RAINBOW FARMS    AUSTRALIA                                            
 

                                                                                                                                1880 AD

 

1880 AD Arthur Smith - Barry who was a Land Lord at this time had Estates in Co. Cork and Co. Tipperary in the Munster Province that was comprised of 28,000 acres and his agent was Horace Townsend.

   Owing to the ongoing desperation of the population in Ireland there were to be 2,590 agrarian crimes once again committed in Ireland this year as the number of  Irish tenant farmers and their families who were evicted by the Land Lords in Ireland, was to rise to 90,000.

January - February: Charles Stewart - Parnell who was now the President of the Irish Land League and an Irish Parliamentary Party M.P., had decided to accept the support offered by the Irish - American organization of the Clann na Gael / The Organization, as they too now wanted once again to try to gain constitutional reform in Ireland from the British Imperial Government still unjder Benjamin Disraeli , instead of being continually forced to use violence, so he committed himself personally to their "New Departure Strategy."

March: The British Westminster Parliament was dissolved this month, as Benjamin Disraeli's second ministry of Conservative overall authority came to an end as despite the previous presence of nearly 40 Irish Home Rule Party members in the previous Parliament, and despite their ability to have a strong representation in the Parliament Benjamin Disraeli had paid little attention or interest to Irish Affairs, and had really produced no Irish Policy at all and in the following General Elections for the British Westminster Parliament the Irish Home Rule Party were to further increase their position by 50% when an additional 21 more MPs were elected that took their numbers to 61 this time, and among these were many new faces who were now to be willing to give their allegiances to a new leader, the highly popular, Charles Stewart - Parnell.

April: William Gladstone. the Scotsman and Statesman, was also returned as the new Liberal Prime Minister of Britain for his second time until 1885 AD, but despite the new opportunities there was still to be continual agitation and coercion in Ireland during these next 5 years even under his leadership, in a party that still contained a percentage of Conservatism.

May: The Irish Parliamentary Party held a meeting in Dublin to elect their new chairman, and Charles Stewart - Parnell was this time elected as their leader with 23 votes to William Shaw's 18 votes, with many of the 18 who voted against him also refusing to accept him as their new leader, and a a result they split off from the Irish Parliamentary Party, and either became Independent Home Rulers or joined in with the Liberal Party but, this had the added bonus of leaving Charles Stewart Parnell's group as the only effective Irish Home Rule Party, and it was now also to be an Irish Nationalist movement, as it was now tied to the objectives of the Irish Land League. Under the more liberal leadership of Charles Stewart - Parnell the Irish Parliamentary Party numbers were to continue to increase over the following years, as many of the former Irish Home Rulers were also to return to the fold, and there were to be extra seats to be won in the forthcoming coming by - elections.

September: Charles Stewart - Parnell attended a meeting in Ennis in Co. Clare in the north - west of the Munster Province, where he introduced the basic theory of "Boycotting" / Ostracising to all those who were now interested, to try and bring pressure to bear on William Gladstone the British Liberal Prime Minister and his  new Liberal Government in England, in anticipation that this might ensure that the next Irish Land Bill might actually reflect the needs of the Irish tenants and not the Land Lords. The introduction of "Boycotting" was to see a great reduction in the number of Irish tenant farmers and their families being  evicted after the campaign had begun, but it also alarmed the British Liberal Government's Dublin Castle authorities, in the Devil's 1/2 acre, who still represented the policies of the overall British Imperial Government in England . but instead of doing something positive to bring about further Irish tenant relief, Cowper the British Lord Lieutenant in Ireland, together with William Forster the British Chief Secretary, put it to William Gladstone the British Prime Minister to bring in another Irish Coercion Act to which he had to reluctantly agree. Once again the views of those who were now in authority in England under William Gladstone were also to be represented by the views of the Ascendancy's Conservative German Hanoverian Queen, Victoria, whose main concern was that she could not see any sympathy in the Irish Land Act for the Land Lords in Ireland.

      Michael Davitt who had founded the Irish Land League, was to become the M.P. for Co. Meath in Northern Leinster in the Westminster Parliament, even though he was still incarcerated in prison by the British IMperial Government.  

   Charles Stewart - Parnell the leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party, went on a tour of America, under the auspices of John Devoy as the Clann na Gael / The Organization there in America, were always working towards an Irish Republic with total Irish Independence and for the ownership of Irish land by the tenants in Ireland themselves, to bring about the solution for all of the ongoing problems in Ireland continuing on under the British Imperial Government and the Immoral Union.

   Things took a turn for the worse when Charles Stewart - Parnell was to become personally involved with Mrs. Katherine / Kitty O Shea who had been previously separated from her husband, Captain William O Shea / Shee, who was in the 18th English Hussars, and this was to have grievous consequences for Charles Stewart - Parnell and Ireland later on.Anna Parnell,  one of his sisters, also formed the Irish Ladies Land League in America under advise from his other sister, Fanny Parnell. Timothy Healy who was now to be an M.P. also in the Westminster Parliament for various Irish seats until 1910 AD, acted as Charles Stewart - Parnell's secretary while he was in Canada, and the National League of America was to bring in further funds towards trying to bring in Irish Home Rule democratically. John Dillon, who was from Co. Dublin in the north - east of Southern Leinster, was at this time elected the M.P. for Co. Tipperary in the north - east of the Munster Province until 1885 AD who would replace Charles Stewart - Parnell eventually as the leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party later on, under very tragic circumstances for everyone concerned,

      As the Irish tenant farmers Ostracising / "Boycotts" progressed to try and bring about further land reform, 50 "Orangemen" were brought in to Lord Erne' s Estate to begin harvesting his crops under the control of the original, Charles W. Boycott, who was his Overseer on his Estate in Co. Mayo in the mid - west of the Connacht Province, as he had refused to make any sought of reduction in the rents for his tenant farmmers in Ireland and because of his total Conservative stance he had come under the Ostracising process put forward by Charles Stewart - Parnell and Michael Davitt and the great publicity it was to receive due to the British Government's Dublin Castle authorities' oppressive involvement also in the whole affair, and Charles W. Boycott was  to give his name to history. To try and break the Irish tenant farmers resolve he was put under the protection of 1,000 members of the Dublin Castle's Royal Irish Police / R.I.C. at a cost of 10,000 pounds to the British Imperial Government who were now personally involved in a private dispute while attempting to break the "Boycott." The British Imperial Government had once again become heavily involved in what was in reality a commercial matter, while endeavouring to interfere in the lives and resolve of the tenant farmers in Ireland attempting to bring about tenant land reform for themselves and their neighbnours. The Moonlighters / Captain Moonlight, which was the general term now being used for the Irish Land League that had previously been set up by Michal Davitt, were very active, over another rejection of the Irish Land Bill that had recently been dismissed / vetoed by the unelected Conservative controlled British House of Lords, but the involvement of the Irish Land League was now to restrain the nefarious actions of the Land Lords and check the ongoing evictions of the tenant farmers and their families until 1887 AD.  

      William T. Cosgrave / Liam Ua Cosgraigh who would become the first Prime Minister of the Irish Free State in 1922 AD after the Anglo - Irish War in the future, was born this year. 

   Thomas Power - O Connor became the Irish Nationalist M.P. for Co. Galway in Southern Connacht in the Westminster Parliament until 1885 AD.

    Hoping for a better way of life a young James Connolly was at this time taken to Edinburgh / Dunedin in Scotland by his parents, but due to the terrible prevailing conditions that they would also experience there, under the British Imperial Government, he would grow up to be a very strong socialist, and become one of the main instigators in the forthcoming 1916 Irish Easter Rising, which would lead on to partial Irish Independence of 26 of the 32 Counties in Ireland in 1922 AD.

   Sean O Casey the writer was also born this year, who was reared as a non - Catholic and grew up in Dublin.

  Lord Mountmorres was also murdered this year.  

 

                  Home Page                                                                             Return to Celtic Heritage                                                                     On to 1881 AD