
The mass evictions in the Kilrush Poor Law Union during the Great Famine
By
Matthew Lynch
Soft cover
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Contents:
Acknowledgements v
Abbreviations vi
Preface vii
Introduction 1
Chapter 1 Land and community in Kilrush Union
before the mass evictions 12
- Establishment and extent of the Union
- Population profile
- Social and economic conditions
- Land and community
Chapter 2 The course and extent of mass evictions 34
- Legal powers and administrative procedures
- Commencement of the mass evictions
- The course of mass evictions
- Analysis of eviction records
Chapter 3 The Kilrush clearances in context 67
-Other mass evictions in Clare during the Famine
- Mass evictions in other areas of the country at the time
- Mass evictions up to and including the Land War (1879-1882) and the Plan of Campaign (1886-1891)
- The Highland clearances in Scotland
Chapter 4 Contemporary accounts and responses 85
- Reactions of priests and people
- Responses of the Poor Law Union administration
- Newspaper accounts
- Political responses
Chapter 5 Causes and consequences 108
- The £4 rating clause
- The question of middlemen
- Other possible causes of the evictions
- Fate of the dispossessed
- Social and economic consequences
- Political consequences
Conclusions 125
Notes and references 135
Bibliography 146
Index 156
Figures
- Location of Kilrush Poor Law Union 13
- Electoral divisions of Kilrush Poor Law Union, 1839-1849 14
- Changes in boundaries of Poor Law Unions, 1850 16
- Types of houses during the Famine period 20
- Map of the area showing elevations 27
- Soil classification map of the area 27
- Landholdings of the ten largest landowners 33
- Number of ejectment cases at Kilrush Court, 1844-1850 42
- Col. Crofton Moore Vandeleur 43
- Capt. Arthur Edward Kennedy 45
- Grouped frequency distribution of family numbers evicted 50
- Pie diagram of sizes of evicted holdings 53
- Correlation between sizes of holdings and numbers evicted 54
- Evictions in proportion to population of Electoral Divisions 62
- Boundary changes 63
- Col. George Wyndham, 1st Baron Leconfield 69
- George Bingham, 3rd Earl of Lucan 72
- Eviction scene, Kilrush, July 1888 77
- Second eviction scene, Kilrush 78
- Battering ram at eviction (1), Kilrush 79
- Battering ram at eviction (2), Kilrush 79
- Poor Law rates in Kilrush Union, 1842-1852 112
Illustrations
- ‘The town of Kilrush’ 21
- ‘The ejectment’ 96
- ‘The day after the ejectment’ 97
- ‘The village of Tullig’ 99
- ‘The village of Moveen’ 100
- ‘Scalpeen’ 101
- ‘Scalp of Brian Connor, near Kilrush Union house’ 102
- ‘Bridget O’Donnel and her children’ 103
- ‘Judy O’Donnel’s habitation under the bridge at Doonbeg’ 104
- ‘Scalpeen of Tim Downs at Dunmore’ 105
Tables
1. Changes in area and population of Kilrush PLU, February. 1850 15
2. Population trends in Kilrush PLU, 1831-1846 18
3. Numbers of families in each class of house in Kilrush Union, 1841 22
4. Language competencies in south-west Clare, 1851 24
5. Literacy levels in Kilrush Poor Law Union, 1841 25
6. Numbers of persons holding land in Kilrush PLU, 1845 30
7. Owners of over 5,000 acres in Kilrush Union, 1840 32
8. Ejectment cases relating to Clare in each court 1846-1849 37
9. Ejectment cases at Kilrush Circuit Court, 1844-1850 39
10. Evictions by individual landlords in Kilrush PLU,
Nov.1847 to June1849 48
11. Grouped frequency distribution of families evicted by
twenty eight named proprietors 49
12-1 Grouped frequency distribution of numbers of evicted
holdings, by size and named proprietors, Part 1 51
12-2 Grouped frequency distribution of numbers of evicted
holdings, by size and named proprietors, Part 2 52
13. Comparison of numbers of evicted holdings with total 55
14. Areas of land cleared by specified evictions 56
15 Total areas of land cleared by all evictions 56
16. Numbers of people evicted by the top ten evicting landowners 59
17. Evictions up to June 1850 as a percentage of the populations
of electoral divisions 61
18. Evictions reported by the constabulary in county Clare, 1849-1855 64
19. Evictions recorded by the constabulary in Kilrush Poor Law Union, June 1850-December 1852 66
20. Comparison of Famine-time mass evictions with the Vandeleur evictions of 1888 81
21. Decline in the numbers of tenements in Kilrush Union, 1846-1850 109
22. Changes in the numbers of holdings in Kilrush Union, 1847-1853 110
23. Poor Law rates made in Kilrush Union, 1842-1852 113
Other Information:
Kilrush Poor Law union encompassed a large area of the south-west of County Clare in the 19th century. The union achieved national notoriety during the Great Famine in Ireland due to the very high level of poverty, hardship, hunger, destitution, famine-related diseases and deaths among its population. A primary cause of those distressed conditions and of the union’s notoriety was the extraordinary level of mass evictions that occurred there during the Famine years. County Clare had the highest level of evictions, relative to its population, of any county in Ireland during the Great Famine and Kilrush Poor Law union had the highest level of mass evictions in Clare.
This book presents, for the first time, a detailed analysis of the context, course, causes and consequences of the mass evictions in Kilrush Poor Law union during the Great Famine. It describes the pre-famine community and land-holding patterns, the onset and progress of the mass evictions. It identifies the main evictors, the numbers evicted and their locations. Context and perspectives are examined by reference to other mass evictions in other places and at other times. Extensive contemporary accounts of the Kilrush clearances are reviewed, including the many iconic images from the pages of the Illustrated London News.
The causes of the mass evictions and the aims and motivations of the evictors are examined and assessed. The historically-contested issue of responsibility for the evictions is addressed. The book concludes by describing the social, economic and political consequences of those traumatic events, including the elimination of a vast number of small land-holdings, the associated permanent disruption of the social structure, the relative insignificance of emigration as a significant relieving factor and the dismal fate of the dispossessed.
Matthew Lynch is a native of Kilmurry Ibrickane, Co. Clare and a graduate of the University of Limerick’s MA programme in History and Local Studies. He has published several papers on local history in counties Clare and Tipperary.
He was co-editor of Clare History and Society, a set of interdisciplinary essays on the history of County Clare.