Insurrection in Clare, 1799

[Paddy Casey]

The Irish correspondent of the The Times gives an account (The Times, Monday, Jan 21, 1799; pg. 2; Issue 4388) of serious insurrection in Clare moving in from the west coast towards Limerick. The insurrection is, according to the correspondent, caused by Papists with the Priests at their head. The correspondent is pessimistic ("...Ennis...can make little stand against an army of 5000 men......Clare Castle, a ruinous barrack, may hold out a little longer but it is by no mean necessary for the rebel to pass Clare Castle to advance to Limerick"). He is even worried about the ability of the government to defend Dublin.

In a subsequent article (The Times, Wednesday, Jan 23, 1799; pg. 2; Issue 4390) we learn that the rebels have been routed, that their leaders Burke and O'Gorman have been taken, that Burke was hanged at Ennis and that "....the country is nearly quieted by this timely interference of the military power".

[Padraig Og O Ruairc]

Ive covered this subject in an introductory chapter in my forthcoming book - Mercier press available spring 2009. Its been written up before in The United Irishmen in County Clare its a thin paperback, I forget who the author was, but its available in the Granary in Limerick. The shortlived two week rebellion started on new years day 1799 after rumours of a second French expedition to Ireland. There were no large engagements, just a few skirmishes and a lot of agriarian violence as a result of which I think that three United Irishmen were hung. The disturbances were focused in the north of Clare but pikes and other weapons were also found as far away as Tulla and Kilkishen and resulted in public floggings including a number of British soldiers who were courtmartialled for aiding the republicans.
Napper Tandy appears to have organised the United Irish network in the county from his house in Mountshannon. The most interesting republcan of the period from Clare was James Bartholomew Blackwell an Ennis Protestant who was studying in Paris at the time of the french revolution and was one of the leaders of the mob that stormed the bastille on the 14th of July 1789. (A second nominal Clare man Francis Mac Mahon the son of Clare immigrants to Paris was also present.) Blackwell joined the failed French expedition to bantry bay in 1796 and returned to Ireland with Napper tandy in 1798 after landing at Tory Island Co. Donegall upon hearing that the rebellion had ended, this expedition sailed on to Norway and Tandy and Blackwell attempted to return to France by crossing the continent. They were captured in Hamburg and handed over to the British Authorithies. Both men were interned in Kilmainham Jail in Dublin until their release after the Treaty of Amiens in 1802. Blackwell returned to France and became Chief de Battallion of Napoliens Irish Legion and died in Paris in 1812.
Another Clareman, John "Fireball" Mac Namara was suppost to have walked to Wexford during 1798 to join the rebellion there and was wounded in the battle of Vinegar hill.

[Paddy Casey]

Thanks very much for these additions, Pádraig.

There is also a synopsis of the events of that time on the Library site at http://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclar ... ellion.htm

The book you mention might be The United Irishmen of County Clare by Kieran Sheedy, published by the Clare Education Centre in 1998 (see http://www.clare-education-centre.ie/re ... clare.html ).

What is the name of your forthcoming book ?

I was particularly interested in the history of this period because my GGGF John Casey, according to the family lore, moved (or was moved) to Moyrhee at the beginning of the 19th century because he was politically undesirable, or words to that effect. Of course, the reason might have been more prosaic, e.g. an offer of good land in Moyrhee at an acceptable rent, but I often wonder if his name will crop up somewhere in the annals of 1798.

Paddy