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“Freedom and Friendship to Ireland”: Ribbonism in Early Nineteenth-Century Liverpool*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 February 2009

John Belchem
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The paper examines the role of “nationalist” secret societies among the rapidly growing Irish community in Britain in the 1830s and 1840s. The main port of entry, Liverpool occupied a pivotal role as the two main “Ribbon” societies developed secret networks to provide migrant members with political sanctuary and a range of “tramping” benefits. Through its welfare provision, offered irrespective of skill or trade, Ribbonism engendered a sense of identity wider than that of the familial and regional affiliations through which chain migration typically operated. A proactive influence among immigrant Irish Catholic workers, Ribbonism helped to construct a national or ethnic awareness, initiating the process by which ethnic-sectarian formations came to dominate popular politics in nineteenth-century Liverpool, the nation's second city. This ethnic associational culture was at least as functional, popular and inclusive as the class-based movements and party structures privileged in conventional British historiography.

Type
Research Article
Information
International Review of Social History , Volume 39 , Issue 1 , April 1994 , pp. 33 - 56
Copyright
Copyright © Internationaal Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis 1994

References

1 “Secret societies appear to have been more ‘normal’ in Ireland than elsewhere”, in Williams, T. Desmond (ed.), Secret Societies in Ireland (Dublin, 1973), Preface, p. ixGoogle Scholar. See also, Clark, S. and Donnelly, J. S. Jr, Irish Peasants: Violence and Political Unrest 1780–1914 (Manchester, 1983)Google Scholar; and more generally, Hobsbawm, E. J., Primitive Rebels (Manchester, 1959)Google Scholar.

2 There are brief references to Ribbonism among Irish migrants in Lees, L. H., Exiles of Erin: Irish Emigrants in Victorian London (Manchester, 1979), p. 223Google Scholar; O'Higgins, Rachel, “The Irish Influence in the Chartist Movement”, Past and Present, 20 (1961), p. 85CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Treble, J. H., “The Attitude of the Roman Catholic Church towards Trade Unionism in the North of England, 1833–1842”, Northern History, 5 (1970), pp. 93–113CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Connolly, G. P., “The Catholic Church and the First Manchester and Salford Trade Unions in the Age of the Industrial Revolution”, Transactions of the Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Society, 135 (1985), pp. 125–139Google Scholar.

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5 See my introduction, “The Peculiarities of Liverpool”, in Belchem, John (ed.), Popular Politics, Riot and Labour: Essays in Liverpool History, 1790–1940 (Liverpool, 1992), pp. 1–20Google Scholar. Fielding's, Steven study of Class and Ethnicity: Irish Catholics in Englan, 1880–1939 (Buckingham, 1993), p. 5Google Scholar, dismisses Liverpool as a sectarian redoubt, “marginal to the cultural and political life of the nation”.

6 Joseph Lee, “The Ribbonmen”, in Williams, Secret Societies, pp. 26–35.

7 Garvin, Tom, The Evolution of Irish Nationalist Politics (Dublin, 1981), pp. 34–43Google Scholar, and “Defenders, Ribbonmen and Others: Underground Political Networks in Pre-Famine Ireland”, Past and Present, 96 (1982), pp. 133–155; Beames, M. R., “The Ribbon Societies: Lower-Class Nationalism in Pre-Famine Ireland”, Past and Present, 97 (1982), pp. 128–143CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Connolly, S. J., “Aftermath and Adjustment”, in Vaughan, W. E. (ed.), A New History of Ireland, V: Ireland Under the Union (Oxford, 1989), pp. 19–20Google Scholar. See also, Lewis, George Corne-wall, On Local Disturbances in Ireland (London, 1836), pp. 155–161 and 326Google Scholar.

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11 Garvin, Evolution of Irish Nationalist Politics, pp. 41–42.

12 Report from the Select Committee of the House of Lords appointed to enquire into the state of Ireland in respect of crime, Parliamentary Papers, 1839 (486), xii, 13, 317.

13 Denvir, John, The Irish in Britain (London, 1892), pp. 127–131Google Scholar. See also, The Liverpool Irishman, or Annals of the Irish Colony in Liverpool (n. p., 1909), p. 4.

14 Public Record Office, Kew: Colonial Office Papers (hereafter CO.) 904/8, ff. 82–89.

15 Matheson's report to Drummond on his interview with McGloin in Dubli, CO. 9047, ff. 465–470.

16 The transcription of these papers proved difficult and contentious, see CO. 904/7, ff. 313–328; hence only a small selection was produced at the trial, see Martyn, M. J., An Authentic Report of the Trial of Richard Jones [ … ] with an appendix, containing the letters and correspondence of the Secret Society read in evidence at trial (Dublin, 1840)Google Scholar. However, transcriptions of all items can be found in the papers of Messrs Kemmis, Crown Solicitors, in National Archives, Dublin: Frazer Mss 43, Transcript of the books written in short hand found on the person of Richard Jones on the 1st October 1839 (hereafter Jones transcript). A near complete copy is available at the Public Record Office, Kew: Home Office Papers (hereafter H. O.) 100/263.

17 Trinity College, Dublin: Sirr Diaries, Mss N4/6, f. 88.

18 Ibid., ff. 118 and 126; and N4A7, ff. 36 and 106.

19 A Report of the Trial of Michael Keenan for administering an unlawful oath (Dublin, 1822); A Report of the Trial of Edward Browne and others for administering and of Laurence Woods for taking an unlawful oath (Dublin, 1822). They were described by the Attorney General as “carmen, low artisans and others who, though not perhaps the dregs of societ, are far below the order of persons competent to take a share in regulating the affairs of state”. See also, McDowell, R. B., public Opinion and Government Policy, 1801–1846 (London, 1952), pp. 63–65Google Scholar.

20 Select Committee on the state of Ireland, Parliamentary Papers, 1825 (129, pp. 71–72.

21 Bergin, James J., History of the Ancient Order of Hibernians (Dublin, 1910), pp. 29–31Google Scholar.

22 For details of the Bishop's Interdict in the Northern District of England, see Connolly, “Catholic Church and Manchester and Salford Trade Unions”, pp. 132–133.

23 McGrath, T. F., History of the Ancient Order of Hibernians (Cleveland, Ohio, 1898), pp. 51–55Google Scholar; Broehl, Wayne G. Jr, The Molly Maguires (Cambridge, Mass, 1964), pp. 32–33CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Papers produced by the society were found on a man arrested at a fair in Co. Louth, see Select Committee of the House of Lords [ … ] 1839 (486), xi, 4610 n4613.

24 Handbill, St Patrick's Hibernian Benevolent Society, C O. 904/7, f. 149.

25 C O. 904/7, ff. 465–470. No oaths were required for the National Brotherhood, the cover later used by the Fenians in Liverpool, see Lowe, W. J., “Lancashire Fenianism, 1864–71”, Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire, 126 (1977), pp. 162–163Google Scholar.

26 Extracts from communications from the informant A. B., C O. 904/8, ff. 309–310.

27 Jones transcript, no. 42: Wilson, Liverpool, 4 May 1838. Ribbonism was the main target, but clerical proscription applied to all forms of oath-bound societies: “I should not feel myself justified in admitting to the sacraments any member of the trades' union, or of any society administering secret oaths”, evidence of Rev. Thomas Fisher, Liverpool, Royal Commission on the Condition of the Poorer Classes in Ireland: Appendix G, The State of the Irish Poor in Great Britain, Parliamentary Papers, 1836 (40), xxxiv, p. 23.

28 Extracts from communications of the informant A. B., CO. 904/8, ff. 309–317. Statement of John O'Brien, 3 November 1841, H. O. 45/184.

29 Liverpool Mercury, 29 April 1842.

30 Jones transcript, no. 80: Wilson, 22 August 1838.

31 Jones transcript, no. 49: Dardis and Jones, 28 May 1838. Dardis was a publican; Jones a haymaker's clerk in Smithfield market, Dublin.

32 Jones transcript, no. 96: Jones, 19 October 1838.

33 Jones transcript, no. 12: Thomas Jones, 24 March 1838.

34 Jones transcript, nos 1–6,14, 20 and 38.

35 Jones transcript, nos 48, Wilson, 25 May, and 49, Dardis and Jones, 28 May 1838. Tramps had to produce printed cards or certificates bearing the initial letters of the password. Others used after FAFTI, include GUAI, General Union among Irishmen, and FNDO, Fear Not Danger Over, adopted by a cruel irony on 30 September 1838, the day before Jones's arrest.

36 Connolly, “Catholic Church and Manchester and Salford Trade Unions”, pp. 134–136.

37 Jones transcript, nos 140–142, 144–145, 157, 173 and 186.

38 Special Committee meeting, 30 June 1840, CO. 904/:8, ff. 225–228.

39 Jones transcript, no. 20: Dardis and Jones to Wilson, 31 March 1838. Wilson spent much time on problems at Manchester, concerning Nowlan, a penitent defaulter, and on the eligibility of army pensioners.

40 Extracts from communications of the informant A. B., CO. 904/8, ff. 309–317. The Newcastle lodge, however, received quarterly instructions through the Glasgow-based national delegate for Scotland.

41 Hobsbawm, E. J., “The Tramping Artisan”, in his Labouring Men (London, 1968), p. 38Google Scholar. I have found no evidence of Ribbon benefits covering migrant Irish women. However, some oaths included a form of “exclusive dealing”: “I also declare and promise, that in towns and counties I will give preference of my dealings to my Catholic bretheren”, see Lieut-Gen. Blacker, Third Report of the Select Committee on Orange Lodges, Parliamentary Papers, 1835 (476), xvi, pp. 9111–9134.

42 Jones transcript, no. 157: Hanlon, 17 July 1839. Treble, J. H, “Irish Navvies in the North of England, 1830–1850”, Transport History, 6 (1973), p. 243Google Scholar mistakenly refers to Ribbonism as “essentially an agrarian secret society [.… ] with little or no relevance to the English social scene”.

43 Information of Terence Dogherty, 14 June 1848, H. O. 45/2416. Fearful of the navvies' reputation, the authorities decided not to raid the local Ribbon pub on the following Saturday, the next scheduled meeting of the lodge, since it was races-day and pay-day for railway labourers.

44 Examinations as to Ribbonism at Preston in Lancashire, H. O. 100/263, ff. 340–356.

45 State of the Irish Poor in Great Britain [ … ] 1836 (40), xxxiv, p. 28, evidence of S. Holme; see also p. 23, evidence of Rev. Robinson.

46 A freelance informer kept a close watch for fugitive criminals and bankrupts, see National Archives, Dublin: Outrage Papers, Co. Cavan, 1839, 23994C, enclosing a letter from “ A Friend”, Gt Homer Street, Liverpool.

47 Statement of John Kelly, CO. 904/7, ff. 77–92.

48 Information of Terence Dogherty, 14 June 1848, H. O. 45/2416.

49 Inspector-General Brownrigg's report, enclosed in Larcom, 19 March 1863, H. O. 45/7522.

50 Appendix A. H. O. 45/7522.

51 Jones transcript, no. 49: Dardis and Jones to Wilson, 28 May 1838.

52 CO. 904/8, ff. 82–89.

53 Jones transcript, no. 80: Wilson, 22 August 1838. His wife died soon after he was elected president, see no. 38: Wilson, 2 May 1838.

54 Statement of Denis Gilgun, 15 December 1840, H. O. 100/263, ff. 346–350. Gilgun had once run a Ribbon pub in Enniskillen.

55 Statement of Terence Dogherty, 6 July 1848, H. O. 45/2416.

56 Jones transcript, no. 75: Jones, 6 August 1838.

57 Jones transcript, no. 33: Jones, 24 April 1838.

58 Jones transcript, no. 38: Wilson, 2 May 1838.

59 Jones transcript, no.66: Jones, 2 July 1838.

60 Delegates in Liverpool since 1830, CO. 904/8, ff. 79–80.

61 Jones transcript, no. 67: Jones, 3 July 1838.

62 Jones transcript, no. 73: Wilson, 31 July 1838.

64 Jones transcript, nos 191: Wilson, 15 August, and 78: Wilson, 20 August 1838.

64 Jones transcript, no. 77: Jones, 19 August 1838.

65 Jones transcript, no. 84: Wilson, 18 September 1838.

66 Jones transcript, nos 88 and 89: letters of apology from Lennon and Roche.

67 Jones transcript, nos 91, 96 and 97: Jones, 7 and 19 October 1838.

68 Jones transcript, no. 100: Jones, 2 6 October 1838.

69 Jones transcript, nos 84 and 141: Wilson, 18 September 1838 and 26 June 1839.

70 Jones transcript, no. 173: Hanlon, 2 August 1839.

71 Jones transcript, no. 182: Jones, 9 September 1839.

72 Jones was the first to be tried under new legislation in Ireland, 2 and 3 Victoria cap. 74, declaring illegal associations which communicated by secret signs and passwords.

73 Report of interview of McGloin, 27 December 1839, CO. 904/7, ff. 465–470. McGloin referred to the presence of a third network in Liverpool, which was “seated in Connaught and has its head in Sligo”, but I have found no other mention of it. At this stage a member of the Irish Constabulary Force was sent to Liverpool, see H. O. 43/58, f. 393.

74 Reports dated 26 July and 2 and 30 September 1839, CO. 904/8, ff. 225–228.

75 See the useful distinctions drawn by Anne Bryson in her study of “Riotous Liverpool, 1815–1860”, in Belchem, Popular Politics, Riot and Labour, pp. 98–134.

76 On origins of Orangeism in Liverpool, see Neal, FrankSectarian Violence: The Liverpool Experience 1819–1914 (Manchester, 1988), pp. 17–32Google Scholar.

77 State of the Irish Poor in Great Britain [ … ] 1836 (40), xxxiv, p. 21.

78 Whitty's report, enclosed in Rushton, 2 April 1842, CO. 904/9.

79 The worst violence occurred in 1835, as detailed in P. M'Connell's evidence in Third Report of the Select Committee on Orange Lodges, Parliamentary Papers, 1835 (476), xvi, pp. 6620–6622: “a very determined outrage committed by the Roman Catholics at Liverpool, crying out, Te n pounds the head of an Orangeman'; disturbing the peace of the whole town; knocked down the authorities, injuring several o f the police, and displaying a degree of barbarous ferocity hardly ever equalled in this country”.

80 Liverpool Police Office, 27 May 1839, CO. 904/7, f. 192. Liverpool Mercury, 19 June 1846. Denvir, John, The Life Story of an Old Rebel (Dublin, 1910), pp. 3–4 and 52Google Scholar.

81 Widow McNamara provided similar services at her jerry shop in Union Street, Preston, see Gilgun's statement, 5 December 1840, H. 0. 100/263, ff. 346–350. Women also provided the premises for clerically-approved societies, such as the St Anthony's Society at Ellen Wood's, Cockspur Street, and the Roman Catholic Teetotal Association at Mrs Mountain's, Flood Street, Liverpool.

82 Delegates in Liverpool since 1830, CO. 904/8, ff. 79–80. McArdle's public readings from the Nation became a regular Sunday night attraction at Crosbie Street, see Denvir, Life Story, pp. 15–16.

83 Whitty's report, 2 April 1842, CO. 904/9, ff. 210–215.

84 Liverpool Journal, 17 April 1858, quoted in Bryson, Anne, “Riot and its Control in Liverpool, 1815–1860” (unpublished M.Phil., Open University, 1989)Google Scholar. The Molly Maguires are best known for their violent and intimidatory industrial tactics in the anthracite coal region of northern Pennsylvania.

85 Kemmis and Carmichael, 29 September 1838, CO. 904/7, f. 100. For the remarkable impact of Father Mathew's visit to Liverpool in 1843 (during which the young Denvir took the pledge three times), see Denvir, Life Story, pp. 12–17, and Burke, Thomas, Catholic History of Liverpool (Liverpool, 1910), pp. 73–74Google Scholar.

86 See the printed rules and regulations of the association in CO. 904/7, ff. 160–162. On the Doyles, see CO. 904/8, ff. 79–80. Another tailor, Mark Brannon, served as Liverpool delegate until his expulsion in 1832. A sample of the 1851 census has shown that 57. 5 per cent of workers in this sweated trade were Irish, see Taylor, I. C, “‘Black Spot on the Mersey’: A Study of Environment and Society in 18th and 19th Century Liverpool” (unpublished Ph.D., University of Liverpool, 1976), p. 7Google Scholar.

87 John Belchem, “Liverpool in the Year of Revolution: The Political and Associational Culture of the Irish Immigrant Community in 1848”, in Belchem, Popular Politics, Riot and Labour p. 77.

88 Ibid., pp. 68–97. In Ireland, Ribbonmen were remarkably deferential, awaiting the call to arms from “people of consequence”: Ribbonism was “a popular movement almost consciously in search of its insurrectionary elite”, Beames, “Ribbon Societies”, pp. 137–138. For a reassessment of Chartism in Liverpool, see Kevin Moore, ‘“This Whig and Tory Ridden Town’: Popular Politics In Liverpool in the Chartist Era”, in Belchem, Popular Politics, Riot and Labour, pp. 38–67.

89 Dowling, 18 March 1842, CO. 904/9, ff. 203–206. For this period, St Patrick's Day should not be regarded as the Catholic equivalent of 12 July. While drunken disorder was frequent sectarian riot was almost unknown. However, from 1853 all such processions were banned within Liverpool boundaries, see Bryson, “Riotous Liverpool”, pp. 118–120. Preachers such as Father Cahill sought to give the Catholic church credit for this “sacrifice” intended to “soothe political rancour” and increase “social virtue and domestic happiness”, see D. Fitzpatrick, “‘A Peculiar Tramping People’: the Irish in Britain, 1801–70”, in Vaughan, Ireland Under the Union, p. 654.

90 Treble, “Attitude of Roman Catholic Church”, pp. 104–111.

91 Liverpool Mercury, 25 September 1846. At this stage, the boys ‘branch numbered 120, the girls’ 150, and the men's about 120.

92 Treble, “Attitude of Roman Catholic Church”, pp. 111–113.

93 Liverpool Record Office, 361 CAT: Liverpool Catholic Benefit Society Minute Book, 1850–58, press cutting from Liverpool Mercury, 23 December 1851. Established in 1810, it guarded against “imposition” by its “fundamental rule”: “no relief can be granted but at the recommendation o f the Clergymen, to who m the situation o f the object is perfectly known”.

94 Papworth, J. D, “The Irish in Liverpool 1835–71: Segregation and Dispersal” (unpublished Ph.D., University of Liverpool, 1982), ch. 5Google Scholar.

95 Belchem, John, “The Irish in Britain, United States and Australia: Some Comparative Reflections on Labour History”, in Belchem, John and Buckland, Patrick (eds), The Irish in British Labour History (Liverpool, 1993), pp. 19–20Google Scholar.

96 Lowe, “Lancashire Fenianism”, p. 171.

97 O'Connell, Bernard, “Irish Nationalism in Liverpool, 1873–1923”, Sire-Ireland, 10 (1975), pp. 24–37Google Scholar; Shallice, A., “Orange and Green and Militancy: Sectarianism and Working-class Politics in Liverpool, 1900–1914”, Bulletin of the Northwest Labour History Society, 6 (1979 80), pp. 15–32Google Scholar; and Brady, L. W., T. P. O'Connor and the Liverpool Irish (London, 1983)Google Scholar. See also, Waller, P. J., Democracy and Sectarianism: A Political and Social History of Liverpool, 1868–1939 (Liverpool, 1981)Google Scholar.

98 Smith, Joan, “Labour Tradition in Glasgow and Liverpool”, History Workshop Journal, 17 (1984), pp. 32–56CrossRefGoogle Scholar.