Eighteenth Century Ireland 1703-1800 Society and History

By Desmond Keenan

This book presents a picture of Ireland in the 18th century from 1702 to 1800, the era of the so-called Protestant Ascendancy and the Penal Laws. It deals with Irish Society, and Irish history of that period. Every effort has been made to remove the traditional distortions of Catholic nationalist propaganda. Irish Protestants are regarded as Irishmen and their achievements are regarded as Irish achievements. The darker sides of the period are not ignored.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Nov 12, 2014
• ISBN: 9781499080827

Desmond Keenan

The author was born in Ireland, studied economics and sociology at The Queen’s University of Belfast, Northern Ireland. He completed a doctoral thesis on the Catholic Church in Ireland in the early nineteenth century. Afterwards, he continued his research in the British Library and British Newspaper Library, London (UK).

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Copyright © 2014 by Desmond Keenan.

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CONTENTS

PART I

Introduction

Chapter One — Europe in the Eighteenth Century

General

England in the Eighteenth Century

Chapter Two — Ireland in the Eighteenth Century

General Characteristics

Structure of Irish Society

Religious Structure

The Land: Geographical Aspects

Population

Climate, Soil and Vegetation

Chapter Three — The Irish Economy: Primary Sector

The Economy in General: Agriculture

Weights and Measures

Landholding, Leases, and Tenancies

Enclosures and Fencing

Drainage and Land Reclamation

The Pastoral Economy

Tillage

Farm Machinery and Tools

Improvements and Farming Societies

Diseases and Crop Failures

Fisheries

Forestry

Gardening

Chapter Four — The Irish Economy: The Secondary Sector

Industry: General

Processes and Manufactures

Milling, Brewing and Distilling.

Provisions Industry

The Textile Industry

General

Woollen

Linen Industry

Cotton

Silk

Ship and Boat Building

Printing and Newspapers

Other Manufactures

Extractive Industries and their Products

Labour and Wages

Building and Construction

Chapter Five — The Irish Economy: The Tertiary Sector (1)

Transport, Communications and Trade

Roads

Canals

Ports, Ships, Navigations

Lighthouses and Navigational aids

Trade in General

Banking and Financial Institutions

Currency

Banking

Chapter Six — The Irish Economy: The Tertiary Sector (2)

Towns and the Economy

Towns

Markets and Fairs

Shops

Pedlars and Hawkers

Imports and Exports

Chapter Seven — The Government

Central Government

Structure

The Government of Ireland

The Lord Lieutenant

Government Offices

The Irish Parliament

The Composition and Role of Parliament

Procedures of Parliament

The Independent Parliament

The Management of Parliament

Franchise and Elections

Political Parties and Movements

Policies

Government Finances

Post Office

Extraordinary Legislation

Local Government

Counties

Manors and Parishes

Cities and Towns

Provision for the Poor and the Sick

Chapter Eight — The Legal System

Laws

Courts

Royal or Central Courts

Assize Courts

Ecclesiastical and Admiralty Courts

Personnel of the Courts

Shire Courts

Local or Manorial Courts

Town Courts

Crime and Punishment

Ordinary Crime and Penology

Woodkerne, Rapparees, and Tories

Piracy and Smuggling

Agrarian Crime

Other Movements

Combinations

Penology and Gaols

Police Forces

Chapter Nine — The Armed Forces

Army

Navy

Militia

Volunteers and Yeomanry

Privateers and Wars,

Chapter Ten — Religion

General

Royal Policy regarding Religion

The Established Church

Puritans and Dissenters

The Catholic Clergy

The Catholic Laymen

Catholic Religious Practice and Personal Religion

Chapter Eleven — Cultural Activities

Education

General

Primary

Secondary

Protestant

Charter Schools

Catholic

The Education of Girls

University

Health and Medicine

General

The Practice of Medicine

Hospitals or Hospices and Infirmaries

Science and Knowledge

General

Irish Antiquities

Chapter Twelve — Leisure Activities

Voluntary Organisations

Art and Architecture

Theatre and Literature

Music

Sport and recreation

Life of the Common People

The Position of Women

Part II

Chapter Thirteen — Queen Anne 1702 to 1714

Lords Lieutenant

James Butler, 2nd Duke of Ormonde, (19 February 1703 – 30 April 1707)

Thomas Herbert, 8th Earl of Pembroke and 5th Earl of Montgomery (30 April 1707-4 December 1708) (Tory)

The Earl of Wharton: (4 December 1708- 26 October 1710) (Whig)

James Butler, 2nd Duke of Ormonde (26 October 1710 – 22 September 1713) (Tory)

Charles Talbot, 1st Duke of Shrewsbury (22 September 1713 – 21 September 1714) (Whig/Tory).

Chapter Fourteen — George I 1714 to 1727

Lords Lieutenant

The Earl of Sunderland (Charles Spencer): 21 September 1714 to 13 February 1717

The Viscount Townshend (Charles Townshend): 24 February 1717 to 20 April 1717

The Duke of Bolton (Charles Paulet): 27 April 1717 to 18 June 1720

The Duke of Grafton (Charles FitzRoy): 18 June 1720 to 6 May 1724

The Lord Carteret (John Carteret): 6 May 1724 to 23 June 1730

Chapter Fifteen — George II 1727 to 1760

Lords Lieutenant

The Lord Carteret: 6 May 1724 to 23 June 1730

The Duke of Dorset (Lionel Cranfield Sackville): 23 June 1730 to 9 April 1737

The Duke of Devonshire (William Cavendish, 3rd Duke): 9 April 1737 to 8 January 1745

The Earl of Chesterfield (Philip Dormer Stanhope): 8 January 1745 to November 1746

The Earl of Harrington (William Stanhope): 15 November 1746 to 15 December 1750

The Duke of Dorset (Lionel Cranfield Sackville): 15 December 1750 to 2 April 1755

The Marquis of Hartington/ 4th Duke of Devonshire (William Cavendish): 2 April 1755 until 3 January 1757

The Duke of Bedford (John Russell): 3 January 1757 to 3 April 1761

Chapter Sixteen — George III 1760 to 1782

Lords Lieutenant

The Duke of Bedford (John Russell): 3 January 1757 to 3 April 1761

The Earl of Halifax (George Montagu Dunk, 2nd earl): 3 April 1761to 27 April 1763

The Earl of Northumberland (Hugh Percy, 2nd earl of the 5th creation): 27 April 1763 to 5 June 1765

The Viscount Weymouth (Thomas Thynne, 3rd Viscount Weymouth): 5 June 1765 to 7 August 1765

The Earl of Hertford (Francis Seymour- Conway, earl of Hertford): 7 August 1765 to 16 October 1766

The Earl of Bristol (George William Hervey, 2nd earl of Bristol): 16 October 1766 to 19 August 1767

The Viscount Townshend 1767 to 1772

The Earl Harcourt 1772 to 1776

Earl of Buckinghamshire 1776 to 1780

Earl of Carlisle 1780 to 1782.

Chapter Seventeen — George III 1782 to 1795

Lords Lieutenant

The Duke of Portland (William Henry Cavendish-Bentinck): 8 April to 15 August 1782

The Earl Temple (George Nugent-Temple-Grenville, later Marquis of Buckingham): 15 August 1782 to 3 May 1783.

The Earl of Northington (Robert Henley, 2nd Earl of Northington): 3 May 1783 to 12 February 1784

The Duke of Rutland (Charles Manners, 4th Duke of Rutland): 12 February 1784 to 28 October 1787

The Earl Temple (George Nugent-Temple-Grenville, later Marquis of Buckingham): 27 October 1787 to 24 October 1789

The Earl of Westmorland (John Fane, 10th Earl of Westmorland): 24 October 1789 to 13 December 1794

Chapter Eighteen — George III 1795 to 1800

Lords Lieutenant

The Earl Fitzwilliam (William Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, 4th Earl Fitzwilliam): 13 December 1794 to 13 March 1795

The Earl Camden (John Jeffreys Pratt, 1st Marquess Camden): 13 March 1795 to 14 June 1798

The Marquess Cornwallis (Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis: 14 June 1798 to 27 April 1801

Bibliography

DEDICATION

Gloriosum est iniurias oblivisci. It is glorious to forget injustice.

To Irish Georgian Society who rescued many Irish artistic treasures from cultural vandalism and neglect.

PART I

INTRODUCTION

P rofessor Sean Connolly poses the question, why did Ireland in the 19 th century not complete the same journey as the Scots, Welsh, and English Nonconformists towards the broad anti-establishment that was British Liberalism? He notes that what is misleading is the implication of a single conflict occurring without change across the generations (Connolly, 497). One answer to his question is Daniel O’Connell. For it was O’Connell who showed a way that Irish Catholics of the lower middle classes could capture all the patronage and corruption in Ireland from the so- miscalled ‘Protestant Ascendancy’. Political theory was built on the mythical theory of a Celtic race which was the only legitimate ruler of Ireland and that the Irish Catholics were their sole legitimate heirs. A fantastical history was built on this supposition of a perpetual struggle lasting several hundred years against foreign oppression. This book is focussed on the everyday concerns as reflected in the newspapers which were read in the newspaper reading rooms in much of Ireland.

Two points must be kept in mind when studying 18th century Ireland. The first is that there was a Government of Ireland as distinct from the Government of England. The king of England was also king of Scotland, a different kingdom, and king of Ireland a third kingdom. Each of these had their own Government, their own parliament, their own system of laws and courts, their own sources of taxation and revenue. None of these Governments had authority in another kingdom.

There was always the Penal Laws. In the sonorous Romantic prose of William John Fitzpatrick, ‘Throughout the long dark night of persecution which ensued, the immediate ancestors of Dr. Doyle humbly and inoffensibly pursued the uneven tenor of their way, solely intent on their daily toil, rarely raising their heads to look in the face of those that rode roughshod over them, submitting to indignities they durst not resent, and thanking Providence when allowed to toil unmolested – the poor proscribed Catholics, with chains clanking at their heels dragged on an unenviable existence. At length, in 1778, the heavier shackles which oppressed them were unlocked, and they, to whom the blessings of civil and religious liberty had been unknown, now for the first time breathed with joy and freedom’ (Doyle, 5). How true this picture was needs to be examined. The Catholic gentlemen, those who had retained their religion, kept a low profile throughout the century, and sided with the Government. They built up their business and in some cases became very rich. As in England, this was prudent. As to Catholics just keeping their heads down and engaging solely in humble toil that was far from the case.

If the 16th century marked a low point in Irish history, the century with the least achievement and one that produced little that Irishmen can be proud of, the 18th century should be one of which Irishmen can be proud. Everywhere there were people trying to improve their own fortunes and with them the fortunes of Ireland. Land was reclaimed, drainage increased, agriculture developed, roads improved, canals dug, exploration for products that could be mined carried on extensively, manufactures increased both in size and variety, and exports increased. Besides this, the arts flourished. Great buildings of real architectural merit were constructed and the requisite skills of building and stone working developed. Literature and the theatre flourished, while Irish painters reach an international standard. There were some black spots. Some working class Catholics joined in secret Whiteboy societies against their fellow Catholics. In Ulster, competing Catholic and Protestant secret societies fought each other, re-introducing sectarianism into Ireland. Some landlords continued the oppressive policies of the past but they were met with increasing disapproval by fellow landlords.

CHAPTER ONE

Europe in the Eighteenth Century

General

T he eighteenth century was one of great change in Europe. This included leadership in manufacturing, exploration and trade, shipbuilding and navigation, art, architecture, music, theatre, science, medicine, and so on. Spanish power was past its peak, but Spain remained a leader in building, shipbuilding, art, etc. until the Napoleonic period at the end of the century. France moved from being a Mediterranean power to being an Atlantic one, as trade routes moved from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic. Trade with the Indies and the Spice Islands no longer had to pass through Turkish hands or involve overland carriage (Davis).The 18 th century was the culmination of the Baroque Age. The papal basilica of St. Peter’s in Rome showed the world what modern architecture should look like. The great buildings of the ancient world in Greece and Italy were surpassed and it is probable that they themselves will never be surpassed. Techniques in painting, undreamt of in the ancient world were developed and probably the works of the ‘Old Masters’ will never be bettered. It was the Baroque Age. Baroque churches and palaces were built around the world. In Protestant England, the greatest cathedral in the greatest city, St Paul’s in London, was rebuilt in the Baroque style (Rudé). In theology too the Catholics headed the way with the Jesuits in the lead. But there were also great Catholic scholars in Church History like Baronius, while Benedictine scholars like Mabillon developed the arts of textual criticism and the interpretation of ancient documents and deciding which were fakes.

Protestantism had not spread throughout the Christian Church as many of its original supporters had believed it would. The Catholic Church was supposed to collapse under what the Protestant leaders regarded as the ‘light of the gospel’. On the contrary it was revitalized and was spreading itself ‘from China to Peru’. Protestantism had been confined to second rate powers in Northern Europe where the local kings and lords had established state churches under their own control. Protestant states became essentially cultural backwaters.

Textile machinery originally water-powered but later adapted to steam power was given the name of the ‘Industrial Revolution’. A water-powered, five storey mill for the manufacture of silk thread was built in Derby about 1720 which provided a pattern for many factories in the textile industry. The industrial revolution was not confined to adopting machinery. Everywhere in workshops in Britain there was a spirit of improvement. With manufacturers like Thomas Newcomen and James Watt with regard to machinery, and Thomas Wedgewood with regard to pottery there was a constant search for improvements. If roads were not satisfactory they were improved. Tolls allowed the improvement of roads. With improved roads came improved coaches. Shipping, navigation, ship’s charts, and instruments improved so that a ship’s master could steer his ship to any point on the globe. The changes were slow.

There came great developments in agriculture both with regard to tillage and to the improvement of livestock which some called the ‘Agricultural Revolution’. Included in this revolution were the wonder vegetables the potato and Indian corn. There arose a great change in the way of thinking which was called the ‘Enlightenment’. Almost unnoticed there was developing a probity in public life, a feeling that public officials should be honest, and that the rule of law should be applied everywhere in the king’s dominions. This was noticeable in the trial of Warren Hastings. It was made clear that for the future, the same standards of administration and justice should apply at home and abroad, in all the king’s dominions.

Despite the fact that England and France faced each other in four great wars in the course of the century, the French made no attempts to engage in Ireland until the very end of the century. Though heavily defeated and bankrupted, while at the same time ravaged by famines and plagues at the beginning of the century, France under Louis XV made a remarkable recovery and was still the strongest individual military power in Europe. Louis XIV died in 1715 after a reign of 72 years and was succeeded by his great grandson, who was to reign for nearly 60 years. Spain was slowly losing ground in Europe and was to lose its domains in Italy in the course of the century. Having been defeated outside Vienna by combined Imperial and Polish forces, the Ottoman Empire was in decline. The military power of the papacy diminished. There were nine popes, all Italian, with none of them particularly distinguished. Unofficial links developed between the Holy See and the British Government. Papal support for the Stuarts was quietly dropped. Nelson was able to procure water and military stores for his fleet from the pope, which provoked an invasion of the Papal States by the French.

England in the Eighteenth Century

In 1688 various Protestant interests in England succeeded, by means of doubtful legality, in excluding the Catholic king, James II, from the throne, and it was offered to his Protestant daughter Mary and her husband, William of Orange. These had no children. Anne had numerous children, all of whom died in infancy. James II died in September 1701. The next in succession, was the son of James II, James who was referred to as either James III or James the Old Pretender. The English Parliament hastily passed the Act of Settlement (1701), to exclude any Catholics from the throne. William III died on 8 March 1702. To exclude any Catholic claimants, Parliament enacted that the succession to the throne of England should be confined to the Electress Sophia of Hanover and her heirs. Sophia was a granddaughter of James I. James had married his daughter Elizabeth to Frederick V the Elector Palatine of the Holy Roman Empire in 1613. The Elector George Louis of Brunswick-Lüneburg succeeded Anne as George I in 1714.

CHAPTER TWO

Ireland in the Eighteenth Century

General Characteristics

Structure of Irish Society

T he term Protestant Ascendancy was never used in the 18 th century to describe the ruling class. It was just the ruling class as all other countries in the world had a ruling class. That the ruling class was Protestant was the result of laws passed to exclude supporters of the Stuart Succession. The ruling classes in Ireland since Viking and Norman times had freely inter-married. There was one ruling class, which was however split over allegiance to the House of Hanover. Religion was not an issue, for the 18 th century was largely one of indifference. The major issue was one of property. The issue was land, not religion. If you wanted to keep your land you conformed to the Protestant Church. Most Irish landowners did so though it became customary in the 19 th century to deny this

There is another issue which is difficult to decide on and that is the fate of the former servile classes in Ireland, loosely and generally called the betaghs who were a kind of serf. If one looks at common surnames in England there is a huge number of trades mentioned, baker, baxter, miller, carter, smith, fisher, butcher, skinner, hunter, hawker and so on. These are almost completely missing in Ireland. Almost all surnames are derived from families of the ruling class, the various chiefs and sub-chiefs down to parish level who did no work and whose recreation was warfare. It would appear that a whole class disappeared in the course of the 18th century.

Mr. Wood in Parliament said that the laws had been established to transfer property in time from papists and to allow discovery of the acquisitions of property by papists; in consequence of these laws the following were the numbers of Catholic landowners who conformed to Established Church.

Ireland was a monarchy. The monarch was regarded as the fons et origo of all authority, all law, all justice, and all honours. Beneath the monarch was a rich aristocracy, whose wealth might have come from various sources, but whose ranks in society came from the monarch. These held all the major offices of influence, patronage and power. The only way to enter the ranks of the aristocracy was through the favour of the monarch. As a body, in the House of Lords, they were the king’s principal advisors and the principal offices of government were filled from their ranks. Only the head of the family, the actual holder of the title of nobility, could sit in the House of Lords

Beneath the aristocracy were the rich gentlemen who were called commoners, i.e. not aristocrats, and the rich burghers or bourgeoisie of the towns. These selected representatives from among themselves to represent their views in Parliament. The House of Commons was very much the inferior body, though the monarch could choose his ministers from among their ranks also. In fact Sir Robert Walpole from the House of Commons was for a long time the king’s chief minister or as the position came to be called the Prime Minister. But normally the king chose his chief minister from among the lords. Most gentlemen were not very rich or influential or likely to be elected to the House of Commons, but the officers of the counties and the justices of the peace in the various counties were drawn from their ranks and so they could be men of power and influence locally. Members of Gaelic chiefly families who never soiled their hands with toil were accounted gentlemen. By the end of the 17th century the Gaelic chiefly class was very numerous, the Macs and the Ós abounded in every parish. Planters with substantial grants of land and high Government offices could marry into their ranks as social equals. This had been the case since the first Norman knights landed in Ireland. It helped a planter to establish himself, gain status and become accepted if he married a local woman. Both families valued the connection. It also helped the transition of the Gaelic chiefly families to Protestantism.

Arthur Young commented that in Ireland there were the very rich and the great multitude of the poor, and the intermediate classes, so numerous and respectable in England were not numerous in Ireland. Of the intermediate classes were the impoverished gentlemen called buckeens or half-sirs of whom Young says attachment to duelling meant frequenting bad company like bucks, bloods, landjobbers and drunken country gentlemen. They were addicted to hunting during the day, drinking at night, and fighting duels the following morning. They were noted for drinking, wrangling, quarrelling, fighting and ravishing though these customs were dying out (Young 109; Keenan, Pre-Famine Ireland, 19-24; Maxwell, Ireland under the Georges, 19-20). Saunders noted the absence of a strong yeomanry (strong farmers) in Ireland, and also the absence of resident gentlemen. So the petty farmer, the tithe proctor, the grazier and all the masters and mistresses they beget become gentlemen and ladies. In England, those with incomes of £500 or £600 a year are accounted yeomen. In Ireland, if such have similar incomes they set themselves up as gentlemen and refuse to work, or allow their children to work. Meanwhile they exact excessive rents from their tenants to support their folly (Saunders Newsletter, 11 September 1786).

Beneath the rank of gentlemen came rich farmers, merchants, and tradesmen. They could be richer than impoverished gentlemen. These often dealt with their social betters, might deal with them on fair days, especially with regard to horses, and could follow the hunt. But they would never be invited into their homes, still less marry their daughters.

Beneath these came the small farmers, cottiers, farm labourers, and servants. A cottage and a small garden in most years gave security from hunger. What was later to be called the ‘respectable working classes’ were growing. There were farmers with even small farms of 10 or 20 acres who lived in ‘frugal comfort’, shopkeepers, small manufacturers, millers, servants and workers with skilled jobs like coachmen, ploughmen, gamekeepers, head gardeners, and so on who had steady employment, and good wages who were prized by their employers. Modern surnames show that many of the working classes and the small farmers had formerly been members of the ruling clans, the original servile classes seemingly having died of wars, famines and diseases.

The cottier class either died of disease or famine, emigrated, or after the Great Famine was able to consolidate holdings. The purpose of these observations is simply to point to the existence of a large working class population, largely Catholic over great parts of Ireland, who were engaged in productive enterprises, and whose income was slowly but steadily increasing. Arthur Young commented that in Ireland there were the very rich and the great multitude of the poor, and the intermediate classes, so numerous and respectable in England were not numerous in Ireland. It seems that the cottagers who had rented potato ground expanded enormously in numbers between 1740 and 1840, the eve of the Great Famine.

At the very bottom was the indigent class of beggars, thieves, bankrupts, alcoholics, gypsies and similar vagrants and entertainers who survived somehow. Travellers spoke of the enormous crowds of extremely poor people, miserably clad and with houses of the most rudimentary kind. Some of these might perhaps have considerable savings but kept up a pretence of poverty to avoid a rent increase or to avoid being robbed. Arthur Young pointed out that theft was universal (Young, 17; Maxwell, Ireland under the Georges, 139).

The numbers of ‘aristocratic’ names among the Irish working class seems to indicate that some members of even the greatest families were reduced to working for their living. Men with names like O’Neill, O’Connor, or MacCarthy could be found breaking stones or digging drains. The number of chiefly families whose members never worked had increased enormously by the 17th century. This then implies that they displaced the former servile class, the betaghs and cottagers of the Middle Ages, which largely disappeared. The former aristocratic class seems to have survived better in times of famine than the working classes, even if their status was reduced. (Mac and Ó in names were reserved to the chiefs. The ordinary people used the genitive of their father’s name. But it is difficult to draw conclusions for the Mac and Ó could be added as well as dropped. Some Gaelic names were changed to a similar sounding English name.)

Much attention in the past was paid to absentee landlords and their agents or middlemen, and it is clear that these were numerous. They were dealt with by Arthur Young and Maria Edgeworth. Since the Middle Ages absentee landlords were resented by the resident gentlemen for it was felt that they were not playing their full part in defending the settled areas from the ravages of the Gaelic chiefs. Arthur Young admitted that some of the best managed estates in Ireland belonged to absentees (Maxwell, Ireland under the George, 47).

Young describes the attitude of some of the landlords to those under them as absolute despotism. The landlord of an Irish estate yields obedience in what concerns his tenants to no law but his own will. The law of the land may allow liberty to the poor but they are in actuality in slavery. Landlords who have been abroad are usually more humane, but in general the poor are treated in a harsh manner which quite unknown in England. An Irish landlord can scarcely invent an order that a servant, labourer, or cottar dares to refuse to carry out. Nothing satisfies him but to have unlimited submission; any resistance is punished with a cane or horsewhip, and the servant dare not raise a hand in self-defence. He was assured by landlords that cottars would feel honoured if the master sent for his wife or daughters to go to his bed. Their cases never come before a jury. Matters are better than what they had been in the past. Still one sees whole strings of carts whipped into a ditch to make room for the master’s carriage. Justices of the Peace are drawn from this class of small gentlemen many of whom are drawn from the most illiberal class in the kingdom. If a complaint is made against such vermin and a Justice issues a summons against him, the Justice is invariably called out to fight a duel. A poor man has no defence against a gentleman who will defend his own vassal in any way as he would his own sheep. It would be an exaggeration to say that all these cases are common; but a landlord who acts like that can do so with impunity (Young, 96-97). There can be little doubt that such men were descended from the Gaelic kerne of the previous centuries.

The Gaelic language was still spoken over large parts of Ireland, especially in the remoter country areas. It was also to be found in towns generally among people from the country who drifted to the towns. Gaelic was also widely spoken even among the richer families. These would converse in English among themselves, but speak to hired servants in Gaelic (Corkery, 19-23). But like Protestantism, English was the language of the upper classes. It was also the language of the future.

Irish society as we find it in the 18th century did not develop suddenly after the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. It had been developing, especially in the towns pari passu with that in England for centuries. The first half of the 18th century was little different from the 2nd half of the 17th century. We just know more about it especially from newspapers which had previously been non-existent. We should see a slow evolution in Irish society not a revolution. Irish society did not change overnight after the Capitulation of Limerick (1691). By 1700 the social structure of Ireland closely resembled that of England.

Religious Structure

In the following century, in the days of Catholic nationalism promoted by Daniel O’Connell, it was customary to describe the Catholics as the race native to Ireland and the Protestants as foreigners and invaders. Yet it is clear that many Irishmen embraced Protestantism as many Englishmen did. The native Irish were not more religious than the English. When it became clear that Louis XIV was not prepared to support further Catholic revolts the chief reason for supporting the Catholic religion disappeared. To remain a Catholic meant excluding yourself and your family from all positions of wealth and power. In Ireland, as in England, only a handful of Catholic noble families clung to the religion into which they were born. Every encouragement was given to Catholic gentlemen to conform and nearly all the representatives of the great families did. Of the members of the swollen ranks of the lesser Gaelic families they had the choice of conforming or sinking into the ranks of the labouring classes. Many did sink, but why they retained their religion in an age of general irreligion and indifference is not obvious. But in Ireland and in the Highlands of Scotland the fact that Catholic clergy, zealous or otherwise, remained numerous must be a factor. On the other hand, in Ireland and Wales, the Established Church did not attract many zealous clergymen. In Ireland, where the Catholic clergy may not have been more zealous than the clergy of the Established Church they were more numerous.

Many laws were passed to induce Catholics, especially Catholic landowners, to become Protestants and many did. Besides this there was a constant influx of English Protestants into Ireland and an even greater influx of Scottish Protestants into the north of Ireland. In the 1670s Sir William Petty estimated that Protestants amounted to 27% of the population. As more and more laws were passed at the end of the century to induce Catholic landowners to conform, the proportion of Protestants to Catholics probably increased fairly sharply as the possibility of a return of the Catholic Stuarts faded. Most Catholics seem not to have been particularly attached to their religion. Whether a member of the lowest ranks of the Gaelic chiefs turned Protestant probably depended on whether there was any benefit to himself. Daniel O’Connell estimated that there were up to 30,000 jobs of the lower supervisory grades which were open only to Protestants. Such could be gaolers, bailiff’s men, porters, tidewaiters in the Revenue and so on. When all these jobs were filled there would be little incentive for a man to change his religion. Protestants may have reached 40% of the population by 1750.

In the census of 1861, the Protestants were 28% of the population, but more and more concentrated in the six north-eastern counties. But the likelihood is that the proportion of Protestants peaked about 1750 and would have been much more evenly distributed over Ireland. It is probably impossible to tell what proportion of Protestants were immigrants and what proportion of them were Irish converts. We do know that almost all the heads of the Gaelic families and the great captains of the English race turned Protestant (Keenan, Pre-Famine Ireland, 322). But it is likely that large numbers of the lesser Gaelic families turned Protestant and became the buckeens so that they could continue their oppressions of the working classes.

The result was that the population of Ireland was badly distorted with regard to religion. The Penal Laws had attained their desired effect. All positions of power, importance, and remuneration were filled by Protestants. All with university degrees were Protestants, doctors, judges, lawyers, and clergymen were Protestants. Members of the County Grand Juries were Protestant as were all members of Government and county governments. All voters or electors were Protestant. All freemen of the towns and all municipal officials were Protestants. All members of trade guilds were so also. The vast bulk of the land was held by Protestants. Catholics could not become soldiers and carry arms. Catholics were not allowed to vote. Catholics could not form schools. There were great restrictions on the ownership of land by Catholics. For most of the 18th century these restrictions hardly applied to the ordinary Catholics for they were excluded by their lowly status. Nobody was concerned about their views. Ireland then, for all practical purposes, was a Protestant country in the 18th century. The Penal Laws had achieved their purpose.

The Land: Geographical Aspects

Ireland is an island in the Atlantic off the northwest flank of the European Continent. The island is 300 miles in length on its northeast-southwest axis, and 185 miles in breadth at its widest point. Surface drainage was often poor, and where the underlying rocks came close to the surface, almost impossible. Ireland was described as a land of woods, bogs and lakes (Nichols, 5). There are about 4,000 lakes in Ireland most of them quite small. The land surrounding them was usually badly drained. Almost everywhere in Ireland drainage was essential for tillage. This was true with regard to the great Central Plain. In such places Ireland’s famous bog lands formed. Ireland proved to be poor in minerals. Considerable efforts were made to find them and to develop mining, but the pockets located were invariably small, and often quickly exhausted (Freeman, Pre-Famine Ireland; Keenan, Pre-Famine Ireland). Apart from badly drained land, Young noted that there was actually less real mountain wastes in Ireland than in England. There was nothing in Ireland like the great mountain chains in the north of England (Young, 92). The largest Irish wastes were along the west coast in Kerry, Galway, Sligo and Donegal. Yet everywhere in these counties there was much agricultural land.

The rivers tend to flow outwards towards the sea, and are mostly quite short. They may have insufficient water for navigation or power in dry summers (Freeman, 53). There would have been flooding in winter time along the banks of most rivers and lakes. Oats, and grass and later potatoes, cope better with the climate than wheat or barley. On the other hand, as waterpower was developed, the swiftly flowing rivers provided many sites for mills near the coast.

Almost the whole of the country is covered with glacial drift or till, deep in some parts but shallow in others. In some places the drift has weathered to soils exceedingly fertile and suitable for ploughing; in other places the shallow soils over the moisture-soaked clays produce very good grass, but are unsuitable for tillage. In some areas west of the Shannon the drift was thin over the porous limestone rock and provided excellent grazing for sheep. They corresponded in this respect to the chalk downs in England. Soils suitable for tillage are to be found in every part of Ireland but more abundantly in the eastern half. But tiny patches of good soil can be found everywhere even in the midst of bogs and mountains. Even when there is little soil over limestone there is very fine grass. Bogs are very extensive; the Bog of Allen extends for 80 miles and contains 300,000 acres.

Population

Like most Europe in the Middle Ages, Ireland always teetered on the brink of famine. Many of these famines were caused by wars, but others were the natural consequence of populations growing faster than agricultural output could supply. A succession of good harvests could allow the population to increase, while a succession of poor harvests could cause localized famines. Ireland was not the only country to suffer from periodic famines. Localized famines were to occur in Ireland up to the end of the 19th century.

There is little doubt that Ireland was under-populated in 1703. The wars, and the unofficial activities of the rapparees who lived off the country, would have ensured that. Despite official legislation directed at the manufacture of cloth in Dublin raw wool-production was profitable; so many farmers turned their farms into sheepwalks. The population growth in Ulster increased; in 1659 it was probably no more than 250,000; by 1708 it was about 480,000 a growth of 1.8% per year, which was well above pre-industrial growth rates. As immigration continued the opportunities for the acquisition of land and social advancement decreased and by the 1680s emigration to America had commenced; this was to become a flood in the next century (Gillespie, 119). The population was fairly stable in the first half of the century; only after 1750 did it begin to rise. The potato probably explained part of this, but also less frequent cereal failures and easier imports assisted. One thing is certain that the proportion of the population relying on the potato increased (Cullen, ‘The Irish Economy’, 14).

In 1672 Sir William Petty estimated the population of Ireland to be 1.1 million (Burke, 41). Mitchell put the population in 1700 as 2 million. Froude quotes a figure of 2 million calculated by the then Lord Lieutenant, Lord Carteret (1724-1730) for 1726, also based on the Hearth Money Collectors (Froude, I, 442). An estimate for the population in 1731 was 2 million which had risen to 2.9 million in 1777 (Saunders Newsletter, 12 Sept. 1777). An estimate in 1785 placed it at 3 million (SNL 20 Jan. 1785). An estimate in 1783 placed it at 2.3 million of which Protestants were 28% (SNL, 18 Sept. 1783). An estimate of the population in 1789 put it as 4.5 million (SNL, 6 Feb. 1789. The estimates were based on the collection of the taxes on hearths multiplied by some assumed value like 5 to give the numbers in the family. A calculation in 1791 by Dr. Beaufort of Collon put the population at 4 million. Freeman gives calculations as follows:

Connolly gives a figure of 1.95-2.28 millions for 1749, 4.42 millions for 1791 and 6.8 millions for 1821(Connolly, 164). In the second half of the 18th century the population of Ireland doubled, and was to double again by 1841. As Connolly observed the reason for this sudden spurt in growth has never properly been explained (361). The beginning coincides with an increase with the volume of trade from 1750 onwards. It is possible too that by 1740 the potato, which grows easily on cold damp soils and is highly nutritious, had become widespread among the poor (Cullen, ‘Irish Economy’, 14). All that was needed was to rent or squat on a piece of unreclaimed bog. The atrocious weather and famines of the early part of the century no longer had an effect.

Emigration was more common among the Protestant tenants. Arthur Young specifically investigated the causes of emigration. Before the American War there was much discussion about Irish and Scottish emigrations attributed to higher rents. The causes were actually the Presbyterian religion and the linen manufacture; the Catholics never went; in fact they rarely left their native parishes. Emigration to America was common from Ulster for a long time and regularly rose when the linen trade was bad. It was not high rents, for those leaving were able to sell their leases at high prices; the linen manufactures were half weavers and half farmers and were able to realise the cost of their travel. Emigration was an alternative to enlisting in the army (Young, 98-99).

It is difficult to say how many immigrants there were at this period, but it is generally agreed that they were not numerous except into east Ulster. The idea that every Protestant was an immigrant is a carefully fostered erroneous belief. Yet it is also clear that many persons skilled in the various trades came to Ireland. All over Ireland for example there were searches for substances that could be mined, and when found, skilled miners had to be imported to work the mines at the start at least. Many of these, of the working classes at least probably married local girls and their families would have become Gaelic-speaking Catholics. Catholics too could have become Protestants and adopted an English name that had some resemblance to the Gaelic: Conway for MacConmidhe.

Climate, Soil and Vegetation

The climate of Ireland is typical of a large part of North Western Europe and was commonly described as equable without any great extremes. In the later-Roman period the temperature may have fallen, but a warming phase was in force from 900 AD to 1300 AD, the medieval optimum. It was followed by the Neoglacial Period (Little Ice Age) of glacier growth which started about 550 years ago with a return to colder climatic conditions c. 1400 to c. 1890, during which valley glaciers re-advanced in the Alps, and Swedish Lapland. Ireland was in the grip of the ‘Little Ice Age’. Summers were wet, cool, and cloudy especially in the late 16th and early 17th centuries though there were milder periods in the early 16th century. The winters were dry and very cold. In 1739 and 1784 Lough Neagh completely iced over. This period was generally wetter and colder than the periods before and after. The area where wheat could be grown shrank and it is likely that barley could be grown in the dryer east. Oats could be grown everywhere but a single crop was always liable to fail.

The rainfall was abundant, but not excessive. It was fairly equally distributed throughout the year, and the drying of the soil in summer is to be attributed to increased evaporation. According to Young the climate was much wetter than in England with twice as many rainy days in Cork than in London (Young, 94-5). Rainfall forms a gradient from west to east with from 30-40 inches in the east, 40-50 inches in the centre, and 50-70 inches in the west. (The gradient across Wales and England is similar, but in parts of eastern England the rainfall is 20 inches. The gradient across Scotland is similar to that of Ireland.) Snow is fairly rare and in many winters there is no snow. In a typical year snow might fall on between 10 and 20 days in the year, and would rarely lie for more than a few days. As waterpower was developed, the swiftly flowing rivers provided many sites for mills near the coast. Ireland later tended to be more developed in the maritime counties than in the inland ones.

CHAPTER THREE

The Irish Economy: Primary Sector

The Economy in General: Agriculture

T hough exports from Ireland began to grow significantly after 1750, local towns and markets increased, and manufactures grew in size and diversity the Irish economy was still largely at subsistence level. There was little need for money. Rents might be expressed in money terms but were in fact often paid in days of labour. However as Connolly observed the Irish economy was relatively commercialized especially in the eastern parts. Quite a lot of production was for the market. This was especially true of sheep and cattle farming for the production of wool and salted goods (Connolly, 349).

Farms were largely self-contained. An advertisement for a house in Queen’s County in 1709 claimed that there was a good, slated house with three rooms on a floor, with orchard, garden, outhouses, stables, coach house, brew house, turf house, barn, granary, and dog kennels. It had 190 acres of good land, 50 acres of which was good meadow (Dublin Intelligence 4 January 1709) In the markets in Dublin the prices were given for wheat, oats, barley, bere (six-row barley), pease, butter, bacon, cheese, wool, bulls and cows, and wethers and sheep (Dublin Intelligence, 22 January 1709). The lease of 800 acres in Co. Wexford was advertised, claiming that half was suitable for sheepwalks, and half for black cattle (Dublin Intelligence 1 August 1710). The following year a sheepwalk of 600 to 700 acres was advertised in Tipperary (Dublin Intelligence 20 January 1711).

The Irish economy in the first three quarters of the century was heavily skewed towards the pastoral side. Young noted the preponderance of sheepwalks. For most of the century wool, and to an increasing extent mutton, was the best producer of cash for the Irish landowner. Only an export bounty made the growing of cereals profitable. Even so, there had to be an improvement of roads on which carts could be driven to make the export of wheat or oats even as far as Dublin profitable. The economy of Ireland, like that of the rest of Europe was approaching self-sufficiency, even in years of crop failures. To some extent at least this can be attributed to the cultivation of the potato. The last of the traditional famines in Ireland occurred in the years 1740-41, after which the ever-growing population could feed itself. Commentators in the 18th century, while noting the dependence of the very poorest classes on the potato, regarded them as healthy and well-fed even with their limited and monotonous diet.

At Drogheda hiring fair, held after the English manner once a week, where servants go to hire themselves a servant girl was accosted by two soldiers resulting in a riot (Saunders Newsletter, 17 May 1780). The hiring fairs were chiefly for work on farms, both men and women being employed. The period of hiring was normally for a year. The servants received board and lodgings, and were paid a lump sum at the end of the year. The year was normally from Michaelmas Day, 29 September, but as the Drogheda example shows us could begin at any time.

Weights and Measures

The weights and measures in the English-speaking part of Ireland were those in use in England at the time. They were not the British Imperial measures, metric measures, or the modern American measures adopted in the 19th century that largely gave whole number multiples of one size into another. Yet they were roughly equivalent to present day sizes, whether acres, miles, or gallons. The sizes were not necessarily uniform over the whole of England and Ireland or even in different parts of the same country, which caused difficulties in the export of wheat from one country to the other up to the 19th century. Measures were not necessarily the same between different trades. Contemporaries estimated that in France that under the cover of 800 different names there were 250,000 actual units of weights and measures. All over France different local measures were used in different places, and the local standard measure was held by different people for different trades. The measure for the length of building materials might be displayed in the market hall, the pound for bread held in the guildhall of the towns’ bakers; the measure for the measure for grain held by the local seigneur, and the measure for wine by the local abbot. Land might be measured in arpents, but workmen were hired by the journée, the amount of work that could be done in the field or vineyard in a day (Alder, 2, 134).

That said, there is reason to believe that for general purposes of trade there were uniform standards in all the Irish cities and towns and that the yard in Kilkenny was the same as that in Dublin. There were in fact Government officials called Clerk of the Markets and Keeper of the Weights. Every market should have had an official set of weights. As the local mayor or town official had to set fair prices, either the weight of the standard loaf or its price, could vary from week to week. Standardization of weights and measures commenced in England about the 13th century but this did not prevent the use of local measures. Because cereals were extensively traded, the bushel was one of the earliest measures to be standardized. A bushel of barley was officially the contents of a cylindrical measure 18½ inches in diameter and 8 inches high. An inch was the length of 3 grains of barley. Kegs and barrels were quite small, and suitable for carrying on horseback, 2 to each horse. Almost certainly, every local manor had its own set of measurements to resolve disputes regarding dues to the local lord.

Of particular interest is the townland, hide, ploughland or carucate as it was called in England. Traditionally this was the area a team of oxen with the great plough could plough in a year. The conditions of soil and local topography meant that this varied in size. The townland came to be regarded, and perhaps in some places always was, a unit of output, the amount that would support the family of a free farmer (boaire) for a year. It averaged around 100 acres. Townlands did not cover the whole of Ireland. This was not accomplished until the Ordnance Survey in the 19th century as a measure of standardization. The townland or baile (boll yeh in modern Gaelic, but something closer to bally earlier) was found in Gaelic-speaking areas, for the introduction of the great plough far anteceded the coming of the Normans. The townland became the unit for local taxation and for tithes. The Elizabethan surveyors of escheated lands took over the townland as the existing measure, and made no attempt to devise a new one. Boundaries were known by existing landmarks. As usual in Norman areas, a local jury was summoned to testify under oath where the boundary was (Keenan Ireland 1170-1509 262-7). For the boundaries of the parish of Ballymascanlan in 1606, see Columcille, 220-221.)

Irish measures began to diverge from English ones. The Irish perch or pole was 7 yards, and that of England only 5½ yards. Hence 11 Irish miles are equal to 14 English miles. The ‘Irish’ acre was found in Ireland, Yorkshire, and regions bordering the Solway Firth. 160 Irish perches each 7 yards square = 7840 square yards, about 6,555 square meters or 1.6198 English acres. Thus 30¼ Irish Acres = 49 English Acres. The former is called plantation measure and the latter statute measure. In some parts of East Ulster, the Cunningham acre was 6,250 square yards, approximately 1.2913 statute acres or 5,226 square meters. Farms could be aggregated into larger units like parishes, or split into lesser units like bovates (15 acres) or virgates (30 acres) which were eventually supplanted by the acre.

The avoirdupois pound became the pound in general use today. It was divided into 16 ounces. A stone was 14 pounds for most things but could be 14, 15, or 24 pounds for wool. The hundredweight consisted of 112 pounds, and the ton of 20 hundred weights. Workers in coins and precious metals preferred a pound troy of 7,000 grains of the lighter wheat (Wikipedia passim). Wool was exported in sacks of 42 stones.

Liquids were measured in pints, quarts, and gallons, and also similar things like cereals, peas, or meal and flour. For dry measure there was the bushel equal to 8 gallons. Another dry measure was the peck. Four pecks make a bushel. A peck could be a different size for each kind of grain, peas or beans. A quart was approximately one litre. Two pints made a quart, and four quarts a gallon. The most common container for most materials, beer, wine, wheat, nails, gold coins, tobacco, gunpowder, etc. was the barrel. Gradually standard sizes of barrels developed for beer, wine etc. Larger or smaller sizes could be called hogsheads, firkins, kegs, tierces, puncheons, pipes, tuns, or butts. These names are to be found in writings of all kinds up until the nineteenth century. Most of the materials required for making a plantation in America, or a small town in Ireland, would have been transported in barrels on board ships (Keenan, Ireland 1170-1509, 262-266).

In the reign of William III Parliament had, for the improvement of the provisions trade, made regulations concerning butter casks and their contents; and Act 4th George I made it legal for magistrates to seize casks not in accordance with the law. By an Act 8 George II the chief magistrates in each town were to appoint public weighmasters with appropriate fees; the weighmasters were to provide their own scales, weights etc. (Dublin Chronicle, 13 March 1790).

Landholding, Leases, and Tenancies

In theory all leases were held under English Common Law. But even until the end of the 18th century it was possible to load a lease with extra burdens. Most of the lesser tenants or sub-tenants were Gaelic-speaking and illiterate and would regard as normal the payment of such ‘duties’. This practice was satirized by Maria Edgeworth: The lady was able to live very cheaply; duty fowls and duty turkeys, and duty geese furnished her table; the old lady kept a sharp lookout and knew to the last tub of butter what the tenants had. With the fear of driving or of the lawsuits, the tenants were kept in good order, and never came near her without a present of eggs, honey, butter, meal, fish, game, grouse and herrings, fresh or salt all counted for something. Also the best bacon and hams, and live hens. The right to a certain number of fowl dated from the cashless society of the Middle Ages when rents were paid in kind. Driving was the entirely legal practice of seizing the stock of a tenant in arrears. The duty yarn the lady of the house got from her tenants; it was woven by the men on the estate gratis in return for the looms the lady got gratis from the Linen Board; bleaching was done gratis by the owner of the bleach green over whom the landlord had a lawsuit pending. Sir Murtagh had his own ways of extracting money, often by actions for replevin. (An act or writ to recover goods by somebody who claims to own them and who promises to have the claim later tested in court.) He made a good living out of the trespassing of cattle and other animals. He refused to get the fences repaired. All his work was done through man-hours of duty-work; these were all written into the lease (Castle Rackrent, 33-4). The head landlord rarely saw his tenants, but if the middleman was short he sent his driver to drive off the cattle of the poor farmers. They could seize cattle, hay, corn, flax, oats, and potatoes; sometimes the under tenant paid his rent twice, once to the middleman and then to the head landlord (op. cit. 38.) The absentee landlord’s agent could insist on the rent being paid in guineas, then selling the guineas to the tenants, for 5 shillings above their value, and getting them back in the rent and repeating the process (The Absentee 144).

Though Edgeworth’s strictures were a pastiche of all the bad practices of the 18th century which had largely disappeared by the early 19th century when she was writing, they were sufficiently common to be noted by Arthur Young in 1775: they are exploited so that the tenants have little cash at the year’s end. So many days of labour to keep a cow, a horse, a cabin, a potato garden are reasonable and accepted but there should be no further exactions. After these charges the farm labourer should be paid faithfully after each Saturday night (Young, 17). He adds: It would be an exaggeration to say that all these cases are common; but a landlord who acts like that can do so with impunity; their number was decreasing and the poor were being treated more humanely (op. cit. 97). Though often quoted by nationalist writers as typical, they were not. But they are worth remembering because it is likely that that was the way smaller tenants held land at the beginning of the century when country (manorial) custom was followed rather than the strict letter of Common Law. As Young observed, the landlords were the magistrates so there was no recourse to the courts (96). But then that had been the custom in Ireland at least from the Bronze Age; Brehon Law was for the chiefs not the villeins or betaghs. But now many of the chiefs had become betaghs. Signs of humanity began to appear in the writings of English officials like Sir John Davies early in the 17th century (Davies, Sir, J., passim; Keenan, Ireland 1603-1702 sub voce).

Froude commented the work of the Commissioners for the Resumed Lands after the Resumption Act (1700) when the Irish Parliament resumed the grants of William III. These lands were valued at around two million pounds in fee simple. The land was divided into large holdings, often of several thousand acres on long leases, and the sub-tenants were Irish Catholics. Small Protestant tenants only took holdings near towns because of rapparee attacks. At times members of the old chiefly families swore the oaths just to keep their lands but did not attend church (Froude I, 307ff). As in the earlier allocations of forfeited estates little care was given to the character of those who were given grants. Some sold them immediately; others were leased out at long leases, often to Catholics who had attended the Established Church just for that purpose.

Long leases were given to the head tenant who was not a farmer himself, and who immediately sub-let in smaller lots at a higher rent. There was not excessive sub-division at this stage so that the size of the holding of the actual cultivator might have been a traditional 30 or 40 acres, a virgate or a bovate. For example, an English gentleman might be awarded or purchase 1,000 acres of mediocre land. He immediately leases it to a local tenant, perhaps of a minor Gaelic family at £1 an acre, giving him an annual income of £1,000. The local tenant, who came to be called the ‘middleman,’ then sub-lets in parcels at £2 an acre with the obligation of collecting the rents. As he has some expenses his income might be no more than £800. Middlemen with lesser amounts of land, say 50 or 100 acres, might also charge £2 an acre but burden the lease with onerous obligations which middlemen with greater properties might not bother about. The greatest oppressions of the poor seem to have occurred on the properties of these lesser gentlemen called shoneens or half-sirs.

It is likely that all forfeited land was granted to the head tenants in fee simple by the feudal tenure of free and common socage, i.e a cash rent. This grant was forever subject only to a small annual charge to the ‘estate in land’. The possessor of this grant was strictly speaking the ‘landlord’. The landlord could be a person or an institution like a diocese or a college, school, or charitable foundation. The landlord could be resident or absentee. Absentee landlords, like the other landlords, appointed either agents to manage the lands or sub-let to a middleman. Estates in land could be broken up, divided, and sold on the same conditions. In this way rich families could amass enormous estates in land. Estates, or parts of them, could be leased to others but only for a set period of years. Such leases could be for 60 or 90 years. These then could be sub-let and sub-sublet, but always for shorter terms, so that