6. Marriage Decline; Birth Decline 1845 Average male age at marriage 25; average female age 21. 1914 Male 33; female 28. 1851 12% of women 25-54 did not marry 1911 26%
12. Catholic Revival – Paul Cullen Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland; Apostolic Delegate Ultramontanist – all churches to follow Rome Synod of Thurles
13. Synod of Thurles Rome forbids priests from holding College positions Irish bishops divided on role of Colleges Opposition to Ecclesiastical Title Bill brings them around Support for Catholic university Condemns secret societies
14. John Cullen 1850 Archbishop of Dublin 1850-1870 25% increase in priests 140% increase in nuns Church attendance from 33% to 90+ % 1866 First Irish Cardinal Papal infallibility
15. Question What is the longest word in the English language? Not coined for Mary Poppins Not a technical term Antidisestablishmentarianism
16. 1869 Irish Church Act Remove state support for the Church of Ireland Repeal tithes Removed Church representation in the Houseof Lords Took over church properties and allowed their sale to tenants Remove state support (regiumdonum)for Presbyterians and Maynooth College
17. Irish Church Act Our Siamese twins Mr. Bull: You don't think the operation will be fatal to either? Mr. Gladstone: “Oh, no.” Mr. Bright: “Not a bit! – Do ‘em both all the good in the world.”
20. 1871 Belfast Employment Males over 20: 40, 834 Presbyterian: clerk, printer, ship-builder Roman Catholic: shopkeeper, carman, agriculture Episcopal: seaman, soldier, police Females over 20: 54,496 Presbyterian: teacher, milliner, seamstress Roman Catholic: shopkeeper, flax, weaver, factory labor Episcopal: servant
21. Employment Males over 20: 1,335,751 96.6% employed in specific occupations Agriculture > furniture, food, textiles, unspecified Females over 20:1,463,143 42.3% employed Dress, agriculture, textiles ~14% of national government workers
23. Young Ireland 1842 Charles Gavan Duffyeditor; Thomas Osborne Davis, and John Blake Dillon found The Nation Break with moderate stance of O’Connell 1845 John Mitchel joins staff
24.
25. Young Ireland – Irish Confederation William Smith O'Brien and Thomas Francis Meagher identify with French Republic
26. Young Irelander Rebellion of 1848 Confrontation with police 2 killed 3302 imprisoned and/or transported
27. Crimean War Total forces - 37,000 of 111,000 total Light brigade – 114 of 673 horsemen Lucan – ‘Exterminator’ of Ireland Luke O’Connor
29. Irish Republican Brotherhood 1853 Emmet Monument Association founded by John Mahonyand Michael Doheny Sought Russian aid Foment revolution in Ireland 1858 Two new organizations Irish Republican Brotherhood in Ireland (James Stephens) Fenian Brotherhood (Mahony in US)
32. Currier and Ives print, 1866 From Erin's soil the Saxon foe In shame shall be forever driven; From Erin's sons who bear the woe, The tyrants chain shall soon be riven; And Erin's emerald isle shall be, The Gem of Freedom in the sea. Then up and arm at Erin's call, Ye FENIAN sons of Irish sires; On every hill and mountain tall, Arise and light your signal fires, And swear to win with heart and hand, The Freedom of your Native land.
34. Invasion of Canada Sunset at Campobello Plan to harm British shipping in the St. Lawrence General John O’Neill General ‘Fighting Tom’ Sweeny, Secretary of War
38. Michael Davitt 1846 Born in the village of Straide, Co. Mayo Evicted 1865 Joins Fenians
39. Thomas Meagher Leader of Young Irelanders in 1848 Arrest, transport, escape Journalist in NY Brig. Gen. in US Army Irish Brigade (NY) Governor of Montana
40. 1867 Fenian activities Failed raid on Chester castle Uprisings at many locations in Ireland Clerkenwell prison explosion
41. Fenian Ram 1881 Constructed in New York Abandoned after dispute with designer
42. Changes in Landlord-Tenant Relations Landed Property (Ireland) Improvement Act, I860 Changes land holding from feudal to contract relationship Provide compensation for agreed upon improvements
47. 1880 Harvest – What’s his name? Parnell and Davitt urge labor to not work on Lord Erne’s estate Land agent tries to undermine the campaign, Neighbors shun him. Shops do not serve him. Laborers refuse to tend his house Postman refuses to deliver his mail. Orange men save the harvest Cost: £10,000 for £350 worth of potatoes
48. Voting 1868 Gave vote to more householders 1884 Gave vote to renters paying an annual rental of £10 or those holding land valued at £10
52. Irish Government Bill 1886 Single assembly Two orders Representative peers (25) and 75 elected members 204-206 members No representation in Parliament Executive – Lord lieutenant for Ireland
53. Irish Government Bill 1886 UK to retain authority on foreign relations, trade, and coinage UK to control Royal Irish constabulary Reluctantly supported by Parnell Commons For 311 Opposed 341
arents now left their farms to one son, and the others had the choice of marrying a female who inherited a farm (and this meant a financial settlement), moving to the city or town, taking up a profession, emigrating, or joining a religious order. Heirs tended to postpone marriage until parents died and were generally unwilling to make dowryless marriages that would worsen their financial position or lower their status. It became increasingly difficult to marry outside one’s own social class. Before the Famine it was quite usual for well-off farmers to bring in matchmakers to ensure that their children married well; but after the Famine most families did this. The dowry became a chief consideration when choosing a partner and farmers’ children preferred not to marry rather than marry beneath them.
The impact of the Irish famineAccording to the census of population, the Irish-born population of Scotland stood at 126,321 out of a total of 2,620,184 in 1841, or 4.8%. Ten years later it stood at 207,367, or 7.2%, out of a total of 2,888,742. This compared to 2.9% for England and Wales. During 1848, the average weekly inflow of Irish into Glasgow was estimated at over 1000, and the figure for January to April of that year was put at 42,860.Between 1841 and 1851 the Irish population of Scotland increased by 90%. As the century progressed the numbers of Irish immigrants dwindled to 3.7% in 1911, or 174,715; the respective figures for England and Wales were 1%, or 395,325. The census figures, however, underestimate the total strength of the Irish community in Scotland as they record only those people who were Irish-born; children of Irish immigrants born in Scotland were classified as Scottish.Settlement of the IrishBecause of their poverty and poor state of health, Irish immigrants tended to settle in or around their point of disembarkation, which meant the west coast of Scotland. The nearest counties to Ireland, Wigtownshire and Kirkcudbrightshire, had substantial Irish populations by 1841. The famine pushed the numbers up to 16.5% of the population in the former.Dumfries-shire saw its Irish-born population stand at 5.9% in 1851. The Irish also made their way to the east coast, particularly to Dundee, where a large female Irish community was established. Edinburgh had only a small Irish community of 6.5% of total population in 1851. However, it was the industrial areas of the west of Scotland which saw the largest concentrations of Irish immigrants, with almost 29% of all Irish migrants settled in Glasgow, but the smaller industrial towns of the west also had substantial Irish communities. The population of Coatbridge in 1851 was 35.8% Irish.
Queen's College, Cork was founded by the provisions of an act which enabled Queen Victoria to endow new colleges for the "Advancement of Learning in Ireland". Under the powers of this act, the three colleges of Belfast, Cork and Galway were incorporated on 30 December 1845. The college opened in 1849 with 23 professors and 181 students and a year later became part of the Queen's University of Ireland.
In September 1850, the Pope set up an English Catholic hierarchy of archbishops and bishops to rule the Catholic Church there. This caused much resentment among English Protestants because it seemed to flaunt the rapid progress of Catholicism in England. The Government’s reaction was provocative. In 1851, it introduced and carried the Ecclesiastical Titles Bill, which made it a penal offence for Catholic bishops to use territorial titles.
Although the act was predominantly the work of Gladstone, who was largely the author of it and was also responsible for its passage in the house of commons, the longest and most effective tradition of individual advocacy of the two principles of Irish church disestablishment and tenant purchase was that of Bright. Other prominent English politicians who contributed towards the growing parliamentary sympathy with these two ideas included Russell, J. S. Mill, and even Disraeli. But, judged by the standard of simple effectiveness, the advocacy of Bright was the most important of them all. It was he who practically converted Gladstone.1 Up to a very late date before Gladstone's declara-tion in favour of disestablishment associated with a preliminary experiment in state-aided tenant purchase, Bright was pessimistic as to the outcome. the tenant purchase pro-visions of the church act were not placed before the house of commons or the public as a means to economic or social reform, but simply a means of' breaking up properties '. The commissioners were to use the property immediately for the purpose of giving compensation, according to certain rules, to all individuals whose rights or interests were disturbed by those other provisions of the act for confiscation of church property and for the cessation of the regiumdonum grants to the presbyterians and of the annual grants to Maynooth Col-lege. In order to make these compensations, the commissioners were given power to borrow money on the security of the pro-perty. They were instructed to hand over to the ' Representa-tive Church Body', the central trustee organisation which the members of the disestablished Church of Ireland were empowered to set up, such church fabric as might be needed and a sum of £500,000 to compensate for loss of private endowments.1 They were also to sell to the representative church body certain quan-tities of land for glebes and such glebe houses as were required. Provision was also made for the disposal of graveyards in various ways and for a variety of other compensations, adjustments and contingencies. Secondly, the remainder of those portions of the act which provided for transfer or management of property were concerned with the raising of revenue-that is to say, with sales of land and tithe rentcharge and other operations which would realise money to meet the payment of compensations or the repay-ment of loans. yearly and other tenures. By the Irish Church Act Amendment Act, 1881,1 the cor-poration of the commissioners of church temporalities in Ireland was to be dissolved upon a day to be fixed by the lord lieutenant by order in council, and its properties, powers and duties were transferred to the Irish land commission set up by the Land Law (Ireland) Act, I88r.
In 1881 people were allowed to refuse a statement of religion and 530 did so.
All other religions
Occupations where one religion ahs greater number. Selected examples1861 One femalisted as scientific persion.
Females make up 9 of the 1600 adult miners; 1 of the 254 listed as being involved in masts and rigging. 6 of the 49,300 involved in house construction.
"The projectors of the NATION have been told that there is no room in Ireland for another Liberal Journal; but they think differently. They believe that since the success of the long and gallant struggle which our fathers maintained against sectarian ascendancy, a NEW MIND has grown up amongst us, which longs to redress other wrongs and achieve other victories; and that this mind has found no adequate expression in the press. "The Liberal Journals of Ireland were perhaps never more ably conducted than at this moment; but their tone and spirit are not of the present but the past;—their energies are shackled by old habits, old prejudices, and old divisions; and they do not and cannot keep in the van of the advancing people. "The necessities of the country seem to demand a Journal able to aid and organise the new movements going on amongst us—to make their growth deeper, and their fruit 'more racy of the soil'— and, above all, to direct the popular mind and the sympathies of educated men of all parties to the great end of nationality. Such a Journal should be free from the quarrels, the interests, the wrongs, and even the gratitude of the past. It should be free to apply its strength where it deems best— free to praise—free to censure; unshackled by sect or party; able, Irish, and independent. "Holding these views, the projectors of the Nation cannot think that a Journal, prepared to undertake this work, will be deemed superfluous; and as they labour, not for themselves but for their country, they are prepared, if they do not find a way open, to try if they cannot make one. "Nationality is their first object—a nationality which will not only raise our people from their poverty, by securing to them the blessings of a domestic legislature, but inflame and purify them with a lofty and heroic love of country—a nationality of the spirit as well as the letter—a nationality which may come to be stamped upon our manners, our literature, and our deeds—a nationality which may embrace Protestant, Catholic, and Dissenter, Milesian and Cromwellian, the Irishman of a hundred generations, and the stranger who is within our gates; not a nationality which would preclude civil war, but which would establish internal union and external independence—a nationality which would be recognised by the world, and sanctified by wisdom, virtue, and time."
the insurgency led by William SmithO'Brien collapsed farcically in a field of cabbages in TipperaryThe government, however, forced the leaders' hands on 22 July 1848 by announcing the suspension of habeas corpus. This meant they could imprison the Young Irelanders and other opponents on proclamation without trial. Having to choose between armed resistance or an ignominious flight, O'Brien decided that the movement would have to make a stand.From the 23rd to the 29th of July 1848, O'Brien, Meagher and Dillon raised the standard of revolt as they travelled from County Wexford through County Kilkenny and into County Tipperary. The last great gathering of Young Ireland leaders took place in the village of The Commons on July 28. The next day, O'Brien was in The Commons where barricades had been erected, near the Commons colliery,[5] to prevent his arrest. His local supporters—miners, tradesmen and small tenant farmers—awaited the arrival of the military and police. As the police from Callan approached the crossroads before The Commons from Ballingarry, they saw barricades in front of them and, thinking discretion the better part of valour, they veered right up the road toward County Kilkenny. The rebels followed them across the fields. Sub-Inspector Trant and his 46 policemen took refuge in a large two-storey farmhouse, taking the five young children in the house as hostages. They barricaded themselves in, pointing their guns from the windows. The house was surrounded by the rebels and a stand-off ensued. Mrs. Margaret McCormack, the owner of the house and mother of the children, demanded to be let into her house, but the police refused and would not release the children. Mrs. McCormack found O'Brien reconnoitring the house from the out-buildings, and asked him what was to become of her children and her house.The Widow McCormack's HouseO'Brien and Mrs. McCormack went up to the parlour window of the house to speak to the police. Through the window, O'Brien stated, "We are all Irishmen—give up your guns and you are free to go." O'Brien shook hands with some of the police through the window. The initial report to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland stated that a constable fired the first shot at O'Brien, who was attempting to negotiate. General firing then ensued between the police and the rebels. O'Brien had to be dragged out of the line of fire by James Stephens and Terence Bellew MacManus, both of whom were wounded.Terence MacManusThe rebels were incensed that they had been fired upon without provocation ,and the shooting went on for a number of hours. During the initial exchange of fire, the rebels at the front of the house—men, women and children—crouched beneath the wall. So great was the pressure of the crowd that one man, Thomas Walsh, was forced to cross from one side of the front gate to the other. As he crossed between the gate piers he was shot dead by the police. During lulls in the shooting, the rebels retreated out of the range of fire. Another man, Patrick McBride, who had been standing at the gable-end of the house when the firing began—and was quite safe where he was—found that his companions had retreated. Jumping up on the wall to run and join them, he was fatally wounded by the police.Removal of Smith O'Brien under sentence of deathIt was evident to the rebels that the position of the police was almost impregnable, and a Catholic clergyman of the parish, Rev. Philip Fitzgerald, endeavoured to mediate in the interests of peace. When a party of the Cashel police under Sub-Inspector Cox were seen arriving over Boulea Hill, the rebels attempted to stop them even though they were low on ammunition, but the police continued to advance, firing up the road. It became clear that the police in the house were about to be reinforced and rescued. The rebels then faded away, effectively terminating both the era of Young Ireland and Repeal, but the consequences of their actions would follow them for many years.[edit]AftermathSeveral of the rebel leaders were charged and convicted of sedition, which carried a death sentence. Their sentences were commuted to transportation to Van Diemen's Land in present-day Tasmania, Australia, where the "Irish gentlemen" prisoners were separated among various settlements. Meagher and John Mitchel (who had been transported there before for political activities) both managed to escape and emigrate to the United States in the early 1850s.
Cardigan spent some years with the army in Belfast, Cork, Dublin, Dundalk and Kilkenny. His brother-in-law, Lord Lucan, whom he "cordially disliked", owned vast estates in Mayo, where he was MP. The British historian Cecil Woodham-Smith wrote, "He squeezed out the utmost possible amount of cash from his poor tenants to keep up his high lifestyle. He cherished a powerful contempt for them, half-starving and Catholics into the bargain. It is doubtful if he considered the Irish as human beings at all. During the Famine, when he was called the Exterminator, he regarded his tenants as vermin to be cleared off the land." (The Reason Why) According to A.W. Kinglake's standard history of the War, "it was Lucan's conduct in Ireland, his ruthlessness, which decided the Government to select him for a command in the Crimea."
During the Crimean War, the 23rd Foot were part of the British force sent to the Crimea. On 20 September 1854, at the Battle of the Alma, Sergeant O'Connor was advancing between two officers, carrying the Colour, when one of them was mortally wounded. Sergeant O'Connor was also shot at the same time, but recovering himself, he snatched up the Colour from the ground and continued to carry it until the end of the action, although urged to retire to the rear on account of his wounds. He also acted with great gallantry at the assault on the Redan (8 September 1855) where he was shot through both thighs.The Victoria Cross did not exist at that time, but when it was created in 1856, O'Connor was one of the 62 Crimean veterans invested with it. He was the first recipient from the Army, as opposed to the Royal Navy.
James StephensContributors: TOR.Railway engineer, republican nationalist, and founder of the Fenians. James Stephens was born at Blackmill Street, Kilkenny, the son of John Stephens, an auctioneer’s clerk. His was educated at St Kieran’s College. The young Stephens trained as an engineer. He worked on the Limerick and north Waterford railway line in 1843. A supporter of Young Ireland and the Irish Confederation, he served as aide-de-camp to William Smith O’Brien in the 1848 rising at Ballingarry, Co. Tipperary. Wounded in the skirmish, he escaped to Paris and was officially thought to have been killed. He was a ‘participant observer’ in Paris Commune and the end of the Second Republic in France. In Paris, Stephens met the Young Irelanders, John O’Mahony and Michael Doheny. He was deeply influenced by the French radicals and the underground figures whom he met. He earned his living by teaching English. In 1856 he returned to Ireland disguised as a beggar. His purpose was to establish a new secret revolutionary society that would achieve Irish independence from Britain rule by military force.A man of tremendous energy, over the next two years he travelled some 3,000 miles around the country, planning a secret physical-force movement that would be more durable than Young Ireland. This period earned him the title An SeabhacSiubhalach (‘The Wandering Hawk’). He earned a living, for a time, teaching French to children of the constitutionalist John Blake Dillon. In 1857 Stephens was contacted by an Emmet Monument Association emissary, Owen Considine (USA) who greatly encouraged him to establish a new revolutionary society. Stephens sent Joseph Denieffe to New York to seek money for the new movement. Just $400 was raised and it was used found the new organisation on St Patrick’s Day 1858. At first it was called the Irish Revolutionary Brotherhood and became known later as the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB). It was secret and oath-bound. Stephens structured it on military principles. He was ‘head centre’. It made its chief appeal to artisans and shop assistants rather than country people. The strong opposition of the Catholic Church doubtless kept many potential members from joining. The IRB recruited members through Jeremiah O’Donovan Rossa, John Devoy, William Roantree and Patrick ‘Pagan’ Leary. During this time John O’Mahony founded an American auxiliary known as the ‘American Brotherhood’. The term ‘Fenian’ came to be applied generally to both organisations.
O'Mahony fielded the first Fenian force during April of 1866, hoping to beat Roberts to the punch. His group attempted to seize Campo Bello Island, situated at the mouth of the St Croix in the entrance to Passamaquoddy Bay. Whether or not his raid succeeded, O'Mahony reasoned that the island's unresolved ownership (claimed by New Brunswick and Maine) would bring about a clash between Britain and America. Gunboats appeared from both countries to successfully interdict the Fenians, but nothing more. The Fenian commanders withdrew, having to "beg their way home" because no provisions had been made for such a contingency. "The Campo Bello fizzle" embarrassed all Fenians.
Niagara Raid (Battles of Ridgeway and Fort Erie) (1866)Main articles: Battle of Ridgeway and Battle of Fort Erie (1866)In 1866, the Fenians had split into two factions, with the original faction, led by Fenian founder John O'Mahony focused more on fundraising for rebels in Ireland. The leaders of the more militant "senate faction" led by William R. Roberts believed that even a marginally successful invasion of the Province of Canada or other parts of British North America would provide them with leverage in their efforts. After an April attempt to raid New Brunswick (see "Campobello Island Raid", above) that had been blessed by O'Mahony failed, the senate faction Fenians implemented their own plan for an invasion of Canada. The plan drafted by the senate "Secretary for War" General T. W. Sweeny, a distinguished former Union Army officer, called for multiple Fenian invasions at points in Canada West (now southern Ontario) and Canada East (now Quebec) intended to cut Canada West off from Canada East and possible British reinforcements arriving from there. Key to the plan was a diversionary attack at Fort Erie from Buffalo, New York, meant to draw troops away from Toronto in a feigned strike at the nearby Welland Canal system. This would be the only Fenian attack, other than the Quebec raid several days later, that would be actually launched in June 1866.Approximately 1000 to 1,300 Fenians crossed the Niagara River in the first 14 hours of June 1 under Colonel John O'Neill.[2] Sabotaged by Fenians on its crew, the U.S. Navy's side-wheeler gunboat USS Michigan did not begin intercepting Fenian reinforcements until 2:15 P.M.--fourteen hours after Owen Starr's advance party had first crossed the river in advance of O'Neill's main force.[3][4] Once the USS Michigan was deployed, O'Neill's force in the Niagara Region was cut off from supplies and reinforcements consisting of several hundred (Canadian sources claim up to 3,000) Fenian insurgents.Fenian Monument - Queen's Park, Toronto, Canada ca. 1890O'Neill's Fenian soldiers called themselves the "Irish Republican Army," and some wore uniforms with "IRA" buttons.[citation needed] This is considered to be the first use of the term. (A well-known painting of the battle in the National Archives of Canada depicts a green flag with the letters IRA over a gold harp; in fact, the most common Fenian emblem at this time was a sunburst.)After assembling with other units from the province and travelling all night, the Canadians advanced into a well-laid ambush (Battle of Ridgeway) by approximately 300 Fenians the next morning north of Ridgeway, a small hamlet west of Fort Erie. (The Fenian strength at Ridgeway had been reduced by desertions and deployments of Fenians in other locations in the area overnight.)[5] The Canadian militia consisted of inexperienced volunteers with no more than basic drill training and primarily Enfield rifled muskets comparable to the armaments of the Fenians. A single company of the Queen's Own Rifles had been armed the day before on their ferry crossing from Toronto with Spencer repeating rifles, and had never been given the opportunity to practice with them. The Fenian forces were mostly battle-hardened American Civil War veterans, armed with weapons procured from leftover war munitions, also Enfield rifled muskets or the comparable Springfield.[6] The two forces exchanged volleys for about twenty minutes before a mistaken command to defend against cavalry was given to the Canadian troops. After forming a square the Canadians retreated in broken ranks, still firing. Thirty one Canadians had been killed on the battlefield, two died from wounds sustained, and four would later die of disease while on service and ninety-four were wounded or disabled by disease.[7] That is comparable to thirty-nine Fenians killed and sixteen wounded.After the first clash, the Canadians retreated to Port Colborne at the Lake Erie end of the Welland Canal, while the Fenians rested at Ridgeway briefly before themselves returning to Fort Erie. Another fight followed there that saw the surrender of another large group of local Canadian militia that had moved into the Fenian rear. But after considering the inability of reinforcements to cross the river and the approach of large numbers of both militia and British regulars, the remaining Fenians chose to return to Buffalo. They were intercepted by the Michigan, and surrendered to American naval personnel.Some later accounts attribute the conduct of Canadian forces to being "cowardly, un-patriotic, and treasonous"[citation needed] and make allegations of vastly inferior forces on the part of the Fenians. Hardware had by both sides was comparable. The turning point in the battle was when Fenian cavalry was erroneously reported and the command was given to form square, the tactic at the time for infantry to repel cavalry. When the mistake was recognized, an attempt was made to reform column but being far too close to the Fenian lines, attempts to reform were hopeless. It is telling that a formal board of inquiry into the conduct of Canadian defenses exonerated Lt. Colonel J. Stoughton Dennis, Brigade Major of the Fifth Military District, although the President of the Board of Inquiry, Colonel George T. Denison, differed from his colleagues on some key points. Regarding allegations to the misconduct of Lt. Colonel Albert Booker (13th Btn.), upon whom command of Canadian volunteers had devolved, was determined by the same Board of Inquiry to have "not the slightest foundation for the unfavourable imputations cast upon him in the public prints". These allegations dogged Booker for the rest of his life.President Andrew Johnson's proclamation requiring enforcement of the laws of neutrality was issued five days after the beginning of the invasion, guaranteeing that it would not continue. Both US General Ulysses S. Grant and U.S. General George Meade went to Buffalo, New York to assess the situation. In the meantime, following instructions from General Grant, General Meade issued strict orders to prevent anyone from further violating the border. General Grant then proceeded to St. Louis while General Meade, finding that the battle at Ridgeway was over and the Fenian army interned in Buffalo, proceeded to Ogdensburg, New York to oversee the situation in the St. Lawrence River area. The US Army was then instructed to seize Fenian weapons and ammunition, and to prevent more border crossings. Further instructions on 7 June 1866 were to arrest anyone who looked like they might be a Fenian.Ironically, although they did not do much to advance the cause of Irish independence, the 1866 raids and the inept efforts of Canadian colonial troops to repulse them helped to galvanize support for the Confederation of Canada in 1867. Some historians have argued that the debacle tipped the final votes of reluctant Maritime provinces in favour of the collective security of nationhood, making Ridgeway the “battle that made Canada.”In June 2006 the Ontario’s heritage agency dedicated a plaque at Ridgeway on the commemoration of the 140th anniversary of the battle. Many members of today's Canadian army regiment, The Queen's Own Rifles of Canada, return to the Ridgeway battle site each year on the weekend closest to the June 2nd anniversary for a bicycle tour of the battle sites.Alexander Muir, a Scottish immigrant, author of the Canadian patriotic song "The Maple Leaf Forever" and member of the Orange Order, fought at Ridgeway with the Queen's Own Rifles.A Fenian commander was Brigadier General Thomas William Sweeny who was arrested by the United States government for his involvement; however, he later served in the Regular Army until his retirement in 1870
Phoenix National and Literary Society was a society formed by members of the Young Ireland movement in Dublin, Ireland. It was established in 1856 by Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa "for the liberation of Ireland by force of arms".[1][2] The society's aim was to encourage intellectuals to become nationalists and vice versa as well as to encourage a revival of Irish culture. It later merged with the Irish Republican Brotherhood.[3]In one of his writings, O'Donovan describes the origin of the society's name; "I remember the night we met to give it a name. Some proposed that it be called the Emmet Monument Association, others proposed other names. I proposed that it be called the Phoenix National and Literary Society — the word Phoenix signifying that the Irish cause was again to rise from the ashes of our martyred nationality. My resolution was carried, and that is how the word Phoenix comes into Irish national history.
Thomas Francis Meagher (pronounced /ˈmɑrh/) (August 3, 1823 – July 1, 1867) was an Irish nationalist and leader of the Young Irelanders in the Rebellion of 1848. After being convicted of sedition, he was first sentenced to death, but received transportation for life to Van Diemen's Land in Australia. In 1852 he escaped and made his way to the United States, where he settled in New York City. There Meagher studied law, worked as a journalist, and traveled to present lectures on the Irish cause and married for a second time.At the beginning of the American Civil War, Meagher joined the U.S. Army and rose to the rank of brigadier general.[1] He was most notable for recruiting and leading the Irish Brigade, and encouraging support among Irish immigrants for the Union. He had one surviving son, from his first wife.Following the Civil War, Meagher was appointed acting governor of the Montana Territory.
Fenian Ram is a submarine designed by John Philip Holland for use by the Fenian Brotherhood, American counterpart to the Irish Republican Brotherhood, against the British. The Ram's construction and launching in 1881 by the Delamater Iron Company in New York was funded by the Fenians' Skirmishing Fund.During extensive trials, Holland made numerous dives and test-fired the gun using dummy projectiles. However, due to funding disputes within the IRB and disagreement over payments from the IRB to Holland, the IRB stole Fenian Ram and the Holland III prototype in November 1883.[1] They took the submarine to New Haven, Connecticut, but discovered that no one knew how to operate it. Holland refused to help. Unable to use or sell the boat, the Brotherhood had the Ram hauled into a shed on the Mill River. In 1916, Fenian Ram was exhibited in Madison Square Garden to raise funds for victims of the Easter Rising. Afterwards, she was moved to the New York State Marine School. In 1927, Edward Browne purchased her and moved her to Paterson, New Jersey, where she can still be seen at the Paterson Museum.
Isaac Buttby John Butler Yeats chalk 16 3/4 in. x 13 3/4 in. (425 mm x 349 mm) Home Rule LeagueIsaac Butt, founder of the Home Government Association and the Home Rule League, wrote authoritatively about Home Rule. He envisaged a federal arrangement for Ireland, Scotland, and England. The three countries would be part of a federal United Kingdom, and would share a common sovereign, executive, and ‘national council’ at Westminster for UK and international purposes. Each of the three countries would have its own parliament to legislate for domestic affairs. In Ireland’s case an Irish assembly, elected on the basis of household suffrage, would decide the form of parliament. Butt campaigned for the principle rather than for a particular form of Home Rule.In the wake of the Disestablishment of the Church of Ireland (1869) the Home Rule League attracted significant support from disillusioned members of the Protestant middle and upper classes who felt that their interests were not being protected in Westminster. The Irish Republican Brotherhood, grateful to Butt for his work in defending Fenian prisoners and in the Amnesty Association, were prepared in the beginning to co-operate with Home Rulers though their objective was total separation from Britain and the establishment of an Irish republic. Butt’s policy of Home Rule caught the imagination of the people but his party’s pursuit of that policy in the 1870s was not successful for many reasons. The character of the movement changed in the 1870s: landlord involvement declined and the numbers of Fenians, Catholic clergy, and agrarian campaigners increased.Unionists, and in particular Ulster Unionists and the Orange Order, feared Home Rule might mean a parliament in Dublin dominated by the Catholic Church and that this would interfere with Ireland’s economic progress. Conservative governments from the 1880s on sought to divert attention from the demand for Home Rule by implementing a policy of conciliation, namely, to address and remedy Irish grievances; and to govern Ireland so well that there would be no demand for Home Rule. The Conservative policy of constructive Unionism (‘killing Home Rule with kindness’) was to bring many benefits to Ireland.Main article: Home Rule LeagueIt was founded under Isaac Butt in November 1873 as the Home Rule League. After the death of Butt the party soon divided into radicals led by Charles Stewart Parnell and Whiggish members under William Shaw. Shaw became leader for a year 1879–1880, but was defeated by Parnell the next year. The Whiggish members all lost their seats in 1885.
Parnell 1880Butt’s successor as leader, Charles Stewart Parnell, disciplined and organised the party into an impressive political machine that had widespread support in Ireland and great success at the polls. Parnell succeeded in persuading Gladstone, the greatest parliamentarian of the age and the leader of the largest party in the House of Commons, of the merits of Home Rule. When Gladstone committed himself to Home Rule he used Butt’s ideas and the example of Canada, to construct the Home Rule Bill which he introduced on 8 April 1886. It was, however, defeated on 8 June by 343 votes to 311 in the House of Commons. He had failed to persuade all of his Liberal party to support it. The radical section of the party, led by Joseph Chamberlain, and the Whigs on the right wing of the party, led by Hartington, voted with the Conservatives to defeat Gladstone’s first Home Rule Bill. Gladstone’s second Home Rule Bill, in 1892, was passed by the Commons but was rejected by the House of Lords.
Captain Charles Cunningham Boycott (March 12, 1832 – June 19, 1897) was a British land agent whose ostracism by his local community in Ireland as part of a campaign for agrarian tenants' rights in 1880 gave the English language the verb to boycott, meaning "to ostracise". Boycott's service in the British Army 39th Foot brought him to Ireland, where he later worked as a land agent for Lord Erne (John Crichton, 3rd Earl Erne), the local landowner in the Lough Mask area of County Mayo.[1]In 1880, as part of its campaign for the "Three Fs" (fair rent, fixity of tenure and free sale) to protect tenants from exploitation[citation needed], the Irish Land League under Charles Stewart Parnell and Michael Davitt withdrew the local labour required to save the harvest on Lord Erne's estate. When Boycott tried to undermine the campaign, the League launched a campaign of isolation against him in the local community. Neighbours would not talk to him. Shops would not serve him. Local labourers refused to tend his house, and the postman refused to deliver his mail.The campaign against Boycott became a cause célèbre in the British press, with newspapers sending correspondents to the West of Ireland to highlight what they viewed as the victimisation of a servant of a peer of the realm by Irish nationalists. Fifty Orangemen from County Cavan and County Monaghan travelled to Lord Erne's estate to save the harvest, while a regiment of troops and over 1,000 men of the Royal Irish Constabulary were deployed to protect the harvesters. The entire episode was estimated to have cost the British government and others over £10,000 (R. F Foster, Modern Ireland) to harvest approximately £350 worth of potatoes, according to Captain Boycott's estimate of the harvest value.
On one estate eighty tenants had promised to meet the agent at seven o'clock in the morning to vote as usual with the landlords. The agent was at the meeting-place at the time fixed, but the tenants were not there. They had met at another place, and were headed to the poll by the priests to vote for the Home Rule candidate.
Drafted by Gladstone with little input and especially none from Irish MPs.
The vote took place after two months of debating and, on 8 June 1886, 341 voted against it (including 93 Liberals) while 311 voted for it. Parliament was dissolved on 26 June and the UK general election, 1886 was called.Historians have suggested that the Bill was fatally flawed by the secretive manner of its drafting, with Gladstone alienating Liberal figures like Joseph Chamberlain who, along with a colleague, resigned in protest from the ministry, while producing a Bill viewed privately by the Irish as badly drafted and deeply flawed.
Extract from the Gael, official journal of the Gaelic Athletic Association, 7 January 1888.The extract relates to a Convention held at Thurles, on 4 January 1888, at which extreme nationalists were outnumbered and Maurice Davin was again elected President.
The game of hurling illustrated by the Dublin Metropolitan Hurling Club.Moves shown left to right: Tossing the ball; Goal keeper; and open "puck"; "side your own"; a warm corner; a fly catch; coaxing; T. Molohan & Michael Cusack pictured; rising; a swiper.
