1896 - 1900 AD

1896 AD February: John Dillon was elected the chairman of the anti - Parnellite majority in the Irish Parliamentary Party. 

     Patrick / Patraic Pearse the poet, whose father was English and mother Irish was heavily involved in the promotion of the Gaelic Irish language, and he joined the Gaelic League and the Irish Volunteers this year and also became the Irish Republican Brotherhood / I.R.B. Director of Military Operations and would eventually become the overall leader of the Irish in the 1916 Easter Uprising,

   Father Eugene O Growney / Mac Carrghamhna contributed Gaelic Irish lessons to the "Weekly Freemen" newspaper, which also inspired the Irish population to become once more heavily involved in their Irish Gaelic Heritage.    

   John Mac  Bride / Mac Giolla Brighde, from Co.  Mayo in the mid - west of the Connacht Province, this year undertook a mission for the Irish Republican Brotherhood / I.R..B. to the Clann na Gael / The Organization in America.  

   James Connolly was advised by John Leslie the socialist leader in Scotland to return to Ireland from Edinburgh / Dunedin were he then founded the "Irish Socialist Republican Party" and the "Worker`s Republic" newspaper to promote a socialist movement in Ireland and to eventually create an independent Irish Nation, and was later joined by James Larkin, who had been born in Liverpool in England, who was to be a standout when leading Irish workers on a number of future strikes to obtain better working conditions for the common man in Ireland.  

    John Daly was released from prison in England after he went on a hunger strike.

   Thomas Power - O Connor  the Irish Westminster M.P., who was originally from the Connacht Province, to be known as the "Father of the British House of Commons" in England had by now become the "President of the United Irish League of Great Britain."

     Gerald Balfour, the British Conservative Unionist Government's Chief Secretary in Ireland, now carried out their Irish Land Act, which had now been amended to offer better terms to the tenant farmerss in Ireland, but purchases still remained low as the financial considerations did not fit in with the economic realities of agricultural life in Ireland, either for the Land Lords or their Irish tenant farmers.   

   The British Financial Commission found that Ireland was paying 1 in 11, which should have been 1in 20 and the English were only paying 2 shillings in the pound 1/10th, while the Irish were paying 10 shillings in the pound 1/2. 

   The British Unionist Conservative Government's Dublin Castle authorities who was still in complete control in Ireland under the auspices of the Immoral Union and they once again reminded the non - Catholic Ascendancy that they only maintained their Ascendancy position in Ireland due to the overall influence of the British Conservative Government and the non - Catholic "Orange Association" was then supplied with free weapons, while the Irish Catholics were disarmed.

   The Ascendancy Grand Juries and their Magistrates in Ireland still carried on the same as before with all the "Orangemen" being acquitted, and all of the Irish Catholics found guilty, and things were still as bad as when the Chief Justice of England had commented nearly 70 years previously during the trial of Daniel O Connell " The Liberator, " That this practise if not remedied must render trial by jury a mockery, a delusion and a snare," but still nothing would be done to alter these terrible unjust malpractices that were still allowed to occur until 1906 AD.       

1897 AD Arthur Griffith who had been involved in the founding of the Gaelic League, and who would later on found the"Sinn Fein Party" (We Ourselves) and later still to be acknowledged as the "Father of the Irish Nation," was to also fight for the democratic rights of the South African Boers in the Transvaal against the British Imperial Empire up until 1899 AD for what he believed was British Imperialist aggression there.

     Timothy Healy now founded the "Irish Peoples Rights Association," to try and re - unite the Irish Parliamentary Party, but in reality it turned out to be just another splinter group.

     John O Leary the Irish Republican leader, unveiled a bronze statue in Tipperary town this year of Charles Kickham (1828 - 1882 AD) in anticipation of the celebration of the Centenary of the1798 Rising of the United Irishmen Society. 

1898 AD Timothy Healy and the old Labour stalwart William O Brien, co - founded the "United Irish League" in the Connacht Province to try and revive interest in Irish Home Rule, where they were for all of the Land Lords Estates to be broken up, and redistributed to give Irish farmers larger holdings to enable them to survive financially and this naturally appealed to the poverty stricken tenant farmers in the west of Ireland as they were not too happy with the progress of the British Unionist Conservative Government's Congested Districts Board's up to this date. William O Brien, working peacefully and silently in the interest of the population of Ireland, had anticipated that this common struggle to gain these further reforms would reunite the whole Irish National movement, but things were not to actually work out as he had planned, but despite this it was to force the political leaders to finally reach a decision. (William O Brien was also to became the Treasurer of the Irish Socialist Republican Party).     

      The "Ancient Order of Hibernians," was now also revived in America and Ireland. as it had been a Century since the glory days of the United Irishmen Society and many celebrations were to be carried out to commemorate their stand against the ongoing British Imperial oppression, and there were many "98 Clubs" founded to keep up the memory of those who had previously made the ultimate sacrifice by giving up their lives not only in Ireland but also elsewhere, while endeavouring to obtain freedom for Ireland, which naturally fostered further Irish Fenian activity and anti - British Impreial Government feeling. Despite this feeling of a renewed freedom of Irish Spirit in Ireland this momentum was in no way taken up by any of the members of the Irish political parties, who were still seeking "democratic" solutions in the British Westminster Parliament for the continuing ongoing problems in Ireland. (By this period in time the M.P.s had been well and truly separated from the actual living conditions of the ordinary Irish people for a very long time).  

    A Local Government Act was bought in to create elected County and Urban Councils, which was meant to be another method of continuing to erode the overall control of the Landed Gentry, who by now, due to the continuing harsh economic situation still in existence in Ireland wanted to sell their Estates anyway and the Irish tenant farmers certainly wanted to buy their Irish land, but more reasonable financial terms would be required to be worked out, to suite the drastic economic circumstances that were still prevailing in which both sides found themselves in, due to the ongoing economic repression. -

   In Co. Clare in the north - west of the Munster Province the population had grown to 130,000. 

   In a further positive step an "Amnesty" was now granted to the previous I.R.B. / Fenians, and Tom Clarke the Old Republican, returned to America to the Clann na Gael / The Organization in New York.  

   Standish O Grady, from the Ascendancy, was involved in an Irish literary revival as the editor of "The Kilkenny Moderator" and he now berated the Ascendancy's continuing overall control in Ireland. 

1899 AD The previous "New Departure Strategy" of Charles Stewart - Parnell and John Devoy from the Clann na Gael / The Organization for a Constitutional political answer from the British Imperial Governments, to end the problems in Ireland, was now long gone and if there ever was to be any real Irish Freedom to be gained the Irish revolutionaries were once again beginning to feel that the time had come to begin a new phase to rectify the problems in Ireland, as this seemed to be the only message that the British Imperial Conservative Unionist Government in England could ever really understand.

January: William Rooney had asked Arthur Griffith, who was to become the future "Father of Irish Freedom" to return to Ireland from South Africa were he was trying to assist the democratic position of the Boers against the subjection of the British Imperialist Empire there, as he wanted him to become the editor of the "United Irishmen" newspaper that would be supported by the Irish Republican Brotherhood / I.R.B. in the interests of eventually gaining Irish Independence from the British Imperial Government in England. 

March: Arthur Griffith, who wasknown as a mild - mannered man and middle class in his outlook, had sympathies more with capital then with labour, and this always made him suspicious of trade unionism and socialism, but despite this outlook he was also for freedom for all of the people of Ireland from the continuing British Imperial oppression, and to this end he decided to take up William Rooney's offer and he become the editor and co - founder of the United Irishman newspaper along with William Rooney, and his whole approach to the way to solve the continuing problems in Ireland was to be based on the propositions previously put forward by Francis Deek the Hungarian Nationalist. Being the editor of the United Irishman newspaper now gave him the opportunity to put forward his proposals of Self Reliance / Sinn Fein (We Ourselves) together with industrial development, as he propounded the theory that there must first be political freedom in Ireland, before there was any chance of any real economic progress. He also advocated non co - operation with the British Imperial Government by the Irish M..P.s who were still in the British Westminster Parliament, who had all been elected by the Irish people themselves, who should withdraw from the Westminster Parliament and have their own Irish Assembly in their own Country at Dublin in Ireland. They should then set up an Irish Government in Ireland who would take over the administration of Ireland, relying then on their own elected moral authority to ensure the obedience of the Irish people, as these actions would make it impossible for the British Imperial Government to continue to impose their rule on Ireland, as he lived in hope that the British Imperial Government would then have the good sense to withdraw from Ireland finally and peacefully.          

October: The Military forces of the British Imperial Empire were set upon the Boers in South Africa to secure the overall rights to the gold and diamonds there, which even upset the Welshman M.P. David Lloyd - George who would become the future Coalition Conservative Prime Minister of Britain who had pro - Boer views also. (It was deplored in later years in Ireland that an Irish Uprising was not held during this Imperial period of negative turmoil). John Mac Bride was another famous Irish man who also led an Irish Brigade to fight for the Boers against the Imperialist aggression of the Britain Conservative Government in South Africa, as did Robert Erskine Childers who had been born in London, and reared in Co. Wicklow in the south - east of Southern Leinster who had been educated at Cambridge University and was later to join in with the Irish Freedom movement against the continuing British Imperial oppression in Ireland.

   William O Brien the ever vigilant Labour stalwart  from Co. Cork, who never seemed to let up trying to obtain Irish rights and Irish Freedom was now the editor also of the "Irish People" newspaper and negotiations were begun again between the two divided Irish political parties the Parnelites and the anti - Parnellites who had previously made up the Irish Parliamentary Party to reunite them in the combined overall interests of Ireland. 

   At this time, Charles William St. John - Burgess Gaelicized his name to Cathal Brugha, and was to leave an indelible imprint in Irish History when he too joined the Gaelic League. 

   Father Eugene O Growney the co - founder of the Gaelic League, had recently died in San Francisco at only 33 years of age. 

   The long standing Land Lord and tenant farmer problems over the return of Irish land was by now fading away finally, but the imports by the merchants in London into Great Britain from foreign countries was now depressing the rural prices in Ireland, except for cattle, and this meant that more land went over to pasture, with the average farm still not big enough to run them and obtain a decent living.  

   The British Conservative Government's Dublin Castle authorities set up a Department of Agriculture & Technical Instruction with Sir Horace Plunkett as it's head who later on was to also abandon his previous Unionist stance and became an Irish Home Ruler wanting Ulster's industries to remain in a self governing Ireland.  

   W.B. Yeats and fellow literary enthusiasts Lady Augusta Gregory, George Moore and the only Catholic in the group, Edward Martyn founded the "Irish Literary Theatre" this year.   

    At this time, the Catholic Irish merchants who were prospering in Dublin, were now known as "Castle Catholics," and the speech of the Tinkers was known as "Shelta," which had been developed from the Gaelic.

    "The United Irish League" was formed in Ireland.  

1900 AD Roger Casement who was from Ballymena in the Ulster Province was to to be knighted this year by the British Unionist Conservative Government for services to the British Imperial Empire, and then later executed by the British Coalition Conservative Government for taking part in trying to bring about Irish Freedom from the British Imperial Empire.

   Due to the fact that Irish Catholics had been finally allowed to migrate to America after 1815 AD there were by now more Irish people in the United States of America then there were in Ireland. 

   Arthur Lynch was elected the M.P. in the British Westminster Parliament for Co. Galway in Southern Connacht by the Irish population there, although he was still overseas fighting for the democratic rights of the Boers in South Africa against the British Imperialist Government in England and later on the British Imperial Government were to try him for High Treason and condemn him to death, but his sentence was to be eventually commuted, and he was later released after imprisonment.

   The British Conservative Unionist Government had installed 11,000 Irish R.I.C. police in Ireland combined of 1 Sgt. and 6 constables in each district, with each one being assigned from a distant County to their own, and then placed in an area other then their own, where they had to keep a day book on the general Irish population, which basically had them operating as an extension of the British Unionist Government's Intelligence service in the Dublin Castle ensuring constant supervision and continuing Imperial overall control over the Irish population, and had nothing to do with their actual police work.

   By now the "political" Irish Parliamentary Party had little going for it, as it was showing no drive or initiative on any matters pertaining to Irish Affairs.  

   James Connolly, the founder of the Irish Socialist Republican Party and the newspaper the Worker's Republic, was more then ever convinced that the British Empire only stood for Capitalist Imperialism that he totally despised, and as he was for equality for all and was not an Irish Nationalist as such, he knew full well that Ireland must be free to run her own race if ever it was going to be possible to bring in an equal socialist society in Ireland.  

   The individual number of land holdings in Ireland were now down to half the previous number, which had existed in the Great Famine of 1845 AD - 1849 AD.  

    Eoin Mac Neill, who was to become the founder of the "Irish Volunteers," had been born at Glenarm in Co. Antrim in the north - east of the Ulster Province, and he too would play a notable role in future Irish History. 

   Edward Carson a non - Catholic Dublin lawyer was the Unionist M.P. for Dublin University and was to be the appointed British Unionist Government's Solicitor - General in Ireland until 1905 AD, but at this time he had no connection with the Ulster Province, in which he would become highly involved in the future.

   The Galvin Tomb was constructed on Abbey Island in Co. Kerry in the south - west of the Munster Province.

    Oscar Wilde, died this year.

                  Home Page                                                                                            Return to Celtic Heritage                                                               On to 1901 - 1905 AD