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