The Land League in Clare

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Sduddy
Posts: 1827
Joined: Sun Sep 26, 2010 10:07 am

Re: The Land League in Clare

Post by Sduddy » Sat Jul 02, 2022 3:44 pm

Hi Matthew

Thank you very much for those swift replies. Today I found a copy of Defying the Laws of the Land: Agrarian Radicals in Irish History, edited by Brian Carey (2013). You may remember that it contains the article on Thomas S. Cleary, organizer of the Land League in Clare, by Oisín Moran. Well, today I found a copy in a second hand bookshop, and I’ve had a quick glance through the article and I am very impressed by the amount of information on the beginnings of the Land League in Co. Clare. I will read it again tomorrow, and make some further comment, but, in the meantime, I must mention that, according to Oisín Moran, the Clare Farmers Club was not established until 1879 (not 1877 as stated by Kieran Sheedy, and not 1866 as stated in The Story of Clare and its People: A History of Local Government in Ireland’s Banner County 1570-2020 ). End note no. 20 says:
Flan Enright, ‘Edward Bennett’ in Dal gCaís: The Journal of Clare, no. 6 (1982), pp 31-37; Kieran Sheedy, The Clare Elections (Ennis, 1993), p 261 give the establishment of the Clare Farmers’ Club as 1877. It appears that this date had been taken from Patrick White, History of Clare & the Dalcassian Clans (Dublin, 1893), p. 372. Fr Patrick White was president of the Clare Farmers’ Club, but praises the Clare clergy for the club’s formation and does not mention T. S. Cleary. The Clare Farmers’ Club was established on Wednesday, 5 March 1879, Clare Independent, 1 and 8 March 1879. (End note no. 20 to “Thomas Stanislaus Cleary (1851-98): Land League Leader and Campaigning Newspaper Editor,” by Oisín Moran, in Defying the Law of the Land: Agrarian Radicals in Irish History, edited by Brian Carey (2013))
It seems that Fr. White and Thomas S. Cleary did not love each other.

Thanks again
Sheila

Sduddy
Posts: 1827
Joined: Sun Sep 26, 2010 10:07 am

Re: The Land League in Clare

Post by Sduddy » Sun Jul 03, 2022 10:52 am

Hi Matthew

I got up early and read that article by Oisín Moran again. The author is of the opinion that Thomas S. Cleary was of greater importance to the formation and organisation of the Land League than is generally acknowledged. Some biographical details are given, and it seems that Cleary, born in Dublin, had no Clare connections – at a meeting in Broadford he attributed his seditious leanings to his mother’s people, the Byrnes of Co. Wicklow (She was Esther Byrne). His first job in Ennis was as editor of the Clare Freeman, which had just purchased a new printing press and had expanded from a weekly to a twice-weekly. The following year, 1876, he started his own newspaper, The Clare Independent. In January, 1879, he circulated a free pamphlet to the tenants calling for the formation of either a Clare Tenant Defence Association, or a farmers’ club (end note no. 18: A Bond to save from Bondage; A Few Suggestions for a Clare Tenants Defence Association (Ennis 1879), pp i-xi)). The inaugural meeting of a farmers’ club took place on 5 March 1879. The membership was influenced strongly by Clare clergy. Fr. J. Loughnane acted as secretary, along with T. S. Clare. The president was Fr. P. White. Oisín Moran is of the opinion that a William Reidy was the only farmer on the executive.
Cleary’s dissatisfaction with the club became evident in July 1879 when the Clare clergy supported William O’Brien, election candidate for Ennis Borough, while Cleary supported Parnell’s choice of candidate, James Lysaght Finigan. Letters to the Clare Independent, which some people suspected were written by Cleary himself, were critical of Fr. Quinlivan, P. P., Clondegad, who sometimes acted as Chairman at meetings of the club. Cleary set about the extremely difficult task of transforming the Clare Farmers’ Club into a more radical organisation. The Land League meetings at Westport in Co. Mayo and in Milltown, Co. Galway, were much in the news during that Summer (1879), and Cleary wanted a similar meeting in Clare, to be held on 31 August, but the clergy managed to get it postponed. They did not want Parnell and Finigan sharing the platform so soon after their election victory - at least that it how it must have appeared to Cleary, as he made a scathing attack on the Farmers’ Club in his newspaper (end note no. 24: Clare Independent, 9 August 1879). Oisín Moran says that Cleary gave up the struggle with the Farmers’ Club at their October meeting:
It was at this October meeting that Cleary did resign. In the same month as the National Land League was formed, with Parnell as president, and the Clare Farmers’ Club ousted Parnell’s most ardent supporter in Clare.
But by early 1880, the clergy had come round, and had ceased to oppose Parnell candidates going forward for election. In May, Cleary called for the conversion of the Farmers’ Club into a branch of the Land League (end note no. 30: Clare Independent, 8 May 1880).
I, myself, wonder if Cleary had just abandoned the Farmers’ Club and started anew, would there have been a different set of committee members in the branches of the Land League. Moran mentions one branch which had been already organised without the help of Cleary, but does not give the initiative for it beyond saying:
Prior to the conversion of the farmers’ club into the Clare branch of the Land League in June 1880, a branch of the Land League had already formed at Upper Bunratty, east Clare. The organisers of the Upper Bunratty branch of the Land League had evolved their own style of organising the League in their district. For example, part of rule four of the Irish National Land League stated: ‘Wherever a public meeting in connection with the agitation or reduction of rents and change of the land systerm has been or is held, a local branch of the Land League should be formed’ (end note no 51: Clare Independent, 22 May 1880). However the organisers at Bunratty felt that mass meetings were not useful and that they only caused ‘useless expense and confusion’ (end note no. 52: ibid. 12 June 1880) Instead, they organised a committee of four people in each parish of the barony to recruit Land League members (end note no. 52: ibid).
I would have liked more detail on all of that, but the author was focussing on T. S. Cleary, quite understandably. One thing I find puzzling is that it was at a meeting of the Farmers’ Club in June 1880 that Cleary proposed that the title of the club in future be ‘Clare Farmers’ Club and Branch of the Land League’ (end note no. 34: Clare Independent, 5 June 1880). If he had resigned from the club the previous October, how was he in a position to make a proposal?
Anyway, it was from that date forward that he began to go around the county forming branches of the Land League (starting with Feakle). He was secretary of the Clare Branch and Edward Bennett was vice-president. Fr. White had already resigned, giving his work-load as his reason, and Fr. Matt Kenny, P. P. Scarriff, became the new president. Moran says “He was a far more militant president than the clergy that had been part of the Farmers’ Club committee.” Cleary had the advantage of being able to advertise upcoming meetings in his own newspaper. The Saturday issue often announced a meeting for the following day, to be held after Mass, in whatever parish was concerned. It seems that Cleary was a good speaker. Moran says, “The population in many areas of Clare had to be roused to join the league and this was where Cleary’s organisational and oratorical skill came into effect.” Moran lists the branches that were formed with the aid of Cleary, but also a couple of branches that were formed without the presence of Cleary, i.e. Miltown Malbay (September 1880) and Ballyvaughan (December 1880). Cleary was not arrested under the Peace Preservation Act, but had to make an appearance at Petty Sessions because of his presence at a meeting in Quin following an incident in Kilkishen. After the Petty Sessions “he was carried shoulder high and presented with a grey horse, which he mounted and rode the short distance back to Ennis.” (end note no. 64: Clare Independent, 13 November 1880). Moran does not say who it was that presented the horse. The article goes on to show how well the League was organised in Co. Clare, one indication being a letter from John Finucane of the Limerick Farmers’ Club praising Cleary’s ‘energy and patriotism’ as the reason for successful organisation in Clare and requesting their support in the conversion of the Limerick Farmers’ Club into a branch of the Land League (end note no. 84: Clare Journal, 7 Oct 1880). By December 1880, Cleary had begun to speak of resigning. A Mr McMahon, secretary of the Kilnamona branch, was appointed as his assistant. It’s not clear when Cleary actually resigned, but, by mid-1881, his newspaper had become the Independent and Munster Advertiser and his preoccupation had become the promotion of home industries. In May 1882 he became editor of The Irish Manufacturers Journal. In July 1882, “he advertised his first literary publication, his play Shin Faín; Or, Ourselves Alone a Drama of the Exhibition – inspired by the Irish Arts ad Manufacturers Exhibition of 1882.” Moran goes on the say that Cleary, now living in Dublin, continued to support the Land League and wrote some humourous ballads about incidents in the Plan of Campaign in 1888. He died while visiting Killaloe in 1898, aged only 47.
I consider Oisín Moran’s article essential reading for anyone interested in the beginnings of the Land League in Co. Clare. There is much, much more in it than I’ve given above.
Matthew, Oisín Moran does not mention Parteen or Meelick, so the article may be of limited interest to you, but, once I’ve read the other articles, I can send you my copy, but you will need to use the Private Message button to send me your address. You may prefer to request a copy at your local library, of course.

I’ve also read a thesis entitled, “Money and Nationalist Politics in Nineteenth Century Ireland from O’Connell to Parnell” by Michael J. Keyes : https://mural.maynoothuniversity.ie/289 ... litics.pdf. I skipped over O’Connell and began reading at page 156. I will go back and read the rest another time. You will have to take into consideration the author’s rather cynical view that money decides everything (at the time that this thesis was published, cynical views of Irish history were to the fore), but a couple of sentences, giving the author's opinion on the change by the clergy from opposing Parnell to supporting him, may interest you:
The League’s role in distributing financial assistance to evicted tenants naturally tended to attract community leaders to its ranks and where aid was sought it seemed only natural that a branch would be formed to request and to administer it. Every application for assistance had to be submitted formally, the details of the case set out, and the worthiness of the applicant vouched for by the secretary of the branch. It was only natural under these circumstances that the applicant, the local community and the Land League in Dublin, would aspire to having none but the most respectable members of the community preside over such matters. Thus the local League officials and those called upon to make additional representations on behalf of the applicants, usually the Catholic priest, were placed in a most responsible and powerful position within their community.” (p 179)
Parnell’s determination to involve the League in relief fundraising in America against the wishes of more revolutionary elements of Clan na Gael can be seen, therefore, as inspired and was paying dividends at home by, amongst other things, softening the clergy’s instinctive distrust of the League with its Fenian leanings. (pp 180-1).
Sheila

Jimbo
Posts: 591
Joined: Mon Aug 26, 2013 9:43 am

Re: The Land League in Clare

Post by Jimbo » Mon Jul 04, 2022 8:36 pm

CLARE FARMERS CLUB—PROPOSAL TO RECHRISTEN IT.
(Special to Bassett's Daily Chronicle)
Ennis, Tuesday.

The monthly meeting of the Clare Farmers Club was held here to-day. The members present were:—The Rev. P White, Miltown Malbay, President, occupied the chair; Rev J Loughnane, Hon. Sec.; W Halpin, E Bennett, W Reidy, T S Cleary, Mr P Green, M Murphy, B McGan, J McDonough, E McCarthy, M Reidy, J O'Neil, M Morony, J Culligan, J Glyn, M Murphy, W MacNamara, J Murphy, J Cunningham, T Roughan, J McInerny, Tom Collins.

The Hon Sec. explained the financial position . . .

PROPOSED AMALGAMATION WITH THE LAND LEAGUE.

Mr. T.S. Cleary gave notice that he would move, that in view of the necessity of affording practical and immediate assistance to the tenant farmers, this club will, at its next meeting, consider the advisability of forming a branch of the National Land League, and bearing that title in the future.

Mr W Halpin, Ralahine, gave notice that he would move that the club at their next meeting should call upon their county and borough members to support actively in Parliament the land programme adopted by the National Land League, viz Fixity of tenure at fair rents, leading on to peasant proprietary.

The following tenant farmers were proposed and seconded for membership by ballot at the next meetin.

Charles Pelkington, Gurthmore; James McGrath, Eyle Hill, Tulla; R O'Keefe, Toureen; John Caher, Ballymaciggan; Denis McInery, Croggawnaveer Edmond Murphy, Newtown, Tulla; John McInerny, Lake Isle, O'Callaghan Mills: John Neylan, Toonagh; Thomas Roughan, Clonroad; Mathuce MacNamara, Kellard.

Mr Tom Collins gave notice his intention to move a resolution at the next meeting that no "layman" not in "possession" of land is eligible to be a member of the Clare Farmers' Club.

A member observed that when the motion came on it would be seen whether the proposer of it had not cut a rod to beat himself (a laugh).

The meeting had then adjourned.

Bassett's Chronicle, 6 May 1880
Sheila, I believe the above article is what you were looking for to show the transition of the Clare Farmers' Club into a branch of the Land League in May 1880.

With regards to the formation of the Clare Farmers' Club, and the varying dates, from searching the term on the British Newspaper Archives, the 1866 formation noted in "The Story of Clare and its People: A History of Local Government in Ireland’s Banner County 1570-2020" appears to have been the "Limerick, Tipperary and Clare Farmers' Club". Often the newspapers reported this simply as the "Limerick Farmers' Club", as this was its name upon formation in September 1866, "it was unanimously resolved that the Society be called the County of Limerick Farmer's Club, including the adjacent Counties of Clare and Limerick" (Limerick Chronicle, 29 September 1866). The "Limerick, Tipperary and Clare Farmers' Club" first appears in print in November 1867. At some point in 1869 or 1870, Tipperary was dropped and newspapers report the "Limerick and Clare Farmers' Club" or often simply "Limerick Farmers' Club".

The term "Limerick Farmers' Club" can be found in the newspaper archives from 1866 to October 1880.

"Defying the Laws of the Land: Agrarian Radicals in Irish History", edited by Brian Carey (2013), is slightly off by a few weeks, at least technically, for the creation of the Clare Farmers' Club in May 1879. "Owing to the persistent efforts of Thomas S. Cleary, of Ennis, a meeting for the purpose [establishment of a Farmer's Club and Tenants' Defence Association] was held in the Queen's Hotel, Ennis; but in consequence of the majority of the tenant farmers having to attend as jurors at the assizes court, the attendance was not so large as it otherwise might have been. . . . and after a somewhat desultory discussion, it was proposed by Mr. Halpin, seconded by Mr. Jordan, and resolved that Mr. Cleary be authorized to summon a general meeting of the tenant farmers of the county on the 20th instant [20 May 1879] for the purpose of formally inaugurating the society, appointing office bearers &c. A vote of thanks was passed to the chairman, and the meeting separated" (Weekly Irish Times, 8 March 1879).
MEETING TO ESTABLISH A FARMERS' CLUB IN CLARE
(Special to Bassett's Daily Chronicle)
Ennis Thursday

In accordance with an advertisement, and a circular issued for the purpose, an adjourned meeting for the object of establishing in the county a Farmers' Club was hold to-day in the large room of the Queen's Hotel, Church street, which has just been opened. . . . [proposal to name the club, Clare Farmers Club] . . . Father White concluded by proposing that the meeting proceed to elect a President, the voting to be by ballot, and that the Rev J Loughnane act as secretary for the occasion. After some desultory conversation the election was proceeded with and resulted in Father White obtaining thirteen votes; Mr Halpin nine; Mr Reidy two; Father McMahon and Lord Francis Conyugham one each.

Father White was accordingly declare elected President . . .

Bassett's Chronicle, Friday 21, March 1879
Of the 26 votes at the election for club president, nine were by Catholic priests. I suspect that Thomas S. Cleary was disappointed with this high percentage. "Owing, probably, to pressure of agricultural operations, the attendance of farmers was not so large as it otherwise might have been". And, "Mr Rochford [Thomas Rochford from Tulla, per list of attendees] said he was very sorry to see the meeting so small. It reflected but little credit upon the farmers of county Clare" (Bassett's Chronicle, as above).

Sduddy
Posts: 1827
Joined: Sun Sep 26, 2010 10:07 am

Re: The Land League in Clare

Post by Sduddy » Tue Jul 05, 2022 11:42 am

Hi Jimbo

Thank you very much for all of that. I was hoping for just a list of names, but you’ve also checked out and explained the confusion about the dates and given more background information - thank you for taking so much trouble.

I’ve read most of the articles in Defying the Laws of the Land: Agrarian Radicals in Irish History. Apart from the first three, each article has as its subject one individual person who was active at the time of the Land War. The person is almost always from the middling classes. As I was reading, I began to realize how much I had associated the word “agrarian” with small farmers and labourers and how much I had associated it with Ribbonmen, Whiteboys, Terry Alts, etc. The people in this book are James Daly, of the editor of the Connaught Telegraph; Matt Harris, a small building contractor in Ballinasloe, Co. Galway; Canon Ulick Burke, P. P. Claremorris, Co. Mayo; Richard Hodnett, shopkeeper, and Henry O’Mahony, an American citizen, grocer and publican, Ballydehob, Co. Cork; Canon Keller, Youghal, Co. Cork; Henry Villiers Stuart, owner of Dromona estate, Co. Waterford; Thomas S. Cleary, of course, and four more that I haven’t read about yet. Henry Villiers Stuart is interesting in that he was concerned about the welfare of the labourers rather than the farmers, but the local Land League interpreted this concern as a covert attempt to divide out the labourers from the farmers and dissuade them from joining in the efforts by the League. I must say that Thomas S. Cleary is just as interesting as any of those others and I am left wishing he had kept a diary of his experiences in Clare. The nearest we will get to that is his newspaper, the Clare Independent. I notice that most of the endnotes in the article by Oisín Moran give the Clare Independent as the source, so the article is reflecting Cleary’s own perspective on the developments in 1879 – 1880.
Thomas S. Cleary continued to live in Ennis until 1884. The 1901 census shows Bridget G. Cleary, widow, aged 46, living at Shannanagh Road, Glasnevin DED, Dublin, along with 8 of her children, 6 of whom were born in Co. Clare. They were Gertrude Agnes, 1875; Claude Eugene, 1877; Grace, 1879; George Charles, 2 Feb 1881; Stephen Cosmas, 27 Sep 1882; Thomas Alfred, 17 Oct 1884. The record of the death of Thomas Cleary in Killaloe, in 1898, gives the informant as Patrick Killeen: https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/ ... 47370a.pdf. I think Patrick Killeen must be Patrick Killeen aged 29, living in William St. Upper in Limerick, with his wife Susan, in 1901. A Patrick Killeen from Killaloe had married Susan Darcy from Ballina in 1896: https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/ ... 817432.pdf
Jimbo, thank you again for your help. It’s good to have those names of members of the Farmers Club. I decided to stop subscribing to the wonderful B. N. A. site because I was distracted by every other item and was sitting too long at the computer. But it was not really fair of me to expect you to do the sitting instead. What is really good about the newspapers, though, is that there is all that other stuff – reminding one there was plenty going on at the same time as whatever it is one is researching.
In his Ireland, A History (2010), Thomas Barlett says,
As a result of the Land War, the entire Irish population appeared to be divided (or reduced) into landlord or tenant, with no room for the town dweller, the emigrant or labourer, and nor for the northern loyalist, torn between competing objectives, anxious to get rid of landlords, but also wishing to come to the rescue of fellow Protestants. In the end, whatever Davitt had contemplated, ‘The Land for the People’ had proved an empty slogan, and had come to mean simply the land for the occupying tenant. The agricultural labourer along the western seaboard, the slum-dwellers of Dublin or Cork or Belfast, and the Irish denizens, male and female, of Manhattan, Manchester or Melbourne were strictly excluded from all consideration, much less participation, in the various Land Acts.
That is a good summing-up, but, again, the newspapers of the day help us to see things as they were at that particular time and help us to understand what motivated people just then.

Sheila

matthewmacnamara
Posts: 139
Joined: Mon Mar 28, 2011 6:38 pm

Re: The Land League in Clare

Post by matthewmacnamara » Mon Jul 18, 2022 4:27 pm

In the face of continuing agitation, by summer 1880 a Land Commission had been established to adjudicate on
rents. The policy of the newly founded Land League was boycott this tribunal.
On the other hand the Limerick and Clare Farmers' Club was willing to plead
before the Commission to seek whatever reductions in rent that might
be obtained. As far as I can see, the leadership of the Farmers' Club were
quite substantial farmers. I don't know to what extent this divergence was
replicated generally in Clare.

Sduddy
Posts: 1827
Joined: Sun Sep 26, 2010 10:07 am

Re: The Land League in Clare

Post by Sduddy » Mon Jul 18, 2022 7:33 pm

Hi Matthew

I notice that you have donated a useful transcription of "Judicial Rents and Land Purchase obtained by tenants in the Meelick area of the Conyngham Estate": https://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/cocla ... estate.htm. Matthew, am I right in thinking that it was this material that led you to decide that it was generally the better off farmers who had recourse to the courts? A couple of things makes me think that applications to the courts were also made by not very well off farmers.

(1) Back in 2013, Murf posted on the topic of “Fair Rent Tribunal, 1881-1916,” and gave a link to adjudications at Newcastlewest, Ennistymon, Kilmallock and Limerick: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=4856&p=7697#p7697. That link no longer works for me, but this one does the same job: https://www.limerick.ie/discover/explor ... tribunal-0.
Newcastle, Kilmallock and Limerick Poor Law Unions are all in Co. Limerick, and it seemed strange that Ennistymon Poor Law Union was included with them, but the reason some tenants from the Ennistymon Poor Law Union were included was because their landlord was resident in Limerick – but I’m not entirely sure about that as I see that some other applicants living in North Clare are tenants of Lorenzo Salazar, Muses Di San Martino, Napoli, Italy.
In order to answer your question (as to whether it was the better-off, substantial farmers who applied to the courts), I looked at the tenants whose address is Ballyfaudeen. Their landlord was Thomas H. Kenny and Louisa M. Kenny, of Barrington St., Limerick:
Thomas Kelly, Ballyfaudeen, Ennistymon;
Mary Curtin, Ballyfaudeen;
William Darcy, Ballyfaudeen;
Laurence Grady, Ballyfaudeen;
Patrick Corry, Ballyfaudeen;
Cornelius Carmody, Ballyfaudeen;
John Hartigan, Ballyfaudeen;
Patrick O’Donnell, Ballyfaudeen;
Patrick Killoughery, Ballyfaudeen;
Michael Stack, Ballyfaudeen;
Andrew Curry, Ballyfaudeen;
Daniel Killourie, Ballyfaudeen.

Ballyfaudeen townland is in the parish of Killaspuglonane: https://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/cocla ... audeen.htm and I can see that the some of the above were living there in 1901: Andrew Corry, Connor Carmody, Laurence Grady, William Darcy, Daniel Killourhy, John Hartigan. Anne Stack might be the wife of Michael Stack. Form BI of the census shows that most of the houses in Ballyfaudeen belonged to the 2nd class, which suggests to me that the people there were fairly comfortable, but not very well off. Most people had a stable, cow house and piggery, but only two had a barn.

(2) The other indication I have that applicants were not especially well off is some information given by Martin Barry in his article “Landscape and Settlement in the townland of Drinagh (Part III)” in The Other Clare, Vol. 39 (2015). Writing about the tenants of the Stackpooles (Landed Estate) in Drinagh, he says:
The Land Act of 1881 also had an impact on the estate. It allowed the fixing of judicial rents for fifteen years by the Land Courts and some tenants like Patrick Leyden and James Barry with holdings in Drinagh used it successfully to get reductions in rent. Patrick Leyden for example had his rent reduced from eight pounds three shillings to six pounds in 1887 while James Barry had his rent reduced from ten pounds to nine pounds six shillings in 1901 (note 77, giving various sources, is too long for me to quote).

Drinagh townland is in the parish of Rath (and in Clooney DED): https://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/cocla ... rinagh.htm and I can see that Patrick Leyden and James Barry were living there in 1901. Again, Form BI of the census shows that the houses were a mixture of 2nd class and 3rd class, so I think the people were mostly fairly comfortable, but not well off. Most people had a cow house and a piggery, but only a few had a stable and only three had a barn.

Hope that helps to answer your question, Matthew.

Sheila

Sduddy
Posts: 1827
Joined: Sun Sep 26, 2010 10:07 am

Re: The Land League in Clare

Post by Sduddy » Tue Jul 19, 2022 8:23 am

Apologies to you, Matthew. This morning I suddenly realised that your question was about divergence from the Land League advice, and not about divergence between substantial farmers and less substantial farmers in availing of adjudications on rent.
I think there was general recourse to the courts of adjudication (ignoring Land League advice) - I will have to see if I have any evidence for this, but wanted to get my apology in as quickly as possible.

Sheila

Sduddy
Posts: 1827
Joined: Sun Sep 26, 2010 10:07 am

Re: The Land League in Clare

Post by Sduddy » Tue Jul 19, 2022 10:00 am

Hi Matthew, again

I hope this reply will be more to the point than my last one.

Notes I made while I had access to the Clare Freeman (digitalised by British Newspaper Archives up to 1884) show that the Land Commission Court was used by many tenants in order to get a judicial review of the rents they were paying.

Here is a sample of the notes I made (most are just headings of articles). There seems to have been a Sub-Committee, which held sessions in Ennis, and a Sub-Committee in Limerick also:

All of the below notes and transcriptions of newspaper reports are from the Clare Freeman, except for the last one, which is from the Freeman’s Journal:

Wed 29 Jun 1881. The Land Bill (various clauses).

Wed 7 Sep 1881: The Clare Central Land League and the Irish Land Commission

Sat 22 Oct 1881: First Sitting of the Land Court.

Wed 9 Nov 1881: Meeting of County Clare Landlords and Land Agents.

Wed 14 Dec 1881: The Land Commission will sit in Ennis, on Friday, to dispose of the Tulla business.

Sat 17 Dec 1881: Decisions of Land Court re farms in Doon, Crusheen.

Wed 21 Dec 1881: The Land Commission. Saturday. The Doon Estate. Also Ayle.

Sat 24 Dec 1881: Miltown Intelligence. From our Correspondent. All things considered, the number of cases on for hearing at the Land Court on January 9th is very small. Such as come within the Act, seem reluctant to enter into law, until it is seen how these fare that has thrown fate on the chance. Very probably, there will be a sweeping reduction in all the cases listed, as the tenants are all on holdings of landlords who have recently purchased from the Bankruptcy Court. Rumour has it, the court will have to be held at the Workhouse; as the military are located in the Session Houses, and there is no other house available for the purpose.
Sat 24 Dec 1881: In some parts of the parish valuators are going around appraising the different holdings as experts for trials of landlord high rent against tenant judicial ones. The appraisers are paid at the rate of three guineas per day. Whatever class suffer from the land and other depressions, the law [?] are making a good penny of it.

Wed 18 Jan 1882: The [Land] Commissioners. Messrs Reeves, Rice and O’Keefe, left here by the 12 noon train for Cork. It is expected they will resume business here again in March.

Wed 1 Mar 1882: The No Rent Manifesto.

Wed 15 Mar 1882: New Home Rule League.

Wed 10 May 1882: Manifesto by the Land League.

Sat 3 Jun 1882: Land Commission Court Judgements.

Wed 14 Jun 1882: Limerick Sub-Commission. Colonel John O’Callaghan’s Property:
Judiat Bolton, Tenant,
John Balton, tenant
Peter Flanagan, tenant.
Patrick Malone, tenant.
Garret Stewart, tenant.
Daniel Callaghan, tenant.
Daniel Nunan, tenant.
Patrick Malone, tenant.
Patrick Liddy, tenant.
Michael Callaghan, tenant.
Thomas Fahy, tenant.
Michael Halloran, tenant.
Henry Murphy, tenant.
John Halloran, tenant.
Catherine Kennedy, tenant.
James Tuohy, tenant.
Edmond Malone, tenant.
Thady Collins, tenant.
Daniel, John and Thady Tuohy, tenants.
Daniel Moloney, tenant.
Patrick McNamara, tenant.
John Cudmore, tenant.
Michael Wall, tenant.
Patrick Tuohy, tenant.
Patrick O’Keeffe, tenant.
Ellen Wall, tenant.
This concludes the judgements.
The Chairman said that the Commissioners had received a letter from Colonel O’Callaghan stating that he was quite willing to allow his tenants to cut turf at Knockbrack for their own use, but not for sale. The rents on this property were at present nearly the same as they were previous to the famine years, but the land held by these tenants was not as valuable now as it was in the famine years. It was right to say that in the famine times Col O’Callaghan struck off arrears to the amount of £4,000 along with reducing the rents. From the famine years the rents were gradually increased until they were brought up to the present rent.

Wed 28 Jun 1882: The Land Cases. His Worship opened the land cases on yesterday. The first listed for hearing were 26 cases on the Kiltannon estate. The Chairman remarked tha the tenants should avail themselves of the opportunity of going back under the new act, and pay the costs. They were certainly wrong to proceed under the Act of 1870, because that would create a new tenancy. If the tenants have the money to pay the rent they ought to do so. They have, as old tenants, virtually a perpetuity in their holding; they should stand on the best of terms with their landlords; but if they are foolish enough to do otherwise they can never be let in again.
Mr Molony, sol., - There are several cases your worship that will be dismissed. There are 26 cases altogether.
Mr Lynch, on the part of the tenants, asked for a postponement.
His Worship – The district of Tulla, is, or had been, in a most disordered state. I would strongly advise Major Molony to restore possession; if he does not do it he will have to get new tenants, and I don’t know the consequences.
Mr Molony – I am ready to receive the rents and all expenses. The cases were postponed until today.

Wed 11 Oct 1882: Editorial in favour of the Land Act.

Sat 21 Oct 1882: The following delegates from Clare attended at Mr Parnell’s Conference: W. Cotter, Clare Castle; John Hardgrove, Sixmile-bridge; James Reidy, Kilmihill; Michael Lynch, Kilrush; J. F. Maguire, Crusheen; W. Frost, Esq., Solicitor, Ennis; Patrick Boyle, Knockoock. Letters of apology were read from Rev. Thomas Burke, C.C., Ennisymon, and Rev M. B. Corry, Quin.

Sat 21 Oct 1882: Capt. C. G. O’Callaghan, J. P., D.L., and his Tenantry.
On Tuesday Mr John Brady, the Crescent Limerick, agent to Captain, C. G. O’Callaghan, J. P., D. L., held a rent office at the Queen’s Hotel, for the collection of the gale due last May. With few exceptions the tenants all came in and cheerfully paid up their rents, getting a reduction from 15 to 30 per cent, according to the circumstances of each holding. Captain O’Callaghan can, with pride and pleasure, look back on the happy relations that have always existed between him and his tenantry, who, we are sure, fully reciprocate the kind and considerate feeling shown to them by one of the best landlords. Captain O’Callaghan has, during the past three years, given his tenants the same liberal abatement, though his lands are let at or under the poor law valuation, and he has expressed his readiness to co-operate with such of the tenants as may wish to avail themselves of the benefits of the Arrears Act.

Sat 18 Nov 1882: Land Commission Court. Ayle.

Sat 17 Mar 1883: Clare Land Commission. Colonel O’Callaghan’s Estate. List of names. And decisions.

Wed 11 Jul 1883: The Peers Report on the Land Act. The fourth report of the Lords’ Committee on the Irish Land Act was issued yesterday, the Committee find that the Emigration Clauses’ have entirely failed. They complained of want of uniformity in the Sub-Commissioners’ decisions, and absence of any settled principle in valuation. They cannot hold out any hope of reduced rents being better paid in troubled times than old ones, while land is practically unsaleable and no capital comes into the country, the tenants are demoralised and readily lend themselves to fresh agitation.

Wed 1 Aug 1883: Court of The Land Commission. Killaloe.

Sat 1 Sep 1883: The Labourers’ Act.

Sat 24 Nov 1883: The Land Act. Land Commission Court of Appeal. Decisions made.

Sat 24 Nov 1883: Land Act and Labourers’ Act – which is the best administered? Letter to the Editor from A Labourer.

Sat 22 Dec 1883: Court of the Land Commission, County of Clare. Important Judgements. On Wednesday evening, at 5 o’clock, p.m. Mr Robert Reeves, Q. C., Chairman of the Clare Sub-Commission, delivered judgments in the Court House, Ennis, in some cases in the Unions of Scariff and Tulla, recently heard at Killaloe.

Freeman’s Journal, Thur 8 Feb 1884: The Land Court of Appeal yesterday morning in Limerick delivered judgment in the case of Ryan, tenant; Colonel White, landlord, in which an important question arose likely to affect a large number of holdings in the barony of Burren Co. Clare. The farm was locally known as a crag farm, and a large portion of its surface was covered with limestone rock. The Sub-Commissioners had dismissed the application of the tenant to have a fair rent fixed on the grounds that it was a pasture farm, and could not be used for anything but pasture. Judge O’Hagan reversed the decision of the Sub-Commissioners. Mr. Litton and Mr. Vernon concurred.

Sheila

Sduddy
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Re: The Land League in Clare

Post by Sduddy » Thu Jul 21, 2022 10:43 am

Hi Matthew

I went back to the article on the Land War in Clare, by Alfred Sexton, mentioned above, published in The Other Clare, Vol. 45 (2021), and see that, like you, Sexton is of the opinion that the judicial review of rents was used by the larger farmers:
The rent review provision was used extensively by larger farmers. In Clare 3,048 judicial rents were set in the three years to August 1884 resulting in rent reductions of 22.4 per sent….(note no. 30: Report of the Irish Land Commissioners, H.C. 1884-1885 (C4231) ) .. Reports of the Land Commission judgements were regular features in the local press. ( "The Land War in Clare 1880-1890," by Alfred Sexton in The Other Clare, Vol. 45 (2021))
Sheila

matthewmacnamara
Posts: 139
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Re: The Land League in Clare

Post by matthewmacnamara » Thu Jul 21, 2022 12:49 pm

The manner in which some leaders of the Limerick and Clare Farmers’ Club, sometimes
calling itself the Limerick Farmers’ Club, based in Thomas Street Limerick,
passed effortlessly into leadership positions in the Land League led me to
initiate this thread. I may have found some enlightenment.
During the summer of 1880 the Club actively sought submissions
from farmers to be pleaded as evidence before the newly founded Land Commission. At the same time, the
policy of the Land League was to boycott the Commission. At a meeting in October 1880 the leadership
of the Club decided to affiliate to, and become a branch of the League. This major development occurred after contact
with Limerick city Parnellites in preparation of a forthcoming visit of Parnell to the city.

Sduddy
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Re: The Land League in Clare

Post by Sduddy » Fri Jul 22, 2022 10:37 am

Hi Matthew

I am glad that you are making discoveries that are helping with your research. I, myself, am finding it difficult to follow the events of the Land War. The story is never told slowly and in chronological order, as I would like it to be told (I am thinking of how Ciarán Ó Murchada told the story of the Great Famine in Clare). The general histories fly through the Land War, and the more detailed accounts slice the story into themes. The major part of the war happened in the 22-month period between the founding of the Land League on 21 October 1879 and the Royal Assent to the new Land Act on 22 August 1881. That Land Act ushered in a new period and a new chapter in the story.
Matthew, I was pleased to see that you found that the Farmers Club, based in Thomas Street Limerick, had sought submissions from farmers to be pleaded as evidence before the newly founded Land Commission, but I don’t understand how that can have happened in 1880. Are you sure that it wasn’t 1881?

For anyone interested in the first phase of the Land War, the attached account, The Irish National Land League 1879-1881, written by Walter Wilson Jennings over a hundred years ago, is still good *: https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/items/52925 (click Download button). It stays within that period – it does not refer to future events; it goes at a slow pace; it is clearly written; the notes are at the bottom of the page; the summing up at the end is very good. However, the author slices the story into themes, or strands, and the reader is left trying to weave those strands together in order to see the full picture at any particular time.
*Most people will not need to read the first chapter, I think, and can start at page 9.

Towards the end, at pages 74 and 75, we find an account of new Land Act of 1881 (there had been a previous Land Act in 1870 – see page 7).

The account by W. W. Jennings is an account of the Land War as it unfolded throughout Ireland, and Co. Clare is not mentioned very often, but every aspect of the Land War was replicated in Co. Clare; for instance, there were at least two branches of the Ladies Land League in Co. Clare – one in Tulla, and one in Miltown Malbay.
Co. Limerick is not mentioned very often either, but the number of meetings held there between March and November 1880 (96 meetings) is mentioned in the endnote which begins at the bottom page 33 and continues at the bottom of page 34.

Sheila

matthewmacnamara
Posts: 139
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Re: The Land League in Clare

Post by matthewmacnamara » Fri Jul 22, 2022 9:07 pm

By November 1880 the Limerick and Clare Farmers' Club had turned itself into
the Limerick city Central Branch of the Land League. With the same leadership.
At the start of that month Parnell presided a huge land agitation meeting in the city.
Contingents from south east Clare had a prominent place at the meeting.

Sduddy
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Re: The Land League in Clare

Post by Sduddy » Sat Jul 23, 2022 10:00 am

Hi Matthew

Thank you for that. I am beginning to get a better understanding of the timeline. I realise now that what has caused my confusion, partly, at least, is the use of the word “commission.” I took it to mean the Land Commission, but of course it can also refer to the Bessborough Commission. The Bessborough Commission was set up by the Government (and Prime Minister Gladstone) in 1880 to inquire into how the 1870 Land Act was operating in Ireland. The Land League objected to it and instructed members not to give evidence to it. Here is what W.W. Jennings says (on page 71):
Notwithstanding the fact that the Government had rejected the Irish Compensation for Disturbance Bill, it appointed a commission consisting of the Earl of Bessborough, Baron Dowse, the O’Conor Don, Mr. Kavanagh and Mr. Shaw to inquire into and report on the Land Act of 1870 and the acts amending the same to see what further amendments were necessary or expedient to improve the relations of landlord and tenant in Ireland, and to facilitate the purchase of holdings by the tenants (note no. 20: The London Times, July 31, 1880). Dillon, with the approval of other members at the Land League Executive meeting, condemned this action as favourable to the landlords and designed merely to gain time (note no. 21: The London Times, July 28, 1880). Various local branches followed the example of the Central Committee and discouraged testifying before the commission. Thus, on August 30, 1880, the Cork Land League gave one of its members named Lane [**] a week to decide whether he would publicly apologize for testifying before the commission or receive the sentence of expulsion (note no. 22: The London Times, July 31, 1880. The Land League frequently made use of the apology and expulsion to hold its members in line). Despite the Land League opposition, however, the Land Commission[*] visited all parts of Ireland and took the views of barristers, solicitors, surveyors, professional valuators, government officials, judges of county courts, clergy of all denominations, and more than five hundred tenant farmers (note no. 23: Mr. Gladstone’s Commission and Mr. Cladstone, 6). The reports, four in number, declared that social and political conditions in Ireland were the best they had known, complimented the landlords rather highly, and said that the land system and not the wiles of agitators or recent scarcity was responsible for the mischief. Moreover, the reports expressed the belief that the majority of the cultivating tenants would be satisfied with statutory tenure (note no. 24: Mr. Gladstone’s Commission and Mr. Gladstone, 6).
[*} Matthew, the underlining of "Land Commission" is by me. I've underlined it to show how the Bessborough Commission was sometimes called " Land Commission", which is very unhelpful and leads to confusion. The Land Commission for the judicial review of rents was quite a different thing and, as far as I can make out, did not come into being until 1881.

[**] A bit of trivia: This was Denny Lane who wrote “Carrigdhoun” or “The Lament of the Irish Maiden” using the same old Irish air that Percy French used for “The Mountains of Mourne.”

Along with the Bessborough Commission* there was also a Richmond Commission**. The Richmond Commission on Agriculture had been set up by Prime Minister Disraeli in 1879 to inquire into the depressed state of agriculture in Britain and Ireland. Alfred Sexton, in his article “The Land War in Clare 1880-1890,” mentions the Richmond Commission and Appendix 1 of the article gives a good summary of the main findings in Clare. Appendix 2 gives a lot of information on the Bessborough Commission. Sexton writes
Evidence was heard at Cruices Hotel, Limerick, 26-28 October 1880. Nineteen witnesses from Clare …
There was also a Cowper Commission***, but this was much later (1886). This was to look into the Land Act of 1881. Appendix 3 in Alfred Sexton’s article gives quite a bit of information on the report from this commission.

* Report of her Majesty’s Commissioners of Enquiry into the working of the Landlord and Tenant (Ireland) Act of 1870 under the chairmanship of the 6th Earl of Bessborough: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_Acts_(Ireland)

** Royal Commission on the Depressed Condition of the Agricultural Interests (1879-1882): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Com ... 1879–1882)

*** Report of the Royal Commission on the Land Law (Ireland) Act 1881 and the Purchase of Land (Ireland) Act 1885.

Matthew, I was looking at The Irish Canadian for some report of that meeting in Limerick in early November. I did not find a report, which does not mean that there was not one, of course. These are a couple of reports that may interest you:
10 November 1880: Limerick: At a large and influential meeting of the people of Newcastle West and the adjoining district, held at the Courtnay Arms Hotel, on Oct 17, it was unanimously resolved - “That a monster land meeting under the auspices of the Irish National Land League, to held there on Sunday the 7th of November.”

17 November 1880: Limerick: Limerick was liberally placarded on October 30(?) with “posters,” on which were resolutions agreed to by various branches of the Land League, calling on the tenants in no case to pay rents above the Government valuation. The police in several instances destroyed the notices.

24 November 1880: Limerick: Tenants belonging to different estates in the district who went into Limerick, on Nov. 3rd to pay their rents, offered the Government valuation, and this being refused left without paying anything.

24 November 1880: Clare: The movement set on foot by the Clare Land League with regard to paying no higher rents than Griffith’s valuation, is assuming serious proportions. Three hundred tenants on Lord Beaconfield’s Clare property went to Limerick on November 5th and tendered to the agent, Mr. J. W. Scott, rents equal to Griffith’s valuation. Mr. Scott declined to accept the amount stating that had no authority to do so, and the tenants expressing their determination not to pay a farthing over the Government valuation, went off with their money in their pockets.

Sheila

Sduddy
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Re: The Land League in Clare

Post by Sduddy » Sun Jul 24, 2022 10:09 am

Hi Matthew

I notice now that The Irish Canadian referred to Lord Beaconsfield, but that should be Lord Leconfield, of course. The report published in The Irish Canadian on 24 Nov 1880 was copied from the report in the Clare Freeman of Sat 6 Nov 1880: "The movement set on foot by the Clare Land League with regard to paying no higher rents that Griffith’s valuation, is assuming serious proportions. Three hundred tenants on Lord Leconfields’s Clare property came to Limerick yesterday and tendered to the agent, Mr J W Scott, rents equal to Griffith’s valuation. Mr Scott declined to accept the amount stating that he had no authority to do so, and the tenants expressing their determination not to pay a farthing over the Government valuation, went off with their money in their pockets."

Sheila

matthewmacnamara
Posts: 139
Joined: Mon Mar 28, 2011 6:38 pm

Re: The Land League in Clare

Post by matthewmacnamara » Sun Jul 24, 2022 11:01 am

In the Limerick Clare area, by the end of 1880, the Land League has become a mass movement
with the active participation of the Catholic clergy. An unresolved issue is what is to be done
for the farm labourers. The question is raised very occasionally by speakers or letters to
the press. One point of view was that if the farmers' position improved, they would
pay more to their labourers.

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