Poor Law
Ireland was a poor country for centuries. Before the Poor Law was
enacted in 1838. It had been up to individual parishes to provide relief for
poor. The Poor Law Union divided the country into 130 different ‘unions’ and
each would have its own workhouse. Families were separated once they entered
the workhouse.
Outbreak!
In June 1845 serious reports of blight was discovered in Belgium. It had
been believed that blight had originated in South America two years previously.
Thousands of people died across France, Germany, Switzerland and the
Netherlands because of huge crop failures. People who lived in parts of Europe
were not as dependent on the potato as those in Ireland.
Sir Robert Peel & The Relief Commission
Potatoes doubled in price in December 1845, which coincided with the
cost of living. The Member of Parliament Sir Robert Peel decided to purchase
£100,000 of Indian Corn from America because it was cheap but unfortunately it
was not popular because of it being hard to digest and its colour it became
known as ‘Peel’s Brimstone’.
Peel also decided to set up a relief commission which formed local committees of landowners, their agents, magistrates, clergy and residents of importance. The purpose of the relief commission was to set up food depots throughout Ireland.
Peel also decided to set up a relief commission which formed local committees of landowners, their agents, magistrates, clergy and residents of importance. The purpose of the relief commission was to set up food depots throughout Ireland.
Sir Randolph Routh
Sir Randolph Routh, who was originally the senior officer of the
Commissariat department, which supplied food to the British Army was appointed
as Chairperson of the Relief Commission in 1846. It became his duty to supply
Indian Corn because he had extensive experience in feeding large bodies of
people in sudden emergencies.
He was answerable to ‘The Treasury’. Any expenses would have required sanction by the Treasury such as famine relief. The ‘The Treasury’ was Charles Edward Trevelyan who is synomous to the song ‘The Fields of Athenry’.
He was answerable to ‘The Treasury’. Any expenses would have required sanction by the Treasury such as famine relief. The ‘The Treasury’ was Charles Edward Trevelyan who is synomous to the song ‘The Fields of Athenry’.
Charles Edward Trevelyan
Charles Edward Trevelyan was the Assistant Secretary and was also the
head of Treasury. Trevelyan was a deeply religious man as he was known to ‘read
the bible aloud’ and he firmly believed that the Great Famine in Ireland was
‘Punishment by God, on an idle, ungrateful, rebellious country’.
When Sir Robert Peel’s government fell. Trevelyan changed his scheme. Trevelyan and Charles Wood, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, decided that, in the second failure there was to be ‘The provision of food for Ireland was to be left entirely to private enterprise and private traders’.
This causes consternation between Sir Randolph and Trevelyan, as Sir Randolph did not like private enterprise to import food.
When Sir Robert Peel’s government fell. Trevelyan changed his scheme. Trevelyan and Charles Wood, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, decided that, in the second failure there was to be ‘The provision of food for Ireland was to be left entirely to private enterprise and private traders’.
This causes consternation between Sir Randolph and Trevelyan, as Sir Randolph did not like private enterprise to import food.
Second outbreak!
The second failure of the potato crop happened in 1846 and rapid reports
of distress and deaths quickly followed.
Evictions Begin 1846?
There were different reasons for evictions. Landlords were liable for rates of tenants paying under £4 in rent under
the Poor Law. When tenants could not afford to pay the landlord on their
estates. The only way to collect money was to clear the poor of their small
plots.
Some landlords evicted tenants so they could modernise their land for agricultural purposes for Bullock Pasture such as the case in the evictions Ballinglass, Co. Galway on Marcella Gerard’s estate in 1846.
It is not know how many were evicted before 1848. The police began to keep records between 1849 and 1854, were 49,000 families were dispossessed. There were thousands of ‘voluntary surrenders’ where tenants surrendered possession of their patch of land and began to beg, usually heading for the nearest town.
Tenants were also cheated into thinking the workhouse would take them, where they had been persuaded to accept a small some of money, and sometimes they helped tear down their own dwellings themselves.
Some landlords evicted tenants so they could modernise their land for agricultural purposes for Bullock Pasture such as the case in the evictions Ballinglass, Co. Galway on Marcella Gerard’s estate in 1846.
It is not know how many were evicted before 1848. The police began to keep records between 1849 and 1854, were 49,000 families were dispossessed. There were thousands of ‘voluntary surrenders’ where tenants surrendered possession of their patch of land and began to beg, usually heading for the nearest town.
Tenants were also cheated into thinking the workhouse would take them, where they had been persuaded to accept a small some of money, and sometimes they helped tear down their own dwellings themselves.
Emigration was also and option for landlords where they would give their
tenant enough money for a passage to America and Canada. Some landlords hired
ships to transport them. Other tenants got aid from charities or had been sent
money by family members who had already gone.
Many evicted families would shelter in ditches until bad weather drove
them to the workhouse. Emigration was an option whereby
landlords gave their tenants enough money to emigrate other emigrants got
charitable aid, and some family members abroad sent money for emigrants to
emigrate.
Sometimes the land would be let to middlemen. Profit would be made by sub-letting the land to tenants, smallholders and cottiers.
Sometimes the land would be let to middlemen. Profit would be made by sub-letting the land to tenants, smallholders and cottiers.
As population grew the demand for land increased. Landlords and
middlemen availed of the opportunity to increase their income by allowing
holdings to be divided and sub-divided and by letting holdings ‘at-will’. This
reduced the security of tenants and enabled rents to be raised from year to
year, a practice known as ‘rack-renting’.
Black ’47
Black ’47 was known as Black ’47 because it was the worst year of the
Great Famine in that same year the death toll of the county of Galway was 5,556 in 1846 which then rose to 12,582 in 1848. For the town
of Galway the death toll in 1847 was 1, 919, which rose to 2,000 in 1848. Over
11,000 inmates died in Galway workhouse.
Religious Society of Friends ‘The Quakers’
The religious society of Friends were known as the ‘Qaukers’. In 1847 a group of ‘Quakers’ cam to Ireland. They established soup kitchen’s across the country. One of the ‘Quakers’ stated that the Irish children were ‘Like skeletons, their features sharpened with hunger and their limbs wasted, so that there was little left but bones, their hands and arms, in particular being much emaciated and the happy expression of infancy gave from their faces, leaving the anxious look of pre-mature old age’.
In June 1849, the Quakers gave up relief work on June 2nd. Thomas Larcom of the Relief Department reported to London that the system could not be continued. Little of value ‘had been created at a vast expense, labour had been diverted from cultivation and masses of rural poor were dying physically incapable and some new scheme would have to be take its place.’
The religious society of Friends were known as the ‘Qaukers’. In 1847 a group of ‘Quakers’ cam to Ireland. They established soup kitchen’s across the country. One of the ‘Quakers’ stated that the Irish children were ‘Like skeletons, their features sharpened with hunger and their limbs wasted, so that there was little left but bones, their hands and arms, in particular being much emaciated and the happy expression of infancy gave from their faces, leaving the anxious look of pre-mature old age’.
In June 1849, the Quakers gave up relief work on June 2nd. Thomas Larcom of the Relief Department reported to London that the system could not be continued. Little of value ‘had been created at a vast expense, labour had been diverted from cultivation and masses of rural poor were dying physically incapable and some new scheme would have to be take its place.’
Eviction Act 1848
I have tried my best to put the following paragraph’s of the 1848
Eviction Act into layman’s terms from this link http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1848/en/act/pub/0047/print.html:
1. You could not evict a person on
Christmas day, Good Friday, two hours before or after sunset.
2. You must give forty-eight hours notice
of eviction for a tenant to the relieving officer.
3. You must give the notice directly to
the relieving officer or postmaster of a post office.
4. It is lawful for tenants who become destitute to seek relief off their
relief officer electoral division for shelter, the workhouse, food, lodging,
medical attendance.
5. Every occupier should be served a
notice.
6. If a landlord does not abide by the
Eviction Act 1848 giving an eviction notice to the relieving officer he must
pay £20 pounds as a penalty.
7. The sheriff or his office must be
allowed to pull down, demolish, or unroof dwellings if anyone else it will be
seen as a misdeameanor.
8. This Act applies to all estates,
possessions, of the crown in Ireland.
Cahertubber
Ø Cahertubber East 1841 pop. 47 and Cahertubber West has a pop. of 185.
Ø Cahertubber East in 1851 pop. rises to 168 but decreases in Cahertubber
West to a pop. 101.
Ø Houses inhabitants also rise in Cahertubber East from 8 to 27 houses
while Cahertubber West decreases from 28 houses to 18.
Cahertobber and it’s meaning
Cahertobber means ‘Quarter of the Well’ from Oliver Cromwell’s time.
Cahertobber Families 1821
Atchinson; Brennan, Burke, Cahilan,
Ceary,Clasby, Coffey, Connelly,Connor, Coppinger, Culk; Daly, Delany, Fahy,
Fallon,Gamen,Geraghrty,Gibbons,Glynn;
and Grady. Hacket, Hart, Healy, Helay,
Henew; Hession, Jordan, Kelly Kendrigan, Larkin, Lawless,Loughnane, Mackey; Mahon; McGennis,Monaghan,
Moran;Murray, Nobles,Nolan, Qualter, Quinn;Rowlan,
Ruane, Ryan, Shaughnessy; Slamen, Taylor, Wall, and Ward.
Athenry was desribed as a very run down place in the 1830’s by a
German traveller writer named Pucklar-Muscow ‘was more poverty-stricken than any
Polish village. I was pursued across ruins and brambles by a huge crowd of
half-naked beggars who tried every possible flattery on him including the cry
‘Long live the King!’. When I threw a handful of coppers among them, soon half
of them, young and old, lay in the mud grappling bloodily while the others
rushed off to the shebeen to drink their gains.’
Family names in 1855-56
Family names that were record during the Griffith's Valuaton (A land
valuation between 1855-1856 in Athenry):
Kealey, Hanly, Slamen, Mealy, Connor, Quinn, McDonagh, Connelly, Ward,
Ryan, Jordan, Dowd, Keane, Loughnane, Brennan, Kendrigan, Bourke,
Skehill,
O'Brien, Callanan, Laffy, Shaughnessy, and O'Brien.
It would be the head of the household who's name would be record for the
Griffith's Valuation.
I could find no census for Cahertubber West and East in Athenry 1901 and
1911.
(I was informed that night that it is under the DED of Aughrim
see http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/search/results.jsp?census_year=1901&surname=&exact=&firstname=&county19011911=Galway&county1821=&county1831=&county1841=&county1851=&townland=&ded=aughrim&age=&sex=&relationToHead=&religion=&education=&occupation=&marriageStatus=&marriageYears=&childrenBorn=&childrenLiving=&birthplace=&language=&deafdumb=&search=Search&sort=townlandSort&pageSize=100&houseNumber=&familiesNumber=&malesNumber=&femalesNumber=&maleServNumber=&femaleServNumber=&estChurchNumber=&romanCatNumber=&presbNumberDiv=&protNumber=&parish=&barony=&yearsMarried=&causeOfDeath=&yearOfDeath=&familyId=&ageInMonths=&pager.offset=200)
Hon. Col. Bermingham Sewell
Thomas Bermingham Daly Henry Sewell was a son of
Elizabeth Bermingham and Thomas Bailey Heath Sewell and grandson of Thomas
Bermingham 1st Earl of Louth and Baron Athenry. His claim to the baronetcy of
Athenry failed in 1800. At the time of Griffith's Valuation the Sewell estate
was one of the principal lessors in the parish of Athenry and the
representatives of Colonel Sewell also held land in the parishes of Clonbern,
barony of Ballymoe and Dunmore, barony of Dunmore.
Hon. Col. Bermingham Sewell had area’s of
Ballydavid Middle, Carrowntobber West, and Carrowntobber East, Knockbaun,
The Eviction Scene at Cahertubber
"A few days ago the sheriff of the county paid
a visit to the lands of Gurrane, in the neighborhood of Athenry, on the estate
of a man calling himself the Honorable Col. Bermingham Sewell, and demolished
the entire village of Cahertubber, leaving but two houses stranding, one of
which was converted into a depot for the remnant of roofing of those that were
not committed to the flames.
The wretched and unhappy victims are to be found squatted upon the road side, presenting the most frightful appearance of destitution. In vain have those beings looked for compassion from the Honourable Col, although all their gardens are well cropped, and a few short weeks of bounteous Providence would have left them in a situation to discharge the trifling demands of this most Christian landlord, who liberality, generosity and hospitality are in perfect keeping with his honourable cognomen" .
The wretched and unhappy victims are to be found squatted upon the road side, presenting the most frightful appearance of destitution. In vain have those beings looked for compassion from the Honourable Col, although all their gardens are well cropped, and a few short weeks of bounteous Providence would have left them in a situation to discharge the trifling demands of this most Christian landlord, who liberality, generosity and hospitality are in perfect keeping with his honourable cognomen" .
Sherriff?
I went into NUIG and looked at the following
occupational directories of who was the High Sherriff of the county.
Almanac Registry Directory 1848 - Michael Joseph
Browne.
Dublin Almanac 1849 – High Sherriff 1848 Thomas A. Joyce and
Dublin Almanac 1849 – High Sherriff 1848 Thomas A. Joyce and
Sub-sheriff Joseph McDonnell Galway. I have found
out that Thomas A. Joyce was the High Sherriff of Galway City but in the
newspaper Freeman’s Journal 22nd of January Captain Shawe
Taylor had been elected High Sheriff of the County.
Post- Cahertubber Eviction
Tuam Herald Saturday September 16 1848
‘Last week a man named Newel a bailiff in the employment of Col. Sewell,
on part of his property, near Athenry, in a conflict with some of the persons
named Ryan, about a thatch of an old house from once they had been ejected and
which they alleged the gallant colonel gave them permission to take away,
Newell was so severely injured as to cause his death in a few days after.
On Saturday last an inquest was held by Thomas Walsh Esq., Coroner, who committed the two Ryan (brothers) to abide their trail for manslaughter at the next assizes of the county.’
On Saturday last an inquest was held by Thomas Walsh Esq., Coroner, who committed the two Ryan (brothers) to abide their trail for manslaughter at the next assizes of the county.’
Acknowledgements
I would like to acknowledge Mr. Finbarr O’Regan, Mr. Adrian Martyn, Dr.
Conor McNamara for their help with this research. Jarlath Ryan for the
projector, the Raheen Wood s Hotel for the Screen
and Matthew for the use of the Town Café as a venue for my talk.
