The Land League in Clare

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matthewmacnamara
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The Land League in Clare

Post by matthewmacnamara » Sat Jun 11, 2022 3:33 pm

The Land League was founded in Mayo in 1879. By 1880 it had spread to the North Liberties of Limerick,
adjacent to south east Clare. Would anyone know when the first branches appeared in Clare? and where
in the county?

Sduddy
Posts: 1826
Joined: Sun Sep 26, 2010 10:07 am

Re: The Land League in Clare

Post by Sduddy » Sun Jun 12, 2022 10:34 am

Hi Matthew,

I looked at an article entitled “The Land War,” by Alfred Sexton, in last year’s The Other Clare (page 86). It does not give an answer to your question, but says,
The Land League spread in Clare and by Autumn 1880 there were 16 branches (end note no. 1: Clare Journal, 7 October 1880).
Maybe that report in the Clare Journal gives the locations of those 16 branches. The Clare Journal has been made available online by the British Newspaper Archive, but only goes to the mid-1870s, I think, so you may have to go to the Local Studies Centre in Ennis to find that report.

The British Newspaper Archive goes further with the Clare Freeman and Ennis Gazette - up to 1884, or so, I think. I subscribed to the BNA for a year (late 2020 to late 2021) and took some notes. My notes from the Clare Freeman give some clues as to where branches of the Land League were established in the year 1880. You will notice that some of my notes (below) are just notes and some are full transcriptions. A Mr Thomas S Cleary* seems to have devoted himself to the spread of the Land League. Scarriff, Feakle, Kilrush, Ennistymon, Corofin, Crusheen, Ennis, Truagh, Tradaree (Broadford), Miltown Malbay, Liscannor, Newmarket-on-Fergus, Kilkishen and Ballynacally, near Kiladysert are mentioned. I feel sure there was a branch in Tulla too.

Also, we know, by reading the attachment to the posting by Paddy Casey**: “Parnell Defence Fund contributors in Clare (December 1880)”: http://www.ourlibrary.ca/phpbb2/viewtop ... daf22#p308 , that there were branches in Doonbeg (Fr. Clune signs the letter), in Kilkeedy (Fr. Lawrence Browne signs the letter), and in Doora-Kilraghtis (Fr. Bartholomew Scanlan signs the letter). Fr. Scanlan writes from Moyriesk, Quin, Co. Clare: “ My Dear Lord Mayor, Enclosed I send draft for £15, the subscription for the Kilraghtis branch of the Land League, towards the Parnell Defence Fund. By it we desire to signify that in Parnell we recognise the intrepid asserter of a people’s right to live in the land which gave them birth, and that we regard the impending prosecution of him and his gallant comrades as a death-blow aimed at a nation’s life. Yet, not even in this remote district are we going to cower before all the panoply and terrorisms of a State prosecution, ushered in though it be by the insane bellowings of a Justice Shallow. Neither are we dismayed by the impotent rage and ravings of a discomfited rabble of lordlings now that they behold their long-abused power slipping from their grasp for ever. “Magna est veritas et praevalebit” – I have the honour to remain you obedient servant, Bartholomew Scanlan, P.P., Doora and Kilraghtis, Co. Clare.” Laurence Brown’s letter has attached list of subscribers, which I hope to transcribe later.

* Thomas S Cleary - information sought here by Oisín Moran (2012) : https://clarechampion.ie/student-hopes- ... ennis-man/

** I love Paddy Casey’s injections of wit and humour. He always makes me smile.

Also, we know, by reading the posting by Sharon Carberry “East Clare contributores 1880 to Parnell Defence Fund”: http://www.ourlibrary.ca/phpbb2/viewtop ... daf22#p296, that Fr. Denis Cleary wrote a letter, published in the Freeman/s Journal on 6 Dec 1880, on behalf of the Kilkishen and O’Callaghan’s Mills branches of the League. Sharon Carberry has transcribed and attached the long list of contributors.

---------- beginning of notes from Clare Freeman and Ennis Gazette, 1880 --------------

Sat 8 May 1880 (From “Bassett’s Daily Chronicle): Clare Farmers’ Club Proposed Amalgamation with the Land League: list of names of farmers.

Wed 16 Jun 1880: Mr Thomas S Cleary, proprietor of the Clare Independent, attended Feakle on last Sunday as the delegate of the Land League. He was met outside the village by a large concourse of people who with band and banners formed an imposing procession and escorted him triumphantly to the village square where he addressed the vast assembly for upwards of two hours and was frequently cheered. At the conclusion of the meeting great numbers put down their names as paying members of the National Land League. Mr Cleary will attend in Scariff on Sunday next, where he is promised an equal enthusiastic welcome.

Wed 30 Jun 1880: Miltown Malbay. Land League. Mr James Clancy.
Miltown Malbay Demonstration.
Irishtown [Co. Mayo] Demonstration

Wed 4 Aug 1880: Clare Branch of the Land League. A meeting of the Land League was held yesterday at their room, The Causeway.

Wed 18 Aug 1880: Kilkishen. The Clare branch of the Land League used its influence for the purpose of preventing a tenant taking the farm, and [more] … Meadow trampled on.

Wed 25 Aug 1880: Mr Finigan having protested against the use of buckshot by the Constabulary, Mr Forster said it had been introduced as being more humane than bullets, because it did not often kill, and there was less danger of an innocent person being killed at a distance. A long discussion ensued, in which nearly all the Irish members took part, and in which various opinions were expressed respecting the relative “humanity” of bullet and shot. It ended by Mr Forster promising to ask the Constabulary authorities to consider these opinions and decide whether a change would be advisable.

Wed 25 Aug 1880: Letter from Jonas Studdert & Son re Land League Workings in Clare.

Sat 28 Aug 1880: A gentleman named Bently, who had taken a farm at Truagh, county Clare, from which a tenant had been dispossessed, was on Sunday bitterly denounced by the local Land League. A grave has since been dug opposite his hall-door, and not desiring to be qualified to fill it, he is leaving the country.

Sat 11 Sep 1880: On Thursday morning at tenant-farmer, named Michael Cusack, of Ballyblood, near Kilkishen, part of the estate of Lord Leconfield, reported to the police that about twelve o’clock last night three shots had been fired into his house without doing any injury to himself or his family. Cusack alleges that this act of intimidation was owing to his having bid for a cottier holding of about an acre, adjoining his own property. Mr O’Hara, R M, Tulla, left the petty sessions to investigate the case.

Wed 22 Sep 1880: The arrangements made for telegraphing the reports of the land meeting at Ennis on Sunday contrasted favourably with those made on other occasions, and even with those for the telegraphing of meetings held at other places on Sunday last. A Wheatstone instrument was sent to Ennis, and four experienced clerks acquainted with the mode of working it were sent from Cork. The meeting did not conclude until five o’clock, but by half past seven o’clock Mr Parnell’s speech was in the newspaper offices in Dublin, London, Edinburgh, Glasgow, and other towns, and the entire work of telegraphing about 50,000 words was completed by half-past eleven at night.

Wed 22 Sep 1880: Great Land Meeting. Enthusiastic reception of Parnell, Finigan and Sullivan.

Sat 25 Sep 1880: Address of the Patriotic Trades and Working Men of Ennis to Charles Stuart Parnell, Esq, M.P. signed by M G Considine, Secretary, Thady Lynch, Andrew Molony, Sunday, Sept 19th ,1880.

Wed 29 Sep 1880: Great Land Meeting in Kilrush. Enthusiastic Reception of Mr J. L. Finigan, M P.

Sat 9 Oct 1880: There will be a monster Land Meeting in Ennistymon tomorrow. Mr T S Cleary will attend.

Wed 20 Oct 1880: The adjourned meeting of the Land League was held today at their rooms, Causeway. There was a very large attendance of delegates for all parts of the county. It was unanimously resolved, after a long debate, to adopt Griffith’s Valuation as the standard rent to be paid in future to Landlords.

Sat 23 Oct 1880: An order for buckshot for the Irish Constabulary has been received at the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich. It appears that so large was the supply manufactured for the Ashantee campaign that a surplus remained sufficient for the wants of all the convict guards, who up to the present have alone been supplied with it till this new order was received. That supply is, however, now exhausted, and the manufacture has again commenced. The shot, of which about twenty are in a cartridge, are about the size of peas.

Sat 23 Oct 1880: The Central Land League, Meeting in Ennis. Case of Mr Walsh, Ayle (at the end).

Wed 27 Oct 1880: The Prosecution of Land Leaguers. Action of the Government and the League. Preparation to Avert an Insurrection.

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.

Wed 10 Nov 1880: Ennis Town Commissioners. Michael Considine comes before the commissioners (re Parnell). Mr Considine looked from one to another, muttering thanks, but withdrew….considerably crestfallen.

Wed 17 Nov 1880: An enthusiastic land meeting was held in Crusheen on Sunday last. The Tradaree Parnell Escort Band passed through the town en route for Crusheen about 12.30, and escorted M T S Cleary. They returned at 7 p.m. followed by a very large concourse, notwithstanding the drenching cold rain. A large procession formed at Crusheen, and passed over the farm of Viewmount, belonging to Mr J F V Fitzgerald, and from which a Mrs Stacpool, an aged lady, and her two nieces, were evicted twelve months ago. The walls and fences were levelled to the ground, and the farm as now a perfect waste. Rev P Meade, P P, afterwards presided over the meeting at which the usual resolutions were passed.

Wed 17 Nov 1880: Parnell Defence Fund.

Sat 4 Dec 1880: The Thradaree Branch of the Land League. Newmarket-on-Fergus. Cases of paying rent of over Griffith’s Valuation brought up.

Wed 8 Dec 1880: Meeting of the Central Branch of the Clare League
The following Sunday 19th inst, Messrs Meany and Cleary have been invited to Ardrahan by the Rev T Considine, P P, president of that branch.
A branch of the Land League was on Sunday formed at Ballinacally, near Kiladysert. The Rev Mr Quinlivan, P P, presided, and there were about 1,000 persons present. The chairman approved of the movement, and speeches were delivered by Mr S Meany, delegate of the New York Confederacy, and Mr Cleary.

Sat 11 Dec 1880: Ennis Union. Lord Inchiquin (on employment of labourers) says he had to let some of his own go, as rents were not being paid.
The House League in Ennis. Mr T. O’Meehan, T C, in the Chair.

Sat 18 Dec 1880:
Feakle House League. Correspondent.
The State of Clare. A letter to the Daily Express from J. B. Molony [Solicitor] Bindon St.

Wed 29 Dec 1880: The local Land League of Crusheen has resolved to “Boycott” Mr Butler, J P, of Walterstown, because, having greatly reduced his income by accepting Griffith’s Valuation, he was obliged to decrease his expenses, and, therefore, dismissed some labourers and servants.
At the land meeting held in Liscannor on Sunday week reference was made to the Walsh eviction case, and number of the people went to the farm to view the place which it seems is destined to have a prominent place hereafter in local history.

-------------------------------------- end of notes from Clare Freeman ----------------

Continuing on with the article by Alfred Sexton, I see that he writes a paragraph (page 87) on the above case re Walsh (to illustrate the difference between the Land League and the Farmers Clubs). Sexton describes the dispute between Richard Stacpoole and Walsh as noteworthy, as it resulted in the Dublin Land League contributing £15 to Walsh to aid his campaign against Stacpoole.
The forceful actions of the Land League disturbed conservative society such as Bishop James Ryan of Killaloe, who wrote in the autumn of 1881: ‘Our present state is full of peril. The wave of agitation is passing over us. The people are lashed into fury by unscrupulous leaders. We have no one like O’Connell to pour oil on the waters’.
Sexton mentions Kilmihil branch (1881), Kilmacduane branch (1881), Broadford branch, and he also mentions various places in Co. Clare, not mentioned above, but I don’t know which branch of League, if any, if they belonged to.

Sheila

P.S. I see now that Oisín Moran’s thesis was published in 2012 and that he contributed an article entitled "Thomas Stanislaus Cleary (1851-1898): Land League Leader and Campaigning Newspaper Editor” to Defying the Law of the Land: Agrarian Radicals in Irish History, edited by Brian Casey: https://books.google.ie/books/about/Def ... &q&f=false
Moran's article is not included in the preview, but some of the end notes are included. Note 55 gives better information on the branches established in 1880 than do my notes from the Clare Freeman. Moran’s end note No. 55 lists branch meetings reported on by the Clare Independent newspaper (edited by Thomas S Cleary):
Feakle meeting reported, CI, 19 June 1880 and 30 October 1880; Scariff meeting reported, Ibid., 26 June 1880; Newmarket-on-Fergus, Broadford & Kilkishen meetings reported, Ibid., 10 July 1880; Ennistymon and Inagh meetings reported, Ibid., 17 July 1880; Sixmilebridge meeting reported, Ibid., 21 August 1880; Trough meeting reported, Ibid., 28 August 1880; Kilrush meeting reported, Ibid., 2 October 1880; O’Callaghan’s Mills meeting advertised for Sunday 17 October, Ibid., 16 October 1880; Clarecastle, Ibid., 13 November 1880 and Clare central branch Land League meetings reported, Ibid., 24 July, 7 August, 4 September, 16 October, 13 November and 11 [December].
But, although that is a better list, it only mentions 12 branches.

matthewmacnamara
Posts: 139
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Re: The Land League in Clare

Post by matthewmacnamara » Sun Jun 12, 2022 1:01 pm

Thanks for so much.
One thing that I noticed was the ease with which members of the pre Land League farmers' clubs
[where one found very comfortable farmers exclusively] passed into leadership roles in
the emerging Land League.
The summer of 1879 saw very bad weather, prayers for rain etc.

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

Re: The Land League in Clare

Post by matthewmacnamara » Sun Jun 12, 2022 1:48 pm

I should have written PRAYERS FOR FINE WEATHER in the summer of 1879

Sduddy
Posts: 1826
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Re: The Land League in Clare

Post by Sduddy » Mon Jun 13, 2022 10:02 am

Hi Matthew

Yes, I know you meant prayers for fine weather. There was distress in Clare in 1880 and it is the subject of another posting by Paddy Casey: “Poverty & distress in Clare, February 1880”: http://www.ourlibrary.ca/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=140. Paddy’s interest in Tubber (Kilkeedy) parish arises from his forebears having lived there.

As for the comfortable farmers getting leadership roles, I strongly suspect that the first few names on the lists of subscribers to the Parnell Fund are those farmers.
Regarding Paddy Casey’s posting re that fund, I see that I forgot to mention the letter to E. Dwyer Gray, Esq, published in the Freeman, from Mortimer Hogan, Lakeview, Corofin, on behalf of the Corofin Branch, including the united parishes of Rush and Kilnaboy, with a contribution of £51. [“Rush” should be Rath]. Here is my transcription of the names appended: Rev T F Maguire, C C, Messrs Michael Hogan, Thomas Moran, John Cahir, P.L.G.; Bryan McGan, Jas. Cahill, Mortimer Hogan, Michael Morony, Patrick Edwards, John Collins, £1 each. Messrs Patrick Foley and Patrick O’Donnell, 10s each, Messrs T J Cahill, T Kearse, M Sullivan, M O’Connor, A Friend, An Admirer, J Burke, J. O’Halloran, E Cahill, J. Grady, T McGan, T Curtis, P Nagle, M Monahan, Timothy Killeen, P McGuane, M Houlihan, 10s each. A Friend, C. Cullinane, J Grady, P Minihan, J Flanagan, 7s 6d each; Messrs J Flanagan, J Reilly, P Hanrahan, J Connolly, J McGrath, F. McGrath, T Fitzpatrick, M McNamara, P O’Gorman, J Shannon, J Flanagan, P Kenny, M Mackey, J Flannery, M Corry, A Hauliahan (?), T Burke, W Edwards, J Morony, J Kenny, J Sullivan, T Cahill, M Tierney, An Admirer, P Finnagan, Wm Edwards, T Hurley, Wm Neylon, P O’Keeffe, P McGan, M. Linane, J Griffy, 5s each. The remaining subscribers gave from 5s to 1s each.

Fr. Clune in Doonbeg did not append a list of subscribers.

Here is my transcription of the names of the Kilkeedy, Boston and Kells subscribers (appended to the letter from Fr. Laurence Brown): Rev Laurence J Browne, P P, Mr John McInerney, John McInerney, £1 each; James McInerney, John Neylan, Patrick Kelly, Thomas Roche, 10s; Patrick Corbett, 7s; John Ryan, Mrs Nugent, James Caher, Patrick Connery, 5s each; Patrick Malborough, Patrick Sullivan, Michael Moylan, John Geoghegan, 4s each; Conor Lee, 2s 6d; John Clune, Patrick Clune, 3s each; Michael Halloran, Murty Halloran, Michael Halloran, John Grady, James Markam, Michael Burnell (?), Miss Howard, Michael Quin, Michael Donohoe, James McMahon, Patrick Caher, Michael Lee, James Burke, John Hardy, F Brew, Jas Kearney, Michael McGrath, 2s 6d each; Pat O’Connor, Pat and John Hynes, Patrick Rynn, 2s each; Pat Carr, John O’Neill, Edward Carr, Martin Donohoe, Pat Connery, (?); John Roche (?), Thomas Shaughnessy, 6d each. Patrick Hynes, Miss Verlin, Michael McGrath, Mrs K(?)eilly, Mrs M Grady, Michael Forde, Pat Ruan, Edward Walsh, Patrick Roche, Michael Donohoe, Michael Keane, Mrs Carty, Peter Caher, Mrs Dowd, Pat McMahon, Mrs Waters, Anne Waters, and Pat Flaherty, 6d each, Ezekiel Dixon, Patrick O’Connor, Nicholas Quin, John Verlin, Patrick O’Brien, Michael Casey, John Geagan, Patrick Lenane, Michael J(?), Patrick O’Connor, Patrick Brogan, Michael Rourke, John Walsh, sen; John Walsh, jun; Thomas Glin [Glynn], Thomas Forde, John Carty, Martin Flaherty, Mrs Collen (?), Martin Rourke, Michael Hanbery, Patrick Caher, Walter McMahon, James Flaherty, Thomas Waters, John Waters, Thomas Hanbery, Patrick Donohoe, Patrick Waters, James McMahon, Michael McMahon, Luke Conners, Michael Ryan, Thomas Keane, Widow Corbet, 2s each; Patrick Howard, Patrick Cullinan, Bryan Burnell, Bartley Cusack, M Mullins, 1s 6d each; James Ford, Patrick Fogarty, Patrick Fitzgibbon, Edmund Ford, John Markam, Pat Fogarty, John Monahan, Martin Finn, Thomas Larkan (?), Laurence Dempsey, Michael Mitchell, Michael Giles (?), Matthew Verlin, Michael Geagan, John Coffee, Michael Nix, Edmund Lughery, Mrs. Ford, John Byrns, Bartley Walsh, Michael Lee, Pat Moylan, John Naughton, Michael McMahon, John Quin, Martin Dowd, Pat Quin, Michael Quinlan, Michael Kerrigan, John Halloran, Martin Flaherty, Michael Kelly, John Connors, Michael Burns, Thomas Arthur, Thady Carroll, Thomas Grady, John Lourie, Pat Lynch, Michael Quin, John Holohan, John Joyce, Michael Loughery, Pat Ryan, 1s each. [Total amount included in the letter from Fr. Brown: £17 1s 6d]

Sheila
Last edited by Sduddy on Tue Jun 21, 2022 5:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.

matthewmacnamara
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Re: The Land League in Clare

Post by matthewmacnamara » Wed Jun 15, 2022 1:08 pm

In October 1879 it is still the CLARE FARMERS ' CLUB, chaired by Father Whyte, PP Milltown. At the end of
September they held a demonstration in Ennis attended by ten thousand people.

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

Re: The Land League in Clare

Post by Sduddy » Fri Jun 17, 2022 12:36 pm

Hi Matthew

That is interesting. Fr. Patrick White gives a brief mention to the Farmers’ Club in Co. Clare in his History of Clare – see pate 372: https://archive.org/details/historyofcl ... ew=theater. He says,
Following closely upon the failure of the Fenian movement, though not of course as a result of it, came a rush of prosperity over the whole country. Prices for cattle and butter ran very high, and Clare being for far the greater part a pastoral county, shared largely in the up-rise. There was, however, general uneasiness, owing to the very insecure position of nearly all the tenants. There had been much inadequate legislation on the subject, but no real relief of the tension. A combined effort began in the country to press for fixity of tenure at fair rents and freedom of sale, and in Clare a very influential Farmers’ Club was established in 1877, holding its monthly meetings in Ennis, but with members in all parts of the county. It organised in the same year a great public meeting on the fair-green of Clonroad, at which resolutions calling for the above-named changes in the Land Laws were unanimously passed.
By “inadequate legislation,” I suppose he means Gladstone’s Landlord and Tenant Act in 1870, which alarmed many landlords because it interfered with property rights, but also disappointed many tenants. White doesn’t say what he means by “very influential,” but I suppose the demands of the strong farmers (strong farmers, mostly, made up the membership of the Farmers’ Clubs) for changes, provided an example to all farmers.

Fr. White says that the Fenian movement had failed, and maybe that was how it appeared to him at the time that he was writing in 1893.

Alfred Sexton says,
The Land League spread in Clare and by autumn 1880 there were 16 branches. It subsumed most of the former farmer’s clubs and had a far greater membership and network of branches. This included the Catholic clergy who opted to use their influence from within in order to control the Fenian element which they viewed as an oath bound secret society.
"The Land War in Clare 1880-1890", by Alfred Sexton, in The Other Clare, Vol 45 (2021).
Sheila

matthewmacnamara
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Re: The Land League in Clare

Post by matthewmacnamara » Fri Jun 17, 2022 2:02 pm

Thank you Sheila.
Pre Land League, the Limerick press frequently mentions Farmers' Clubs.
One was called the Limerick and Clare Farmers' Club, the Clare element
coming from adjacent to Limerick south east Clare [e. g. Parteen]. I am curious as to what they actually achieved before
the Land League came along.
The later months of 1879 saw repeated requests for rent reductions,
and frequent reports of rent abatements being granted. The weather situation
that year seems to have been critical for farm incomes.

Sduddy
Posts: 1826
Joined: Sun Sep 26, 2010 10:07 am

Re: The Land League in Clare

Post by Sduddy » Sat Jun 18, 2022 10:35 am

Hi Matthew

I am having trouble finding out about the Farmers’ Clubs and whether they have anything to do with the reductions in rent in the Parteen area in 1879. As you say, rent reductions were demanded by tenants in many places in that year, and were sometimes given.
The Land League was not yet organised in Co. Clare in 1879, but we know that there was a tenant rights meeting in Ennis in September 1879 and that
a motion was adopted that, owing to the downturn in the economy, landlords in the county would be requested to reduce their rents. During the following weeks various letters from landlords and tenants appeared in the Clare Journal stating that reductions of between 15% and 20% were being granted on a number of Clare estates
(see “The Bodyke Evictions: The Evictions” : https://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/cocla ... tators.htm. Clare County Library acknowledges donations by John S. Kelly and Gerard Madden).[/quote]

Although the Land League did not begin to be established in an organised way in Clare until the middle of 1880, it was already several months old by then and the main aim of the League, i.e. a permanent reduction in rent*, would have been well known to everybody by then. One reason The Landlord and Tenant Act of 1870 had failed was because it excluded tenants who were in rent arrears (estimated at 130,000 tenants). The bad harvests at the end of the 1870s meant that the number of tenants in arrears was on the increase. So, although we associate the Land War mainly with evictions and resistance to evictions, we should also remember that tenants all over the country began to seek reductions in rent – and were sometimes successful.
James Daly (in Co. Mayo) has been described by historian, J. J. Lee as the most undeservedly forgotten man in Irish history, and that is probably true now, but, in 1879, he was not yet forgotten - he would have been very famous as the man who, by organizing a mass meeting of tenants, in April 1879, forced Canon Geoffrey Burke to reduce rents by 25 per cent.**
We associate the Land War in Bodyke with evictions and especially with resistance to evictions, but it all began, in 1879, with a demand for a reduction in rent. O’Callaghan did offer a reduction, but the tenants were not satisfied with those reductions. Whether those tenants were influenced by the Mayo success, or by the Tenants Rights meeting in Ennis, or the Farmers Clubs resolutions at their Clonroad meeting in 1877, it will be impossible to say, I think – maybe all three.

I would like to find more on the Parteen situation and what they achieved in rent reductions before the Land League was established there, but I am not finding anything at the moment. I see that one William Henry O’Sullivan played a leading role in establishing the Limerick, Clare, and Tipperary Farmers' Clubs (see entry on O’Sullivan, William Henry, in Dictionary of Irish Biography: https://www.dib.ie/biography/osullivan- ... enry-a7076). Maybe it was he who established the Farmers Club in the Parteen area.

*
The plan that emerged from the founding conference was a radical departure from the "three Fs" and from the principle of "dual ownership" advocated by earlier tenant-right organizations and Irish parliamentarians. The League plan called for an immediate and permanent reduction of rents, an end to evictions for nonpayment of rents, and legislation that would "enable every tenant to become the owner of his holding." (quote from “Land War of 1879 to 1882” in Encycopedia.com: https://www.encyclopedia.com/internatio ... -1879-1882
**
Although he worked to bring about a revolution in landownership in the 19th century by breaking down the landlord system, Daly was not a revolutionary. He preferred to work within the law to bring about change. He was a constitutional nationalist and a conservative social reformer who was convinced that the solution to the Land Question was the purchase by the tenants of their land. On 10 February 1877 he wrote: “The soil is the property of the tiller”.
Daly encouraged the tenants to organise demonstrations and meetings and in January 1879, he was approached by tenants of Canon Geoffrey Burke’s Irishtown Estate requesting that he publish their long list of complaints. Bourke had recently inherited the land and on finding that his tenants were in arrears with their rent, threatened them with eviction. Instead, Daly advised that a mass meeting should be held in Irishtown, which he would promote. The his- toric gathering of approximately 10,000 took place on the 20th April 1879 and forced Canon Bourke to reduce rents by 25 per cent. The significance of the Irishtown meeting, the first organised for tenants’ rights, was that it proved that the small farmers were prepared for agitate for reform. It also proved that combined action was effective and all that was need- ed was leadership and organisation. The demonstration led to the birth of the Mayo Land League in August 1879 and the beginning of a mass movement that heralded the destruction of landlordism in Ireland.
https://www.rte.ie/documents/history/20 ... vement.pdf
Sheila

matthewmacnamara
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Re: The Land League in Clare

Post by matthewmacnamara » Sat Jun 18, 2022 1:25 pm

As part of my effort to trace the evolution of Farmers' Clubs into branches of the
Land League, I have been systematically perusing the Limerick published
Munster News for 1879. The first use of the term the Irish National Land League that I found
is a report of a meeting of its executive in Dublin dated November, 5, 1879.
Parnell attended.
In the Limerick city hinterland some big farmers passed smoothly
from leadership positions in one to the other.

murf
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Location: Qld Australia

Re: The Land League in Clare

Post by murf » Sun Jun 19, 2022 1:09 am

Hi Matthew & Sheila

It is interesting to look at the numbers of the rent reductions awarded in 1882, for instance:

Return of judicial rents fixed by Sub-Commissions and Civil Bill Courts, notified to Irish Land Commission, April-May 1882

https://www.dippam.ac.uk/eppi/documents ... ges/455933

In this batch, 152 cases in County Clare were awarded reductions averaging out at 35%, compared to an average of 21% for all Ireland.

murf

Sduddy
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Re: The Land League in Clare

Post by Sduddy » Sun Jun 19, 2022 10:31 am

Hi Murf

Thank you for that see-at-a-glance table showing rent reductions in 1882. It good to see Clare doing so well!
Some historians argue that tenants at that time were rack-rented and were well due the reductions, while others argue that that rents had not kept pace with good prices fetched for agricultural produce in the 1860s and 1870s. Here is Terence A. M. Dooley writing mainly from the point of view of the landlord in “Estate ownership and management in nineteenth and early twentieth-century Ireland": http://www.aughty.org/pdf/estate_own_manage.pdf - see page 6:
From a landlord's point of view one of the most contentious clauses of the 1870 Land Act was that which provided that an outgoing tenant had to be compensated for improvements he had made to his holding. Thus manyof the leases issued in the 1870s contained covenants to protect landlords against the compensation provision. Some covenants were clearly illegal as they attempted to contract the tenant out of compensation for improvement and consequently as in the case of the duke of Leinster, caused consternation amongst tenants[33]. Furthermore, the exclusion of 135,392 leaseholders and tenants in arrears from compensation for disturbance affected the prospects of a significant proportion of tenants. On the other hand, where landlords were unable to induce tenants to contract themselves out of compensation, they often became more reluctant than they had been in the past to invest in estate improvements.
In general, the increase in agricultural prosperity from the mid-1850s to the late 1870s favoured tenants more than their landlords. The primary reason for this is that rents did not rise in accordance with increases in agricultural incomes during the period 34 . Landlords usually only increased their rents after the termination of a lease, the transfer of a holding to a son, the succession of an heir to the estate, or after the revaluation of an estate. A revaluation of an estate might only take place every twenty years or so. Recent findings by a number of historians show that rents on average rose by only 20-30 per cent from the early 1850s to the late 1870s 35 . It would have taken a rise of 40 per cent to keep apace of the price increments of the time and to have given landlords a proportionate share of the increased economic prosperity. Most tenants, therefore, were not rackrented, nor subject to ceaseless rent increases, nor, indeed, capriciously evicted as is borne out by the low level of evictions, particularly from the mid- 1860s to the late 1870s.
And here, in a posting by Sharon Carberry, is the other side of the story. She gives a link to Bodyke: a chapter in the history of Irish landlordism, by Henry Norman (published New York 1887): http://tinyurl.com/3jmz823. The link opens on page 16 of the book with a chart showing how much rents have increased between 1850 and 1870.
Of course we ourselves now know that prices can double in a short few years, so both sides of the story may be correct. It may be true that rents had not kept pace with agricultural prices in the 1860 and early 1870s, but by 1877 a downturn had begun. In Britain and all over Europe grain prices suffered because of competition from North America, but the reason for the downturn in Ireland was due to the bad weather which resulted in poor potato crops leading, in turn, to poor pig and poultry and egg production (pigs and poultry were fed potatoes in the west of Ireland).

Murf, the chart you have posted is from 1882, and, as you know, a lot had happened between 1879 and 1882 - boycotting, outrages, coercive legislation, a new Land Act, a No-rent Manifesto, and the Kilmainham Treaty. According to J.J. Lee, in The Modernisation of Irish Society 1848-1918,
The Treaty was an extraordinarily good bargain for him [Parnell]. He made no specific concessions to Gladstone, merely giving meaningless promises to discourage agitation and generally support Liberal Measures. In return he received specific assurances that coercion would be dropped and the arrears of rent wiped out so that the ineligible tenants could take advantage of the Land Act. The Modernisation of Irish Society 1848-1918, by Joseph Lee (1973).
In the next chapter of that book, Joseph Lee goes on to say that the arrears act sapped the vitality of the Land League. This was because so many tenants had recourse to it and were satisfied to have their cases heard and responded to, and to have rents reduced. Joseph Lee had ended the previous chapter by mentioning that Parnell is sometimes criticised “for diverting the social revolutionary train into the safe siding of home rule and the Kilmainham Treaty”. He does not agree that this criticism is deserved, but many people still wonder about what might have been. And I think Matthew’s question about the earlier situation in 1879 and 1880 and the initial formation of the branches of the League and the degree to which they were led by former members of the Farmers’ clubs (and maybe dominated by those members) is interesting, but it’s going to be difficult to find material that will answer it adequately. The newspaper reports he has found are probably the best source there is to be had.

Sheila

P. S. I should have mentioned that Sharon Carberry's posting (in 2011) was entitled "Bodyke evictions book on line": http://www.ourlibrary.ca/phpbb2/viewtop ... f=1&t=3032

matthewmacnamara
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Re: The Land League in Clare

Post by matthewmacnamara » Sun Jun 19, 2022 1:38 pm

Here is a letter published in the Freeman's Journal in November 1880 from Lord Lansdowne's agent in reaction to the foundation of a branch of the Land League in Limerick city. He makes the case that rents have remained stable over decades in a context of increased prices for farm produce.


Sir - The Freeman of the 22 inst. contains a report of the proceedings of the Limerick Land League at a meeting held on Saturday last. On that occasion four of Lord Lansdowne’s tenants were added to the committee, and statements appear to have been made, which in justice to Lord Lansdowne, I think, call for some observations on my part. Mr Kennedy, one of the tenants in question, stated that ‘the grandfather of the present marquis used to allow, and even aid his tenants to build.’ It is not the case that Lord Lansdowne has ever refused to allow his tenants to build. As for the tenants Patrick Hartigan, Richard Kennedy,and James O’Halloran, who appear to have taken a part in these proceedings, I have to observe that within the last five years they, as well as two other tenants, asked to have their dwellings added to and improved and good farm offices built, which was done for them, principally under loans from the Board of Works, each tenant consenting to pay the 5 per cent interest on the amounts so advanced. In O’Halloran’s case his dwelling house, which was bad, was remodelled and added to, and some out-offices which he required were built. Patrick Hartigan’s dwellinghouse was also remodelled and added to, and good ranges of offices erected, he himself being allowed to take the contract for the work; and for Richard Kennedy some excellent offices were erected. It was further stated by him and other speakers that the tenants are ‘crushed’, and ‘if a tenant on the property is not able to pay the rent he is at once thrown out on the road.’ As to this, I beg to state that not a single case of eviction has occurred on the property since Lord Lansdowne succeeded to the estate, and in the cases of O’Halloran (one of the complainants) and Mullins the greatest indulgence has for a long time been extended, in order to enable them, to tide over difficulties partly of a private character. Both are at this moment heavily in arrear. In every instance in which a tenant has asked for or seemed fairly to require time it has always been given. As to the statements made that the rents are extreme or rack-rents, it is only necessary to state that the tenants are paying the same rents that they paid about 35 years ago when prices of all agricultural produce were far lower than now, and that none of the tenants’ rents have been increased save in one instance, and this tenant has received an abatement from his rent. - I am, sir, your obedient servant, Thos. C. Frank. [Freeman’s Journal, November 27, 1880]

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

Re: The Land League in Clare

Post by matthewmacnamara » Sun Jun 19, 2022 1:47 pm

This was the riposte of the Limerick North Liberties [adjacent to Meelick] tenants.

Limerick, 9th December, 1880
Sir- We the undersigned tenants of the Marquis of Lansdowne beg to reply, through the columns of your Journal, to a letter of Mr Frank of Lower Fitzwilliam-street, Dublin, which appeared in the Freeman’s Journal of the 27th of last month. Mr Frank criticises the remarks reported to have been made by some tenants of the Marquis at a meeting of the Limerick branch of the Land League, and praises, as in duty bound, the administration of that portion of which he is agent. We have no wish to heap obloquy on the noble Marquis. We have a just admiration of his enlightened views and liberal principles, and should desire that the friendly relations which have hitherto existed between his noble house and us would continue to the end.
Nevertheless, we feel constrained to unite our voices with those of our body who spoke at the meeting of the League, and emphatically say that our rents were excessive in good years and impossible in bad ones. If we have struggled through the late trying seasons, it has been by untiring exertions, by denying ourselves those little comforts, which, one would suppose, should be within reach of the tenants of the noble house of Lansdowne. Mr Frank is correct in saying that our rents have not been raised for about five and thirty years, but does he claim credit for his master’s noble house for not doing what would manifestly be an act of injustice!
We record with gratitude that we received an abatement of 10 per cent in the year 1863 from the father of the present proprietor. And the many generous acts of his grandfather are still fresh in our memory. To his honor be it told, that in several instances he assisted in the erection of dwellinghouses and farm offices, and that some thirty years ago he gave the liberal abatement of 30 per cent per annum for six years to all the tenants of his limerick property.
Whatever praise attaches to his having obtained building loans in a few instances, we freely place to the credit of the present Marquis. We bear willing testimony, too, to the fact that he has never pressed us for rents. But we have at the same time to state, however painful it is to our feelings, that he has never expended one farthing on improvements nor abated one farthing of his rents. We have only to add that in joining the Land League we seek but justice between man and man, and that we shall be always willing to discharge our just obligations to the noble Marquis.
We are, respectfully yours.
Laurence Kelly, William Mulcahy, Richard Kennedy, John Byrnes, John C. Morrissey, Patrick Hartigan, Patrick Hickey, Patrick Healy, Michael Gleeson, Patrick MacInerny, Matthew Grimes,Thomas Mac Mahon, John Boland, William Mulcahy, Michael Healy, James Healy, Martin Collins, James O’Halloran, Johanna Mac Namara, Anne Mac Namara, Bridget Hickey, Wm. O’Connell. [Munster News, December 15, 1880]

Sduddy
Posts: 1826
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Re: The Land League in Clare

Post by Sduddy » Mon Jun 20, 2022 9:42 am

Hi Matthew

“Riposte” is a good word for that reply. I liked it better than those letters written by priests, who were too anxious to show off their Latin phrases and too anxious not to appear countrified (I think). But, to the gentry, all these priests and people, whether comfortable or poor, were inferior. My feeling is that the comfortable farmers had found themselves touching the glass ceiling that did not allow them to pass into the company of the “quality”. I suspect that, although they could afford to make rent-payments, they resented doing so even more than those farmers who relied on the sale of the pig (“the gentleman who pays the rent”).

Matthew, those letters are from November-December 1880, and things had moved on from the beginning of the action in 1879. You mentioned previously that rent reductions had been granted in some estates in 1879. But it appears from those two letters that Lord Lansdowne had not granted any reductions, which is what prompted the remarks made about him at the Limerick meeting, probably.

I’m no longer subscribing to the British Newspaper Archive, so I looked at The Irish Canadian newspaper, which carried short reports from various counties in Ireland: http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=M ... de=2&hl=en
I thank Sharon Carberry for providing the link to The Irish Canadian (see “The Irish Canadian, newspaper with a Clare column: http://www.ourlibrary.ca/phpbb2/viewtop ... f=1&t=2880).. I looked at the issues of that newspaper from beginning of June to end of December. As far as demands for rent reduction are concerned, the action begins in Kiladysert, at a Board of Guardians meeting held on 30 July. Previous to that date there is nothing on rent reductions. The 2 July issue has no report from Clare, but has a long report on “Irish Landlordism: A Question of Rents. Meeting at Westport, Mayo. From the Dublin Freeman”.

The 18 July: Clare: “Seldom at any time within the knowledge of agriculturalists in Clare, were the crops generally in a more backward condition than the present season. The harsh winds which prevailed for the most part in the months of April and May paralysed and checked vegetables to a great extent. Were it not for the copious downpours of rain for the past few weeks the prospect of the farmer would no be miserable – benefiting very much the crops of hill-side districts.”

30 July 1879: Clare: The death of Captain William Stacpoole, M. P., for Ennis, occurred on July 10th at his residence in Chelsea. The deceased gentleman was the eldest son of the late Andrew Stacpoole, Esq., of Ballyalla, Ennis, and was born in the year 1830.
A meeting of the tenant-farmers of the Kildysart district is to be held with a view of demanding from the landlords such a reduction in their rents as will enable them to tide over their present, unprecedented condition, brought about by bad harvests and extremely low prices of cattle and butter, and agricultural produces generally. The Kildysart Board of Guardians have recently agreed to a resolution on the subject, copies of which are now in the hands of every landlord within the nation (this last word is blurred).

6 Aug 1879: Clare: A special meeting of the Clare Farmers’ Club was held on July 15th, in the Town Hall, Ennis, the Rev. P. White, P.P., presiding. There were seven other clergmen of the county and a large number of members present, with the vice-president, Mr. Bennett, and both the honorary Secretaries, Messrs. Reidy, Newmarket, Thomas S. Clarey, Causeway, Ennis. The business for which the club met was to consider the advisability of holding general county meeting in advocacy of tenant-right, and an appeal to the landlords to make a reduction in their rent [blurred] to the extreme agricultural depression. Previous to entering upon the consideration of the matter a short discussion took place as to the admission of members, [blurred] in the member of the county [blurred] received as honorary members. Seventeen[?] new names were placed on the [blurred] for ballot. There are at present around [?] one hundred members. A long discussion took place as to the advisability of hold the proposed meeting. After some discussion a committee was appointed to carry out the necessary arrangements and invite Mr. E. D Gray, M.P., Mr. Parnell, M.P., Mr. O’Shaughnessy, M.P., and Mr. O’Donnell, M.P., to attend.

13 Aug 1879: Clare: The potato blight has become widespread, and may be noticed in every potato garden and field throughout the county.
Mr. Marcus Keane, Beech Park, Ennis, has made an abatement of 10 per cent. in their present rents to his tenantry on the Mountshannon estate, Kildysart, and will, should the harvest propects turn out unfavorable, give a still further reduction.
Negotiations are on foot, with the consent of the landlord, one of the largest landed proprietors in the county Clare, to make a reduction of from 20 to 25 per cent. on his various estates, and evidence of such the rent falling due in May has not yet been demanded.

20th Aug 1879: Clare: James O’Brien, Esq., Ballynalacken, county Clare, has intimated, through his agent, Mr. J. B. MacNamara, that he will make an allowance of 20 per cent. to all his tenantry on the half-year’s rent due 31st March last, and a similar allowance on the half-year’s rent due 29th September next.

27 Aug 1879: Clare: Jas. Shannon, Esq, Rivoli, Ennistymon, has intimated to his tenants his intention to make a substantial reduction in their next gale’s rent.

The 10 September issue has no report from Clare, but has a long report on "The Land Question: The Land Question. Popular Opinion Taking Shape. Meetings at Castlebar, Balla, Roscommon, Ballingarry, and Mallow. The first convention of tenant farmers held in Ireland since the repeal of the Convention Act took place in Castlebar [Co. Mayo] on Saturday in Daly’s Hotel, and was attended by representative delegates from all parts of the country” (a long report follows and includes Conditions of Membership and Declaration of Principles).

17 Sept 1879: Clare: A man named Thomas Scanlon, a native of Kilrush, was reently drowned at Tarbert while in the act of proceeding from shore to a yacht lying at anchorage, and his body has not since been recovered. The sum of £20 has been collected at Kilrush for his family.
Major Kelly Kenny, J. P., has made an abatement of rent to the tenantry on his Fortane estates, county Clare. The abatement is from 25 to 30 per cent., according to the merits of each particular case.

24 Sep 1879: Clare. The peaceable town of Killaloe was thrown into a state of excitement on September 2nd, on the arrival of John Whyte Malone, Esq., Killmaney Castle, accompanied by his newly-wedded bride, nee Miss Clara Philips, county Kildare. Mr. Malone, though quite a young gentleman, has performed many a good act, and lately made a substantial reduction in his rents.

1 Oct 1879: H. J. Westrop, Lisdoonvarna, has intimated to his tenantry at Knockerah, that he will make a substantial reduction of their rents.
On Sept. 6th, Mr. John Meer, of Ennis, departed this life in his own house, at the advanced age of 85 years. The deceased was a member of the guild of patriotic Victuallers of Ennis, a body of men who were always foremost in every national cause, and was much respected.

8 Oct 1879: The whole of the report on Clare is taken up with the funeral of Mr. Timothy Kerin, of Abbey House, Burrin, in the parish of New Quay.

15 Oct 1879: The whole of the report on Clare is taken up with the death of Mr. Samuel Henry Bindon in Melbourne.

22 Oct 1879: Mr. T. Rice Henn, D. L., Q. C., Paradise Hill, has made a reduction of 20 per cent. to the tenantry on his estate at Ballycorick, Furroor, and Slievedooley, but the abatement is not general. Mr. Michael Gavin, Kildysart, has made an abatement of twenty per cent. to his tenantry at Shanacoale, and from those in the enjoyment of turbary, and whose turf at present lies on the bank without any hope of being saved as fuel for the year, he has asked no rent. Mr. Michael Butler O’Kelly, Cray, has recently made a reduction of 15 per cent, to the tenantson his property; besides to all who pursue the “con-acre system” on his grounds for the growth of potatoes, wherever the crop has turned out unprofitable, he has made a reduction of 50 per cent., and in some instances demanded no rent. Mrs. James O’Connell, Kildysert, has allowed all persons holding “con-acre” on her land for the growth of potatoes, on account of the very poor return therefrom, a reduction of 50 per cent.

29 Oct 1879: Lord Inchiquin has consented to make a 10 per cent. reduction to those of his tenants whose rents were raised.
John Ryan, Esq., M.D., Clonakilla, Ballinacally, has made a reduction of 20 per cent. in the rents now due by his tenantry on the Effernan Estate, Kildysart district. Mr. Patrick Mulconry, Shanahea, Kildyart, has made a reduction of from 20 to 40 per cent. to all holders of potato plots on his property, according to the extent they had been affected by the disease. Other landlords in the locality are following a similar example.

5 Nov 1879: Colonel Vandeleur, D. L., Kilrush House, has made a reduction of 20 per cent to his tenants in West Clare.
At the rent audit, on Oct 14th, on part of Lord Leconfield’s estate, comprising the townlands of Ballyshaurrath, Moghill, &c., in the eastern part of the county Clare, a reduction of 15 per cent. was allowed to those tenants who paid the last gale’s rent.
Mr. John Shaw, Mill View, Ennis, has besides allowing a whole gale’s rent to his tenants, made an abatement of 20 per cent. Major William Mill Moloney, D. L. Kiltannon, Tulla, has made a reduction varying from 15 to 25 per cent to his tenantry according to their wants.

12 Nov 1879: The Clare tenants of Captain O’Callaghan have refused to pay their rents unless a reduction equal to that given by other proprietors is granted. Mrs. Studdart’s and Mr. Bindon’s tenants adopted a similar course.
The recent death is announced of Michel Gibson, Esq., of Ballyvoe House, Ennis, at the ripe age of 73 years. He preserved through life an honourable and honest name.
The Right Rev. Dr. Ryan, Bishop of Killaloe, has promoted the Rev. P. M. O’Kelly, C. C., of Cooraclara, to the curacy of Castleconnell, county Limerick.

19 Nov 1879: The tenants, to the number of forty, on the estate of Mr.Henry French, Roscrea, the Kildysart District, on October 28th refused to pay their rent, as no reduction has been made by the landlord.
The extensive estates of the Marquis of Conyngham in Clare were to have been sold on November 14th. The Marquis is anxious that the tenants should purchase, and with that object has ordered that proposals shall be received from them by the examiner. If their offers come anything near the value they will be accepted. If not there will be a public sale.

26 Nov 1879: Dr. J. Ryan, Kildysert, has made a reduction of 25 per cent. to his tenants at Effernan; and in the case of the widow of Thomas McMahon, having seven children, he remitted a half-year’s rent. Major William Lynch has directed Mr. J. Brady to allow the tenants of his Belvoir estate, county Clare, an abatement on the year’s rent ending 1st November of 20 per cent.

3 Dec 1879: Mrs. Cohoun, of Corrig avenue, Kingstown, has granted, unsolicited, an abatement of 15 per cent of all rents payable 1st November on her Galway and Clare estates.

10 Dec 1879: Captain O’Moore Creagh, Bengal Staff Corps, who is to receive a Victoria Cross for gallanty in Afghanistan, in another name added to the list of Irishmen who have distinguished themselves during the recent campaign. He is the fourth son of the late Captain Creagh of Cahirbane, county Clare. He formerly served in the 95th regiment.

17 Dec 1879: Articles on Land Agitation, but no reports from counties.

24 Dec 1879: A farmer named Berry was found dead on December 4th, at Inchbridge, county Clare. It is stated that he was robbed of money whilst returning from a fair, and that his death is not due to agrarian causes.
Two thousand pounds has been granted by the Treasury to begin the improvements to the pier and harbour at Clare Castle.

31 Dec 1879: Mr. Richard Creagh, Dangan House, Clare, has remitted or reduced the rents of the tenantry on his estate 15 per cent.
The tenants on the Bella estate, the property of Jasper Robert Joly, Esq., Rathmines road, Dublin, have been remitted a half-year’s rent.

I found nothing in the Irish Canadian regarding the Tenants Rights meeting held in Ennis September 1879, as mentioned in the piece on the Bodyke evictions (https://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/cocla ... tators.htm), which I quoted in one of my replies above. I wonder if there is a report on it anywhere else.

Sheila

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