1836 - 1840 AD

                                                                                                                                    Ribbonmen - Enforced Tithe Act - Poor Law - Repeal.

1836 AD A foundation stone for St. Kieran's College was laid this year in Kilkenny City in Co. Kilkenny in the south - west of Southern Leinster.

    Patrick O Kennedy from the Heberian Dal gCais Ui Bloid Ui Turlogh Sept was consecrated as the Bishop of Killaloe in Co. Clare in the north - west of the Munster Province. 

January: George Nicholls, one of the "Poor Law Commissioners" in England, produced a plan for a Poor Law also for Ireland for Lord John Russell the British Imperial "Whig" Colonial Secretary, although he admitted he had "no first hand knowledge" of the conditions that continued to prevail  in Ireland.

     The British  Westminster Parliament in England under the Imperial "Whig" Government pushed through legislation to found the R.I.C. / Royal Irish Constabulary to report to their Dublin Castle (The Devil's 1/2 Acre) authorities based on the previous ideas of Sir Robert "Orange" Peel, due to the present force of Government Police who "enforced" the resented "collection" of the "Enforced Tithes" on behalf of the Ascendancy Church of England / Ireland.

    Michael O Loughlin, was now appointed as the Baron of the Exchequer, becoming the "first" Irish Catholic since the time of James 11 the Stewart Catholic King of England, along with other barristers to similar positions and Daniel O Connell - the Liberator was offered the position of "Master of the Rolls," but refused the position.

      Thomas Drummond the British Imperial "Whig" Under - Secretary in Ireland had a "Constabulary Act" passed for Ireland, setting up a "National Force" where Irish Catholics were encouraged to join, and "impartial" magistrates were now appointed, who "were not" subject to the Land Lords and the political prejudices of the latent Ascendancy, and he also introduced "unpaid" magistrates who represented the Irish Catholics and Liberal non - Catholics, and removed any others who were suspected of "sectarianism" and then tried to eradicate the "exclusion" of Irish Catholics from the juries, and would not allow any of the British Military forces to be involved in the collection of the dreaded "Enforced Tithes" or ejection orders.           

     James Hume, an English "Radical," attacked the "Orange Society / Order," and the "Grand Lodge" dissolved itself, and the Orange Society / Order now went into "decline" in Great Britain, but continued to maintain it's previous Ascendancy strength in Ireland, especially in the Ulster Province were it still had great "political influence," but Thomas Drummond the British Under - Secretary in Ireland was now "determined" that he would break it's hold in Ireland also, and it was then to go into further bdecline in Ireland until the advent in the future of the push for Irish Home Rule in the 1880's.

August: The Commission set up in Ireland to inquire into the introduction of a "Poor Law" in Ireland, under the auspices of the Ascendancy Church of England Archbishop Whateley, who personally had "no time" for either the Irish or Ireland, had finally reported back after 3 years indicating that the introduction of "Public Works" was what was required, which would develop the natural resources of Ireland, and especially assist those who were by now after this long time "absolutely destitute," but despite introducing what could have been a "positive" approach for all involved, instead George Nicholls the Poor Law Commissioner in England was personally sent to Ireland for 9 weeks. He decided instead to extend the Poor Law that was in use in England into Ireland, although the "test" to enter the "Workhouses" was to be unsuitable for the conditions that were by now prevailing in Ireland, where the "main cause" was due to the constant "drain off of monies" that had been produced in Ireland, being sent to England, creating no chance of "any employment" in Ireland.

     Thomas "Fireball" Mac Namara, from Co. Clare in the north west of the Munster Province, was at this time convicted of "robbery" and subsequently "hung," and was then interred in Quin Abbey in Co. Clare.

    By this period in time 20,000 Irish were now in Australia.

1837 AD Lord Audley, died, leaving 90,000 Pounds worth of "Encumbrances" on his confiscated Estates in Skibbereen and Skull in Co. Cork in Southern Munster.

     In a report on the State of the "destitute" in Ireland it was concluded that 2,385,000 people were already in a state of "semi - starvation" due to the lack of any "opportunities" to obtain employment. 

    The Ascendancy Church of England / Ireland "Tithe Act" was passed to try and "collect" and assess the "Compulsory Enforced Tithes" as a "fixed rent" charge, as 75% of the Tithes were now to be collected by the British Imperial Whig Government's Lord Lieutenant in Ireland, not the "tenant," which still meant the "majority" Catholic Irish and other "Dissenters" and "non - Conformists" were still being forced to continue to support the coffers of the various members in authority of the Ascendancy Established Church of England "minority."

February: The first reading of a Poor Law Bill was introduced into the Westminster Parliament for use in Ireland, but it was "held up" because of the death of William IV the German Hanoverian British King, which at the same time "dissolved" the Westminster Parliament,Sessions and to "maintain" the Ascendancy control in Britain, once again a 19 Y.O. German girl, Victoria, was put in as the Hanoverian British Queen in a further attempt by the British Ascendancy Establishment to maintain the Ascendancy status quo.

      An Ordinance Survey was carried out, but it was soon "closed down," as it was considered that "it pandered" too much to the Irish National spirit.

    Daniel O Connell  - the Liberator was able to secure the Kilkenny Borough in Co. Kilkenny in the south - west of Southern Leinster for Joseph Hume after he had been defeated in Middlesex in England, although the 40 / - shilling / 2 pound Freeholders had previously had their right to vote "taken away" by Sir Robert "Orange" Peel the British Imperial Conservative Tory Prime Minister, which also meant that despite this reintroduced handicap to once again "reduce democracy" in Ireland the overall influence of the Ascendancy was by now in "further decline" in Ireland. 

   The "Secret Societies" in Ireland because of the terrible conditions that were still allowed to prevail in Ireland were by this period in time once again bound in a "common cause" and personally connected with one another, and were now also known collectively as "Ribbonmen" and Daniel O Connell - the Liberator who was always pushing to bring about "peaceful democracy" in Ireland, was now being forced to use "stronger" language then he would have usually used, to try and outbid the "growing appea"l and therefore rivalry of the "Secret Societies" in the rural areas who were also assisting the "tenants" in the only way that was open to them. These increased "vocal outbursts" by Daniel O Connell - the Liberator known previously for his "peaceful democratic approach" alarmed the Irish middle classes and with this uneeded "aggravation" a split was also beginning to occur with his "other allies, the "Young Irelanders" who were becoming more and more "impatient" with the whole "negative democratic" process that was still allowed to continue on in Ireland, which was only to "increase" further in intensity as the years were to go by. 

   The Lead mining at Clooney in Co. Clare in the north - west of the Munster Province reached it's peak this year.

    A Catholic Cathedral was also constructed this year in Tuam in Co. Galway in Southern Connacht as a further sign of a more relaxed change and depreciation of Ascendancy sectarianism in Ireland.

   A Colonial Bounty System was introduced this year to try and assist intending "immigrants" to migrate out of Ireland.

1838 AD A "Tithe Computation Bill" was passed in the British Westminster Parliament to reduce the "Enforced Tithes" to the Ascendancy Church of England / Ireland by 25%  as the situation in Ireland by now was so desperate.

April 10th: Father Theobold Matthew began his "temperance" campaign in Ireland for the population to take the "Pledge" to restrict alcohol consumption.

July 31st: The Irish Poor Relief Act was finally introduced, after Royal Assent, and the "unsuitable" system that was used in England, for the really "destitute" there, was now "extended" into Ireland, where the basic problem was really the "drain of money" out of Ireland by the "Absentee Land Lords" that created an overall lack of any "opportunity" to obtain employment, and by 1845 AD Ireland was to be divided into 130 Unions, with the individual Workhouses controlled by Guardians for "Indoor Relief" only, and there was to be a "levy" imposed, with "half" to be paid by the Land Lords who had confiscated Estates in Ireland, and the other "half" by the "tenant farmers" who were also on their Estates in Ireland. There had been no Poor Law previously in Ireland, but the "increase" in the population made it impossible to continue on any further without one that would "give power" to the British Imperial Whig Lord Lieutenant in Ireland to be able to "clear off the tenant farmers" and their "families" from the Land Lords' vast Estates. The conditions to enter these Workhouses in Ireland were very "strict" and were to become the "last resort for a "starving" desperate people, with the women to be involved in knitting, and the men in breaking stones, instead of actual "outdoor Public Works," which would have been more constructive, positive, healthier and open to less chance of "Disease" occurring, due to what became the "solitary confinement" of so many destitute human beings into "one place." Added to this the "food" they were to receive was to be of a very "poor" standard, and the "accommodation" was to be excessively "cramped, cold and damp," and thousands were to die within these Workhouses, while those who were to be "denied" admission, were to die outside the Workhouses. Daniel O Connell - the Liberator was "against" this particular Relief Bill, as what he really wanted was further Government assistance "to emigrate" instead, and also the introduction of "Public Works" to be paid for by those who were really causing the economic problem in Ireland, as a tax on the "Absentee - Land Lords" as they were one of the "main causes" of the lack of employment occurring in Ireland due to the vast amount of revenue that was produced in Ireland, and "sent" over to England to be spent there. Just as this unwise Workhouse Law was begun to be put into practise in Ireland, great "Famine" also arrived, as a truly terrible Winter came this year with the snow covering the cottages completely, and it was so bad that many of the "cattle" also were to "freeze to death" in the fields, and Lord John Russell the British Home Secretary included the Workhouses in with the Poor Law Unions that were based on Baronies with a workhouse in every one that was to be paid for by a Poor Law rate that was "levied" on the Land Lords and their "leaseholders."

     Thomas Davis the "Young Irelander" leader, who had put forward the proposition that, "You must educate to be Free," was called to the Bar, while Father Theobold Mathew pledged to make "Temperance Reform" a National issue.

   Lecky was now to become the greatest Irish "historian" until 1903 AD.

   Lord George Hill purchased 23,000 acres in Gweedorf in Co. Donegal in the west of the Ulster Province where he "went against" the usual trend by introducing "tenant reform" on his own volition.

   A Land Lord was "killed" in Co. Tipperary in the north - east of the Munster Province, but this time the forward thinking Thomas Drummond who was still the British Whig Under - Secretary went against previous policy and "placed the blame" on the Land Lords themselves and the insidious "treatment" they continued to metre out to the struggling "tenant farmers" and their "families" in Ireland.

   Another "Tithe Bill" was passed, to make the Land Lords themselves more "directly" responsible for the "Enforced Tithes" payable to the Ascendancy Church of England / Ireland, while two more negative events occurred, when the intended Bill to appropriate the "Tithe Revenue" had been abandoned, and the British Imperial Whig Government had also "not reformed" the Municipal Corporations in Ireland, as they had done in England and Scotland, much to the dismay of Daniel O Connell - the Liberator who then decided to set up the "Society of Precursors" to once again prepare for Repeal of the Immoral Union. 

   The Sirius was the "first steamer" to cross the Atlantic Ocean this year when she sailed from Passage West in Co. Cork in Southern Munster in 18 1/2 days to America.

   The Thomond Bridge over the River Shannon from Co. Clare in to Co. Limerick in the mid - north - west of the Munster Province was "replaced."

   John Butler became the English twentieth Earl of Ormonde in Co. Kilkenny in the south - west of Southern Leinster until 1854 AD, who was the son of James the nineteenth Earl of Ormonde.

    Sir Robert "Orange" Peel the Ascendancy Tory Conservative Imperial Prime Minister in England set up the Queen's College in the Ulster Province as "non - denominational" and Lord John Russell the British Colonial Secretary supported  Peel's Irish Policy and the "repeal" of the Corn Laws, but Peel was to resign after only a few weeks in office.

   William Lamb the second Viscount Melbourne was to be the new British Imperial Whig Prime Minister once more until 1841 AD.

     Daniel O Connell - the Liberator's "Plan of Campaign" was to "withhold the rents" from the Land Lords until something concrete was done to improve the situation for the "tenant farmers," and it upset one particular Land Lord in Ireland, who controlled Tipperary Town in Co. Tipperary in the north - east of the Munster Province and he fought back, so they "shifted" the town off of his property, which worked for a while, but it eventually "failed" and they had to return it to its original site.

1839 AD The Poor Law Union Guardians in Ireland were finally "elected" to their positions this year.

   Thomas Wyse was to become a Minister in the William Lamb / Melbourne Imperial Whig Government in England until 1841 AD, and a Committee was set up in the "unelected" British Conservative House of Lords to gather evidence on the state of Ireland who somehow naturally managed to find the situation there "was the best it had ever been."

   Daniel O Connell - the Liberator was now willing to give up his actions in regard to Repeal of the Immoral Union, if Ireland was to be treated as an "equal" with Great Britain under the auspices of the Immoral Union, as it should have been as he also got on well with William Lamb / Lord Melbourne the Imperial Whig Prime Minister of Britain.  

   Eugene O Curry the Irish "historian," from the Heberian Dal gCais Sept in Co. Clare in the north - west of the Munster Province copied the "Book of Lismore" this year.

1840 AD The population in Ireland was now up to 8,200,000 with 4 / 5ths of the people depending on "agriculture" to sustain them, as Ireland was now the most "densely" populated country in Europe, and with such growth in the population and the lack of employment due to the continuing "unbalanced economic" situation, the chances of a great disaster were in the making as the "potato crop" was also to fail 3 more times up until 1844 AD.  

     The Municipal Reform Bill / Corporations Act  was passed, and ratepayers were finally allowed to "elect" members to what was only previously an Ascendancy enclave in the Dublin Castle (The Devill's 1/2 Acre) Corporation, and this meant that the overall total authority of the Ascendancy in Ireland was now under "further pressure," but despite this it was made much "more restrictive" then it was in England, as in Ireland you still had to have 10 pounds worth of property to get the right to vote and to ensure that there would be no Irish Catholic "majority" control over the "Corporations" 58 of them were "dissolved," and the Borough administration was "merged" with the Counties to "reduce" the numbers available there also. Of the 10 that were left these were also "reconstructed" and replaced by elected councils, which included 2 in Belfast and Derry in the Ulster Province, 4 in Clonmel in Co. Tipperary, Cork in Co. Cork in Southern Munster, Limerick in Co. Limerick and Waterford in Co. Waterford also in the Munster Province. 3 in Drogheda in Co. Louth, Dublin in Co. Dublin and Kilkenny in Co. Kilkenny in Southern Leinster, and 1 in Sligo in Co. Sligo in the north - west of the Connacht Province. The whole re - organization proved beyond any shadow of a doubt to Daniel O Connell - the Liberator that the Immoral Union was still to be nothing but a "sham" carried out on the Irish population, and William Lamb / Lord Melbourne's Whig Ministry was to only survive for another year.

   Daniel O Connell now began the "National Repeal Association," to bring about "Independence" for Ireland, and was "elected" to the Repeal Parliamentary Committee who produced the "Pilot" newspaper. He had his offices in Merrion Square in Dublin, and John Blake - Dillon joined up with him, and he then released public addresses to the people of Ireland "criticizing" the policies being carried out in Ireland by the British Imperial Whig Government in England, and the actual devastating results that were continuing to be brought about by the previous introduction of the Immoral Union. The middle classes in Ireland at first were "upset" by his personal attacks, fearing they would "lose" their previous gains, while in the rural areas, due to the "devastating circumstances" that still prevailed there, showed hardly any interest at all, and his push for the Repeal of the Immoral Union seemed to be in big trouble. 

   The "Enforced Tithe" tax payable to the Ascendancy Church of England / Ireland was "reduced" on the "tenant farmers" and their "families" in Ireland, which was a positive for all involved in the continuing harshness of it , but the hard - liners in the Ascendancy only saw this "further relief reform" as a concession to the Irish Catholics.

April: Thomas Drummond the progressive British Imperial Whig Under - Secretary in Ireland, died, and with him his "positive liberal attitude," which had held out against the authority of the hard - line Ascendancy, which showed what a difference one fair and reasonable person could make to the overall scheme of things, as under his leadership a more "open" change had occurred in Ireland generally.

   St. Patrick's Cathedral another Irish Catholic Institution was to be under construction in Armagh in Co. Armagh the south - east of the Ulster Province until 1873 AD with the "pence" provided by Irish Catholics all throughout the World and it was to be built on the site were St. Patrick had released the fawn, as the original Catholic St. Patricks Church there had been taken over during the "confiscation" of the Catholic Church Institutions under Henry V111 and had been first used as a fort, then wrecked, and then repaired, then burnt, and then repaired over the Centuries. There was by now 1 Catholic priest to every 3,000 of the Irish people, and 1 Catholic nun to every 6,500 of the Irish people. 

   The "Colonial Bounty System" to assist "immigrants" to emigrate to Australia was revised this year for agricultural labourers. female domestics, farm servants, shepherds and tradesmen, with a married man under 40 years of age and his wife entitled to 38 pounds, with 5 pounds for children 1-2 years of age, 10 pounds for children between 7 - 13 years of age and 15 pounds if above 15 years of age, while unmarried females were entitled to 19 pounds assistance if aged from 15 - 30 years, if they were with a married couple or family. 

    Edmund Blake at this time was to be the last Mayor of Galway City in Co. Galway in Southern Connacht where he held the "Sword and Mace" belonging to the City, which was to be eventually purchased by the newspaper multi - millionaire, William Randolph Hearst in America, and would be returned to Galway after his death in 1960 AD.

     St. Gobnat's statuette 27" long, previously used for healing, was given over for safe keeping by the Heberian O Herlihys, the previous Irish Chiefs of the territory there, to their parish priest at Ballyvourney in Co. Cork in Southern Munster, were there is also her "Holy Well," and  5 artefacts of these statuettes still exist, including one of St. Maol Ruan who had been the Bishop of Tallaght in Dublin, St. Molma of Killaloe in Co. Clare, St. Mo - Cheallog and St. Molaisse who had been the Abbot of Innis Murray, in the National Museum.

     Gerald Griffin the well known "author," who was also a Christian Brother and a teacher, died this year, at only 37 years of age.  

October: Thomas Francis Meagher / Maher who was now 17 year old was sent by his father, to be educated at the Jesuit College in Lancashire, that had been founded there by leading "northern" English Catholics, which was also attended by French and Spanish pupils.     

     At this time Lord Anglesley was the British Lord Lieutenant in Ireland.

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