Irish History: Fenianism to Home Rule
Charles Stewart Parnell
Elected to Parliament in 1875 he came to prominence by obstructing other legislation to gain a hearing for home rule for Ireland. In 1885 his party won 86 seats, exactly the number of votes separating the Liberals (335) from the Conservatives (249). This forced Gladstone to announce his support for a Home Rule Bill.
John Devoy
Exiled to United States for conspiring against Britain. He became a key figure in the IRB, Easter Rising, and was Ireland's' main contact in the US. He owned and edited the Gaelic American, a New York weekly newspaper, 1903-1928. Devoy dedicated over 60 years of his life to the cause of Irish independence. He was one of the few people to have played a role in the rebellion of 1867, the 1916 Rising and the Irish War of Independence (1919 - 1921).
The Phoenix Park murders
Fatal stabbings on May 6, 1882 in the Phoenix Park in Dublin of Lord Frederick Cavendish and Thomas Henry Burke; Cavendish was the newly appointed Chief Secretary for Ireland; Burke was the Permanent Undersecretary, the most senior Irish civil servant
James Stephens
Irish Republican, and the founding member of an originally unnamed revolutionary organisation in Dublin. He took part in the Young Irelander Battle of Widow McCormack's cabbage plot in 1848, and faked his own death to flee to France for the next seven years. He helped found the IRB on his return.
The Home Rule Bill of 1886
It was introduced on 8 April 1886 by Liberal Prime Minister William Gladstone to create a devolved assembly for Ireland which would govern Ireland in specified areas. The Irish Parliamentary Party under Charles Stewart Parnell had been campaigning for home rule for Ireland since the 1870s. The vote on the Bill took place after two months of debate 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 1886 Home Rule 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.
July 1865
James Stephens entrusted to Luby a document containing secret resolutions on the Committee of Organization or Executive of the IRB. This document would later form the basis of the prosecution against the staff of the Irish People. On 15 July 1865 American-made plans for a rising in Ireland were discovered when the emissary lost them at Kingstown railway station.
John O'Connor
John O'Connor KC (10 October 1850 - 27 October 1928) was an Irish Nationalist revolutionary-turned Parnellite parliamentarian MP in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and as member of the Irish Parliamentary Party represented Tipperary in 1885, and South Tipperary from 1885 to 1892, and North Kildare from 1905 to 1918. He was also member of the English Bar. O'Connor's role in the 1867 Fenian Rising is disputed, but he certainly maintained the confidence of the Fenian leadership afterwards. According to Gwynn, he was imprisoned at least five times as a result of his republican activities, and also went to the USA as an Irish Fenian delegate in 1874. A political turning-point came when the constitutional Home Rule League leader Charles Stewart Parnell came on a visit to Cork. O'Connor was credited with a leading part in a plot laid by Fenians to kidnap Parnell when his train stopped at Blarney station for ticket collecting.
The elections of 1885
Liberals won 335 seats; Conservatives, 249; and the Home Rulers, 86
Irish Invincibles
The Irish National Invincibles, usually known as the Invincibles, were a splinter group of the Irish Republican Brotherhood. This group of assassins were active in Dublin between late 1881 and 1883, with an intent to kill the authorities in Dublin Castle. Responsible for the Phoenix Park Murders.
The Ashbourne Act
1885, an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, passed by a Conservative Party government under Lord Salisbury. It extended the terms that had been achieved under the Kilmainham Treaty. It set up a £5 million fund and any tenant who wanted to buy land could do so. One could take a loan from the government and would pay it back in monthly installments. The loans would be paid back over 48 years and the rate of interest would be fixed at 4% per annum. This made the loan repayments affordable, and more people could benefit from the Act as they would now be able to buy their own land.
the 3 F's
The Three Fs were a series of demands first issued by the Tenant Right League in their campaign for land reform in Ireland from the 1850s. They were, Fair rent—meaning rent control: for the first time in the United Kingdom, fair rent would be decided by land courts, and not by the landlords; Free sale—meaning a tenant could sell the interest in his holding to an incoming tenant without landlord interference; Fixity of tenure—meaning that a tenant could not be evicted if he had paid the rent.
Joseph Gillis Biggar
as an Irish nationalist politician from Belfast. He served as an MP in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland as member of the Home Rule League and later Irish Parliamentary Party
John O'Leary
as an Irish republican and a leading Fenian. He studied both law and medicine but did not take a degree and for his involvement in the Irish Republican Brotherhood he was imprisoned in England during the nineteenth century. After the failure of the 1848 Tipperary Revolt, O'Leary attempted to rescue the Young Ireland leaders from Clonmel Gaol, and was himself imprisoned for a week from 8 September 1849. He took part in a further attempted uprising in Cashel on 16 September 1849, but this proved abortive.
Clan na Gael
founded by John Devoy. was an Irish republican organization in the United States in the late 19th and 20th centuries, successor to the Fenian Brotherhood and a sister organization to the Irish Republican Brotherhood.
Kilmainham Treaty of 1882
n informal agreement reached in May 1882 between Liberal British prime minister William Ewart Gladstone and the Irish nationalist leader Charles Stewart Parnell. Whilst in gaol, Parnell moved in April 1882 to make a deal with the government, negotiated through Captain William O'Shea MP. The government would settle the "rent arrears" question allowing 100,000 tenants to appeal for fair rent before the land courts. Parnell promised to use his good offices to quell the violence and to co-operate cordially for the future with the Liberal Party in forwarding Liberal principles and measures of general reform.
The O'Shea Divorce Scandal
o Captain William O'Shea sues his wife Katherine for divorce on the grounds of adultery o Names Parnell as a party o Parnell's relationship with Katherine O'Shea was no secret. o After the divorce proceedings, Parnell became a pariah in politics until his death.
The General Election of 1874
o Conservatives claimed a majority of seats, therefore they could get whatever they wanted. They blocked Home Rule. o If the divide had been closer, they may have had a better shot. o Home-Rulers sent to the House (?) § Ulster- 4 § Leinster- 24 § Munster-21 § Connaught-10
The Rising of 1867
o Most of the leaders (if not all) based in jail o Support from demobilized Irish-American soldiers o Many officers came back to Ireland after 1865 o Rising planned for that year but then postponed for lack of arms o Raids into Canada o Fought pitched battles with British troops in Canada in 1866 and 1870. o Infiltrate the British Army o Success in Failure (1867) § Got a lot of publicity, turned public opinion towards them while in jail § Legacy was the support in America, ideological support: Clan na Gael
Fenianism
o Origins (1858) § Fenian is Gaelic term that stuck, as opposed to the Brotherhood o Technically the IRB (Irish Republican Brotherhood) o American support wing was the Fenian Brotherhood (Irish exiles and immigrants) o But the latter name sticks for the whole organization
Post-Famine Ireland
o Post-Famine Evictions stabilized around 1854 (lease owning farmers now responsible. o Tenant farmers and rents: rent could be between 25 and 45% of the tenant's income, was a yearly arrangement that could be raised at the end of the lease o Post-famine landlords: still rich and powerful, still run the government
Post-Famine rent
o Post-Famine Evictions stabilized around 1854 (lease owning farmers now responsible. o Tenant farmers and rents: rent could be between 25 and 45% of the tenant's income, was a yearly arrangement that could be raised at the end of the lease o Post-famine landlords: still rich and powerful, still run the government
Irish Tenant League
o under Charles Gavan Duffy § All-Ireland league of Tenant Farmers § Collapsed from lack of support § The 3 F's (fair rent, fixity of tenure, and freedom to sell interest in holding)
William Gladstone
was a British statesman and Liberal politician. In a career lasting over 60 years, he served for 12 years as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, spread over four terms beginning in 1868 and ending in 1894. He also served as Chancellor of the Exchequer four times. Back in office in early 1886, Gladstone proposed home rule for Ireland but was defeated in the House of Commons. The resulting split in the Liberal Party helped keep them out of office - with one short break - for 20 years. Gladstone formed his last government in 1892, at the age of 82. The Second Home Rule Bill passed through the Commons but was defeated in the House of Lords in 1893.
Spencer Cavendish, Lord Cavendish of Keighley and Marquess of Hartington
was a British statesman. He has the distinction of having served as leader of three political parties: as Leader of the Liberal Party in the House of Commons (1875-1880) and as of the Liberal Unionist Party (1886-1903) and of the Unionists in the House of Lords (1902-1903). Hartington became increasingly uneasy with Gladstone's Irish policies, especially after the murder of his younger brother Lord Frederick Cavendish in Phoenix Park. After being elected in December 1885 for the newly created Rossendale Division of Lancashire, he broke with Gladstone altogether. He declined to serve in Gladstone's third government, formed after Gladstone came out in favour of Irish Home Rule (unlike Joseph Chamberlain, who accepted the Local Government Board but then resigned), and after opposing the First Home Rule Bill became the leader of the Liberal Unionists.
Lord Randolph Churchill
was a British statesman.Churchill was a Tory radical and coined the term 'Tory democracy'. By 1885 he had formulated the policy of progressive Conservatism which was known as "Tory Democracy". He declared that the Conservatives ought to adopt, rather than oppose, popular reforms, and to challenge the claims of the Liberals to pose as champions of the masses. He opposed both Home Rule Bills.
John O'Mahony
was a Gaelic scholar and the founding member of the Fenian Brotherhood in the United States, sister organisation to the Irish Republican Brotherhood. His participation in the rebellion of 1848 obligated him to leave Ireland, and he settled for a time in Paris, where he lived in great poverty.In 1854, he joined John Mitchel in New York City, and took part in the Emigrant Aid Association, the Emmet Monument Association, and other Irish organisations. Published a history of Ireland. In 1858, O'Mahony organised the Fenian Brotherhood in the U.S.A., closely associated with the Irish Republican Brotherhood in Ireland. He did not take any part personally in the attempted insurrection in Ireland or in the raids on Canada, although his advice counted for much in these enterprises.
Denis Dowling Mulcahy
was a leading member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood and a medical doctor. He joined the staff of the The Irish People, which was launched by James Stephens on 28 November 1863, with financing from the IRB in the United States. His colleagues on the paper were Charles Kickham and Thomas Clarke Luby, while John O'Leary was in charge of the editorial department. O'Donovan Rossa and James O'Connor had charge of the business office, with John Haltigan being the printer. After the raid on the Irish People's offices, Mulcahy was tried and sentenced to a term of penal servitude. He served his term in Portland and Millbank Prisons. On being released Mulcahy went to France, where he lived for two years, and then came to the United States. After many wanderings he settled in Newark, and engaged in the practice of medicine. He died there in September 1900.
Captain Charles Boycott
was an English land agent whose ostracism by his local community in Ireland gave the English language the verb "to boycott". He had served in the British Army 39th Foot, which brought him to Ireland. After retiring from the army, Boycott worked as a land agent for Lord Erne (John Crichton, 3rd Earl Erne), a landowner in the Lough Mask area of County Mayo. In 1880, as part of its campaign for the Three Fs (fair rent, fixity of tenure, and free sale) and specifically in resistance to proposed evictions on the estate, local activists of the Irish National Land League encouraged Boycott's employees (including the seasonal workers required to harvest the crops on Lord Erne's estate) to withdraw their labour, and began a campaign of isolation against Boycott in the local community.
Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa
was an Irish Fenian leader and prominent member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood. He joined the Irish Republican Brotherhood and after fleeing in exile to the United States as part of the Cuba Five, he joined Irish revolutionary organisations there, beyond the reach of the British Empire. He was a pioneer in physical force Irish republicanism utilising dynamite in a campaign of asymmetrical warfare, hitting the British Empire on its home soil, primarily London.
Isaac Butt
was an Irish barrister, politician, Member of Parliament (M.P.) in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, and the founder and first leader of a number of Irish nationalist parties and organisations. He was known for his opposition to the Irish nationalist leader Daniel O'Connell's campaign for the repeal of the Act of Union. He also lectured at Trinity College, Dublin, in political economy. His experiences during the Great Famine led him to move from being an Irish unionist and an Orangeman to supporting a federal political system for the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland that would give Ireland a greater degree of self-rule. This led to his involvement in Irish nationalist politics and the foundation of the Home Rule League. Butt was instrumental in fostering links between constitutional and revolutionary nationalism through his representation of members of the Fenians Society in court. His influence waned with the rise of Parnell, who appeared to be a better choice for the Home Rule League. He died from a combination of a stroke and bronchitis May 1879.
Richard Pigott
was an Irish journalist, best known for his forging of evidence that Charles Stewart Parnell of the Irish Land League had been involved in the murders of senior British government representatives. Parnell successfully sued for libel and Pigott shot himself.
The National Land League
was an Irish political organisation of the late 19th century which sought to help poor tenant farmers. Its primary aim was to abolish landlordism in Ireland and enable tenant farmers to own the land they worked on. The period of the Land League's agitation is known as the Land War.
Michael Davitt
was an Irish republican activist for a variety of causes, especially Home Rule and land reform. He began his career as an organizer of the physical-force Irish Republican Brotherhood. Convicted of treason felony for arms trafficking in 1870, he served seven years in prison. Upon his release, Davitt pioneered the New Departure strategy of cooperation between the physical-force and constitutional wings of Irish nationalism on the issue of land reform. With Charles Stewart Parnell, he co-founded the Irish National Land League in 1879, in which capacity he enjoyed the peak of his influence before being jailed again in 1881. When the party split over Parnell's divorce, Davitt joined the anti-Parnellite Irish National Federation.
Thomas Clarke Luby
was an Irish revolutionary, author, journalist and one of the founding members of the Irish Republican Brotherhood. Shortly after the establishment of the paper, Stephens departed on an America tour, and to attend to organizational matters. Before leaving, he entrusted to Luby a document containing secret resolutions on the Committee of Organization or Executive of the IRB. Though Luby intimated its existence to O'Leary, he did not inform Kickham as there seemed no necessity. This document would later form the basis of the prosecution against the staff of the Irish People. After his arrest and the suppression of the Irish People he was sentenced to twenty years' penal servitude. Luby was released in January 1871, but was compelled to remain away from Ireland till the expiration of his sentence. On release he went first to the Continent, and later settled in New York, he lectured all over the country for years, and wrote for a number of Irish newspapers on political topics.
Ladies Land League
was an auxiliary of the Irish National Land League and took over the functions of that organization when its leadership was imprisoned. When notice of a pending eviction was received, members travelled to the area bringing money for assistance. If the tenants wanted to bring a law case, the league instructed a solicitor and paid his costs. They also erected wooden huts, if they could, for the evicted tenants, though the police often stopped this. In October the Land League leaders were jailed and the League banned. From jail they issued a "No Rent " manifesto. From this point on the women were responsible for continuing the work. As well as providing grants to evicted tenants, the League also provided grants to the families of those jailed under the Coercion Act. They also saw to the welfare of the Land League prisoners in Kilmainham Gaol. Dissolved August 1882 after conflict with the government and the passage of the Kilmainham Treaty
Membership of the IRB
§ Brought in remnants of Young Irelanders § Ex-patriots § Nationalists § All denominations welcome (anyone could join, but was mostly Catholic but they did not sit well with the Church because they believed in the separation of church and state) § Was a secret organization that ran in small circles so that if one fell, they didn't all fall. Passed information by word of mouth. Mainly from well-to-do families, shopkeepers or farmers (who want more from life), schoolteachers, and Irish emigrants in America
The Home Government Association
§ Formed by Isaac Butt § New attempt to win independence constitutionally § Irish Federalism: Butt's plan, independence without hurting the Union § Westminster Parliament would remain w/ 105 Irish members, but there would be another body that sat in Dublin that would make certain decisions: military, debt, and foreign policy among other things would remain in power of Parliament. They would still serve the monarch of England. Life peers would be in the Irish House of Lords that was to be created, peerage wouldn't change, Ireland would get Home Rule but continue the link to Britain. § Irish Federalism received modest support; House of Commons should be the focus of Home Rule to start, wanted to get 80 of the 100 MPS
