A Society in Transition: the Protestant Community in Tyrone 1836-42 Daragh Emmett Curran Thesis for the Degree of Ph.D Departmen
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A SOCIETY IN TRANSITION: THE PROTESTANT COMMUNITY IN TYRONE 1836-42 DARAGH EMMETT CURRAN THESIS FOR THE DEGREE OF PH.D DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND MAYNOOTH SUPERVISOR OF RESEARCH: PROFESSOR RAYMOND GILLESPIE SEPTEMBER, 2010 A society in transition: The Protestant community of County Tyrone 1836-42. Daragh Emmett Curran This thesis deals with the transition that was taking place in Protestant society in the immediate pre-famine period in County Tyrone. It explores how this community, at all social levels, reacted to the changes that were occurring and which were considered detrimental to its position of dominance in society. These changes had the potential to dramatically affect the traditional paternalistic relationship that bound the lower classes to their social betters and this study examines how this relationship survived through economic recession, changes in law and order, increasing concessions being granted to Catholics, lessening government support for the Protestant Church, and the suppression of the dominant Protestant association of the time- the Orange Order. The Order played an integral part in the lives of many Protestants and was an organization that transcended the class divide. Because of this, it becomes the pivot around which this work revolves as the Order, with its wide-stretching network, helped maintain the patriarchal relationship that bound the classes together. It is also a useful tool through which to examine attitudes towards law and order within the Protestant community as changes within this area, especially within the magistracy, affected the upper classes, the very people that the lower classes looked to for guidance. How this guidance manifested itself is reflected on the political stage as part of the elite used the mob as a political tool to serve its own needs. Despite eventual dissolution, the Order remained strong in many areas which further highlights its popularity amongst Protestants in County Tyrone. The study concludes that despite the dramatic changes being experienced within the Protestant community, the traditional hierarchal structure remained and that while the relationship between the classes was slowly unravelling, it remained, largely because of the Orange Order, unaltered in Tyrone in the immediate pre-famine era. Acknowledgements A number of people deserve special thanks for their assistance in the completion of this thesis. My supervisors Professor Raymond Gillespie and Dr Jennifer Kelly were of immense help in providing the themes and ideas behind this work and deserve special praise for their overall positivity and constant encouragement throughout the past three years. I would also like to thank Professor Jackie Hill for her assistance in the latter stages of this work. Archive research was made much easier due in no small measure to the assistance provided by the staff at the National Library of Ireland, the Public Records Office of Northern Ireland, the National Archives of Ireland, Dr Jonathan Mattison at the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland, and Rebecca Hayes at the Grand Masonic Lodge of Ireland. I would like to pay special thanks to my classmates, in particular Liam O’Rourke, Seamus Coll, Darragh Gannon, Mel Farrell, Edward Tynan, and Breen Murphy. Most importantly I would like to express my gratitude to my family for their support and encouragement and to my girlfriend Maggie for her understanding and patience throughout the entire process. Table of contents Page Abbreviations i Introduction 1 Chapter 1: The social and economic conditions of County Tyrone. 17 Chapter 2: The forces of law and order. 73 Chapter 3: The Orange Order and the Freemasons. 120 Chapter 4: The Catholic threat- real or imaginary? 170 Chapter 5: The political split in the Protestant gentry. 208 Chapter 6: The dissolution of the Orange Order- reaction from above and below. 247 Conclusion 282 Bibliography 287 Abbreviations Abbreviation Source PRONI The Public Record Office of Northern Ireland LJ Londonderry Journal and Tyrone Advertiser LS Londonderry Standard NS Northern Standard NT Newry Telegraph ECEP Enniskillen Chronicle and Erne Packet BH Ballyshannon Herald SOB Star of Brunswick FJ Freeman’s Journal VIN The Vindicator BN Belfast Newsletter SMP Strabane Morning Post DEM Dublin Evening Mail NAI: CSORP, OR National Archives of Ireland: Chief Secretary’s Office Registered Papers, Outrage Reports OSM Ordnance survey memoirs Parliamentary paper abbreviations Abbreviation Source First report on Orange lodges [First] Report from the select committee appointed to inquire into the nature, character, extent and tendency of Orange Lodges, associations or societies in Ireland; with the minutes of evidence, and appendix, H. C. 1835 (377), xvi. Second report on Orange lodges [Second] report from the select committee appointed to inquire into the nature, character, extent and tendency of Orange lodges, associations or societies in Ireland, H. C. 1835 (377), xv. Third report on Orange lodges [Third] report from the select committee appointed to inquire into the nature, character, extent and tendency of Orange Lodges, associations or societies in Ireland, H. C. 1835 1835 poor enquiry Royal commission on the poorer classes of Ireland, H. C. 1835 (35) (36) (37) (38) (39) (40) (41) (42), xxx.35, 221, xxx.1, xxxiv.1, 427, 643, 657. 1821 census Abstract of answers and returns pursuant to Act for taking account of population of Ireland: enumeration abstract, appendix, H. C. 1824 (577), xxii.411 1831 census Abstract of population returns for Ireland 1831, H. C 1833 (634), xxxix.59. 1841 census Report of commissioners on census of Ireland, 1841, H. C. (1843) (504) xxiv.1. The Devon commission Royal commission of inquiry into the state of law and practice in respect to occupation of land in Ireland, H. L. 1845 (672) (673), iv, v. Poor Law Union returns Poor Law Unions (Ireland). Returns relative to Poor Law Unions, and of persons holding land, etc. in Ireland, H. C. 1845 (593) xxxviii.209. State of Ireland in respect of crime Report from the select committee of the House of Lords, appointed to enquire into the state of Ireland in respect of crime, and to report thereupon to the House; with the minutes of evidence taken before the committee, and an appendix and index. Part 1.Report, and evidence 22 April to 16 May 1839, H. L. 1839 (486), xi.1, xii.1. Introduction This thesis deals with the Protestant community at a cross-class level in County Tyrone from 1836 to 1842. It will examine how this community reacted to the social, economic, and political changes which were permeating Irish society at this time. This study is unique in that it not only looks at how Protestant society worked but also because it covers all levels of the Protestant social stratum from the lowest classes up to the elites of high society. The under classes will be viewed through the spectrum of crime, land occupation, the linen industry, and associational activity whilst the middle and upper classes will be viewed through election contests, membership of the magistracy, their ownership of the land, and in common with the lower classes, also through associational activity. Associational activity, and in particular membership of the Orange Order, was a vital element in bringing people of different backgrounds together, and it plays a pivotal role in this work as it provides the framework around which Protestant society is examined. As with any thesis, the subject matter has received little attention from historians. While Catholic society has been well examined and documented over the period in question notably in Marianne Elliott’s The Catholics of Ulster, little work has been produced regarding Protestant society in Ulster.1 Allan Blackstock has attempted to redress this balance over the past decade with his works on the yeomanry, and the importance of this body in cementing the relationship between the upper and lower classes is brought to light in his studies.2 In addition to this, Blackstock has produced an interesting study entitled Loyalism in Ireland, 1789-1829 1 Marianne Elliott, The Catholics of Ulster (London, 2000). 2 Allan Blackstock, ‘Orangeism and the Irish yeomanry’, in Irish Historical Studies, xxx, no. 119 (1997), pp 393-405. An ascendancy army, the Irish yeomanry, 1796-1834 (Dublin, 1998). ‘The social and political implications of the raising of the yeomanry in Ulster’ in David Dickson, Daire Keogh and Kevin Whelan (eds.), The United Irishmen: Republicanism, radicalism and rebellion (Dublin, 1993), pp 234-43. which is one of the few works that attempts to tackle the issue of Protestant life during this period. This work provides a detailed study for the period in question by supplying vital information on the early Orange Order, the yeomanry, and the Brunswick Clubs, all of which played an important role in creating solidarity within the Protestant community. Unfortunately, as the title suggests, this study ends in 1829 meaning that the post Catholic emancipation period is left unattended.3 Another comprehensive study on Protestant society and politics has been provided by Ian D’Alton who deals with Cork from 1812 until 1844 but which examines a county very different in its religious make up to that of Ulster and with a community which was very much in the minority, something not the case with the Protestants of Tyrone.4 Suzanne Kingon has produced work specifically on the reaction of Ulster Protestant society to the granting of Catholic emancipation and more generally on Ulster Protestant politics from 1825 to 1835 which is most useful in providing an immediate political background to this thesis but again stops short of dealing with the timescale of this work.5 Frank Wright has produced important work regarding Ulster politics in the 1830s but missing from this otherwise significant study is the topic of inter class relations within the Protestant community.6 Jonathan Bardon’s A history of Ulster is a useful read but is too chronologically wide ranging in its scope to provide any microscopic detail on the subject in question while K.