1841 - 1844 AD
Repeal of the Immoral Union - Evictions Begin.
1841 AD The Irish population was now at 8,175,124 with 50,000 to emigrate from Ireland over the next 3 years until 1844 AD, and only 1/5 of all the land holdings on the Land Lord confiscated Estates now exceeded 15 acres. (Of 1 - 5 acres there were 310,436 holdings (44.9%), (5 - 15 acres there were 252,799 holdings (36.6 %), (15 - 30 acres there were 79,342 holdings (11.5 %), (30 acres plus there were 48,625 holdings (7%). with the total number of "tenant farmers" on the confiscated Land Lord Estates in Ireland amounting to 691,202 all up together and with their families. 419,256 persons from out of the population in Ireland were now also in Britain, of whom 52 % where males. 202,420 people were now in Co. Kilkenny in the south - west of Southern Leinster, 850,000 people were in Co. Cork in Southern Munster with 41,000 of these were in the City of Cork itself situated on the River Lee, as it was now the "second" largest town in Ireland compared to Dublin.
9 British Imperial Government "prisons" had been constructed by the British Imperial Government in Ireland, with 5 of these full of Irishmen who owed 10 shillings or more, while some of the "families" in Ireland were living on plots of even less than one acre, and Lord Anglesley the British Imperial Lord Lieutenant in Ireland now decided to try to do what Daniel O Connell - the Liberator had proposed previously to the British Imperial Whig Government, which was to encourage the "tenant farmers" in Ireland and their families, who were still on the confiscated Land Lord Estates to "emigrate" to America. The land on which they were now trying to "survive" had been consistently subdivided by the needy and the greedy Land Lords at "higher rents," and more and more into too "small" a parcel of land to be able to physically "survive on" and they were by now basically relying solely on their "potato" crops to exist, which also involved the Meal Months, which were those periods "awaiting their harvest" in between the eating of the "old pots" and the digging of the new. The "potato" had thrived in the mild damp climate of Ireland and had produced well, even on marginal land, and it was easy to grow, and was also composed by now mainly of the "Lumper" variety, which was not as resistant as others to disease and the Meal Months usually involved a "six week" break in between the eating of the old, and the harvesting of the new crop, during which time they had to survive on any other foods they could either produce or find, such as eggs, fish, lard and oatmeal. During the many years since it had been introduced into Ireland beginning in 1580 AD, there had been "partial failures," which previously usually only lasted "one" Season, but that was to soon change drastically with the coming of the "Potato Blight" and the subsequent "total failure" of the potato crops, creating the "Great Famine" to come that would last for 4 years from 1845 - 1849 AD.
Charles Joseph Kickham's family was of recent English introduction into
Ireland,
but despite this he was to grow up to be a committed
future
revolutionary in
Ireland
who had
been born at Mullinahone in Co. Tipperary in
the north - east of the Munster Province,
and at this period in time he was
13 years of age
when his "eyesight" was to be "impaired" by an
explosion of gunpowder.
October:
The
"Young Irelanders"
began "politically" in Ireland who were originally
based on a "Historical Society" within a political debating club at Trinity
College in Dublin, that had previously been founded in 1744 AD by
Edmund Burke.
the well known "Statesman" of his time, and they
were now led by Thomas Davis, who had also been educated at Trinity College,
and they were for a "democratic" Irish Nation,
which was totally against what the British Imperial Government stood for,
and to this end they were to produce the
first edition this month of their own newspaper
"The Nation."
In desperation of conditions ever improving in Ireland for the "majority" of the population who were still under the "total control" of the British Imperial Government, Mac Hale, the Irish Catholic Archbishop of Tuam, in Co. Galway in Southern Connacht, publicly declared for the "Repeal of the Immoral Union," and he was now also supported by many of the other Catholic Bishops in Ireland and nearly all of the Catholic clergy, and this then also brought in the "rural agricultural areas" to the cause for the "Repeal of the Immoral Union." Daniel O Connell - the Liberator was to now concentrate on finally winning over the "middle classes," who were by now also wary of the chance of a new British Conservative Government in England and Michael Doheny / Ua Dubhchonna, from the Gaelic Ithian Corca Laoidhe Sept, another lawyer, also joined Daniel O Connell's Repeal Association, and a Repeal Rent was introduced in place of Daniel O Connell's previous "Tribute" to bring about the "Repeal of the Immoral Union," and the funds began to roll in once again to try and break the British Imperial Government's insipid overall "total control" over the lives of everyone in Ireland.
November:
Daniel O
Connell
- the Liberator was elected the
Lord Mayor of
Dublin, the
"first" of the
Catholic Irish
since the time of
James 11 the
Stuart Catholic King of England,
and he turned now once again to firmly concentrate on bringing about the Repeal
of the
Immoral Union,
due to the conditions imposed in the
"1840 AD Corporation Act" by
the British Imperial
Whig Government in England,
and in the General Elections for the
Westminster Parliament in England,
the "Whigs" were to be "defeated"
as expected, and replaced by the British
Imperial
Conservative Tories once again under
Sir Robert "Orange"Peel, which meant the
"end" of any
chance of
any type of "reform"
at all in Ireland, and only a handful of those
members there who had stood for the "Repeal of the
Immoral Union" were to be elected.
December:
Daniel O Connell - the Liberator was once again
the "leader" of what was now a very strong "Irish Association," but this time hel could not count on the
40 / - shilling /
2 pound Freeholders, as
Sir Robert "Orange" Peel, the British Conservative
Tory Government Prime Minister in England, "had previously" ensured that their right to vote
was taken away
from them, by increasing the right to vote to 10 pound, because of Daniel O Connell's success as the
"first" Catholic
Irish man to gain a seat in the British Westminster
Ascendancy Parliament.
John Blake - Dillon, a Catholic from the Co. Mayo / Co. Roscommon border region, a supporter of Daniel O Connell, was this year also called to the Bar.
Lead mining was discontinued altogether this year at Clooney in Co. Clare in the north - west of the Munster Province.
John Henry Newman who was the Ascendancy Church of England Vicar of St. Mary's at Oxford in England declared that the 39 articles of Tract XC had been interpreted "wrong" by the Ascendancy Church of England and was to subsequently become a Catholic priest, and later on a Cardinal, and was to make a great contribution to Irish Catholic "education" in Ireland in the future.
Charles Lenox Redmond visited Ireland and Daniel O Connell - the Liberator who was now the M.P. for Cork in Co. Cork in Southern Munster signed a "petition" calling on the Irish Commission to join the "Abolitionists."
A "monument" was erected this year to Sir Ralph Abercromby, at Rahievarran near Carrick Byrne Hill, 2 mile south east of the New Ross - Wexford road in Co. Wexford in the south - east of Southern Leinster, who had previously been the fair - minded commander of the British Military force before the "United Irishmen Uprising" in 1798 AD that had been stirred on by the ferocious British General Lake acting at that time for the British Imperial Tory Ascendancy Conservative Prime Minister William "Bottomless" Pitt - the Younger. Sir Ralph Abercromby had been the British Lord Lieutenant in Ireland, who had then also been removed by Pitt under the pleading of John "Black Jack""Fitz Gibbon the hard - line anti - Catholic and the British Government's main "Placeman" in Ireland, who had the gall to call him, "A Scottish Beast," for his outward show of "impartiality and humanity."
The
English ninth Earl of
Fingall constructed
Killeen Castle / An Cillin
(Little Church),
which was originally the site of an Anglo - Norman
Hugh de Lacy castle at
Killeen
in
Co. Clare in the north - west of
Munster.
1842 - 1848 AD During this period, the "Young Irelanders," who were made up of a group of basically "young well educated journalists" was to be founded by among others, John Mitchell a Unitarian lawyer, who had been born in 1815 AD in Co. Derry in the north - east of the Ulster Province, whose father had been initially a Presbyterian minister of the same name who had been associated with the United Irishmen in the 1790's who had left the "Orange Society / Order" as it was "dominated" by the hierarchy in the Presbyterian Church and he had become a Unitarian minister instead at Newry in Co. Down in the south - east of Ulster. There his son, John Mitchell had formed an association with another of their group, John Martin who was another well - educated non - Catholic from Co. Down, and they had both then been "educated" at Trinity College and joined in with Daniel O Connell's "Repeal of the Immoral Union Association" and also the "Young Irelanders," as did the well educated Charles Gavan Duffy from Co. Monaghan in Southern Ulster, a future successful "exile" to Australia who was to become the "Premier of Victoria." Thomas Davis was to be their "unofficial leader" until 1845 AD, who was to put forward the positive proposition that "You Must Educate To Be Free," who had also been educated at Trinity College, and their main aim was to "unite" non - Catholics and Catholics in Ireland to bring about an "Irish Nation" and Terence Bellew Mac Manus / Tairdelbach Mheic Maghnuis from the Heremonian Dal Cuinn Colla Da Crioch Maguire Sept who were in Co. Fermanagh in the south - west of Ulster joined in with them also.
1843 AD
500,000
from the population
in
Ireland
had by now also "emigrated"
to Britain.
January: In final desperation
of any real action by the British Imperial
Government in Ireland
Daniel O Connell
- the
Liberator,
came out and declared "publicly" to all and sundry that this was to be the year of
Ireland's
push for the "Repeal
of the
Immoral Union"
with England, and
de
Grey the British
Tory
Lord
Lieutenant in Ireland called on Sir
Robert "Orange" Peel
the Conservative
Tory
Imperial Prime Minister in England to
try and "stop" him from bringing it about.
May:
Sir Robert "Orange" Peel
was informed by Victoria the German Hanoverian British
Queen
to inform the
British Ascendancy House of Commons
of the views on
the "Immoral
Union" expressed by
William
IV
her uncle who was the previous German Hanoverian King,
and
Sir Robert "Orange"
Peel then informed the
Westminster
House of Commons that if it was necessary
there would be
Civil War before he would allow any
"Repeal
of the Immoral Union,"
which was exactly the opposite opinion previously given by
Wellesley
/ Lord Wellington to the
British
Ascendancy Conservative
House of Lords
due to the hue and cry at that time for
Catholic Emancipation. Sir Robert "Orange" Peel's only response was that he was going to bring in a
new British Arms Bill
and
increase the size of the
British Military forces in
Ireland.
Daniel O Connell
- the Liberator,
was
by now holding
many "meetings" on the
"Repeal
of the
Immoral Union," where the population
in Ireland gathered in their
"thousands" to hear him, and at which there
was "no violence," and this annoyed Sir
Robert "Orange" Peel and the
British Imperial Conservative Tory Government no end as
Daniel O Connell was also receiving "sympathy" for
the cause of
"Repeal of the
Immoral Union" from
other Countries also, especially revolutionary
"America" and "France," because
of the "terrible conditions" that were now effecting the population in
Ireland, and the lack of
"any sign of action" by the British Imperial Empire Government under the pretext of the
"Immoral Union"
to do something substantial about it.
Daniel O Connell was
now
feeling more compelled to act, especially due to the
masses of people in Ireland who now supported
the
"Repeal
of the Immoral Union.
June 11th:
Daniel O Connell - the Liberator feeling
even more confident then ever that the "Repeal of the Immoral Union" was on a roll, during a speech
at the
Mallow rally,
"defied" Sir Robert
"Orange" Peel's Conservative
Ascendancy Imperial Tory Government in England to try and "stop" the
ongoing public push now for
"Repeal"
by the "majority" of the population of
Ireland
to be able to follow their "own destiny.
August 15th: Daniel O Connell held another massive meeting on "Repeal of the Immoral Union" at Tara in Co. Meath in the south- east of Northern Leinster, on the site of the capital of the ancient Irish Kings of Ireland, where an estimated 750,000 people were in attendance, and where he was able to raise 1,200 pounds also for the Repeal Rent Fund.
August:
The Land Lords who held their confiscated Estates
in Ireland
were now forced by the British Imperial Government authorities in the
Dublin Castle
(The Devill's 1/2 Acre) to "pay" a rate for any of the land holdings on their Estates
that were valued at 4 pounds or less, which was previously
partly paid for by the "tenant farmers" themselves in
Ireland, and this also meant the Land Lords
were also now even more inclined "to get rid
of" those particular" tenant farmers" and their families, and take increased action
"to destroy their cabins."
(A single example of this occurring, was on
October 8th: Daniel O Connell had held 32 well attended "meetings" so far this year in Ireland for the "Repeal of the Immoral Union," and the British Imperial Tory Government's Dublin Castle (The Devill's 1/2 Acre) authorities were to now "ban" the meeting set down for Clontarf, the site of the victory of 105.Brian Boru over the invading "Vikings" in 1014 AD and Sir Robert "Orange" Peel the British Tory Conservative Prime Minister had ordered the British Lord Lieutenant in Ireland to declare the Clontarf meeting "illegal" and he had "proscribed" it at 3 p.m. the previous day and amassed British Imperial MIlitia and artillery in the Dublin Bay area. Seeing their preparations and fearing the Dublin Castle authorities would carry out "violence" against his followers, Daniel O Connell "called off" the meeting, although many people had showed up "days before" to attend, including over 1,500 exiles who had also returned from Britain to attend.
Sir Robert "Orange" Peel's Conservative Tory Imperial Government in England had also "threatened" to use British Military force against the population in Ireland if they attended, and British "warships" were to be brought into Clontarf and Daniel O Connell was to act in deference to their safety, while Terrence Bellew Mac Manus had chartered 4 steamers to bring "Repeal" supporters back from England, while Thomas Davis wondered would the British Imperial Government really "suppress" the Irish population with over 45,000 Irish in the British Army, but even after" calling it off," Daniel O Connell and his son, John O Connell and 7 others were "arrested" the next day, including Gavan Duffy, as traversers, and "prosecuted" them while Daniel O Connell ordered there was to be "no resistance" to the arrests.
The anti -
Corn Law League in
England, under the control of
John Bright and
Cobden, were also
using these same "democratic" methods to bring down the "imposed
high cost" of the "Corn Laws" there, but their
gatherings were still "allowed," while the "back down" by
Daniel O Connell in his personal confrontation
with the British Conservative Tory
Imperial Government
had now ruined his
previous "prestige" among the masses in Ireland
who were more then ready to show their opposition to the
"Immoral Union"
continuing on, and after he was
to be "released" from prison the
high prestige position that he had previously held with the general
population in
Ireland was never to reach such
"great heights again."
John Mitchell, the young Unitarian, who had been also educated at Trinity College, and was a member of the Repeal Association and for the Repeal of the Immoral Union who was to play a major part in the move for "Irish Independence," had once again received the British Conservative Tory Imperial Government's message loud and clear and was moved to state that, "There is no solution, save the edge of the sword."
Sir Robert "Orange""Peel the Conservative British Tory Imperial
Prime Minister in
England,
now feeling the further pressure of what was
really occurring in Ireland, finally appointed the
English Earl of Devon to inquire
into "relations" between the
Land Lords
on their confiscated Estates in Ireland and their
"tenant farmers."
The O Kiely / Keily / Ua Cadhla Sept of Ballysaggertmor in Lismore in Co. Waterford in the south - east of the Munster Province changed their name to the Anglo - Norman name of Ussher.
Glenveagh Castle
in
Co. Donegal in
the west of the Ulster Province, was constructed by
John Adair, which
was to be where he was to carry out the notorious
Glenveagh Evictions of all
of his "tenant farmers" in Ireland and their
families, which was to
also include the ancestors of
Henry
P. Mac Ilhenny / Kilkenny, who would return from
"America"
in future years, and in memory of his Heremonian Dal Cuinn
"northern"
Ui Niaill Cenel nEogain ancestors
and purchase the
24,000 acres of the Estate and donate it back to
the "people of
Ireland."
1844
AD Census - At this time, there were still 800,134
"tenant farmers" on the confiscated Land Lord Estates in Ireland, with
land holdings with a 1 - 3
pound charge per acre. Labourers were bound and unbound, a cabin and garden for
growing cabbage, cutting turf, collecting manure and running a pig, 4d to
8d per day was
paid for labourers,
women 3d to 4d per day.
Conacre was 2 -
10 Pounds, potatoes usually 6
ton per acre @ 2/6 per cwt.
This year, 254 rural outrages were recorded in the "agricultural" areas in Co. Tipperary in the north - east of the Munster Province, 1/4 of the whole of Ireland, 32 were in Co. Cork in Southern Munster alone, and the "destitute" families in Ireland now turned to the "Poor Union," and this saw a further increase in the "Poor Rates" imposed, and it was now generally accepted that "emigration" was to be the only answer if you could "find" the necessary amount with rates at 3 Pounds to go to Canada, with children 1 - 2 Pounds being the going rate in Co. Cork on Lord Midleton's Estate during 1840's, whose agent Thomas Foley was pushed on by his London solicitor, as it seemed to be the least objectionable to all those involved. The English Earl of Kingston who had previously secured the Heberian Eoghanacht O Mahony territory did the same to Upper Canada with 20 - 50 Pounds a family.
January: One of the results of the previous "arrest" of Daniel O Connell - the Liberator and his Repeal group, was that William - Smith O Brien, the non - Catholic Land Lord who had his cofiscated Estate in Co. Limerick, would join the Repeal of the Immoral Union also although his mother remonstrated against him for doing so and he would then chair a meeting for the Repeal of the Immoral Union personally at Conciliation Hall involving the most esteemed and visible non - Catholics in Ireland who were also interested in bringing this result about.
February: The 4 judges appointed to the case against Daniel O Connell - the LIberaor and his group all directed the non - Catholic "jury" to find Daniel O Connell "guilty", and the Repeal of the Immoral Union group were sentenced to 12 months imprisonment, but were to be "released on bail" pending their sentence and he then held a meeting and called for "calm. "
May 30th: Daniel O Connell - the Liberator who was by now 69 year old who was actually an "Irish Patriot" not a "Nationalist" was sentenced to 1 year in prison, and a fine of 2,000 Pounds by the British Imperial Tory Government's Dublin Castle (The Devill's 1/2 Acre) authorities for "Conspiring to excite disaffection," by intending to hold the previous open meeting at Clontarf in Ireland for the democratic Repeal of the Immoral Union, that had brought so much more unbelievable "misery" on Ireland already, let alone what was to lie ahead, while Gavan Duffy and the others in the group were sentenced to 9 months imprisonment and put in Richmond Jail and as a result "The Nation" newspaper came out printed in green ink
August:
Under further pressure now
Sir Robert "Orange" Peel
the Ascendancy Conservative British Imperial Tory Prime Minister in England bought in a
"Board of Charitable
Requests" to replace the previous total non - Catholic
"body" that had been set up in 1800
AD, which included
13
Commissioners of which he now intended that
5 of
these were "to be" Irish
Catholics and of these
5,
3 of them were to be Irish
Catholic Bishops, including
William Crolly
/ Crilly
the Catholic Bishop of
Armagh
in the
Ulster Province,
Daniel Murray
the Catholic
Bishop of
Dublin
in
Southern
Leinster,
and
Cornelius Denvir
/ de Anver
the Catholic
Bishop of Down & Conner also in Ulster.
September: Richard Longfield, a Land Lord at Kanturk in Co. Cork in Southern Munster this month "evicted" 96 tenants and their families from off of his confiscated Estates.
September 13th: Some common sense prevailed for once, and Daniel O Connell's sentence and that of his followers was "quashed" by the "unelected" British House of Lords on Appeal, and they were set free the next morning, but Daniel O Connell was upset by the whole affair and together with his son, John he was now more inclined to forget about Repeal of the Immoral Union and move instead for "direct" Irish Home Rule altogether, but still under the auspices of the British Imperial Government, but this "did not sit too well" with the emerging "Young Irelanders," who were for an "Irish Nation" and total Irish Independence to chart their "own destiny" in Ireland, and Thomas Francis Meagher who was one of their Irish Catholic supporters now became "more prominent" in the Repeal Association.
William
Smith - O Brien, the
Anglo - Irish
Land Lord who was also for an "Independent Ireland,"now joined the
Repeal Association
to voice his opinion, while the "Young Irelanders"
expressed their opinions in
"The Nation"
newspaper, that,
Ascendancy
power was so strong that "Irish
Nationality" could not be achieved without
an "Independent Ireland"
while
James Blake -
Dillon, an Irish
Catholic lawyer, handed over the editorship of the paper to their leader,
Thomas Davis
September:
Sir
Robert "Orange"
Peel,
the British Conservative Tory Imperial Prime Minister in England, was now desperate to
recapture
the "support" of the upper and middle classes in
Ireland from the clutches of
Daniel O Connell, but
de Grey, his
appointed Lord Lieutenant in
Ireland,
put a damper on his intentions when he informed him that the "people of
Ireland
were now united" against
the British Imperial Government in England, and there was now
"nothing that could be done to win them
over," and his instant reaction was to immediately remove
de
Grey and put in
Lord Heytesbury,
who was more "liberal" in his attitude in an endeavour to try and
bring about some further "conciliation" while warning him to
watch out for the "negativity" of the
Ascendancy in Ireland.
William Crawford,
a Land Lord from
Co.
Down in the south - east of the Ulster Province,
put forward a scheme, which he called
"Federalism,"
which included an "Irish Parliament" to oversee
local affairs in Ireland,
while leaving the overall authority of the
Country with the
Westminster Parliament, where the
Irish M.P.s
would still attend, and as
Daniel O Connell
was desperate to achieve some sought of
"Irish"
control over their own lives in
Ireland, came out in
"support" of it instead of
"Repeal of the Immoral
Union,"
which was causing problems with the Peel
Conservative
Tory
Imperial Government still in England, but he was then
"attacked verbally" by the
"Young Irelanders"
in
The Nation
newspaper for
doing so and
he turned once again towards
Repeal of the Immoral Union.
Daniel O Connell's
Repeal
of the Immoral Union
was now the "only"
Constitutional way to achieve his goal for the population in
Ireland, to gain some say over their lives, but to the
impatient "Young
Irelanders," if it was not soon granted, they would be
"willing to fight and die" to achieve it.
Father Theobold Mathew,
who was originally of English origins, and who was from Thomastown in
Co. Tipperary in the north - east
of the
Munster Province, at this time was still working on his
"Temperance" mission, with meetings in Cork,
Dundalk, Dublin, Navan,Tara and
Wexford and he would eventually be able to
get "one half" of the adult people of
Ireland to
take the "Pledge" and was
to also to take
his campaign to England and America.