An Analysis of the Loan Funds in the

Skibbereen Poor Law Union 1839-1849

Money, says the proverb, makes money. When you have got a little, it is often easy to get more. The great difficulty is to get that little.1

Hundreds of independent, local, quasi-charitable microcredit societies, or ‘loan funds’ were lending to as many as 20% of Irish households in the mid-nineteenth century.2 In the period 1839-1849 in the Poor Law Union of Skibbereen, 46,150 loans were made by the loan funds to a total Union population of 104,508, indicating that it was a significant organisation in the area during this decade.3 The majority of these loans were low in value and taken out by the poorer people of the area who otherwise did not have access to credit at a reasonable rate.

The emergence of the loan funds system in Ireland can be traced to Dean Jonathan Swift who, recognising that many poor individuals had projects with a high return on capital and were creditworthy despite their lack of collateral, created a small loan fund of £500.4 This capital was circulated, using the multiplier effect, in small amounts to the “poor industrious tradesmen” for reproductive purposes. His example was followed by many other voluntary organisations that established numerous loan funds in the decades that followed.5

These loan societies operated throughout Ireland and were added to, in 1823, by the Irish Reproductive Loan Fund. Subscriptions from overseas to ease the famine of 1822 in Ireland were used as seed capital to set up the Irish Reproductive Loan Funds in 10 counties in Ireland after the “needs had been alleviated” of the starving poor. Cork county got £5,500 of

Terri Kearney, 'An Analysis of the Loan Funds in the Skibbereen Poor Law Union 1839-49 1

this allocation and an Act was passed in 1823 to regulate these societies and others already in operation in Ireland.6

This was superseded in 1836 by ’An Act to Amend the Laws Relating to Loan Societies in Ireland’ which set up the Central Loan Fund Board of Ireland, establishing its headquarters in Dublin Castle.7 To eliminate abuses in the system, an amendment to the Act was passed in 1838 which made it compulsory for all loan funds to make an annual report to the Commissioners of the Central Loan Fund Board of Ireland. The funds administered by the Irish Reproductive Loan Funds were excluded from this requirement because “an exemption clause was slipped in in Parliament at the last moment at the third reading [of the Act] late at night”.8

Therefore, by 1839, there was a series of independent organisations in operation, managed by unpaid gentry or clergymen, and overseen by clerks who were paid for their services. These funds issued small loans of under £10 which were to be repaid over a period of 20 weeks.9 These loans were issued without collateral but were guaranteed by two other individuals and were underpinned by law to ensure repayment.10 Each loan fund was obliged to make an annual report to the Central Loan Fund Commissioners in Dublin Castle and was inspected on an ad hoc basis by Inspectors of this Board.11

The interest rate was 8-12% on borrowings and 6% on deposits, the latter reduced to 5% in 1853 due to pressure from the banking sector.12 Banking in pre-Famine Ireland relied almost exclusively on an upper and middle-class clientèle; the number of accounts per branch tended to be small, and deposits typically substantial, so the loan funds’ high interest rate did attract money that may not have otherwise been deposited.13 Banks generally did not lend amounts under £10.14 The only alternative to loan funds for those without collateral were the ‘gombeen men’, or village usurers, who charged interest of 25- 100%.15

Any surplus from the loan funds was to be donated for charitable purposes, e.g. a school or a hospital. The loan funds’ seed capital was usually a donation or loan from a wealthy benefactor because as Charles Piesse, the secretary to the Central Loan Fund Board, put it: “it is both the duty and interest of the upper and middle classes to aid the firm establishment of this system by every means in their power. If they do not contribute this

Terri Kearney, 'An Analysis of the Loan Funds in the Skibbereen Poor Law Union 1839-49 2

aid in enabling the poor classes to support themselves and their families out of the Poorhouse, they must support them in”.16 The Irish Poor Law had come into effect in 1838 so it was in the interest of the ratepayers to enable the poor to support themselves or, as Piesse pointed out, they would have to be funded in the Workhouse.

Funds in the Skibbereen Union The loan funds operating in the Poor Law Union of Skibbereen, reporting to the Central Loan Fund, were Skibbereen, Crookhaven, Glandore, Union Hall, Castletownshend, Schull, Ballydehob, Myross, Kilmacabea, Baltimore, Creagh and Aughadown. As can be seen from Table 1, these loan funds commenced and expired between 1839 and 1849. The money circulated in loans was substantial, £75,356 in the decade, (see Table 2) in a period when the average annual income for landless labourers was around £11. However, for the poorer two thirds of the Irish population, Mokyr estimates an annual income for Munster of just £4.20 in 1841. 17 This latter category would be more representative of the recipients of the funds. Individual loan amounts were considerably lower than the average in Cork county and nationally, (see Table 3), showing the relative poverty of the area. This would be expected when, next to Bantry, Skibbereen was the poorest union in terms of physical assets per capita.18 However, the volume of loans was significant (see Table 2), for example, 11,344 loans in 1843. Taking the Central Loan Funds Board’s calculation of each loan benefiting four people, this meant that 45,376 people out of the total Union population of 104,376 were beneficiaries of the loan funds in 1843.19 Many of these could have had been multiple loans in the year to the same borrowers, nonetheless a significant volume of people were affected by these loans.

Some of the funds were particularly effective in the use of their capital, especially Myross and Glandore. In 1843 Myross circulated £4,363 in loans from a capital base of £882 (see Tables 1 and 2), giving a ratio of 4.95 while Glandore in the same year gave £2,228 in loans from £441 capital, a ratio of 5.05. Most impressive of all was Ballydehob in 1843, generating £1,189 in loans from £99 capital, a ratio of 12.01. However, it ceased to operate in that year so perhaps it was due to over extension. The law relating to loan funds was amended in 1843 and the interest rate for deposits was reduced from 6% to 5%, making it less attractive to investors. A drop in overall capital in the Skibbereen Union funds from £4,281 in 1843 to £3,147 in 1844 may be attributed to this. The new law also reduced the rates on lending, Terri Kearney, 'An Analysis of the Loan Funds in the Skibbereen Poor Law Union 1839-49 3

and the margin between deposits and loans was reduced from 13.6% to 8.8%.20 This reduced margin for the loan societies possibly led to the reduction in the number of loan societies in operation in Cork, from 36 in 1843 to 29 in 1844, under the new law (see Table 2). Skibbereen, Castletownshend, Ballydehob, Crookhaven and Skull all ceased to operate in 1843-4.

The Inspector’s reports relating to the Skibbereen Union Loan Funds show that the funds were well run, with little or no defaults on payments: “Out of the 11,521 loans, there was but a single solitary case [of default] ... the party at the time had been a confirmed drunkard, and abused the trust confided in him. He is, however, since reformed by the progress of temperance” (Glandore Loan Fund).21 There are many reports of improved circumstances for the recipients of the loan funds: “Farmers by a command of money at a reasonable rate of interest ... can purchase the best seed for the land. The fishermen living along the coast do not lose the chance of fish from want of boats and fishing gear, and the tradesmen are no longer idle from want of material to work with” (Castletownshend). 22

The Inspectors were enthusiastic about the benefits of the loan funds for reproductive purposes: “The benefits conferred will best appear by a reference to the purposes for which Loans were granted, from which it will appear that fishermen, farmers, tradesmen, huxters and labourers, have all been assisted with means for carrying out their respective employments” (Baltimore). 23 Moral benefits were also seen as equally important: “habits of industry and of exertion have ... been promoted, a regard for character and habits of punctuality have invariably been generated … we can see no evils that may not be prevented by strict, judicious, and impartial administration of the Fund” (Glandore). 24 But the Inspectors were also diligent in the pursuance of irregularities: “This is the Society which supplies the Trustees at their weekly meetings with coffee ... paid for from its funds, against which practice the Board has already remonstrated”.25

While the Board and its Inspectors were enthusiastic about the funds and their benefit to the “very poorest and most destitute class of persons in an extremely poor and backward country” (Glandore Fund), the gentry and landlords of the area did not have such a positive opinion of them. 26 John Collins, an Oldcourt landlord, testified to the Devon Commission that “they are of no use at all”. 27 However, the Rev. Richard Boyle Townsend of Skibbereen

Terri Kearney, 'An Analysis of the Loan Funds in the Skibbereen Poor Law Union 1839-49 4

had a more optimistic view of the funds in his evidence to the same enquiry: “a system of loan funds established throughout the country and well managed ... which, I have no doubt [will] be of incalculable use”. Mokyr quotes from the Devon Commission, seemingly dismissing the benefits of the Loan Funds.28 These negative comments are balanced by the calibre of people involved in managing the funds in the Skibbereen Union and their apparent success in circulating large sums of money to individuals without collateral.

Glandore was one of the largest and most successful of the funds. Its inaugural manager was Cornelius Moloney. Thereafter it was managed by James Redmond Barry and his son William until its closure in 1847.29 Barry was involved fisheries since 1818 and used his knowledge to benefit the Glandore fishing industry.30 He was instrumental in the establishment of the Glandore School of Industry and Agricultural Seminary in 1832.31 Cornelius Moloney, the first manager of the Glandore Loan Fund, was a teacher in this school.32 During the Famine, Barry secured Public Works for Glandore and established a soup kitchen in the village as well as providing relief from his home.33

The Skibbereen Loan Fund was managed by J.W. Clerke, manager of the Skibbereen branch of the Provincial Bank in Bridge Street. Clerke was one of the founding members of the Relief Committee which set up the soup kitchen at the Steam Mill in Ilen Street in late 1846.34 Rev. W.A. Fisher managed the Crookhaven Fund and was a key figure (albeit a controversial one) during Famine times. He built a Protestant Church as a relief scheme in ‘Black 47’ and was subsequently accused of souperism. Patrick Hickey said that “in addition to Fisher and Donovan [Schull Fund] ... Spring [Baltimore Fund] ... [were] actually engaged in proselytism. Those who did not do so, actively at least, were ... Triphook [Ballydehob Fund] and Stuart [Aughadown Fund].35 Having considered the evidence, the present writer is included to conclude that Fisher was guilty of ‘souperism.’”36 However, he added: “Even if Fisher’s misguided evangelical zeal led him to take undue advantage of the Famine, he must have saved the lives of many”.37 Bowen stated that: “His primary concern being the welfare of the people he loved”.38 Stuart (Augadown Fund) and Caufield (Creagh) both set up early soup kitchens.39 They also campaigned for relief as did Triphook (Ballydehob Fund).40

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The Famine led to the closure of the majority of the loan funds operating in the Union. As can be seem from Table 1, the money circulated dropped drastically from £14,362 in 1844 to £599 in 1847. The fact that the dramatic drop did not happen in 1845/46 shows that people used whatever credit that was available to them in 1846 to ease conditions or to emigrate. The Loan Funds Board advised prudence in giving loans in 1846 and warned that many depositors would be withdrawing funds from lack of confidence and to fund emigration.41 This certainly was the case in Skibbereen as shown by the significant drop in capital from £1,022 in 1846 to £239 in 1847.

The loan funds in the Union effectively stopped operations in 1847 as the only fund operating after that, Kilmacabea, shows a low number of loans for its final two years of operation. Kilmacabea Loan Fund is an anomaly as it was established in 1846 at a time when the other funds were closing. Rev. Townsend, its founder, was the son of Horatio Townsend of Derry, Rosscarbery, author of the 1810 Statistical Survey of the County of Cork.42 It could have been established with a charitable donation or loan. All the other Funds show a contraction in deposits in 1846 and there is no reason to think that Kilmacabea would be any different.

By then, the Loan Funds Board were describing the “wretched state to which large districts of this country have been reduced”.43 It further stated that “many borrowers and sureties, who, it was presumed, were considered solvent when the loans were issued, had become paupers prior to the Loans being payable”.44. Still, it reported, that “it is greatly observed, the people manifest a strong desire to meet their engagements, and some have even voluntarily done so, who had emigrated to America, penniless in 1846 and 1847, and having subsequently returned home with some means, had discharged Loan Funds debts of long standing”.45

Post Famine Follow Up The Irish Reproductive Loan Funds, (which were independent of the Central Loan Fund Board of Ireland), were dissolved by Parliament in 1848 and all debts and assets were transferred to the Treasury for future allocation to alleviate poverty in Ireland.46 Also returned to the Treasury were the documents of those funds operating under the, by then defunct, Central Loan Fund Board. The Treasury, in order to ascertain whether additional

Terri Kearney, 'An Analysis of the Loan Funds in the Skibbereen Poor Law Union 1839-49 6

funds were recoverable, subsequently sent Inspectors to interview the past recipients of the funds and the results of this return for Kilmoe Parish are summarised in Table 4. 47

This return when analysed is extraordinary. Out of a total number of 309 persons interviewed, 100 died in 1847 and 32 in other years, giving an overall mortality rate of 33%. J.J. Marshall, Inspecting Officer for the district during the Famine, instructed the relieving officers to “keep a registry of deaths in each electoral division showing the names and ages and deaths from what cause”.48 This census of deaths covers the period September 1846- September 1847.49 This gave an overall mortality rate in Kilmoe Parish of 1,363 or 18.80%.50 However, according to Patrick Hickey, “the dead may well have been undercounted”.'51

While the loans funds were lending to the poorer segment of society (180 of the 309 respondents described themselves as poor) and therefore the figures in Table 4 are not a representative sample for the whole parish, this rate of mortality is shocking. The return “resided here then, was a poor man, died in 1847” (or variation) appears 89 times. It was truly ‘Black 47’ in this area. Out of a total of 309 people, 68 emigrated (22%) showing a high rate taking the area’s poverty into account. Donnelly found that “In ... West Cork, where excess deaths were high, emigration was relatively low”.52 Marshall’s Return shows an emigration rate for 1846-47 of 0.9% so this emigration rate is proportionally very high. 53 Accounts of emigration vary: “Resided here then was pretty comfortable held a small farm, reduced in means, went to America in 1848”.54 Or “Resided here then, was a poor labouring man, left in 1847 and joined the East Indian Company Service”.55 There are several that show deaths for emigrants: “Resided here then, in a struggling way had a small farm. Died on his way to America in 1850”.56 Another record says: “Resided here then and was pretty comfortable. Died on his way to England in 1847”.57

Returns of transportations include: “Resided here then, was pretty comfortable. Reduced in circumstances, was transported in Skibbereen Sessions in May 1847 for cow stealing”.58 And “Resided here then, was a poor man. Held a small plot of ground. Was transported at Skibbereen Sessions in May 1848 for sheep stealing”.59 Donnelly said that “famished labourers convicted for these offences for the first time were sentenced to transportation to penal colonies in Australia for terms of 7, 10 or 15 years”.60 The rate of nine transportations

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is high but as Donnelly concluded that “It is not unlikely ... a considerable number of labourers deliberately courted transportation … as a preferable alternative to their continued destitution in their homeland”.61 Some of the emigrants were subsequently transported: “it appears he had nothing, he left the country in 1847 and was afterwards transported”.62 The Workhouse is mentioned four times as the place of death: “Had a spot of ground, reduced in means. Died in Skibbereen Workhouse in 1851”.63 And “was always poor had a spot of land. Died in Skibbereen Union Workhouse in 1849”. 64 Others perished in Cork Goal and Crookhaven mines.65 Returns of those doing well are extremely scarce and are outnumbered vastly by returns such as “Was then comfortable, held a farm, reduced in circumstances, had a small farm but no means, now only a donkey”. 66 Rev. Fisher is mentioned twice in Altar townland as an employer. 67

The loan funds operated for a short time only in the Skibbereen Union, but continued into the twentieth century in some areas, with some controversies arising in the later years.68. The closure of the Skibbereen Union Funds cannot be regarded as a failure. Banks and lending institutions are susceptible to external shocks and the Famine was an event without precedence which affected this area particularly badly. The small number of defaulters on loans, and the efficiency in capital re-distribution, show that these were effective, if amateur, organisations. How can we criticise those inexperienced philanthropists who set up and managed these funds when our recent global banking crisis was overseen by so-called experts?

It is impossible to quantify what possible impact the loan funds had on the economy of the Skibbereen Union. Comparisons of changes in classes of house between the 1841 and 1851 censuses between areas with and without loan funds in operation might give an indication of their benefit. However, the catastrophic effects of the intervening Famine would skew any statistical data to such an extent as to render it meaningless. It is safe to assume that the circulation of such large volumes of money must have benefited the pre-Famine economy of the area. The funds also established a credit-rating for successful borrowers. If the Famine hadn’t happened, this could have been exploited in later years when banks were more open to lending.

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Microfinance organisations today are a recognised method of improving the economies of developing countries. They come in many forms which are collectively known as Microfinance Institutions (MFIs). The 2006 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded jointly to the Grameen Bank and its founder Muhammad Yunus, who helped develop today’s model of micro-finance.69 These MFIs are operated on the same principles as the loan funds, re- circulating capital through small loans with fixed repayment schedules, secured only by social capital. The world today is much more moneterised than that of the nineteenth century but access to credit to improve one’s circumstances was just as important then as it is today.

The large amount of money successfully circulated at the zenith of the funds’ operation in 1843 must have surely helped some borrowers to improve their lot. At the very least, the funds enabled the poor to try to improve their circumstances in an era in which they had otherwise very little hope of advancement.

Is there no escape?

No escape, no escape.70

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1 Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations, (Edinburgh, 1828), p. 195. 2 A. Hollis, A. Sweetman, ‘Microcredit in Prefamine Ireland’, Explorations in Economic History [serial online], 1998;35(4):347-380, p. 1. Available from: Historical Abstracts, Ipswich, MA. 3 Annual Reports of the Commissioners of the Central Loan Fund Board of Ireland 1839-1849 , accessed via http://www.eppi.ac.uk, Enhanced British Parliamentary Papers on Ireland. 4 A. Hollis, A. Sweetman, ‘Complementary, Competition and Institutional Development: The Irish Loan Funds through Three Centuries’, Explorations in Economic History [serial online], March 1997, p. 3. 5 The advantage to the poorer classes of small loans of money for the purpose of trade … various associations of benevolent individuals organised themselves for the purpose of forming, by voluntary subscriptions, a capital stock to be lend out to industrious tradesmen. These private societies realised so fully the expectations of their promotions, that in 1778 the subject came before Parliament. A Musical Society existed in Dublin which, from the year 1756, had applied the receipts of their concerts to loan society purposed … and so became incorporated in 1778 as a charitable loan society, C. Piesse, Sketch of the loan fund system in Ireland (Dublin 1841), p. 9. 6 John B. Cunningham, The Loan Fund Scandals, Journal of the Clogher Historical Society (Clogher Record, 1988). 7 Piesse, Sketch of the loan fund system in Ireland, p. 12. 8 Cunningham, The Loan Fund Scandals, p. 57. 9 We cannot forget that these institutions are, for the most part, formed and presided over by members of the upper ranks of society for the benefit of their poorer neighbours, morally as well as socially, at the expense of their own time and convenience, Piesse, Sketch of the loan fund system in Ireland, p. 18. 10 Borrowers must produce the security of 2 friends who stand as their supporters for good character and conduct as well as becoming their legal bondsmen for the debt incurred. The effect of this arrangement is more certainly beneficial than at first sight. It stimulates the borrower to the utmost exertion to keep well with his friends, who, if called on to pay any part of the debt would naturally refuse to incur future risk; and beyond this consideration is a feeling of shame and disgrace attaching to the man who could let his friend be subjected to such a loss; and those who know little of the peasantry of Ireland who deem lightly of this feeling. It acts extensively and powerfully, Ibid, p. 22. 11 It should be remembered that this Board is formed of a body of Noblemen and Gentlemen giving their gratuitous attendance for the furtherance of a great public object, at much personal inconvenience, and that they have one object in common with every respectable man in connexion with these Institutions – that of rendering them as eminently conducive to the moral and social improvement of the people as they are capable of being made, Ibid, p. 20. 12 And the Board is most anxious to encourage the possessors of small sums of money, to deposit them in Loan Societies, as a higher rate of interest is thereby obtained, than by any other investment, Second Annual Report of the Commissioners of the Central Loan Fund Board of Ireland, p. 1. 13 Cormac Ó Gráda, Ireland, A New Economic History 1780-1939 (Oxford 1994), p. 141. 14 Hollis, Sweetman, Complementary, Competition and Institutional Development, p. 7. 15 G. L. Barrow, The Emergence of the Irish Banking System 1820-1845 (Dublin, 1975), p. 190. 16 Piesse, Sketch of the loan fund system in Ireland, p. VI. 17 Joel Mokyr, Why Ireland Starved (London, 1985), p. 10. 18 James S. Donnelly, The Land and the People of Nineteenth-Century Cork (London, 1987), p. 123. 19 Second Annual Report of the Commissioners of the Central Loan Fund Board of Ireland, p. 4. 20 Hollis, Sweetman, Complementary, Competition and Institutional Development, p. 12. 21 Appendix to Fourth Annual Report of the Reports of the Commissioners of the Central Loan Fund Board of Ireland. 22 Appendix to Fifth Annual Report of the Commissioners of the Central Loan Fund Board of Ireland.

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23 Appendix to Fourth Annual Report of the Commissioners of the Central Loan Fund Board of Ireland. 24 Appendix to the Third Annual Report of the Commissioners of the Central Loan Fund Board of Ireland. 25 Report of the Commissioners of the Central Loan Fund Board of Ireland Third Annual Report, p. 39. 26 Appendix to the Fourth Annual Report of the Central Loan Fund Board of Ireland. 27 Devon Commission Extract September 1844, pt II, pp. 713-725. 28 The only alternative to these lenders was the so-called Loan Fund, a publicly operated lending institution which lent small sums to farmers at reasonably rates and at longer terms than local usurers and banks. Loan fund credit too was used to pay rent, but there is evidence that in some cases these loans were used to finance drainage and to purchase fertilizer, implements and livestock..The Devon Commission Digest remarks wryly that “as loan funds are usually constituted, the highest praise which can in truth be allowed to them is, that they are less ruinous than private usurers’, Mokyr, Why Ireland Starved, p. 186. 29 Appendix to the Fourth Annual Report of the Commissioners of the Central Loan Fund Board of Ireland. 30 James Coombes, Utopia in Glandore (Cork, 1970), pp. 14-15. 31 Ibid, p. 26. 32 Eugene Daly, ‘Cornelius Moloney and Glandore School of Agriculture’, Rosscarbery Past and Present, 2007. 33 Coombes, Utopia in Glandore, pp. 35-36. 34 Pat Cleary and Philip O’Regan, Dear Old Skibbereen (Skibbereen, 1995), p. 22. 35 Patrick Hickey, 'A Study of Four Peninsular Parishes in West Cork 1796-1855' (MA Thesis, UCC, 1980), p. 548. 36 Ibid, p. 550. 37 Ibid, p. 552. 38 Desmond Bowen, The Protestant Crusade in Ireland 1800-70 (Dublin, 1978), p. 189. 39 Archdeacon Stuart giving out 1440 pints soup daily , Hickey, Famine in West Cork, pp. 170-1. 40 Caulfield and Townshend sent as delegation to England in November 1846 and met with Trevelyan on 2 December, Peter Foynes, The Great Famine in Skibbereen (Skibbereen, 2004), p. 55. 41 The Board have reason to think that a much larger proportionable falling off in the circulation and in the number of certified Loan Funds in operation will be exhibited at the close of the current year. The chief cause of this contraction of the circulation is, undoubtedly, the fearful famine afflicting the country, which has disorganised the whole ramifications of society. Many depositors, having no longer confidence in any institution issuing loans to the humbler classes in Ireland, have withdrawn their deposits, while others of this class have withdrawn their little accumulated capital..for the purpose of emigrating, Appendix to the Ninth Annual Report of the Commissioners of the Central Loan Fund Board of Ireland. 42 W. Maziere Brady, Clerical and Parochial Records, Cork, Cloyne and Ross. Vol. I (Dublin 1863), p. 63 & Vol. III, index. 43 Eleventh Annual Report of the Commissioners of the Central Loan Fund Board of Ireland, p. 5. 44 Tenth Annual Report of the Commissioners of the Central Loan Fund Board of Ireland, p. 5. 45 Thirteenth Annual Report of the Commissioners of the Central Loan Fund Board of Ireland, p. 6. 46 19 July 1848 Bill to Dissolve Irish Reproductive Loan Funds. 47 Catalogue Reference:PRO/T 91/142a British National Archives, accessed online at www.movinghere.org.uk. 48 Hickey, Famine in West Cork, p. 213. 49 Hickey, Famine in West Cork, p. 211 quoting from ‘ A Return of Deaths and Emigrations in the western divisions of the Skibbereen Union, from the 1 September 1846 to 12 September 1847’. 50 Hickey, Famine in West Cork, p. 212. 51 Ibid, p. 214 52 Ibid, p. 214 & p. 228. 53 Ibid, p. 228 referring to ‘A Return of Deaths and Emigrations in the western divisions of the Skibbereen Union, from the 1 September 1846 to 12 September 1847’. 54 Richard Hodnett Jr., Dunkelly East townland. 55 Wiliam Sullivan, Ballydevlin townland. 56 Ned Brown, Kealfadda. 57 Thead Donovan, Kealfadda.

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58 Samuel Burchill, Collaras. 59 Daniel Mahony, Gurtdove. 60 Donnelly, The Land and the People of Nineteenth-Century Cork, p. 88. 61 Ibid, p. 89. 62 Thead Sweeney, Toormore. 63 Daniel Barnane, Collaras townland 64 John Hickey, Dunkelly townland - identical return for Dan Hickey in the same townland. 65 Rogen Hellen, Goleen: Held a plot of land, was not well off. Died in Cork Goal in June 1851 & William Pickett, Mallavoge townland: lived in Leenane and was killed in the Crookhaven Mines last December. He worked there as a labourer. 66 James Allen, Ballyrisode. 67 Thead Coughlan, Altar: He does, miserably poor laboring with the Rev. Mr. Fisher. Curly Spillane, Altar: was in low circumstances labourer to Rev. William A. Fisher. He does have one sheep, nothing else, labouring with the above gentleman still. 68 Cunningham, The Loan Fund Scandals. 69 www.nobelprize.org 70 Patrick Kavanagh, Selected Poems (London, 1996), p. 41.

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TABLE 1 NUMBER OF LOANS AND CAPITAL 1839 1840 1841 1842 1843 1844 1845 1846 1847 1848 1849 no loans nationally 352469 463750 762711 782687 669398 530839 592658 519083 252651 201355 185125 Cork no of loans 17943 24120 34676 55473 65641 59629 58498 57428 27120 27111 24774 capital not given not given 32391 36903 42887 41969 41167 37824 25510 23700 20612

Baltimore 415 444 718 850 580 459 Capital not given 294 326 279 178 200 Castletownshend 900 1395 1752 1596 1957 Capital not given 899 1395 1234 1251 Ballydehob 328 209 417 490 705 Capital not given not given 142 179 99 Glandore 489 1032 1634 2003 1958 957 976 79 Capital not given 195 426 441 450 300 305 173 Myross 759 931 901 2241 3779 2683 2262 1497 Capital not given not given 164 648 882 800 859 579 Crookhaven 44 464 565 1073 Capital 143 173 129 Skibbereen 1253 1298 Capital 827 498 Aghadown 208 211 658 581 528 33 Capital 101 556 188 189 138 66 Skull 517 Capital 232 Creagh 337 362 325 Capital 163 280 247 Kilmacabea 952 215 101 102 Capital 380 332 330 330

Total no loans 1087 2944 4233 9277 11344 9271 4584 3953 327 101 102 Total capital 1837 4307 4281 3147 1795 1022 239 330 330 TOTAL NO LOANS 47223 TOTAL CAPITAL £17,288 TABLE 2 AMOUNT CIRCULATED

Year 1839 1840 1841 1842 1843 1844 1845 1846 1847 1848 1849 1850 Ireland circulated 816473 1164046 1500533 1738067 1681841 1708719 1870337 1778591 867115 719134 651327 664032 Cork circulated 55019 24120 101869 151388 170094 160359 167958 168219 82123 80797 71959 73040 No soc 13 25 33 36 29 28 27 24 18 16 14

Baltimore 671 821 1178 1301 915 607 Castletownshend 1444 3203 5411 4502 5331 Ballydehob 464 249 478 658 1189 Myross, Kilmacabea 630 Union Hall (no records) Glandore 446 1010 1664 2228 2326 1394 1626 153 Myross 931 863 2251 4363 4106 4244 3252 Crookhaven 106 736 682 Skibbereen 1927 2496 Aghadown 296 947 879 891 803 53 Skull 1014 Creagh 722 805 776 Kilmacabea 1555 393 183 183 1094 3741 6481 15135 18430 14362 7912 7236 599 183 183

Total Circulated £75,356 TABLE 3 AVERAGE LOAN SIZE

Annual Report No 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Year 1839 1840 1841 1842 1843 1844 1845 1846 1847 1848 1849 Ave Nationally 2.31 2.51 1.96 2.22 2.51 3.21 3.15 3.42 3.43 3.57 3.51 Cork Ave loan 2.9 2.93 2.72 2.59 2.68 2.87 2.92 3.02 2.98 2.9

Baltimore 1.6 1.85 1.64 1.53 1.57 1.32 Castletownshend 1.6 2.3 3.08 2.85 2.72 Ballydehob 1.43 1.19 1.14 1.34 1.68 Myross, Kilmacabea 0.83 Union Hall (no records) Glandore 0.91 0.97 1.01 1.11 1.19 1.45 1.75 1.93 Myross 0.87 0.96 1 1.15 1.53 1.87 2.37 Crookhaven 2.4 1.59 1.2 Skibbereen 1.54 2.06 Aghadown 1.42 1.7 1.33 1.53 1.52 1.6 Skull 1.81 Creagh 2.22 2.38 Kilmacabea 1.63 2.27 1.81 1.79

Note: Average Income calculated by Mokyr for Munster's poor was 4.20 TABLE 4 FOLLOW UP REPORT ON KILMOE PARISH (Note: Categories not mutually exclusive, i.e. Can be Poor and Died 1847) Number Died Other Was Townland people Poor Years Died 1847 Emigrated Transported Comfortable Well Off Not here Other Small Farm Workhouse Comfortable begging Altar 3 3 Arduslough 3 1 1 1 2 Ballyrisode 7 1 3 2 2 Ballydevlin 33 16 3 6 7 0 4 0 1 1 4 0 2 Balteen 2 1 1 Carriqcat 4 3 2 1 1 Castlemegan 5 3 3 1 1 1 Collaras 15 8 3 2 5 1 1 1 2 1 3 Coorlacka 1 1 Clogher 1 1 1 Cloghnakilleen 26 23 2 14 3 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 Crookhaven 17 14 5 5 3 0 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 Dunkelly 12 3 3 5 2 2 1 2 6 Dunkelly East 35 19 2 19 8 1 1 2 10 15 Dunkelly Middle 27 13 1 11 6 1 2 1 10 14 1 Dunlough 4 4 0 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Enaghouter 11 11 1 5 1 1 2 2 Goleen 8 3 2 2 2 1 Gurtdove 12 9 0 3 3 1 1 1 1 Kealfadda 32 10 6 6 11 3 7 2 5 5 1 Killbrown 2 1 1 1 Knockeennagearagh 5 6 1 1 3 Lackavaun 1 1 Lackanea 4 2 2 1 2 1 Leenane 2 Letter 2 2 1 1 Lissagriffin 2 1 1 1 Mallavoge 12 7 2 4 1 9 9 Rock Island 1 1 1 Tooreen 3 3 3 Toormore 17 14 1 5 3 2 1 1 309 180 32 100 68 9 23 2 14 3 53 4 67 3