Brien making his speech to a subsidiary meeting.

For his action on this occasion, and for attending the meeting, Mr. William O'Brien and twelve other persons were arrested and prosecuted, and but for some technical point, and for some irregulatrity in the proceedings, would long ago have been convicted and sent to prison."

Incidents of coercion: a journal of visits to Ireland in 1882 and 1888 By Baron George Shaw-Lefevre Eversley

"Obstruction — Scene in a disturbed district in Ireland"

THE CRISIS IN IRELAND - LAND COMMISSIONERS INSPECTING A HOLDING NEAR LIMERICK

The Land Commission was established to make loans from public funds so tenants could buy their farms from the former landlords.

In this image four well dressed gentlemen are inspection the premises and more importantly the actual soil itself. The one farmer is holding a shovel full of dirt.

The most famous of the hard times in Ireland was the "Great Famine" of the mid 1840s. However, famine was a continuous issue in Ireland.

"RELIEF OF IRISH DISTRESS; APPLYING FOR SEED POTATOES AT THE BOARD, CLONAKILTY UNION

Publication and date unknown. 1891 based on an article on back of image - Richard Lefevre Blunt new Bishop of Hull.

Most of the accompanying article about the "seed potatoes" is missing. However, enough remains to indicate that the distribution of seed potatoes was the responsibility of the local poor-law union.

Clonakilty is is west County Cork, Ireland.

In February 1891 the Local Government Board reported:

"Apart from the potato crop, the small farmers are well circumstanced, but they are confronted with a greater scarcity of potatoes than they have experienced for over thirty years and this fact will cause distress in each locality according to the extent to which the people rely for sustenance upon potatoes......

Report on agencies and methods for dealing with the unemployed By Great Britain. Board of Trade, 1893

Frank Leslie April 1880

In 1845 (the year immediately preceding the famine) the population was at the highest point it attained during the present century, and probably the highest it ever reached. It was estimated at 8,295,061. In 1847, the year when the famine was at its height, the numbers are given as 8,025,274. In 1875, just thirty years after the maximum, the numbers had fallen to 5,309,494. In 1877 they were estimated at 5,338,900, showing an increase over 1875 of 29,412.

Now, the census returns show that from 1851, very shortly after the famine, there has been a steady decrease in the number of farms under fifteen acres, and a steady increase in the number of farms between fifteen and thirty acres, as well as in farms exceeding thirty acres in area. Up to 1861, the number of holdings not exceeding fifteen acres had declined 55 per cent, while those above fifteen acres had increased 133 per cent. The number of farms between fifteen and thirty acres was, in 1861, double what it had been in 1841, and the farms above thirty acres amounted, in 1861, to 157,833, against 48,625, which had been their number twenty years before. Between 1861 and 1871, farms under fifteen acres decreased by 12,548, and farms above thirty acres increased by 1,470. According to the latest returns (1875), the farms not exceeding one acre in area were 51,459; those of one to five acres were 69,098; those of five to fifteen acres, 166,959 ; fifteen to thirty acres, 137,669; the total above thirty acres being 160,298 holdings.

This distribution of the land seems to indicate a considerable improvement, compared with the state of things prevailing before the famine. Unfortunately the increase in the size of holdings has not been attended by a corresponding decrease in the number held on an insecure tenure. Tenancy at will continues to be the rule, and permanency the exception, in Irish land tenure.

An attempt to estimate roughly the classes of landholders has been made by an able writer in the Contemporary Review. The "Domesday" list of proprietors of land gives the number of owners of one acre and under ten as 5,892, holding 28,968 acres, or an average of a little over 'our acres each ; between ten acres and fifty, there are 7,746 owners, holding 195,525 acres, or an average of a little over twenty-six acres; between fifty acres and a hundred, there are 3,479 owners, holding 250,147 acres, or an average of just tinder seventy-two acres. These make up a body of small proprietors, owning from one to a hundred acres, numbering 18,117.

Eison's Almanac for 1879 estimates the number of "proprietors in fee" of agricultural holdings at 20,217. The same, authority gives the number of leaseholders in perpetuity as 10,298 ; for terms of years exceeding thirty-one, as 13,712; for thirty-one years and under, as 47,623 (many of which maybe short leases); and of leases for lives, or lives and years alternative, as 63,759. The number of tenancies at will is 526,628, or 77.2 per cent, of the whole number of holdings. These statistics, collected in 1870, have doubtless been in some degree modified by the working of the Church Act and the Land Act.

The Domesday list of the proprietors of under one acre is given in Thorn's Directory as 36,144, holding 9,065 acres; but their holdings do not affect the present question, as they are mostly non-agricultural. The estimate in Eason's Almanac purports to relate wholly to agricultural holdings. Domesday includes all classes.

Another index of the condition of a people maybe found in the way they are housed. Mean and comfortless dwellings imply not only a low standard of comfort, but often a low morality. Let us see how this matter has stood in Ireland.

The Census Commissioners of 1841 divided the dwellings of the people into four classes. The fourth, or lowest, comprised all mud cabins having only one room. Of this class there were in all Ireland, according to the 1841 census, 491,278. In the last census, 1871, the number had fallen to 155,675. The third-class dwellings were also built of mud, but contained three or four rooms, with windows; the latter convenience being by no means universally present in the one-roomed cabin of the fourth class. Of the third class, the census of 1841 enumerated 533,297; by 1871 this number had fallen to 357,126. The second class are described as good farmhouses, and in towns, houses having from five to nine rooms. Of this class, in 1841, there were 264,184; and in 1871 the number had increased to 387,660. The first class of houses increased daring the same period from 40,080 to 60,919. Let us see now in what way the population has been distributed in the different classes of houses.

In 1841, the number of families occupying first-class houses was 31,333. In 1871 the number had risen to 49,693. During the same period the number of families in second-class houses rose from 241,664 to 357,752. On the other hand, the families in third-class houses decreased from 574,386 to 432,774; and those in the fourth-class, or one-roomed cabins, from 625,356 to 227,379. By a curious coincidence, the proportion of families to houses was the same in 1841 and in 187 - one hundred and eleven families to one hundred houses. In this way the very great shifting in the classes is all the more clearly proved to indicate a real rise in the condition of the people.

..........

Absenteeism is, and long has been, a serious drawback to Ireland. The yearly drain is no trifle, economically, apart from the bad political effect of treating with tenants exclusively through agents, who have no interest in the estates, and look upon the whole question as a mere matter of salary and commission. In any steps which are taken to enable the Irish to become possessors of their holdings, the estates of permanent absentees may at least be considered fit subjects for experiment. Not the most abject idolater of the rights of real property can contend that they feel any deep interest in the welfare of a country which they rarely or never visit, and which, in many instances, their continuous demands for increased rent tend to pauperize. To allow such people to assert their privileges to the full extent, when they altogether neglect their duties, is simply to legalize and encourage a ruinous system.

In the good old time, when Ireland was "great, glorious and free," the sparse population of the country was divided into various clans, about seventy in number, whose chiefs were elected from among the members of the ruling family. The condition of the kern, or peasant farmer of that time, is thus described in Dr. O'Connor's "Historical Address": "Until the period of James I the lower orders of Irish had no legal tenure, no freehold property; no, they were worse off than the negroes in the West Indies.

"Their haughty chiefs could punish them at pleasure by coigne and livery, by cosherings, cessings, cuttings, tallages, spendings, etc., and even by death."

After the last of the various uprisings against English conquest, the conquered territories were granted to English settlers, who, especially in the west and southwest, let the lands on the system that existed in England in the 13th and 14th centuries, and is now to be found in Russia, and, to a very small extent, in the west of Ireland. The greatest difficulty experienced in the management of Irish estates is the preservation of subdivision, and for this tendency the tenant is not entirely to blame, as, for over fifty years previous to the famine of '46-7, estates had been deliberately divided into very small holdings.

Landlords found ruin staring them in the face, and from one extreme opinion veered to the other; and the most prosperous property was that on which fewest tenants were to be found. Then came the time of enforced emigration, scarcely less terrible than the famine itself, when thousands, enfeebled by disease, died on the passage to America, or in the hospitals where they were received on landing. Bands of men, armed with crowbars and ropes, accompanied the sheriffs, and completed the evictions by pulling down the houses just vacated, and the face of the country presented a scene of desolation; the site of some populous villages being now marked by a mass of smokeless and roofless gables. After the famine of 1846-47, and the" rising" in '48, a large number of estates changed Lands by the action of the Encumbered Estates Court; and the encumbered estates were sold at prices so small that many of the mortgagees found themselves minus their money. Then came the system of "driving," and the abolishment of the "hanging gate." The Fenian movement passed the Land Act of 1870, by which every small tenant was granted an interest of seven years in his farm, to the extent of seven times the annual rent; the county court judge was permitted to appease the landlord who capriciously evicted a paying tenant. At the expiration of the tenancy, claims were sustainable for improvements made during its continuance, and for unexhausted manures used on the farm. This Act, in a word, is an attempt to compel a bad landlord to act like a good one; but "hard" landlords in Ireland are thick as leaves in Vallombrosa. Previous to the meeting at Irishtown, at which the present land agitation was 'inaugurated, the farmers showed no intention to repudiate their liabilities. For several years they had prosperous seasons; and though in 1872 there was a partial failure of the potato crop, nearly as serious as the failure of 1879, no agitation was resorted to for the purpose of obtaining remission of rents. But in 1872 there was no party in the House of Commons on whom the Irish farmers could place the slightest reliance. In fact, the Irish party was a mere mockery, a delusion and a snare.

In prosperous times no agitation is dangerous. "Agitation," says a distinguished writer on the subject of the new movement, "requires a basis of real depression to give it force." This depression existed in Ireland in the April of last year.

A reckless system of credit had sprung into existence - so reckless that, in 1878, the majority of small tenant farmers found themselves almost hopelessly in debt when the commercial collapse came, of which the failure of the City of Glasgow Bank was the central incident. The Irish banks, in a panic, called in their outstanding debts, and refused further accommodation on almost any terms, trembling for their own stability, when no man knew what giant interest might go next. In April, the condition of affairs in Ireland was, then, favorable for any proposition that promised the farmers some relief from their difficulties. The tactics of the obstruction were such as delighted the Irish heart, being always "again the Government "; and the forced modification of the South African Bill; the forced amendment of the Mutiny Bill, fought with dogged tenacity by Mr. Parnell and his following; and the annulling of the Queen's University charterÑachieved entirely by the efforts of that section of Irish members who, casting off traditional Parliamentary restraints, determined to win, by sheer force of unceasing obstruction to the ordinary business, the measures to which the almost unanimous voice of Great Britain had declared itselfÑcaused the pulse of the peasant farmer to beat at its highest.

In 1878, it was generally supposed that an election was at hand, and it was necessary that the electoral campaign should open with a policy or movement to which the Catholic clergy would not be in opposition ; for Soggarlh aroon is as strong in the Irish heart of to-day as it ever was, all assertions to the contrary notwithstanding. A series of meetings was arranged for the purpose of adopting the new agitation, the first of which took place on Sunday, April 20th, at Irishtown, a small village in the portion of Mayo adjoining the counties of Galway and Boscommon, where a considerable tract of country is owned by absentee proprietors.

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.

"Once a farmer gets into debt with the gombeen man he seldom gets free from the big man's clutches"

Report, Volume 13, 1914

Patrick John Bernard Daly was a wellknown solicitor in co. Mayo who was employed by the Land League to defend "oppressed tenant farmers" (HANSARD'S PARALIAMENTARY DEBATES).

1877: Patrick J. B. Daly, Applicant's Attorney, 1 Merchants Quay, Dublin and Ballinrobe co. Mayo (Ballinrobe Chronicle)

1881: Thom's Directory of Ireland Daly, Patrick J. B. solicitor 52 Abbey street, middle, Ballinrobe

1885: January 73, at St. Patrick's, Ballinrobe, the wife of Patrick J. B. Daly, solicitor, of a son.

1887: Birth, March 22 at St. Patrick's Ballinrobe, County Mayo, to Patrick J.B. Daly, solicitor, and his wife, a daughter was born.

1899: June 7, at Eyre Square, Galway, Death Mary Margaret, eldest daughter of Patrick J. B. Daly solicitor (The Irish Law Times and Solicitors' Journal, Volume 33)

1889: Patrick J. B. Daly testified that he was a solicitor admitted to the bar in 1874, had lived in Ballinrobe up to 1888, and in 1889 was living in Galway. While living in Ballinrobe he had defended:

1. Daly and others charged in firing at Smith an agent of the Marquis of Sligo near Ballycovy. -

   [October 18, 1879- shots fired at John Sydney Smyth" agent for the Marquis of Sligo. See Rory of the Hills above.]

2. Persons charged with the murder of Lord Mountmorres -

   [Lord Mountmorres, William Browne De Mountmorency, 5th Viscount of Mountmorres was shot several times at close range on September 25, 1880 near his home in Clonbur. Several people were arrested in connection with the murder. No one was convicted. See Mountmorres]

3. Persons charged with the murder of "Mullins" (Mullen) -

   [Peter Mullen, a farmer, was shot near Ballinrobe in December 1880. It may have been a personal vendetta. See Mullen]

4. The Feerick murder

   [David Feerick was a process server who was murdered in broad daylight on the outskirts of the village of Ballinrobe. See Feerick]

5. The Huddy murder

   [Joe and John Huddy, process servers, were murdered in County Galway in 1882. See Huddy]

6. The Gibbons murder

   [Thomas Gibbons was murdered in Sligo in 1882. See Gibbons]

7. The Freely murder

8. The murder of Bourke the herd at Balla in Mayo

9. Defended 15 to 30 persons charged with offenses under the Whiteboy Acts.

10. The Aughamore outrages on process servers

11. Ballinlough outrages

12. Rioters in Mayo between 1879-1882

13. Cases of malicious burnings

14. Kilvine riots against process servers

When questioned he stated that he had also been the solicitor for:

1. Miss Gardiners tenants at Ballycastle who where charged with retaking possession of the holdings

2. The Crows at Milltown, Galway who had attacted the police

3. Brennan at Castlebar in 1879 who had been arrested for making a speech.

4. In several ejectment cases

He stated that the Land League was weak in Ballinrobe in 1879 and 1880. He could not remember that anyone was convicted except in the Huddy case. The Times (London) February 2, 1889

Other testimony in inquiries concerning the Land League show that Mr. Daly was the solicitor for Mr. Fitzmaurice who was prosecuted at Castlebar for interfering with the process servers on the Boycott property.

1901: Eyre Sqaure Galway City: Daly Patrick M 50 Male, married, Head of Family Catholic, solicitor, Irish English speaker, born Galway, Daly Mana E 72 Female Mother Catholic, mother, widow, English speaker, Daly Bard J 17 Male Son Catholic, son medical student, English speaker, Goos Anne 72 Female Visitor, Catholic, single, Lordam Bridget 18 Female Spinster, Servant Catholic, single,

1911: Daly Patrick John Bernard 60 Male Head of Family Roman Catholic, solicitor, widowed, Irish English speaker, Greally Mary 34 Female Servant Roman Catholic, English only

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.