• Abstract and Figures
• Public Full-text

LAND AGENTS AND ESTATE MANAGEMENT IN KING’S COUNTY DURING THE GREAT FAMINE, 1838-53 by CIARÁN JOSEPH REILLY THESIS FOR THE DEGREE OF PhD DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND, MAYNOOTH SEPTEMBER 2010 HEAD OF DEPARTMENT: PROFESSOR JACQUELINE HILL PROFESSOR COLM LENNON SUPERVISOR OF RESEARCH: DR TERENCE DOOLEY CONTENTS page INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER ONE: AN INTRODUCTION TO KING‟S COUNTY c. 1838 15 CHAPTER TWO: THE LAND AGENT IN KING‟S COUNTY ON THE EVE OF THE FAMINE: SOCIAL PROFILE AND FUNCTIONS 35 CHAPTER THREE: CLEARING THE ESTATES TO FILL THE WORKHOUSE: AGENTS, ESTATE MANAGEMENT AND THE IRISH POOR LAW ACT 1838 56 CHAPTER FOUR: AGENTS AND THE FAMINE 1845 to 1847 97 CHAPTER FIVE: AGENTS AND THE FAMINE II, 1847 TO 1851 129 CONCLUSION 166 APPENDICES 186 BIBLIOGRAPHY 232 i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Firstly, I wish to thank the Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences for the postgraduate scholarship, 2008-2010, which greatly facilitated this research. It is with sincere gratitude that I thank for his guidance and assistance throughout my undergraduate and postgradu- ate studies, Professor R.V. Comerford, former head of the Department of History, N.U.I. Maynooth. I would also like to thank Professor Jacqueline Hill and Professor Colm Lennon. However, I owe the greatest debt of gratitude to Dr Terence Dooley. He has inspired and encour- aged a study which had humble beginnings in 2006. His door was always open for critique and guidance and I thank him sincerely for such. The following people are to be thanked for their assistance in the writing of this thesis. Therese Abbott; Patrick Fleetwood Berry; Diarmuid Bracken; Oliver Burke; Alan Cox; Sean Farrell; Richie Farrell; Padraig Foy; Rob Goodbody; P.J. Goode; Professor Peter Gray; Margaret Hogan; Tim Insley; Tom & Mary Julian; John Kearney; Paula Lalor; Ester Maloney; Stephen McNeill; Martina Mooney; David C. Murray; Eamon O‟Connell; Declan O‟Connor; Mary O‟Connor; Bernie O‟Neill and the staff of St Mary‟s Secondary School, Edenderry; Amanda Pedlow, Offaly Heritage Officer; Dr Olwen Purdue. Dr Jennifer Kelly of the Department of History, NUI Maynooth was kind enough to offer advice and comments on the role of secret societies in pre-Famine Ireland which greatly enhanced my un- derstanding of the period. Likewise Professor Margaret Kelleher, An Foras Feasa, N.U.I. Maynooth shared her expertise on the writings of William Carleton and other nineteenth- century ii writers and of Irish literature in general. Michael Byrne, secretary of the Offaly Historical & Ar- chaeological Society provided information on numerous sources and his input deserves special mention. In addition I wish to thank the staff of the following libraries, archives and institutions: National Archives of Ireland; National Library of Ireland; Public Records Office of Northern Ire- land; John Paul II and Russell Library, NUI Maynooth; Bedfordshire and Luton Archives; Edenderry Public Library; Offaly County Library; Offaly Research Centre, Tullamore; Roscom- mon County Library and Westmeath County Library. I also offer thanks to my colleagues associated with the Centre for the Study of Historic Irish Houses & Estates for their continued friendship: Brian Casey; Dr Patrick Cosgrove; Dr Karol Mul- laney Dignam; Des Konopka; Kevin McKenna and Edward Tynan. To my siblings – Garrett, Niamh, Cathal, Donal and Briain; the Julian family; Trevor Bannon and Ciara Nally who have all provided some light hearted moments when the pressures of research and writing was put to one side; I thank each of you sincerely. To Tara, for her unstinting support and encouragement throughout I offer heartfelt thanks. Without her this undertaking would not have been possible. She continues to offer words of wisdom and inspiration to me, as only she can do. Lastly I thank my parents, Tom and Mary. Their love and support has known no bounds, for which I will be eternally grateful. In partial recompense for the sacrifices they have made for me I dedi- cate this work to them. iii ABBREVIATIONS B.C.A. - Birr Castle Archive DP- Downshire papers FJ- Freemans Journal KCC - King‟s County Chronicle N.L.I.- National Library of Ireland N.A.I. - National Archives of Ireland O.P.K.C. - Outrage Papers, King‟s County O.R.C. - Offaly Research Centre P.R.O.N.I.- Public Records Office of Northern Ireland R.L.F.C.- Relief Commission S. & K.A. - Stewart & Kincaid Archive W.W. M. – Wentworth Woodhouse Muniments iv LIST OF TABLES page 1.1 Population of King‟s County 1792 to 1861 16 1.2 Population increase per barony in King‟s County 1813 to 1841 18 1.3 The ten largest landowners in King‟s County c. 1845 20 1.4 Total number of fourth class houses in each barony 21 1.5 Population of the baronies of King‟s County 1841 23 1.6 No. of people per acres in each of King‟s County baronies c.1841 26 1.7 No. of potatoes sown in King‟s County 1844 to 1846 101 1.8 No. of holdings and their valuation depending on relief from Killoughy relief committee, 1848 110 1. 9 Acreage and variation of crops sown at the Ponsonby estate, Cloghan 1846 to 1847 120 1.10 Annual collection of rent on the King estate, Ferbane 1845 to 1850 121 2.1 Rental of the „Inner‟ portion of the Rosse estate, 1848 139 2.2 No. of inmates in Tullamore Workhouse on selected dates 1845 to 1847 140 2.3 Percentage decline in population per barony 1841 to 1851 142 2.4 Total number of townlands auctioned under the Incumbered Estates Court in King‟s County and in Ireland 1849 to 1855 160 v MAPS page 1. The major towns and villages of King‟s County 14 2. Population density and major settlement in King‟s County 1821 34 3. The landlords of King‟s County in the mid-nineteenth century 55 vi INTRODUCTION „I have to thank my excellent resident agent, Mr James Devery. He is an excellent man of business, sensible, interested and of the strictest integrity. He is beloved by the tenantry, a thing rare in Ire- land in the instance of any agent, and much esteemed by all who know him‟.1 Introduction Social memory has cast a dark shadow on the character of the Irish land agent and few if any of the tributes were as glowing as that presented by Frederick Ponsonby when referring to his agent, James Devery, at Cloghan, King‟s County in 1847. The oft quoted nineteenth-century verdict that the „landlords were sometimes decent men but the agents were devils one and all‟ is perhaps more typical of how the agents of landed estates were traditionally represented in Irish nationalist histo- riography or indeed by contemporary commentators and/or nineteenth- century travellers and writ- ers of fiction.2 Edward Wakefield writing in 1814 believed that Irish land agents were responsible for the backwardness of Irish estate management and that „the most bare faced bribery and corrup- tion are practiced by the class of people without the least sense of fear or shame‟.3 The influential nineteenth-century writer William Carleton was even more condemnatory of agents in general when he wrote that „a history of their conduct would be a black catalogue of dishonesty, oppres- sion and treachery‟.4 In his study of the earl of Abercorn and his Irish agents William Crawford more recently made the point that in the aftermath of the Famine perceptions such as these were 1 „Report on the inspection of the estate of Cloghan, King‟s County by the honourable Frederick Ponsonby for the Earl Fitzwilliam, June 1847‟ (N.L.I., MS 13,020). [Hereafter cited as „Cloghan report‟]. 2 Quoted in Kathy Trant, The Blessington estate 1667-1908 (Dublin, 2004), p. 79. 3 Edward Wakefield, An account of Ireland: statistical and political (2 vols, Dublin, 1812), i, p. 297. 4 The Works of William Carleton (2 vols, New York, 1880) i, p. 1112. See also Margaret Chestnutt, Studies in the short stories of William Carleton (Sweden, 1976), pp 112-3. 1 left unchallenged and so they „assumed the status of canon in Irish history‟.5 According to Gerard Lyne Irish folk tradition, particularly in the aftermath of the Famine would seem to reflect an in- nate prejudice against agents.6 For example he notes in his study of William Steuart Trench that he and his son are remembered in areas of Monaghan, Kerry and King‟s County as „ruthless extermi- nators and tyrants‟.7 Taking account of these perceptions K.T. Hoppen argued in the early 1970s that „for too long historians and others have been content with breezy generalisations about the landlord-tenant relationship‟ and suggested the need to reappraise the role of the agent in Irish his- toriography.8 Undoubtedly, since the early 1970s the study of landed estates, landlordism and the land question in general has received a new impetus although a comprehensive scholarly study of the land agent has yet to appear. Moreover there are still certain watershed periods in Irish history for which the management of landed estates requires more systematic attention. Thus for example Terence Doo- ley has noted that despite the wealth of „Famine‟ research since the early 1990s management poli- cies on individual estates has remained neglected with the exception of a number of important works.9 While a plethora of research pertaining to the causes and impact of the Famine have been published, only those of W.A. Maguire, J.S. Donnelly Jnr, Robert McCarthy, William Crawford and Lyne have begun to address the role of the land agent and the management of landed estates.10 5 William Crawford, The management of a major Ulster estate in the late eighteenth century: The eight earl of Aber- corn and his Irish agents (Dublin, 2001), p.

Load more

  270

Copy Link