1841 - 1844 AD

1841 AD The Irish population was now at 8,175,124 with 50,000  emigrating from Ireland for the next 3 years until 1844 AD, and only 1/5 of all the land holdings on the Land Lord 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 Land Lord Estates in Ireland amounting to 691,202 all up together 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 in the City of Cork 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 Irish men who owed 10 shillings or more, while some of the families in Ireland were living on plots of less than one acre, and Lord Anglesley the British Lord Lieutenant in Ireland now decided to try to do what Daniel O Connell "The Liberator" had proposed previously to the British Whig Government, which was to encourage the tenant farmers in Ireland and their families, who were still on the 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 since 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 that would last for 4 years from 1845  - 1849 AD.    

    Charles Joseph Kickham's family was of recent English introduction in Ireland, but despite this he was to grow up to be a committed future revolutionary in Ireland and he had been born at Mullinahone in Co. Tipperary in the north - east of the Munster Province and at this 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 of their own newspaper "The Nation" this month.

    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 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 of Repeal of the Immoral Union. Daniel O Connell "The Liberator" was to now concentrate on finally win 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 Ithian Corca Laoidhe Sept, who was also a 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 gain 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 control over the lives of everyone in Ireland.    

November: Daniel O Connell was elected the Lord Mayor of Dublin, the first of the Catholic Irish since the time of James 11 the Stewart 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 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 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. Sir Robert  "Orange" Peel was to be the Conservative Tory Prime Minister in England from now until 1846 AD, and Daniel O Connell could not ware him at all, as previously he was known to him as Robert "Orange" Peel and had to be forced to support Wellesley's / Lord Wellington's measure for the Irish Catholic right to vote, against his will. Sir Robert "Orange" Peel would eventually resign in 1846 AD after the introduction of the Corn Laws, where he was to be then defeated in the Westminster Parliament on the "Irish Question" by the Whigs who Daniel O Connor was to support in anticipation that they would bring in further reform in Ireland.

December: Daniel O Connell was once again the leader of what was now a very strong "Irish Association," but this time he still 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, because of Daniel O Connell's success as the first Catholic Irish man to gain a seat in the British Westminster Ascendaqncy Parliament.   

      John Blake - Dillon, a Catholic from the Co. Mayo / Co. Roscommon border region, who was 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 who was now the M.P. for Cork 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 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 auspices of John ""lack Jack""Fitz Gibbon the hard - line anti - Catholic and his 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.

1841 - 1851 AD During this period, 360,000 families in Ireland where to be cleared off of the Land Lord's Estates, with 81% of those in the Ulster Province, 74% of those in the Connacht Province, 69 % of those in the Munster Province, and 62% of those in the Leinster Province.

1842 AD October 15th: Thomas Davis, who was 5 years older then Thomas Francis Meagher, and a non - Catholic lawyer, together with John Blake - Dillon a Catholic from the Co. Mayo / Co. Roscommon border area who had been educated at Maynooth and Trinity, along with Charles Gavin Duffy from Co. Monaghan produced the newspaper, "The Nation," calling on all Catholics and non - Catholics in Ireland to respond to their call for Irish Independence from the oppression of the British Imperial Government and their first 12,000 copies of "Clear The Way" / Faugh a Ballagh, sold out. Michael Doheny a Co. Tipperary lawyer was one of those who wrote articles for ""The Nation" under the pen name of Eirennach 'Irishman.

     John Henry Newman, resigned his position in the Ascendancy Church of England as the Vicar at St. Marys at Oxford.

   Classiebawn Castle was constructed by Lord Palmerston at Mulaghmore in Co. Sligo in the north - west of the Connacht Province.

   The Irish Hierarchaeological Society was founded by members of the Landed Gentry who had their Estates in Ireland,

1842 - 1846 AD During this period, in able to survive, many in the population in Ireland, were just not going to lie down and let their families starve, and because of this 20,000 people in Ireland were to be charged with various offences by the British Ascendancy Tory Conservative's Dublin Castle authorities, under Sir Robert "Orange" Peel and as the overall conditions were to worsen even more in the future under the continuing Immoral Union these figures were to naturally increase substantially with the coming of the Great Famine from 1845 - 1849 AD and the usual negative attitude of the British Conservative Governments.

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 Daniel O Connell's Repeal of the Immoral Union Association and also the "Young Irelanders," as did 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 - Catholic and Catholics in Ireland for an Irish Nation and Terence Bellew Mac Manus / Tairdelbach Mac 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. 

1843 AD 500,000 from the population in Ireland had by now also emigrated to Britain.

   In a further return of some type of normalcy to everyday life in Ireland, and the continuing overall Ascendancy declining position in Ireland, the construction of St. Mary's Cathedral in Kilkenny City in Co. Kilkenny in the south - west of Southern Leinster was also begun this year.

    The devastating Potato Blight / An Dubhchan a fungus known as Phytophthora Infestans, that had occurred in the USA had by now spread to Belgium, which was to be the secondary cause of bringing about the loss of 1,000,000 lives in Ireland from 1845 AD - 1849 AD and create the great Irish Diaspora to come. 

January: In desperation 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 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, Sir Robert "Orange" and he 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 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 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, 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 its Repeal. Thomas Francis Meagher also returned to Dublin, and joined in with Daniel O Connell's National Repeal Association.

June 11th: Daniel O Connell feeling more confident then ever that Repeal of the Immoral Union was on a roll, during a speech at the Mallow rally, defied Sir Robert "Orange" Peel's Conservative Ascendancy Tory Government in England to try and stop the ongoing public push now for Repeal by the majorityn of the population of Ireland 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, were an estimated 750,000 people in attendance, and where he was able to raise 1,200 pounds also for the Repeal Rent Fund.

August: The Land Lords who held Estates in Ireland were now forced by the British Imperial Government authorities in the Dublin Castle 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 the Foote Estate alone this year in Co. Cork in Southern Munster where  167 tenants and their families were evicted and in response the "Molly Maguires" were to formed by young men who dressed up as women and roughed up those who were sent to collect the rent.

 October 8th: Daniel O Connell had held 32 well attended meetings so far this year in Ireland for Repeal of the Immoral Union, and the British Imperial Tory Government's Dublin Castle 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 troops 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 returned from Britain to attend.

     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 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 who was to play a major part in the move for Irish Independence, had once again received the British Conservative Tory Government's message loud and clear and was moved to state that, "There is no solution, save the edge of the sword."

   John Devoy / Seaan Ua Dubhuidhe who was descended from one of The 7 Gaelic Milesian Septs of Laois / Co. Laois, who was born this year, was another who would play a major role in the future of Irish history, by giving his whole life to the cause of Irish Independence, not only in Ireland, but especially later on in America where in exile he was able to continue to sustain the call for Irish Freedom, from the ongoing oppressive grip still of the various future British Imperial Governments.

     Sir Robert "Orange""Peel the Conservative British Tory Imperial Prime Minister in England, now feeling the further pressure of what was occurring in Ireland, finally appointed the English Earl of Devon to inquire into relations between the Land Lords on their Estates in Ireland and their tenant farmers.       

    This year 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 Dal Cuinn "northern" Ui Niaill Cenel nEogain ancestors 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 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. The Conacre was a system where the ground was temporarily hired out to grow a crop. The majority of the people in Ireland were still speaking the Irish language at this time. Trinity College was now open to non - Catholics and Catholics who turned to the ideals of the "United Irishmen" and Theobold Wolfe - Tone.

     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 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 and his Repeal group, was that  William - Smith O Brien, the non - Catholic Land Lord who had his 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 the Repeal.

February: The 4 judges appointed to the case against Daniel O Connell 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 released on bail pending their sentence and he then held a meeting and called for calm. 

May 30th: Daniel O Connell 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 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 misery on Ireland already, let alone what was lie ahead while Gavan Duffy and the others in the group were sentenced to 9 months imprisonment and put in Richmond Jail. The Nation newspaper came out printed in green ink

August: Under further pressure now Sir Robert "Orange" Peel the Conservative British Tory Ascendancy 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 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 move 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 Irish Independence to chart their own destiny in Ireland, and Thomas Francis Meagher 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 opinion 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 the poet who continued to put forward the proposition that "You must educate to be free."

September: Sir Robert "Orange" Peel, the British Conservative Tory 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.

October: This month the English Earl of Kenmare, evicted 230 of his tenants and their families from off of his Estate in Ireland, with another 70 to go later on.           

     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 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 Government 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. To Daniel O Connell's  Repeal of the Immoral Union was now the only Constitutional way to achieve his goal for the population in Ireland, 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 also to take his campaign to England and America.  

    The British Conservative Tory Imperial Government's Dublin Castle authorities this year had sent a 700 British Military force and RIC police to collect the Poor Tax in Co. Galway in the Connacht Province, while in Co. Mayo they sent a warship, 2 cruisers, 2 companies of their 69th Military Regiment, a troop of the 10th Military Hussars, 50 R.I.C police, 2 inspectors and 2 magistrates and it was costing more to try and collect the insipid Tax then they were getting in return, let alone the disruption, misery and disaffection carried out on the population in Ireland. Sir Charles Wood / Lord Halifax the British Conservative Government's Chancellor of the Exchequer in England, put forward his reasons, that were to turn out to be a prophesy for the future, "Except through a purgatory of misery and starvation I cannot see how Ireland is to emerge into anything approaching either quiet or prosperity."  

    Although the increased population in Ireland was now already in terrible dire straits, during this year another 424,000 tons of grain were exported from Ireland, along with tons of dairy products, flour, meat and poultry and even worse was to now follow and the British Imperial Government would just continue to carry on in the same vein..

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