Ireland and the Land Question 1800-1922 by Michael J. Winstanley

Author:Michael J. Winstanley [Winstanley, Michael J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History
ISBN: 9781135835538
Google: aeXMByx1ZuMC
Goodreads: 8410170
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 1984-10-18T00:00:00+00:00

Social unrest and political mobilization

AGRARIAN OUTRAGES AND RURAL VIOLENCE

Rural Ireland and its apparent endemic violence has received far more attention than the English countryside despite the fact that this, too, was far from an untroubled society, with major outbreaks of collective protest in the southern and eastern counties in 1816 and 1830–1 and persistent, often malicious crimes against persons and property. Although there are numerous examples of Irish unrest before the famine, precise figures are not available until the police began to compile detailed records from the mid-1830s. From 1844 a separate record of ‘agrarian outrages’ was compiled, although the criteria for distinguishing these from other rural crimes always remained obscure. Homicides—legitimized in some eyes as ‘assassinations’—assaults and other ‘offences against the person’ attracted the most concern but formed only a small proportion of total outrages. More common were injuries to property—chiefly incendiarism and the maiming of animals—and general ‘offences against the public peace’, predominantly the sending of threatening letters. Although such crimes were to be found in England, they were usually the work of individuals acting independently; in Ireland they were generally perpetrated by sinister secret societies. These underground, locally based organizations seem to have enjoyed the complete loyalty which they demanded among significant sections of the rural community. Their exotic names—Shaunavests, Terry Alts, Rockites, Blackfeet, Molly Maguires, Whitefeet, Whiteboys—ritual initiation ceremonies and oath-taking, further alarmed the authorities.

The first outbreaks of Whiteboyism, a term which is commonly used to cover the activities of all such societies, occurred in the 1760s but activity and concern seem to have peaked as population pressures mounted during the 1820s and 1830s. Participants were invariably drawn from the poorer strata of society, not the completely destitute or landless, but the smallholding and cottier classes. The rural disturbances, however, were not equally prevalent throughout the country. In Connaught and Ulster, where smallholders were most numerous, outrages were less frequent than in the more commercially orientated, advanced provinces of Leinster and Munster. Within this region there were frequent sporadic outbursts of collective activity. From the mid-1830s to the famine, Tipperary enjoyed the dubious distinction of being considered the most violent county, but no one area retained its lead for long and all were affected at some stage. This suggests that unrest was not simply a natural consequence of a backward, poverty-stricken peasant society but a response to deliberately engineered changes which threatened the foundations of that society.

Unravelling the motives of these societies’ members, however, is far from easy. A few historians have suggested that their activities reflected the high spirits of the under-employed, adolescent age group, a large proportion of society during a period of population growth. Others have stressed the possibility of frequent family quarrels, especially over inheritances, which were bound to occur when access to land was so vital for survival. The recourse to collective intimidation by labourers and cottiers to assist negotiations with farmers over wages or conacre holdings cannot be ruled out; nor can the possibility of tenants’ concern over rent levels.

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