1836 - 1840 AD
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 Whig Colonial Secretary, although he admitted he had no first hand knowledge of the conditions that continued to prevail in Ireland.
The Westminster Parliament in England under the Whig Government pushed through legislation to found the R.I.C. / Royal Irish Constabulary to report to their Dublin Castle authorities in the Devil's 1/2 acre, 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 Tithes on behalf of the Ascendancy Church of England / Ireland.
Michael O Loughlin, was 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 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 force to be involved in the collection of the dreaded 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
decline in Ireland
until the advent of the future 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 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 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, creating no
chance of any employment.
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 now there were
20,000
Irish
in
Australia.
1837 AD Lord Audley, died, leaving 90,000 Pounds worth of Encumbrances on his 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"
Tithes
as a fixed rent charge, as
75%
of the Tithes were now to be
collected by the British Whig Government
's Lord Lieutenant
in Ireland, not the tenant, which still meant the
majority Catholic Irish and
the 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 the William IV the German Hanoverian British King, which at the same time dissolved the Sessions of the Westminster Parliament 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 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 Conservative Tory Prime Minister, which also meant that despite this reintroduced handicap to reduce democracy in Ireland the influence of the Ascendancy was by now in further decline there.
Because of the terrible conditions in Ireland still allowed to prevail all of the Secret Societies in Ireland were by this period in time bound in a common cause and personally connected with one another, and were now also known collectively as "Ribbonmen" and Daniel O Connell 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 rivalry of the Secret Societies in the rural areas, and these increased vocal outbursts by Daniel O Connell alarmed the Irish middle classes. Besides this uneeded aggravation a split was also beginning now 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 occur in Ireland, which was only to increase further in intensity as the years wore on.
The Lead mining at Clooney in Co. Clare in the north - west of the Munster Province reached it's peak this year.
As a further sign of a more relaxed change in Ascendancy Sectarianism in Ireland a Catholic Cathedral was also constructed this year in Tuam in Co. Galway in Southern Connacht.
1838 AD
Things were so bad in
Ireland that 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%.
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 to
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 any 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 Estates in
Ireland, and the other half by the
tenant farmers who were 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 Whig
Lord Lieutenant in Ireland to be able
to clear the tenant farmers 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 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, 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,
but 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
froze to death in the fields
and
Lord John Russell the British Home Secretary included the Workhouses with the
Poor Law Unions based on Baronies with a workhouse in every one paid for by a
Poor Law rate 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, and 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 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 their 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 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 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 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.
Daniel O Connell's
""lan of Campaign"
to withhold
rents,
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 this year.
Thomas Wyse was to become a Minister in the William Lamb / Melbourne 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 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 Immoral Union, as he got on well with William Lamb / Lord Melbourne the 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 Corporation in the Devil's 1/2 acre, and this meant that the overall total authority of the Ascendancy 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 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 that the Immoral Union was still 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, and he then released public addresses to the people of Ireland criticizing the policies being carried out in Ireland by the British Whig Imperial 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 attacks, fearing they would lose their previous gains, while the rural areas, due to the devastating circumstances taht they were still in, 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, 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 Whig Under - Secretary in Ireland, died, and his positive liberal attitude, which had held out against the authority of the hard - line Ascendancy was to die with him, 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 Wella 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 author, who was also a Christian Brother and a teacher, died this year, at only 37 years of age.
October: Thomas
Francis Meagher 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.