3.6 The Irish Land Issue, 1870-82 Flashcards
The Tenant League
- by 1870 = 500,000 tenant farmers in Ireland
- 80% held tenant leases of no more than 12 months
- no legal rights or strong claim to the land they rented - relied upon mercy of landowner
- league created as a result of a determined attitude and vulnerability
- created in 1850
- nationwide attempt on behalf of the farmers
WHAT DO THEY WANT? - to unite in an organised manner to secure the ‘three Fs’
= fair rent
= fixity of tenure
= freedom for tenants to sell their interest in their holding subject to landlords approval
METHODS - 1868 General Election - unofficial clubs across the country campaigned in an attempt to recreate a Tenant League with Isaac Butt
- clubs mainly in the south, since Ulster farmers had a better relationship with their landlords, known as Ulster Custom
Is everyone equally affected by land issue?
- tenants have more security
- in the south, sought to win greater support by pointing out the anticipated fear than any new legislation themselves were pushing for might jeopardise the unwritten advantages that were enjoyed in that province
- people of Ulster began to call for a more formal basis for their convention, and joined their southern counterparts in a broader demand for change
- Gladstone set about creating new legislation to settle the land question and appease its supporters
Dublin Land Conference
- national land conference
- organised early Feb 1870
- Dublin
- farmers and interested parties could openly declare their hopes
- deliberate public affair - popular demonstration of the will of Ireland’s agricultural community
- Isaac Butt and 14 other MPs attended
- Politicians who were noticeable by their absence were the vast majority of the Irish Liberals
= refused to attended on the grounds that they were primary landowners - Sir John Gray - supporter of O’Connell, well placed to spread the feelings of the conference, keen advocate of the 3 Fs
- conference began on 2nd Feb, lasted 2 days
- issue of tenant rights was the main focus
- significant opposition to the practice of eviction without grounds for doing so
- overall outcome:
= a wish to extend the Ulster custom, specifically the rights of the fixity of tenure and freedom to sell their interest and formalise tenant rights in the hope that every tenant farmer who have grounds for legal protection and long-term security
The Land Act, 1870
GLADSTONE’S MOTIVATIONS
- desire to promote a more harmonious relationship between GB and Ireland
- to tackle the issue of land
- to reduce antagonism within Ireland - it deserved justice
WHAT WAS PROPOSED? WHO INFLUENCED THIS?
- FINAL BILL = 15th Feb 1870
- Ulster custom recognised in law, whenever it was agreed that is existed
- compensation - for tenants who had been evicted for anything other than the non-payment of rents and improvements to the land
- protections afforded by legislation not apply to tenants who had leases of 31+ years, assumed sufficient protection already existed
- any tenant who` wished to buy their holding could do so and borrow 2/3 of the price from the gov and pay this back as 5% interest over 35 years
- known as ‘Bright Clause’
- well received in Parliament, passed second reading 442 to 11 in House of Commons
- received Royal Assent on the 1st August 1870 = passed into law
SIGNIFICANCE
- the act had a lot less impact in practice than intended
= wording of act was vague
= damaged tenant/landlord relationships
= didn’t see another rise in landownership
= didn’t address high rent issue
- failed to change anything, custom that currently existed was vague
BUT
- offered the first real effort by a GB gov to help Irish tenant farmers
- compensation = recognition that tenants must enjoy some rights over the land they rent
- more positive attitude towards the smaller tenant farmers - even though little change
The ‘Long Depression’
- economy slowing down around the globe
= following the overweening confidence in stock markets following successful speculation in the aftermath of American CW in 1865 and the Franco-Prussian War in 1871 - Crash of 1873 = LONG DEPRESSION
- began to feel pinch in 1877
- Irish exports to GB began to fall
- unemployment rate = 11% by end of 1870s
- economic challenges added to the land rights issue
- decline in Ireland’s export trade - partly the result of a sudden availability of cheap American wheat
= prices fell from $1.70 per bushel to only $0.66 per bushel, encouraged GB to buy from America rather than Ireland
= HOWEVER, wheat market in Ireland = 10% of overall Irish output - American provision of chilled meat didn’t affect Ireland immediately (the quality of cuts were inferior to that offered by Ireland, prices forced down)
- Irish farmers felt pressure of competition created by cheaper US goods - harder to maintain prices
- falling price of butter
- poor harvests and disease after 1877 - following poor weather
- fall in the value of land
= affected tenant farmers and landowners
= 1876-79, the value of Irish tillage fell by £14m (60% of loss due to failed potato crop)
The problem of tenancies
- Agricultural depression, felt most in the West or Ireland where farming remained a traditional affair - i.e. Connacht and West Munster
- tenancies in these areas were mainly small holdings
- e.g. Connacht - 89% of rented small holdings were valued at less than £15 a year compared with Leinster (65%)
= Connacht had less than 1% of tenants on rented land worth over £100 compared with Leinster (4%)
= consequence, a very heavy reliance upon potato, while wheat was grown to be sold - failure of the potato crop highlighted the underdeveloped nature of the farming areas
WEST MUNSTER - 1879, distinct shortage of food (‘mini-famine’) = hunger rather than fatalities
- state of agriculture in region challenging
- difficulties = criticisms of the 1870 Land Act and its failure to address issues of tenant right
- those in better homes found their income reduced as rents increased
- 1870 Land Act was unhelpful
= no attempt to control rent, tenants still subject to arbitrary increases as landlords saw fit - decline in income affecting farmers after 1877 made worse by increase in rents
- some landlords reduced rents to support tenants but the vast majority didn’t
- loans provided by gov to help with relief
Evictions and rent strikes
- failure of landlords to reduce the cost of rents = 100s of tenant farmers fell in arrears with their payments and were evicted
- 1877 = 400 families were ejected from their land
- increased to up to 1000+ in 1878
- increased to over 2000 by 1880
- noticeable increase from the 1.36 evictions per 1,000 holdings per year (1854-1880)
= landowners chose to use eviction as an inducement to pay rent - landlords became the targets for small farmers to vent their frustrations to (i.e. rent strikes)
- rent strikes, refusing to pay rent, caused increasing antagonism
- increased use of direct action = signalled the determination to defend their rights
- arranged themselves into organised local farmers’ groups to ensure tenants rights
The Start of the Land Wars
- growing militancy of the tenant farmers
- a time of significant agrarian unrest - farming community united in opposition to landowners (widened the nationalist agenda)
- 1878-82, the west of Ireland, discontent
- after Oct 1879 - given direction by the Irish Land League
= a nationwide body that publicised the agrarian cause and co-ordinated tenant farmers opposition - rent striking became a technique
- boycotting of work
- suggesting of deliberate violence
- e.g. murder of William Browne, Lord Mountmorres
= Sept 1880
= served 2 noticed to quit on tenants unable to pay their rent - shot 6 times
- man arrested - one of his tenants (Sweeny)
- events of 1879-82, described as a period of communal mass protest
- aim of discontent was to force the reduction of rents and to encourage a new look at tenant rights in Ireland
Michael Davitt
1846-1906
- found Irish Land League
= land and home rule
= Aug 1879
= Parnell President
= embraced ‘new departure’ in nationalist politics - driving force behind the co-ordination of the Land Wars
- son of evicted farmer
- convinced of the need for land distribution and land reform
- served prison sentence
= involved in IRB raid on Chester Castle - organised meeting in Co. Mayo
= April 1879
= attended by 4,000-8000 people
= presented united front to attempt to force rent reductions - main target: Geoffrey Burke
= threatened to evict tenants because they were unable to pay rent
= marched on estate and demanded reductions
= forced to decrease rents by 25%
= meetings then asked for in other districts - helped spread a more focused opposition
= gave Co. Mayo farmers direction
= and a means to achieve what they wanted - 2nd mass meeting
= June 1879
= Westport
= Charles Stewart Parnell addressed crowd (aware of land issue)
Charles Stewart Parnell
1846-91
- mobilised thousands in support of the land question
- lent the movements gravitas and the voice of a nationally recognised politician
- national figure by 1879
= MP for Co. Meath in 1875
= leader of the Home Rule League in 1879 (after death of Butt)
= gave the home rule league a greater presence in Parliament - President of Land League
= inspirational figure head for tenant farmers
= travelled to USA to secure funds
= over 60 cities, £12,000 for league and £60,000 for famine relief
= gave speeches in Ireland
= encouraged defiance
= avoided violence
= encouraged the rise in rent strikes - inspired masses and a direct, legal means of achieving aims
- speeches reported
= in newspapers (i.e. ‘The Times’) - methods
= rent strikes
= appealed to Fenians
= moral force
Impact of Irish Land League
- est. Oct 1879
- co-ordinating body for massive agitation
- height in 1881 = 200,000 members
sought to achieve:
= land reform
= 3 Fs
= awareness and defend tenants - speech making
- tours by Parnell
- reporting of Land League activities
= posters/leafleting/campaign rallies
= rent strikes
= ostracism of ‘land grabbers’
= local communities ignoring landlords if he had evicted tenants - rent strikes
= affected land lords directly
= upset economy - ostracism
= became a powerful, moral force
= farms of evicted tenants were empty
= landlords lost produce and rent - ignoring landlord
= basically cut out of community
= i.e. Captain Charles Boycott, Co. Mayo, 1880 - happy to use violence
= individual acts of violence 1879-82
= drew attention of GB gov
= Protection of Person and Property Act, March 1881
= suppression of League in October 1881
The Second Irish Land Act
1881
General Election, 1880
- occurred as land war developed
- Gladstone and Liberals won in GB
- in Ireland = Home Rule League with 63 seats (Liberals 15/103)
- Gladstone chooses William Edward Forster as Chief Secretary for Ireland
= very capable and conciliatory towards Ireland
William Edward Forester
- reformer
- worked hard to raise awareness of famine
- strong sense of public duty (e.g. his educational reforms in 1870)
- introduced the Compensation for Disturbance Bill in June 1880
= meant as a temporary measure to alleviate growing tensions
- terms
= empowered courts to grant compensation to evicted, because of non-payment of rents (if they could prove non-payment was due to economic depression
= applied to west and south of Ireland
= was to last 18 months
= passed in House of Commons
= defeated in the House of Lords by 282 to 5 (would have had a large affect on Irish landlords
= actually increased agitation (e.g. ostracism of Boycott’s estates)
The Second Irish Land Act
1881
BESSBOROUGH COMMISSION
- same time as bill
- created to determine the extent of reform needed to solve land issues and recommend solutions
- heard from interested parties (e.g. boycott)
- published report in 1881
- findings:
= stated that the 1870 Land Act didn’t provide adequate protection for tenants as it could only be claimed if the lease was given up
= recommendation made by 4-1 majority that tenants gained the 3 Fs
The Second Irish Land Act
1881
COERICION ACT, 1881
- Forster reluctantly had to introduce this act to subdue the countryside whilst Bessborough Commission meeting
- suspendered habeas corpus
- allowed gov to arrest anyone felt to be inciting aggression
- 955 arrested under act
= first was William Davitt on 3rd Feb 1881
= also, Parnell and other members of the league - effect of forester
= became very disliked
= plots of assassination
= he resigned in 1882, when the League and Liberal Gov made a treaty
The Second Irish Land Act
1881
SECOND LAND ACT
- immediate solution to reduce tension and help country
- aimed at subduing Land League and creating a better Anglo-Irish relationship
- passed in Aug 1881
TERMS - Irish Land Commission created to decide the levels of rent where there was dispute
- tenants had right to sell land holding if they chose
- tenants had security of tenure as long as they were abiding by established conditions statutory tenure
IMPACTS - act effectively gave what the Land League had asked for
- Gladstone and gov thought this would restore order to the countryside
- BUT not as comprehensive as Land League wanted - did not redistribute land or provide any solition to issue of rent arrears or adjustment of rent levels of poor harvest or depression
- arrears affected more than 150,000 small farmers
- 2/3 of whole farming population I Co. Mayo
- not reaction Gladstone or the gov expected
- Parnell gave a series of public speeches to raise his concerns, in September, he demanded that terms be tested in court
= he was arrested on a charge of incitement to aggression and imprisoned in Kilmainham Prison in Dublin
