MOVEMENTS FOR REFORM 1870-1914
CHAPTER 1
LANDLORDS AND TENANTS
1.1 Why the ‘land question’ was important.
Land question. Who had the right to the land?
1870 5 million pop. 4 million dependent on agriculture.
If a leader wanted to influence the Irish he could not ignore the land question.
1.2 Landlords
a) General
1870 10,000 landlords owned all.
Estates, demesnes, tenants (at will, leaseholders)
Large and small (Downshire V Parnell)
Big income, big expenditure (big houses, servants, balls, charities, schools, the poor
rate) Bankruptcy?
b) Economic Role
Big house a big employer.
Higher servants English or Scottish
Compared with England, little was reinvested in estates. Little done to improve
farming or the tenants’ situation.
c) Political Power
Gov. relied on them.
Unpaid magistrates.
Board of Guardians (poor rate, who got into workhouse, conditions).
Grand Juries until 1898 Local Gov. Act.
MPs unpaid until 1911
Secret Ballot 1872 reduced power.
1879 Land League and National League encourage voting for others.
More education V landlord knows best.
By 1900 political power gone except in Ulster.
1.3 Tenant Farmers and Labourers
Big tenancies.
30,000 rented more than 100 acres. These were well off. Had servants. Children
educated. 2 Storey houses with slate roofs. Hired labourers.
Were the leaders of the land movement and benefited most from land acts.
Average farms
Most farmed 15 to 100 acres. Entire family worked. Kids left after primary.
Big families. Eldest son and dowry for one daughter. The rest emigrated (half to US).
Sent home fares and remittances.
Eldest son did not marry until parents died.
Small farms
100,000 less than 15 acres. West. 2 roomed cottages. Needed other income (fished,
laboured part time, migrated to England or Scotland). Remittances vital. Many left for
good.
Landless labourers
Low pay but cottage and patch supplied. When old, might end up in workhouse. Some
did not have regular work, lived in one room huts on the edge of tows. Most had
emigrated by 1900.
1.4 The Agriculture Industry
Munster dairy
Midlands beef
Ulster flax
West coast subsistence
Exports to Britain high 1850-75 due to industrialisation (beef, butter and barley) US
ruined wheat prices so farmer switched to beef (less labour)
All benefited. Railways, shipping, retail, trades and profession.
Rents rose also but tenants could pay so no trouble.
1877 prices fell. Evictions were a real possibility.
Eviction meant workhouse or emigration.
Land question came to the forefront.
CHAPTER 2
RELIGION AND EDUCATION 1870-1914
2.1 Religious differences
3 main religions 78% Catholic, 12% Anglican, 9% Presbyterian.
The Church of Ireland (Anglican)
Established (state support, jobs, politics)
Given large estates in 17th century so well off.
Got cathedrals.
Tithes paid by all.
Bishops appointed by monarchy
Trinity only university until 1840s (anglican)
1860s Conservatives supported establishment. Gladstone thought it unjust.
The Presbyterian Church
Scottish descent. In north
Elected a General Assembly
Resented privileged position and voted liberal.
Catholics
Mainly poor farmers.
Starting to grow in wealth and confidence in mid 1800s. Many churches and schools
built. Priests trained in Maynooth.
Seemed to be under control of Pope and clergy and appeared a threat to other
religions.
Gladstone and Disestablishment
Why did Gladstone disestablish?
 He believed it was unjust
 He hoped the change would keep Catholics and others happy
 He got a lot of votes for the Liberals in Ireland and GB
The Disestablishment Act 1869 (terms)
Church of Ireland an independent body
Commissioners of Church Temporalities took over all Cof I possessions worth 16m.
It gave back churches and schools and set up a fund to pay and pension clergy.
This left 6m for education, agriculture, fishery and the poor.
The Cof I’s tenant farmers were helped with loans to buy out their land.
Effect on Anglicans
Annoyed at first but appreciated the independence
Effect on Catholics
Because of education and lack of trust they still did not get top jobs.
Monarch still had to be Anglican
It did not make Catholics loyal to the Union
Effect on Presbyterians
Happy to be Unionists. Less tension with Anglicans.
2.2 Primary and Secondary Education
Primary Schools
1831 ‘National School’ system. Government. hoped for non-denominational.
Churches distrust. Parish school’ controlled by priest or minister.
Catholic bishops against compulsory attendance (family rights). Many kids left at 10
or11 (3rs).
1871 competitive exams for civil servants kept many boys in primary until 14.
Parish priests would not employ teachers trained in government colleges. Many
untrained until 1880s when government agreed to fund Catholic training colleges.
Secondary schools
expensive £2-£5 per annum.
1870 70 schools run by clergy for Catholics.
Government wanted to fund secondary but anti catholic bias in England stopped them.
Solution = Intermediate Education Board.
This gave payment by results. £3-£10 for each subject passed.
Merits
 Way of funding Catholic schools
 Also encouraged schools to educate girls.
 Improved teaching
 Irish a subject
Demerits
 ‘Murder machine’
Girls
Aim of a girls’ school was to produce good wives and mothers (manners, needlework,
art and music)
Demand for change started in Protestant community.
Anne Jellico set up Alexandra College to train governesses and Alexandra School to
give secondary education to middle class girls with jobs in mind.
Isabella Tod did something similar in Belfast. Both women convinced the government
to include girls in the Intermediate exams.
Not to be outdone, nuns prepared Catholic girls for exams also (results were
published)
Surprise, the girls were slightly better.
Jobs as telephonists and typists encouraged more education.
Educated women = demands for equality.
2.3 :University Education
Only for well off.
Maynooth a seminary since1790s but Trinity was the only university until 1840.
The Struggle for a Catholic University
1840s Queens colleges set up in Cork Galway and Belfast but were not let teach
religion so Catholic bishops referred to them as ‘godless colleges’ and forbade
Catholics to attend.
1850s a Catholic University set up in Dublin but no government funds.
1879 Disraeli’s government passed the Royal University Act. Like the Intermediate
Education Act it gave payment by results. It provided scholarships also.
Women and University
Isabella Tod (NB)and friends got women included the Royal University Act, but there
was nowhere to teach women as neither Dublin universities would have men and
women in the same class.
Secondary school such as Alexandra College set up third level classes and the Queens
colleges let them in. These were for Protestants so the Dominican and Loreto sisters
set up colleges for Catholic girls.
Trinity and Catholic colleges let in women in 1904
Solution to Religious squabble.
1908 Universities Act
Trinity stayed separate
National University of Ireland (UCD UCC UCG) with Maynooth as an associate. NUI
supposed to be neutral but Catholic bishops had a lot of clout.
Assessment
 Most children got 3rs
 Payment by results created equality between religions
 Brothers and Nuns provide cheap secondary education
 Third level only for rich
CHAPTER 3
IRELAND IN THE UK
See book page 25 for words you need to understand
3.1 Ireland in the UK
The Act of Union
 All decisions made in London by people who knew little
 28 lords wealthy and conservative
 105 out of 655 (more than we were entitled)
Parliament
 General election every 7 years
 Conservatives V Liberals
 1874 HR party
 1900 Labour
 Bills had to pass both houses and be signed by monarch
 Suffrage/franchise in 1870 confined to 200000 richest men.
 1884 all householders made 700000 men.
 Open ballot until 1872
Page 27 compares Ireland today with 1870
Government of Ireland
 Lord Lieutenant (king)
 Chief Secretary (minister)
 Under Secretary (head of civil service in Dublin Castle)
Police
 RIC (armed) and DMP (unarmed)
 ‘Peeler’ Irishmen but leaders English
3.2 Attitudes to the UK. Nationalist and Unionist
What and who were Unionists and Nationalists
Reasons for being Unionist
1. Ethnic identity
2. Religion
3. Economics (Dublin parliament would be made up of tenant farmer and would
start a trade war as well as take land off landlords)
Reasons for being Nationalist
1. Ethnic identity
2. Religion
3. Economics (had done badly. Little industry)
Divisions among Nationalists
 Revolutionary Nationalist/republican/separatist. Fenian/IRB 1867 total
failure
 Constitutional nationalist wanted Home Rule.
CHAPTER 4
BUTT, PARNELL AND THE EARLY YEARS OF HOME RULE
4.1 Gladstone’s Reforms and the Start of Home Rule
Gladstone and Ireland the early years.
No HR party until 1873 so Liberals appreciated Catholic and Presbyterian vote in
Ireland.
Liberal MPs drew Gladstone’s attention to:
 Privileged position of C of I
 Land question
 Catholic education
1868 Gladstone became PM. ‘My mission…’
1869 Disestablishment
1870 Gladstone’s First Land Act (made Ulster Custom law where it existed and made
landlords compensate for unjust evictions but did not address fair rent) was the first
attempt to redress the balance.
Gladstone’s reforms did not make Irish content. Landlords, tenants, Fenians,
Catholics and Anglicans still upset.
Isaac Butt
Had defended Fenians though broke.
Helped get an amnesty from Gladstone for some Fenians. Many were concerned
about ill treatment (O Donovan Rossa). So he was popular
1870 Butt set up Home Government Association, a pressure group of the
discontented to look for HR.
A very loose and mixed group, it did not have the support of hierarchy as Butt was a
protestant and Fenians were involved. Liberals were promising funding for catholic
education.
He also set up the Home Rule Confederation in the UK to organise Irish emigrants to
support HR.
The IRB
1871 Gladstone released the rest of the Fenians (exiled for rest of sentence)
New constitution. Charles Kickham was first president of the Supreme Council. He
was opposed to cooperation with HR. Another Fenian, Joseph Biggar was for HR as
was most ordinary Fenians.
The Irish Abroad
Blamed British for Famine and supported exiled Fenian, John Devoy and Clan na
Gael. Money.
The Home Rule League 1873.
1872 Secret Ballot Act and rejection by hierarchy of Gladstone’s education reforms
provided the opportunity to turn the Home Gov Ass into a political party.
Aims:
 Home Rule
 Land Reform
 Aid for Catholic schools
1874 general election 59 elected. Very good but many were unhappy former Liberal
MPs and they were not committed to HR
4.2 Butt’s Leadership of the Home Rule Party
The HR party adopted a policy of independent opposition (balance of power)
However 1874-1880 Disraeli in power with overall majority and he was concerned
with empire.
Butt’s weaknesses
 Careless with money so often working when should be in parliament
 Charming and well spoken but his own MPs often voted against him
 Did not have a united movement.
 No ruthless political skill. Too gentlemanly
Obstruction.
Had been used before but Joseph Biggar used it for all bills.
Butt and most Irish MPs feared it would damage goodwill.
1875 29 year old MP for Meath joined obstructionists.
About 20 MPs ‘parnellites’ supported obstruction and the rest were for Butt’s
approach.
Parnell and the Fenians.
Why did Parnell court the Fenians?
Obstruction made him popular in Ireland and with the Fenians.
Spoke in parliament about the ‘Manchester Martyrs’
Worked to free Davitt (15 years)
Never got too close for fear of offending the Catholic Church.
1879 Butt died and William Shaw (not a parnellite) took over
4.3 Parnell, The Land League, and the Leadership of Home Rule
The New Departure.
Davitt ( a fenian) went to USA, met Devoy and worked out ‘a new departure’ for the
Fenians (to work with Parnell). Kickham and the Supreme council were against it but
that didn’t stop them.
The Land Movement begins.
‘The long depression,’ worldwide, mid 1870s to late 90s.low prices.
1879 Davitt went home to Mayo. Wettest year of century. Even prosperous farmers
facing eviction. Poor faced starvation also.
At Irishtown, Mayo Fenians used a demonstration to get a landlord (priest) to reduce
rents.
Rally in Westport. Parnell came knowing support from farmers would boost his
chances against Shaw. After the meeting Davitt founded the Land League of Mayo.
Later in the year the Irish National Land League was set up with Parnell as President
but controlled by Davitt and the Fenians.
Aims:
 To reduce rents and evictions
 Tenant ownership
Methods: Agitation in Ireland and pressure in parliament and money from America
1880 General Election
Gladstone back in office. Parnellites got leadership of the HR party.
4.4 Parnell’s Land League Campaign
Fear of eviction helped spread Land League.
1880 Parnell persuaded Gladstone to help farmers. Gladstone set up the Bessborough
Commission to assess his 1870 Act.
Parnell wanted pressure exerted at home but secret societies were frightening off
support so he gave tenants other ways:
 Parnell, Davitt and other league leaders addressed mass meetings
 Boycott (Orangemen) brought publicity to Ireland’s problems in Britain and
liberal pressure on Gladstone.
4.5 Parnell and Gladstone
Gladstone alarmed at power of Land League. Adopted ‘carrot and stick’ approach.
Carrot: Bessborough Commission suggested 3f s made law.
1881 Land Act:
 A Land Court to set fair rent, set for 15 years.
 Once paid no eviction
 Land purchase scheme
Problems:
 Leaseholders and tenants in arrears excluded (big percentage)
 15 years too long when prices fell
 Only a few could avail of land purchase
Stick: Coercion. The Protection of Person and Property Bill
 Internment for organising a Boycott
Caused Parnell and Co. to obstruct to such an extent that the rules of the house were
change to prevent obstruction.
Coercion backfired. There was no control when League leaders were arrested and
violence increased. Davit, out on ‘ticket of leave’ jailed.
Parnell’s dilemma over 1881 Land Bill
For:
Big farmers (land purchase)
Church and businessmen who wanted peace.
Most Home Rule MPs
Against:
Poor farmers
Fenians
Leaders of Land League
Some MPs
Parnell did not show his hand but urged his HR MPs to abstain from the vote, but to
point out the weaknesses.
When the Bill was passed he made speeches attacking Gladstone who ordered his
arrest.
In Kilmainham, with other Land League leaders, he signed the ‘No Rent Manifesto’
urging tenants to pay no rent until they were release. Gladstone banned the Land
League. Now he could blame the collapse of the Land League, not on the split, but on
the Government. He was the martyr.
The Ladies Land League
Founded by Anna and Fanny Parnell (sisters) in 1881.
Encouraged by Davitt but frowned on by Parnell (women not taken seriously at the
time)
With the Land League banned, the ladies kept up resistance to evictions and collected
money for the families of prisoners and evicted tenants. Some were jailed.
The Kilmainham Treaty
Both sides needed a compromise
 Violence had increased
 Parnell’s health
 Parnell’s relationship
‘treaty’ was an unwritten agreement;
 Leaseholders and tenants in arrears let into Act
 Coercion to be relaxed and prisoners realeased
 Parnell to quieten the country
 Parnell to support the Liberals
Phoenix Park Murders
Chief Secretary W.E Forster (coercion) replaced by Cavendish. The day he arrived he
and T H Burke were murdered by Invincibles (an IRB breakaway group).
This discredited the Fenians. Davitt and many others left the IRB and joined the
Home Rule movement. Davitt also pursued his idea of ‘land nationalisation’.
Parnell was now free to follow Home Rule.
CHAPTER 5
THE ELECTIONS OF 1885 AND 1886 AND THE FIRST HOME RULE BILL
5.1 Parnell and the National League
Parnell now the ‘uncrowned king’. No opposition at home.
1882 he replaced the Land League with the ‘National League’. Its aims in order of
importance were:
1. Home Rule
2. Land Reform
3. local government. reform
Method was to get MPs elected.
Parnell was in England most of the time (Kitty) and left the running of the National
League to Timothy Harrington, William O Brien and Timothy Healy.
By 1885 it was a powerful party.
To win support, priests were asked to get involved. This alienated Protestants (home
rule = Rome rule)
What League Branches did.
 Collected money to pay election expenses
 Organised elections
 Chose candidates and imposed the party pledge (disciplined party)
1884 Reform Act
Gladstone gave vote to any man who rented property (200000 to 700000)
5.2 Parnell Negotiating with the British Parties
Parnell adopted Butts policy of ‘independent opposition’= offer to vote for whichever
party promised HR.
He was vague about what HR meant to strengthen his negotiating position.
Parnell and the Liberals
Under the Kilmainham treaty, coercion was to have ended but the Phoenix Park
murders delayed that. Relationships strained.
Chamberlain’s ‘Central Board Scheme’ proposed County councils should be set up
and together with Irish MPs should run Ireland’s internal affairs. O’Shea sounded
Parnell out but did not make it clear to Chamberlain that Parnell had rejected it.
Chamberlain embarrassed. Things got worse.
Parnell and the Conservatives
Led by Salisbury the Conservatives saw the discord between HR party and the
Liberals.
June 1885 Gladstone and Liberals resigned after losing a vote to Tories + HR party.
Because of the 1884 Reform act, constituencies were being redrawn so Salisbury was
allowed have a caretaker government until a general election could be held in
November but he had to reward Parnell:
 Stop coercion
 Ashbourne Land Act (£5m.land purchase)
Unionists very upset that Parnell was dealing with both parties.
5.3 Included in 5.4 Unionist Response
5.4 The 1885 Election (Case Study, part 1)
Parnell decided to side with the Conservatives because:
 Gladstone refused to bargain
 Leading conservatives Sir Randolph Churchill and Lord Carnarvon (Lord
Lieutenant) hinted at support for HR. Salisbury would not meet Parnell.
 If the Tories backed HR, it would pass the House of Lords.
The Results of the November 1885
A triumph for The Irish National League and Parnell who won 85 of the 103 seats and
one in Liverpool.
In Britain, the Liberals defeated the Conservatives by 86 seats.
So Parnell could not get Salisbury back in but Gladstone still needed Parnell’s votes
to become PM.
5.5 The First Home Rule Bill (Case Study, part 2)
The Hawarden Kite
Herbert (son) let slip to journalists that Gladstone was to bring in a HR bill.
Salisbury rejected Home Rule and changed the parties name to the Conservative and
Unionist Party.
Randolph Churchill changed and said that to stop HR ‘the Orange Card was the one to
play’.
Parnell’s bargaining position was gone.
Unionist Reaction
Anglican and Presbyterian landlord and tenants united in their opposition.
The sectarian Orange Order was revived. Orange halls were built. Demonstrations and
marches were held.
Ulster Conservatives and Liberals set up the ‘Ulster Loyalist Anti-Repeal Union’.
Isabella Tod set up the ‘Liberal Women’s Unionist Association’
1886 Edward Saunderson set up the Unionist Party.
April 1886 The First Home Rule Bill
All Gladstone’s work.
Terms:
 Irish parliament to deal with all Irish affairs except matters relating to the
Crown, war, trade, navigation, coinage, post and foreign affairs.
 Ireland would pay one fifteenth of the Imperial budget.
Gladstone also proposed a land purchase bill so that tenants could buy out their land.
This, he hoped would avoid conflict between unionist landlords and Catholics in a HR
situation but he did not understand the depth of anti-HR feeling in Northern Ireland
The Parliamentary Debate
Arguments for Home Rule:
 Irish people wanted it and not a watered down version (central board scheme)



It would end violence and coercion and bad relations with the Empire
Parnell would not allow discrimination
It would free up the British parliament
Arguments against:
 Proper local government would sort out Irelands problems
 It would lead to demand for full independence and break up the Empire
 Irish not fit to rule
 Discrimination
Liberals Divided
Chamberlain upset.
Many ‘Liberal Unionists’
It was Gladstone’s baby and many liberals supported it only out of loyalty to him.
8 June 1886 Home Rule Defeated
341 to 311. 93 Liberals had voted against.
Gladstone called a general election.
5.6 The 1886 Election (Case Study, part 3)
As Ireland was a forgone conclusion, the campaigning went on in Britain. Home Rule
was the only issue and it was easily defeated.
Gladstone resigned and Salisbury became PM.
The Results of 1885-1886
 For the first time Partition was an issue
 Liberals now committed to Home Rule
 Parnell lost freedom to manoeuvre
 The Unionist Party set up
CHAPTER 6
HOME RULE DELAYED
6.1 Parnell’s Final Years
After the defeat of the 1886 Home Rule Bill, Parnell spent most of his time in Britain
convincing British voters that HR for Ireland was a good idea.
The Plan of Campaign, organised by T Harrington, W O Brien and J Dillon attracted
journalists to Ireland who reported on the terrible conditions. This helped change
British minds. Parnell stopped it, afraid it might lead to violence.
The Pigott Forgeries had the same effect.
The Pigott Forgeries
Dublin journalist Richard Pigott.
The Times (Conservative) published ‘Parnellism and Crime’
Conservative government set up a commission of enquiry.
Pigott’s confession and suicide in Madrid.
High point.
Divorce Case
Since 1880 3 children
Aunt Ben Woods’ money in trust. After divorce, the will was contested and Kitty got
nothing.
Parnell wanted to marry and did not contest the case. So, only O Shea’s side of the
story was told.
Uproar in Britain. Gladstone had to cut his links with Parnell. He made this clear to
Justin McCarthy who informed Parnell in word and in writing. Parnell was re-elected
in November 1890 but many hoped he would resign.
Gladstone published his letter to McCarthy.
Parnell responded by issuing a manifesto questioning if Gladstones’ HR bill went far
enough. This ended any hope of another Liberal HR bill while Parnell was around.
A majority of the HR Party demanded a meeting.
Committee Room 15
For 6 days Parnell would not allow a vote on the leadership. Eventually Justin
McCarthy and 45 others walked out. Parnell was left with 27.
The anti-Parnellites had the support of the Catholic Church.
The Parnellites had the support of the Fenians.
Parnell lost a bitter by-election in Kilkenny by 2 to 1. Timothy Healy and Davitt
slated Parnell and Kitty.
Parnell travelled Ireland drumming up support and fighting and losing 2 more byelections.
Parnell married in June 1891
He died in October
200,000 attended his funeral
Parnell, a Republican or a Home Ruler?
Impossible to know. He did not keep a diary and died before writing memoirs.
He hinted at independence but it was to win support. A pragmatist.
6.2 The Home Rule Party after Parnell
Parnellites now led by John Redmond and anti-Parnellites by McCarthy.
1892 Gladstone (81) re-elected and introduced his second HR bill.
Passed Commons and failed Lords.
1895 Conservatives in power for 20 years. HR out of the question.
1895 McCarthy retired and there was a power struggle between Healy and Dillon.
Dillon won but now the party was split in 3.
Reunification.
1898 William O Brien set up the United Irish League.
Its aim was to get the government to introduce compulsory purchase.
So popular that O Brien could threaten both Dillon and Redmond that he would take
over both if they did not bury the hatchet.
1900 Dillon let Redmond take over as leader.
Land Agitation
United Irish League very strong
1902 Land Conference of tenants and landlords suggested a land purchase bill.
1903 the Wyndham Land Act was passed (Wyndham a Chief Secretary)
The Devolution Crisis
Some Southern Unionists suggested the Land Conference idea could replace Home
Rule.
Under Secretary Sir Anthony MacDonnell came up with ‘Devolution’, a system of
elected councils not unlike the ‘Central Board Scheme’.
Northern Unionists could not accept a scheme from a Mayo Catholic and they set up
the ‘Ulster Unionist Council’ to coordinate opposition to HR.
1906 Liberals in Power
A landslide, so they did not need the HR Party for a number of years yet.
CHAPTER 7
SOLVING THE LAND QUESTION
7.1 What did the Farmers want?
 Security from eviction. 3Fs=Tenant Right= Ulster Custom made law.
 Ownership
7.2 The Liberals and the Land Question
The 1870 Land Act (Gladstone’s First Land Act)
 Ulster Custom made law where it existed
 Unfair evictions (other than non payment of rent) to be compensated
 The ‘Bright Clause’. Two thirds of purchase price over 35 years.
Strengths:
 First time government sided with tenants
 800 tenant bought out their land
Weaknesses:
 Ulster Custom unclear and expensive to prove in court.
 Rent was the only reason for eviction so no compensation in reality
 Two thirds too much and 35 years too short
Reaction:
1870 to 1876 good prices masked the Act’s weaknesses.
1876 to 1890s ‘The Long Depression’. A worldwide economic depression affected
farming also.
Refrigeration created competition.
Even bigger farmers were faced with eviction and they let go labourers.
1879 terrible weather hit harvests. 75% of potato crop failed. Famine loomed.
Davitt, Parnell and the Land League caused agitation.
Gladstone’s ‘carrot and stick’ approach led to the 1881 Land Act
The 1881 Land Act (Gladstone’s Second Act)
Terms:
 Land Courts to decide ‘judicial rent’
 ‘judicial rent’ to last 15 years and then back to the Land Court
 A land purchase clause
Weaknesses:
 Tenants with leases and tenants in arrears not included
 15 years too long
Reaction:
Split the Land League
Violence
Kilmainham Treaty
1882 Arrears act. Tenants paid one third of arrears. Government paid a third and the
landlord suffered the rest.
7.3 Arthur Balfour and the Plan of Campaign
The 1885 Ashbourne Land Act
June 1885 Salisbury’s minority government took over with HR Party support.
In return they passed the Ashbourne Land Act
Terms:
 £5m
 Full purchase price over 45 years
Except for 1892-5 the Conservatives were in power from 1886 to 1895
The Plan of Campaign
In 1886, due to poor prices in Britain, many farmers were facing eviction.
The National League under John Dillon, Timothy Harrington and William O Brien
urged tenants to resist eviction.
Harrington published an article in the leagues paper ‘United Ireland’ called ‘Plan of
Campaign’.
Tenants would agree what they could afford, offer it to the landlord and if he refused,
would put it into a fund to fight evictions. They would prevent any other tenants
taking over.
Very successful but Parnell was afraid of the effect on British Liberals and stopped it
spreading.
Arthur Balfour and Ireland
Appointed Chief Secretary in 1887 in response to the Plan of Campaign.
Wanted to enforce the law and reform (carrot and stick).
Carrot: He amended the 1881 Land Act by reducing the ‘judicial rent’ from 15 years
to 3.
Stick:1887 Balfour’s Perpetual Crimes Act.
Trial without jury for boycotting and encouraging tenants to resist eviction.
The Lord Lieutenant could declare organisations illegal.
Many leaders of the Plan were jailed, including 24 MPs and were treated in jail like
common criminals.
He sent soldiers and police to help landlords to evict.
Dramatic eviction scenes reported by journalists using photography. Sympathy in
Britain and Balfour stopped.
Landlord Syndicates.
In response to the ‘Plan’ landlords formed syndicates. They pooled money, bought
estates of landlords going broke due to the ‘Plan’ and evicted all the tenants.
The leader of the syndicate was Arthur Smith Barry.
New Tipperary
The ‘Plan’ leaders urged Smith Barry’s tenants to stop paying rent. The tenants and
the town of Tipperary were evicted.
William O Brien built New Tipperary. Very expensive
Harrington, Dillon and O Brien made inflammatory speeches, got arrested and then
jumped bail and went to fund raise in the US.
The Tenants
After the divorce case in 1890 the HR party split and the politicians lost interest.
Many tenants did not get back to their land until 1907
The 1891 Balfour Land Act.
Killing Home Rule with Kindness.
2 parts.
1. Land Purchase
£33m over 49 years but only in government bonds.
Times were bad and landlords did not trust bonds so not as many as expected sold.
2. The Congested Districts Board.
Western counties where too many people for the quality of land.
CDB was to help by:
 Buying up unused land and resettling people and so increasing farm size.
 New agricultural techniques by employing instructors .
 Promote cottage industries such as knitting, weaving (Donegal tweed)
 Gave loans to fishermen and built piers
 Bridges, railways and roads
By 1892 Balfour could claim the country was quiet.
7.4 The Years of Constructive Unionism
1892-95 Liberals back in power
1895-1905 Conservatives in power.
Arthur Balfour promoted and his brother Gerald became Chief Secretary and later his
cousin George Wyndham took the job.
Constructive Unionism = killing HR with kindness
The Co-operative Movement
Horace Plunkett returned from the US and saw that Irish agriculture had lost market
share in Britain, mainly to Denmark.
He suggested that we follow the co-operative model established in Denmark.
The first co-operative was in Doneraile in Cork
1894 the IAOS was founded.
Plunkett set up a newspaper ‘The Irish Homestead’ to spread the message.
Plunkett was opposed for a time because he was a unionist, protestant landlord.
The IAOS was most successful in dairy areas.
Failed to recapture the market but stopped the rot.
The Department of Agriculture
1892 Plunkett became an MP and persuaded a few other MPs from other parties to
form the ‘Recess Committee’. Its purpose was to come up with ideas to help farming
in Ireland.
The Recess Committee suggested a Department of Agriculture.
In 1899 it was set up with Plunkett at its head.
Agricultural instructors were appointed to help farming, forestry and fishing.
Change was slow.
1898 The Local Government Act
County, district and urban councils to be elected by ratepayers, men and women.
Responsible for roads, sewage, pubic lighting, water and public buildings. These had
been set up in Britain 10 years earlier.
Nearly all the councils were controlled by the Home Rule party and this led to
contracts and promotions being given to supporters. Some corruption.
The United Irish League
The new land movement, set up by William O Brien in 1898, wanted compulsory
purchase. It became very powerful and helped reunite the Home Rule party. It also
looked like it could start a new land war.
George Wyndham preferred conciliation and backed a landlords conference proposals
that a new land purchase bill be introduced.
The Wyndham Land Act 1903
The most important land purchase law
 £100m
 A very good price in cash (18 to 27 times annual rent)
 Loans over 68 years
 Landlords given a bonus if they sold the entire estate in one go, thereby
reducing legal bills.
This Act, together with Birrell’s amendment in 1909 was a huge success
Assessment of the Conservative Government
 They had solved the land question but small farmers were still a lot poorer.
 They had not killed Home Rule
 Landlords had done well financially
CHAPTER 8
THE HOME RULE CRISIS 1912-14
8.1 The Irish Parliamentary Party and the Liberals 1906-10
The Leaders
Redmond liked the House of Commons. He was a good speaker.
Dillon stayed in Ireland and kept Redmond in touch. Good team.
Joseph Devlin (Belfast Catholic) controlled the branches.
The Liberals
Got into government in 1906 with a big majority.
They did not need the Home Rule party but also saw it a waste of time as long as the
Conservatives controlled the House of Lords.
They offered Redmond an Irish Council (like the Central Board Scheme or the
Devolution Scheme) but he rejected it.
Liberal Reforms
 Old Age Pension. 5 shillings for over 70s. Very welcome.
 Birrell Land Act 1909
1. More money to Wyndham
2. Restored 3000 tenants who had been evicted in the Plan of Campaign.
 1908 Birrell brought in the Irish Universities Act which set up the NUI and
gave Catholic bishops what they had wanted.
1909 Lloyd George’s Budget
In order to pay for OAPs and the Naval Race direct and indirect taxes were raised.
The Lords rejected it. Uproar.
Herbert Asquith called a general election in 1910.
The Home Rule party won the balance of power.
1911 The Parliament Act
 Any bill which passed the Commons in 3 successive years would become law.
 MPs to be paid
 Elections every 5 years.
1912 Third Home Rule Bill
Drawn up by Asquith, Birrell and other leading Liberals. Similar to 1893 bill.
Terms:
 Elected Irish parliament to deal with limited internal affairs
 Foreign policy, trade, taxation and the police dealt with by Westminster
 40 MPs elected to British parliament
Should become law in 1914
8.2 Unionist Opposition
1910 Edward Carson became leader of the Unionist Party. A Dublin barrister, he
became an MP for Trinity College, and served as a minister in the Conservative
government from 1900 to1905.
Carson was a Southern Unionist and was against partition.
James Craig organised meetings and demonstrations. He set up the UVF. He would
accept partition.
Southern Unionists were small in number but rich and powerful. Many sat in the
House of Lords and some got elected to British constituencies. Some held high
positions in the Conservative Party. Some held high positions in the army (Field
Marshall Lord Kitchener)
The Solemn League and Covenant
September 1912 Belfast City Hall. Religious element. 400000 men and 250000
women. Blood.
The Ulster Volunteer Force
Separate volunteer groups started all over Ulster.
The Ulster Unionist Council wanted to control them so Craig set up the UVF.
The army veteran, Sir George Richardson commanded them.
They raised a million pounds and brought guns through Larne, Bangor and
Donaghadee in 1914
The Conservatives supported this illegal activity because:
 Bitter. They had lost 3 elections and the veto in the Lords.
 This common cause would unite them
 Many Conservatives had trade links with Ireland
 Their leader Andrew Bonar Law had Ulster ancestors.
8.3 Seeking a Solution
For a long time the Unionists were not taken seriously because:
 In 1912 and 1913 the UVF were still training with wooden rifles.
 Only 25% were Unionist.
 Police had no informers on Unionists
By late 1913 it was clear the Unionists were serious and that some form of partition
would have to be used. In order to do this, 3 questions had to be answered.
 What was Ulster?
Even in 1913 Carson agreed with Redmond that Cavan, Donegal and
Monaghan would stay with the South. The problem was with Tyrone and
Derry which were evenly divided.
 What special treatment should the excluded area get?
Redmond offered a ‘Home Rule within Home Rule’. This was a Belfast
parliament under Dublin control. It was rejected.
Unionists wanted direct rule from Westminster.
 How long was the exclusion to last?
Redmond offered 6 years but Carson wanted permanence.
8.4 The Irish National Volunteers and the Threat of Civil War
Nationalists were angry when rumours concerning Redmond’s agreement to partition
circulated.
They did not understand Unionist fears concerning discrimination and trade. Nor, did
they understand that they felt British.
‘The North Began’
Eoin MacNeill, professor of Early Irish History at UCD.
‘An Claidheamh Soluis’ suggested an Irish National Volunteer force.
This suited Bulmer Hobson and Sean MacDiarmada, the leaders of the revived IRB
November 1913 the Irish National Volunteers were set up at the Rotunda.
12 members of the committee were in the IRB.
Women were not allowed join so they set up Cumann na mBan as fundraisers, nurses
and messengers.
The Curragh Mutiny
Asquith could try to disarm the UVF in order to avoid civil war.
March 1914 58 officers offered to resign and the government assured them there was
no such plan.
April 1914 the Larne Gunrunning
Larne, Bangor and Donaghadee. 35000 rifles whisked away by motor car.
The police were taken by surprise or turned a blind eye.
Redmond takes over the Volunteers
He demanded control as he was afraid of what the IRB would do.
MacNeill reluctantly agreed because Redmond would start up his own.
July 1914 Howth Gunrunning
Childers. The Asgard. 1500 rifles.
‘Batchelors Walk massacre’ 3 killed.
King George V called a conference to avoid a civil war.
Carson and Bonar Law V Asquith and Redmond.
Ended in failure after a few days and on the same day that it ended, World War 1
began.
Home Rule postponed as everyone thought the war would last 6 month.
First Carson and then Redmond (Woodenbridge) called on respective volunteers to
join the British Army
CHAPTER 9 CULTURAL NATIONALISM
9.1 Anglicisation of Ireland
Cultural nationalism is concerned with race, identity and culture.
To many, the Anglicisation of Ireland diluted our claim for self-government.
By 1900 the Irish language and culture had almost disappeared.
Reasons for Anglicisation of Ireland
 Famine =emigration to US
 Lack of industry = emigration to England
 Railways had brought English culture to most parts
9.2 The Gaelic Athletic Association (Case Study ,Part 1)
Sport, with competitions, rules and records did not exist before 1860.
During the Industrial Revolution, rowdy games were impossible in crowded streets.
Sports were needed to keep young men away from drink and trouble.
Employers encouraged this.
Between 1850 and 1880 cricket, rugby, soccer and athletics all had national bodies
which extended to Ireland.
1874 the IRFU was set up
1880 the Irish Football Association.
Rugby, Cricket, soccer and athletics took over from hurling and football as it had
been.
Athletics
Competitions run under the rules of the English based Amateur Athletics Association.
Its counterpart was the Irish Championship Athletic Club.
Only ‘gentlemen’ could compete. These were men who had never competed for
money and had never worked as a ‘mechanic, artisan or labourer’.
Also, games on Sunday were forbidden.
These rules excluded industrial workers and farmers.
Dublin based clubs accepted these rules but country clubs objected.
This, combined with the rise in nationalist feeling led to the GAA.
The Start of the GAA
‘United Ireland’ the newspaper of the Irish National League published two articles
calling for an Irish athletics association. The writers were Michael Cusack and
Maurice Davin.
The 3 Davin brothers were top class athletes in the 1870s and 1880s.
1884 Hayes hotel in Thurles.
Davin was President and Cusack secretary
Parnell, Davitt and Archbishop Croke became patrons.
The Second Meeting
Held in Cork the following was decided:
 Basic rules were drawn up and were to be circulated.
 One club per parish (involved priests)
 GAA members banned from other athletic bodies but this was dropped on
Croke’s insistence.
Within 2 years the GAA had over 600 clubs and in 1887 the first inter-county matches
were held
There was a lot of poor organisation and quarrels about the rules.
9.3 The GAA and the IRB
The Special Branch of the RIC had spies and informers in the GAA and their reports
are our best sources.
At least 2 of the 7 founder members were IRB
The IRB proceeded to take over the GAA as it was an ideal recruiting ground.
2 men did a lot of recruiting using their jobs as commercial travellers as cover. They
were Patrick Hoctor and P.N. Fitzgerald.
Cusack was a moderate nationalist and a poor administrator.
1886 Cusack was accused of ‘administrative neglect’ and was asked to resign. He was
replaced with and IRB man.
November 1886 the GAA’s Second Convention.
Also in Thurles
Packed with IRB. All the members of the new Central Council, apart from Davin
(President) were IRB.
The Central Council took decisions against GAA rules in Davin’s absence.
Two of these were:
 RIC banned
 The Central Council were automatically members of County Committees.
Now the entire organisation, at national and county level was under IRB control.
The clergy and most ordinary members were appalled.
Showdown at the November 1887 Convention
IRB again packed the meeting but so did priests.
The meeting descended into chaos and many led by Father Scanlon walked out.
An IRB man was elected President.
The next day Croke resigned.
By Nov 1887 250 clubs had left the GAA.
November 1988 Convention. IRB back down.
Davin was re-elected President and the IRB reduced to a minority in Central Council.
However the IRB worked away at local level.
Money problems.
Money and America.
Cusack, who was not rich, loaned £400 to the GAA.
Davin organised 50 players to go to America to play exhibition matches.
A failure. Small attendances. 28 of the players stayed there.
Davin retired.
Parnell
The IRB backed Parnell during the Split and therefore so did the GAA.
The GAA went into rapid decline.
At the 1891 Convention only 6 counties were represented.
The GAA Survives
The IRB still controlled the organisation in 1893 but knew they had gone too far.
The GAA was declared to be a non-political and non sectarian organisation.
The ban on RIC was lifted.
In the mid 1890s rule changes made the game more exciting and crowds turned up.
Croke Park was purchased and it grew again.
In 1905 the ban on ‘foreign games’ and on the police and army was reintroduced.
Influenced by the Gaelic League, Irish became important.
Remained a training ground for the IRB.
9.4 The Gaelic League
Reasons for the Decline of the Irish Language
 English the language of power.
 Few printed books
 Irish associated with poverty
 Emigration
Rediscovering Gaelic Literature
3rd oldest written language in Europe.
European scholars came over and Irish scholars followed their example.
Douglas Hyde collected stories, poems and songs.
1892 Hyde gave a lecture called ‘The Necessity of De-Anglicising the Irish People’.
This led to the founding of the Gaelic League in 1893 by Hyde and Eoin MacNeill.
Gaelic League
Aims:
 Foster pride in Irish language and culture
 Restore Irish as a spoken language
 Publish books and newspapers in Irish.
Fr. Eugene O Growney’s ‘Simple Lessons in Irish’ helped spread the League.
1899 ‘An Claidheamh Soluis’ Pearse was editor for 6 years.
Strong social aspect. Singing and dancing classes, feiseanna and ceilidhe were
meeting places for the young.
From 1898 An tOireachtas held every year (a festival of culture)
Succeeded in getting the Post Office to accept addresses in Irish
Shopkeepers could use Irish names on shop
Irish compulsory for entry to NUI
The IRB
Pearse said he dreamed of ‘Ireland, not free merely but Gaelic as well; not Gaelic
merely but free as well’
Gained control of the League in 1915 and Hyde resigned.
Hyde had hoped it would be a unifying influence between nationalist and unionist.
9.5 The Irish Literary Revival
A distinctively Irish literature in English.
Yeats
Dublin Protestant
Discovered interest in Irish folklore in London
Childhood holidays in Sligo influenced him.
Mad about Maud Gonne and became involved with IRB
1892 helped start the National Literary Society
1898 with Galway landlords Edward Martyn and Lady Augusta Gregory founded the
Irish Literary Theatre.
They found good actors and Anne Horniman bought the Abbey and subsidised it.
Yeats plays:
 The Countess Cathleen (his first)
 Cathleen Ni Houlihan (young men dying for Ireland)
Poems:
 A prayer for my Daughter
 September 1913
 Easter 1916
Synge
Best dramatist
Based plays on folktales. Lived on Aran Islands to learn Irish. ‘The Shadow of the
Glen’ a young wife runs away with a tinker. Big row.
1907 ‘The Playboy of the Western World’ a riot. Perceived as mocking Irish people.
So most nationalists were more concerned about showing Irish people in a good light
than good plays.
Synge died shortly after.
The rows and sectarianism which excluded protestants marked the end of the Revival
No other great playwright until O Casey in the 1920s
CHAPTER 10
NEW IDEAS FOR A NEW CENTURY
10.1 Griffith and Sinn Fein
Griffith (early years)
Poor family
A printer
Joined Gaelic League and IRB
Believed in ‘inclusive nationalism’. Nationalism a commitment to Ireland.
Went to work in South Africa for a year
Returned 1898 and founded ‘The United Irishman’ newspaper (anniversary of 1798)
to express republican views.
Many writers of the cultural revival contributed to the newspaper.
1900 set up Cumann na nGaedheal to spread cultural nationalism Griffith scorned
Irish anglophiles.
Political Views
He was annoyed at the Home Rule Party for dumping Parnell.
1900 set up Cumann na nGaedheal to spread cultural nationalism.
He realised that most Irish people were not looking for a republic and looked for other
ways.
1904 ‘The Resurrection of Hungary’
Griffith adapted this to Ireland:
 Irish MPs would withdraw and together with County Councils set up a
Council of 300 that would peacefully replace the British government.
 A Dual Monarchy to appease unionists and ease British security fears.
Economic Views
German economist Frederick List espoused protectionism and it had worked in
Bismarck’s Germany.
This would have damaged big industries like brewing and shipbuilding but was
popular with small business. Unionists not impressed.
1905 Sinn Fein
A very good name.Self reliance
Aims:
 Withdrawal from Westminster
 A national bank and Stock Exchange to finance industry
 A merchant navy
 A ‘buy Irish’ campaign
First party to accept women as full members
Looked promising in 1908 but then Home Rule got going in 1909 and the IRB
became the organisation of Republicanism and support for Sinn Fein nearly died out.
Only the name remained important.
Griffith was almost bankrupt but persevered turning down better jobs.
Postponed his marriage for 15 years.
Then the ‘Sinn Fein Rebellion’ happened
10.2 D.P. Moran and the Catholic Identity
Middle class Catholic journalist.
Invented the terms ‘Irish Ireland’, ‘West Briton’ and ‘Seonin’ (little John Bull)
1905 started weekly newspaper ‘The Leader’. Good articles made it a financial
success.
Supported cultural nationalism and ‘buy Irish’
Criticised the writers of the Irish Literary movement for using Irish culture to become
popular in England.
Criticised corruption in the Home Rule Party
Opposed republicanism.
A bitter rival of Griffith
Believed that the Irish language and Catholicism were marks of Irishness.
Wanted the language to insulate us from ‘evil’ English ideas.
Moran’s ideas were popular among educated middle class Catholics who resented the
fact that banks, big business and good government jobs were in Protestant hands.
1902 he helped to found ‘The Catholic Association’ to highlight this discrimination
but it failed.
D.P. Moran did a lot to alienate unionists. Easy to conclude Home Rule = Rome Rule.
1908 ‘Ne Temere’ by Pius X forbade mixed marriages unless children were raised
Catholic. Also damaged relations with Protestants.
10.3 The Revival of the IRB
Had died out after the Phoenix Park murders and Parnell achievements.
The cultural revival helped to revive it.
Denis McCullough and Bulmer Hobson from Belfast set up the Dungannon Clubs.
These were discussion groups.
Sean MacDiarmada cycled around the country recruiting young men into the IRB
1909 Hobson and Countess Markieviec set up The Fianna boyscouts.
Hobson set up the Irish Freedom newspaper.
By 1912 these young men of action controlled the Supreme Council
They wanted a small, well-disciplined secret organisation that infiltrated other bigger
organisations (Sinn Fein, GAA, Gaelic League and Irish Volunteers.
10.4 Feminism and the Struggle for Women’s Rights
Women’s status
 Up to 1860s once a woman married, her husband got her wealth and control of
the children
 Not many girls Secondary schools and no woman attended university up to
1880s
 No vote
 Work in the home not recognised
 Very few jobs for women in Ireland.
Opportunities
 Emigrate


Married women, usually protestant, did charity work
Nuns
Early Campaigns for Women’s Rights
Isabella Tod in Belfast and Anna Haslam in Dublin campaigned for property rights
along with campaigners in Britain. By 1882 women had these rights.
Both these women worked to improve women’s education.
1871 Tod set up the ‘Northern Ireland Society for Women’s Suffrage’ but achieved
little by her death in 1896.
Haslam and her husband did the same in Dublin.
Both women were speaking to a largely Protestant audience.
Later Campaigns
Education led to more confident women.
Change began with local government as women had the right to vote and sit on
district councils.
Inghinidhe na hEireann
Maud Gonne Mac Bride a wealthy Englishwoman who became nationalist and
Jennie Wyse Power a successful business woman organised demonstrations against
Queen Victoria’s visit in 1900.
This grew into Inghinidhe na hEireann, a republican women’s organisation.
It organised:
 Buy Irish campaigns
 Irish, history and music classes for children
 Ceilidhe and plays
They were one of the groups that formed Sinn Fein in 1905.
Hannah Sheehy Skeffington
A University graduate. Married Frank Skeffington, also a feminist.
Inspired by the suffragettes in Britain, Hannah and others set up the Irish Women’s
Franchise League in 1908.
Speeches, demonstrations and a newspaper ‘The Irish Citizen’
‘Home Rule for Irish women as well as men’ was demanded.
All Home Rule leaders were against this.
1912 Hannah and 5 others were jailed for breaking windows in government buildings.
3 English suffragettes came over and attacked Redmond and Asquith.
Violence lost them support.
Jailed women went on hunger strike.
The Cat and Mouse act and forced feeding were not used in Ireland
Home Rule divided the Women’s movement
CHAPTER 11
INDUSTRY AND TOWNS
11.1 Introduction
The only part of Ireland to be industrialised in the 19th century was the Lagan valley.
Belfast was the only town to grow significantly.
Population declined unlike most other countries.
11.2 Industrialisation in the North East
Linen
Was a cottage industry that moved to factories.
1860s US Civil War stopped cotton and linen got a boost.
Linen exported to US and GB.
Other cheaper European producers hurt NI by 1900 but WW1 helped.
90% of workers were women and children and cheap.
Damp and warm air. Few workers made it past 45.
10 hour days and half day Saturday in 1900.
1901 children under 12 banned.
Shipbuilding
Up to 1860 Cork had the biggest yard.
Men well paid.
1840s Belfast harbour drained creating Queens Island where a shipbuilding firm was
started.
Edward Harland took over the yard and made a very good iron cargo ship. GH Wolff
put up capital and had connections with the White Star line.
1880s tourism and emigration = transatlantic steam liners. H and W changed to steel
and designed better engines.
Their first was the ‘Majestic’. The most famous ‘Titanic’
Workman and Clarke specialised in refrigeration ships (New Zealand and Argentina)
11.3 Belfast, the Industrial Capital
By 1900 bigger than Dublin.
New city, no tenements. Small red brick with running water and toilet at back. Built
by factory owners near factory.
Still TB and typhoid common.
Middle class in suburbs.
Sectarianism
1/3 Catholic.
Riots started in 1840s and got worse after 1870 when Home Rule became and issue.
1886 50 people killed.
Orange Order encouraged discrimination.
Catholics pushed out of better paid jobs in shipbuilding and engineering.
Why did Belfast succeed?
‘Protestant ethic’ discredited.
 Linen industry created the capital for industrialisation.
 Deepening the harbour
 Wolff’s contacts with the White Star Line
 British business felt safer with Protestants
11.4 Industrial Decline in the South
Before the 1870s there were many small craft businesses in Irish towns. There were
distilleries and breweries and mineral water companies also but did not have the
capital to invest.
Could not compete with cheap imports.
Railways allowed imports in.
The ‘long depression’, which started in mid 1870s finished off small industry.
Farmers children had to emigrate or migrate.
Big breweries, distilleries, and flour makers succeeded because the invested and
exported.
Guiness employed only1/10 of what shipbuilding in Belfast did.
11.5 Dublin and Other Cities
Very low pay = very poor housing. Small cottages in country. Tenements in city.
Malnutrition and disease.
Dublin was a trading city so a lot of work was casual (dockers and carters)
Housing
Only 26% of Dubliners had a house to themselves in 1880s
Speculators bought the houses of the rich who moved to suburbs.
If they improved the houses they would get no more rent.
Many families lived in one room and some took a lodger.
One tap and one ‘earth closet’ in the back yard that was emptied once a month by the
Corporation.
Worst slums in UK and maybe Europe.
Disease
Typhoid common (water borne disease)
TB and measles also killed.
Malnutrition, drunkenness and prostitution common.
Infant mortality 142 per 1000 very high.
Why so bad?
Only those who paid rent of more than 4 shillings could vote for Corporation.
Some members of the Corporation owned tenements.
Britain’s fault?
Most Ratepayers had moved out and paid rates to other councils (Rathmines,
Pembroke, Drumcondra)
The Dublin Artisans Dwelling Company and The Iveagh Trust built good houses but
wanted to be self-financing and charged a rent of 3 to 5 shillings which was too much
for most.
CHAPTER 12
THE IRISH LABOUR MOVEMENT
AND THE 1913 LOCKOUT
12.1 James Connolly and the Start of Socialism
Types of Socialism
 Gradualist. Slow and peaceful. Getting reform acts passed.
 Marxists or Revolutionary Socialists
 Syndicalists. One big trade union would bring about a revolution.
Problems for Irish Socialism
 Only one part industrialised
 Workers up north divided
 Home Rule diverted attention
 Work for skilled workers scarce and they were afraid.
Craft Unions
Tradesmen better off due to greater demand.
Members of branches of British unions but after 1895 were affiliated to the Irish
Trades Union Congress (ITUC).
1900 Keir Hardie (Marxist) elected MP. Founded the Labour Party in Britain.
James Connolly
1896 Connolly a friend of Hardie lost his job in Edinburgh and came to work for the
Dublin Socialist Society.
A syndicalist, he set up the IRSP
Newspaper of IRSP was ‘The Worker’s Republic’.
Unlike Marx, Connolly believed in nationalism. First you must get rid of the Empire.
Little support in Ireland and wages often did not come so in 1903 he went to the US
and did not return until 1910.
12.2 James Larkin and the Development of Irish Trade Unionism
Early 1900s difficult times for unskilled. Few jobs, low wages, high inflation.
TUs for unskilled set up all over Europe. Strikes.
Larkin
National Union of Dock Labourers
1907 Strike. Strikers = sympathetic strike. Even police on strike for ovetime.
Dockers got nothing but transport workers got a rise.
Shocked when he came to Dublin.
3 successful Dockers strikes but fell out with his union who felt he was going too far.
In 1910 he was jailed for misuse of Dockers Union funds.
Larkin was a great speaker. Great energy but arrogant and dictatorial.
A syndicalist, he set up ITGWU. Very popular.
William O Brien helped.
Connolly returned and started a branch in Belfast.
Sympathetic strikes made ‘blacklegs’ difficult to find.
12.3 Strike and Lockout (case study, part 1)
William Martin Murphy
A Catholic nationalist.
Made fortune building railways and tramways in GB, Africa and South America.
Owned Dublin Tramway Company and built a power station in Ringsend to power it.
Owned the Irish Independent, Evening Herald and The Irish Catholic (influence)
68 in 1913.
Cold, austere, distinguished and hard-working.
Paid over the odds and housed some of his workers.
But work was part time for the first 6 years.
12 hours a day with few days off. Fined for late trams.
Larkin had no trouble recruiting some of his workers.
Murphy founded the Employer’s Federation.
Murphy attacks
Sacked 6 ITGWU men and at midnight held a meeting of Tramway men and told
them to choose.
Did the same in the ‘Irish Independent’ and 60 were sacked.
Eason’s workers went on sympathetic action.
200 Tramway workers sacked when they also refused to handle the papers.
The Tramway Strike
Larkin called a general strike in the Tramway Co. at the start of Horse Show week
(26th August).
Murphy got police to surround the power station and managed to keep trams running.
Murphy had won the battle but Dublin Castle messed it up by trying to help.
 They jailed Connolly and others. Larkin got bail.
 They banned a big ITGWU meeting for Sackville Street on Sunday 31st
August. (contrast with Unionists in Belfast)
On Saturday night a demonstration at Liberty Hall against these measures was baton
charged by police, killing 2 and injuring 30.
William O Brien, hoping to avoid more violence moved the Sunday meeting to
outside the city and 10000 attended.
Larkin in disguise. Murphy’s ‘Imperial Hotel’.
Police enraged batoned everyone. 500 injured, most not trade unionist at all.
Larkin jailed.
Police invaded ‘Corporation Buildings’, a tenement, beating up innocent people.
On Tuesday tenements in Church Street collapsed killing 2 children.
A wave of sympathy for the ITGWU.
Murphy’s next step
A sympathetic Lockout.
Any worker who would not sign a declaration would be locked out.
This was a threat to all unions so they joined in.
1st September Jacobs locked out 2000.
12.4 Dublin 1913 Defiance and Defeat (Case Study, Part 2)
By October 20000 out of work affecting 100000.
Prices rose.
Soup kitchens at Liberty Hall.
Some schools provided breakfast for children.
A threat to all unions so Keir Hardie came to Dublin and promised help.
The TUC
The British Trade Union Congress (TUC) sent ‘The Hare’ laden with food. In all they
sent £100000 in food, clothes and cash between September and April 1914.
However the TUC were not syndicalists and did not approve of sympathetic action
and wanted to end the lockout.
Home Rule
Most Home Rulers saw Larkinism as a threat to their property and religion.
They did not like Murphy but very few helped.
The government
Set up the Ashwith Enquiry
A public enquiry where Larkin questioned Murphy
Concluded in October 1913 that sympathetic actions were wrong and so was the
‘declaration’ and proposed ‘conciliation committees’
The employers rejected this proposal.
The Dublin Kiddies Scheme
Wealthy feminist from London, Dora Montefiore, suggested that British working
families take in strikers’ children.
Larkin ( a practising Catholic) agreed.
Archbishop William Walsh of Dublin denounced the idea.
Priests intimidated parents. Mobs appeared at ferries and railway stations.
Middle class opposition to Larkin hardened.
Scheme abandoned.
Employers fight back
 Started using petrol lorries rather than carts. 3 or 4 fewer men needed. These
jobs gone forever.
 ‘Free labourers’ (non union) employed. ‘Scabs’ or ‘blacklegs’ often beaten up.
One was killed. Some went back to work rather than lose their jobs for good.
 Murphy asked the ‘Shipping Federation’ for help. They supplied special ships
to house free labourers who would break the dockers. It also donated £10000
to struggling employers.
Connolly and Larkin respond
Connolly closed the port.
He and Larkin appealed to British trade unionists not to handle Irish goods.
TUC against sympathetic strikes.
Larkin toured Britain abusing TUC leaders.
This annoyed trade unionists in England, who had done a lot to help. Support from
GB ceased.
The End
By January it was clear who was going to win.
2000 never got their jobs back.
By April it was over.
No pay rise and most had to leave the ITGWU
Larkin left for the USA.
Connolly and his Irish Citizen Army joined the IRB.
Murphy was hated and never again would anyone treat unions in that way.
The right of workers to organise was not challenged seriously after this
.