SOLVING THE LAND
QUESTION
WHAT DID THE FARMERS WANT?
• Security from
eviction.
• 3Fs=Tenant Rights =
Ulster Custom
made law.
• Ultimately
Ownership of their
own land through a
purchase scheme
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
THE 1870 LAND ACT
(GLADSTONE’S FIRST LAND ACT)
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
THE 1881 LAND ACT
(GLADSTONE’S SECOND ACT)
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.
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.
SYNDICATES AND NEW TIPPERARY
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.
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.
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.
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
Gerald
George
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