1 The ancient and present state of the county and city of Cork, . . . Dublin, 1750; The ancient and present state of the county of Kerry . . . Dublin, 1756; and The ancient and present state of the county and city of Waterford . . . Dublin, 1774.

2 Local historians such as Canon W. P. Burke, Maurice Lenihan, James Hardiman, Archdeacon John Begley, Dr R. H. Ryland and others, mention the discrimination against catholic merchants in the various cities and towns, but they give very few names; and, with the exception of Begley and Hardiman, they make no attempt to give any estimate of the numerical strength of catholics in commercial life.

3 They were excluded by by-laws and not by statute law. In 1793 (33 Geo. III, c. 21) catholics were declared eligible for membershipof all corporations ‘any law, statute or bye-law of any corporation to the contrary notwithstanding’.

4 The names of the members of the general committee may be found in the minute book of the committee edited by R. Dudley Edwards in Archivium Hibernicum ix. The original was for long in the family of Mr Sean Ó Huadhaigh and was presented by him to the National Libraryof Ireland. Other lists of members of the general committee are to be found in Life of Theobald Wolfe Tone, ed. Tone, W.T.W. (Washington, 1826), i. 456-61Google Scholar, and in a pamphlet entitled The petition of the catholics of Ireland to the king’s most excellent majesty . . . which was printed by order of the general committee of the catholics in Dublin in 1793.

5 In order to avail themselves of the relief provided by the various acts of 1778, 1782, 1792 and 1793, catholics were obliged to take and subscribe a qualifying oath. The rolls were destroyed in the fire inthe Public Record Office of Ireland, but an index is available there whichcovers the years 1778-90 for the whole country; 1793-6 for Connaught; 1793-7 for Leinster; 1793-1801 for Munster; and 1793-6 for Ulster.

6 The local historian would find the newspaper extracts given in Father John Brady’s ‘Catholics and Catholicism in theeighteenth century press’, in Archivium Hibernicum, xvi-xx, of great assistance. Cf. names of forty-six of the most prominent catholics of Drogheda in the year 1779 may be seen in Archivium Hibernicum, xviii. 200.

7 7 William III, c. 5. On 6 Nov. 1711,, however, the guild of St Loy presented a petition to parliament on behalf of the gunsmiths, complaining that papists ‘deceitfully make guns and pistols’ (Commons’ jn. Ire.).

8 8 Anne, c. 3.

9 Cf. Cornelius Nary in The case of the Roman Catholics of Ireland humbly represented to both houses of parliament in 1724 in relation to a bill now under consideration (appended to Hugh Reily’s Genuine history of Ireland, 1762), p. 128, gives a detailed account of the grievances of traders and shopkeepers, but he does not mention the apprenticeship rule. Residing in Dublin, he would have been aware of those laws which were pressing most heavily on the catholic businessmen of the city.

10 A bitter complaint by the printers of Dublin appears in Sleator’s Public Gazeteer, 28 Dec. 1765, saying that in spite of the 8 Anne, catholic printers are employing as many as 4 or 6 or even 7 apprentices, not only in Dublin but in Cork and other cities as well.

11 For an account of the struggle carried on by the catholics against these by-laws, see MacGeehin, Maureen, ‘The catholics of the towns and the quarterage dispute in eighteenth century Ireland’, in Irish Historical Studies, viii. 91–114 Google Scholar.

11a 2 Anne, c. 6.

12 6 Anne, c. 11 and 2 Geo. I, c. 9.

13 9 Geo. II, c. 6.

14 Ireland rarely had a militia during the eighteenth century until 1793 (see SirMcAnally, Henry, The Irish militia, 1793-1816, Dublin, 1949 pp. 1–5 Google Scholar). And for a good deal of the reign of George II England was at peace with the chief ‘popish princes’ in France and Spain. A petition from the Roman Catholics of county Kerry to parliament on 20 June 1710, complaining of the ‘heavy taxes they lie under from the frequent ravages and depredations of the privateers in the western part of the county ’ was received sympathetically and the lord lieutenant was requested by parliament to put a barrack in Valentia to defend the coast (Commons’ jn. Ire., ii. 664-5). This law was in the nature of a deterrentto prevent catholics sympathising with or assisting the enemy. It was repealed by 21 & 22 Geo. Ill, c. 24.

15 Remarks upon the religion, trade, government, police, customs, manners and maladys of the city of Corke (Cork, 1737), pp. 7-8.

16 Catholics were probably well aware of this fact when they invested their money in trade. Cornelius Nary, in The case of the Roman Catholics of Ireland, written in 1724, to protest against a bill for banishing priests which was then under discussion, states that more than half of the trade of the country is carried on by catholics and that they ‘pay more custom and duty than all the protestants in it’. Andhe adds: ‘Now if this bill should pass, all these merchants and dealers would be necessitated to leave the kingdom, to the great diminution of the revenue; and God knows in how many years this could be retrieved, if ever’ (see Hugh Reily, Genuine history of Ireland (1762), p. 141).

17 1686-1765. He was one of the founders of the Dublin Society.

18 Reflections and resolutions proper for the gentlemen of Ireland, pp. 162-3.

19 Arthur Young’s tour in Ireland, ed. Hutton, A.W. (London, 1892), ii. 247-8Google Scholar.

20 Tracts chiefly relating to Ireland (Dublin, 1769), p. 229. This extract is taken from ‘Essays in political arithmetic’. Petty quotes other instances to prove his case:‘... in India where the mahometan religion is authorized, there the banians are the most considerable merchants. In the Turkish empire, the jews, and Christians. At Venice, Naples, Leghorn, Genoa, and Lisbon, jews, and non-papist merchant-strangers.’ Ibid., p. 228.

21 See O’Brien, Econ. hist. Ire., ijth cent., p. 21; Kearney, H.F., ‘Political background to English mercantilism’, Econ. Hist. Rev., 2nd series, x, no. 4 Google Scholar.

22 I Anne, c. 32 (Eng.); 2 Anne, c. 6; 8 Anne, c. 3.

23 Archbishop King to the archbishop of Canterbury, 6 Feb. 1718, in A great Archbishop of Dublin, William King, D.D., ed. Sir C. S. King, p. 208.

24 The council book of the corporation of the city of Cork . . . (here after cited as Council book of Cork) ed. Richard Caulfield, Guildford (Surrey), 1876, p. 311.

25 On 2 Apr. 1708 it was ‘ordered that the severalpopish merchants who have abatement of their petty duties be summoned before the mayor and tendered the oath of abjuration, which if they refuse to take, from thenceforth the privileges granted them be taken off’. But on 14 Oct. 1708, the council had to acknowledge defeat, when they passed a resolution ‘that grants made by the corporation to several of the popish merchants touching the petty duties, be continued to them notwithstanding the former act of council’. (Ibid., pp. 328, 331-2.)

28 Council book of Cork, p. 332 (8 Nov. 1708).

27 17 May 1709. ‘Whereas it is conceived necessarythis session of parliament for the preservation of the protestant interest and support of the trade of the cities and towns in protestant hands, by endeavouring to debar the papists from carrying on any foreign trade, which they are running into and which they will in all likelyhood (if not seasonably prevented) ingross to themselves . . . that agents should be sent out ofthe respective cities and towns to Dublin to solicit parliament for redress’ (Council book of Cork, p. 335).

28 See W. O’Sullivan, The economic history of Cork city, for a detailed account of this trade.

29 See Observations on the manufactures, trade and present state of Ireland, by Sheffield, John Lord (3rd ed., London, 1785), p. 343 Google Scholar.

30 Remarks upon the religion, trade, government . . . of the city of Corke, pp. 98—9.

31 Commons jn. Ire., 5 Feb. 1766.

32 See MacGeehin, Maureen, ‘The catholics of the towns and the quarterage dispute in eighteenth century Ireland’, in Irish Historical Studies, viii. 91—114 Google Scholar.

33 Heads of quarterage bills passed the house of commons in 1768, 1772, and 1778 but were cushioned in the privy council.

34 2 Anne c. 6. ‘. . . No person or persons that are, or shall be papists . . . shall after 24 March 1703, take or purchase any house or tenement, or come to dwell, or inhabit within the city of Limerick or suburbs thereof, or within the town of Galway or suburbs thereof . . . And every person of the popish religion, now inhabiting within the said city ... of Limerick ... or Galway, shall before the 24th March next ensuing, before the chief magistrate of the said respective city or town, become bound to the crown, with two sufficient sureties, in a reasonable penal sum . . . with condition of his or her faithfully bearing themselves towards the crown, or in default of giving such security, such persons shall depart out of the said city ... on or before the 25 of March, 1705.’

35 See Commons’ jn. Ire.

36 Quoted in Begley, Diocese of Limerick, pp. 108-9. White’s explanation for the loss of some trade to protestants is interesting. It seems that some of the catholic merchants, with a view to increasing their business, took into their houses protestant apprentices, who subsequently opened shops for themselves and captured much of the protestantcustom.

37 Constantia Maxwell refers to the Roches as ‘perhaps the most prosperous merchants in the south of Ireland. They built an enormous warehouse on the quays, and owned ships mounted with guns, which they employed in the West India trade’. (See Country and town in Ireland under the Georges, p. 228.) They were connected with catholic landed families. Standish Barry of Leamlara married a daughter of Philip John Roche (see Dublin Evening Post, 10 July 1787), and John Roche, only son of Philip Roche, married Margaret Whyte, daughter of Charles Whyte of Leixlip (see Burke, , Landed Gentry, 1856, ii. 1583 Google Scholar; and Hibernian Journal, 23 Oct. 1776).

38 About 1770, Patrick Arthur built Arthur’s Quay in Limerick and a line of streets branching out from it, which became for atime the fashionable part of the city (see Begley, Diocese of Limerick, pp. 116-7; also Lenihan, History of Limerick, 392-4).

39 Begley, Diocese of Limerick, p. 110.

40 7 William III, c. 5. This act was of course not always enforced. Like most of the popery laws its operation depended on the attitude of local protestants. A protestant could, by proffering £5, demand that a catholic should give into his possession any horse, no matter howvaluable. The case of Arthur O’Leary of Cork in 1773 is the last example of a transaction of this kind. It ended in the death of O’Leary— commemorated in the famous ‘Caoine Airt Uí Laoghaire’. For an English version of this poem see A lament for Art O’Leary, ed. O’Connor, Frank, Dublin, 1940 Google Scholar.

41 Cornelius Nary was fighting the battle of the clergy not of the laity when he used the argument of their wealth in his pamphlet in 1724 (see above, p. 96-7).

42 See example of one of these petitions in Archivium Hibernicum ix. 14-15. The petitioners did not even refer to themselves as catholics but rather as ‘nonfreemen’ of the cities and towns.

43 When charges of riot and tumult were levelled at the general committee by the grand juries and county meetings in 1792, the committee issued a pamphlet to vindicate the cathqlics from these charges, in which they state: ‘They [the catholics] know too well how fatal to their hopes of emancipation anything like disturbance must be; independent of the danger to those hopes, it is more peculiarly their interest to preservepeace and good order than that of any body of men in the community. — They have a large stake in the country, much of it vested in that kind ofproperty which is most peculiarly exposed to danger from popular tumult: THE GENERAL COMMITTEE WOULD SUFFER MORE BY ONE WEEK’S DISTURBANCES, THAN ALL THE MEMBERS OF THE TWO HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT.’ (See Vindication of the catholics of Ireland, Dublin, 1793, p. 20. A copy of this pamphlet under a slightly different title is in Tone, Life, i. 411-35.)

44 Tone, Life, i. 230.

45 See History of the financial administration of Ireland to 1817, by Kiernan, T.J. (London, 1930), p. 170 Google Scholar; Egan, P.M., History, guide& directory of county and city of Waterford (Kilkenny, n.d.), p. 306 Google Scholar; and Wyse, Thomas, Historical sketch of the late Catholic Association (London, 1829), i; 43-5Google Scholar.

46 Faulkner’s Dublin Journal, 5 July 1774; Hibernian Journal, 14 Apr. 1777.

47 See Tone, , Life, i. 191—2Google Scholar, and Drennan Letters, p. 59, for references to this fair, reputed to be the largest in Europe, apart from one in Hungary.

48 See under Blake of Lehinch and Renvyle; Blake of Ballyglunin; Coppinger of Rossmore and Bordeaux; Fitzgibbon of Clashmore; Germonof Atharne; Hennessy of Ballymacay; Kelly of Rockstown Castle; Moore of Moore Hall and many others (Burke, Landed centry, 1912).

49 Bellew and his partner Thomas Lynch were brothers-in-law, Lynch residing in Cadiz. On the death of Patrick Bellew in 1789 a new company was formed under the name of Thomas & Henry Lynch & Co.

50 The Bellew papers in the National Library of Ireland give a great deal of information about this family and their trading activities. Numerous trade accounts, letters, etc. are useful in giving a picture of the life and interests of a catholic family of this type in the second half of the eighteenth century. Among other documents in this collection is a manuscript catalogue of the extensive library at Mount Bellew.

51 Patrick to Michael Bellew, 30 Apr. 1786.

52 See two letters dealing with this subject from Sir Patrick to Michael Bellew, one undated and the other dated 5 Aug. 1775.

53 Sir Patrick to Michael Bellew, 5 Aug. 1775.

54 Bishop of Thespia, vicar apostolic of the Midland District of England, 1716-56.

55 This extract is taken from a report sent by Bishop Stonor to Rome.

56 Hemphill, Dom Basil, The early vicars apostolic of England, 1685-1750 (London, 1953), PP87-8Google Scholar.

57 This contribution of the gentry to the rise of a catholic middle class is of considerable importance when one remembers that the popery laws affecting land destroyed the catholic yeoman class in the country.

58 This fact was repeatedly referred to by the catholics at this time in order to emphasise their importance in the community. See John Keogh’s speech in Proceedings of the catholic meeting of Dublin . . . October 31, 1792, p. 48. Edward Geaghegan, another member of the general committee, speaks of him as ‘a gentleman . . . who has raised the national consequence as a commercial state, and holds so sterling a pledge in the country’ (Ibid., p. 33). In a speech in parliament, 20 Feb. 1792, Colonel Hutchinson, member for Cork city, stated: ‘Mr Byrne alone pays £100,000 a year duty to his majesty’s revenue; the capital which such a trade requires, must be large indeed, and givessome security, for the peaceable and loyal conduct of him who possesses it’ (Parliamentary register (1792), p. 221).

59 Byrne died worth £400,000 ( Gilbert, , History of Dublin, i. 354 Google Scholar). Randall MacDonnell, who resided at Fairfield, had two daughters who married into the landed gentry—Bridget marrying Philip Lynch Athy of Renville, and Elizabeth marrying George Taaffe of Smarmore Castle (Burke, Landed gentry, 1912).

60 Wilson’s Dublin Directory; Fitzpatrick, W.J., Ireland before the union (London, 1867), pp. 188–190 Google Scholar; Registry of Deeds, Dublin, 346/30/230105; 497/117/318153; 537/557/354499. Byrne’s son Edward Byrne ruined himself by commercial speculations in Liverpool ( Gilbert, , History of Dublin, ii. 245—6 Google Scholar), and Fitzpatrick was told in 1867 that the family had died out.

61 This was part of a savage attack on Keogh in Faulkner’s Dublin Journal, 29 Mar. 1792.

62 Watty Cox made this charge in the Irish Magazine (1812), p. 404.

63 See below p. 110.

64 Dublin Mercury, 17 Oct. 1767.

65 Ibid., 3 Feb. 1770.

66 Ibid., 26 Dec. 1772.

67 Dublin Evening Post, 15 Dec. 1787.

68 Registry of Deeds, Dublin, 307/571/205589; also letter from Keogh to Charles O’Connor, 30 Nov. 1791 in The O’Conors of Connacht, p. 298. Keogh claimed to have 2,000 tenants on his estates in 1792; see his speech printed in Report of the debate at a general meeting of the Roman Catholics of the city of Dublin held at the Music Hall, Fishamble St., Friday 23, 1792 . . .

69 See speech of Keogh’s in Plowden, Francis, Hist. Ire., 1801-10, iii, appendix, p. 43 Google Scholar.

70 Keogh to Charles O’Conor, 30 Nov. 1791, in The O’Conors of Connacht, p. 298.

71 This purchase alarmed the marquis of Buckingham who in a letter to Lord Grenville on 18 Nov. 1792, says: ‘Keogh is shrewd and clever; he has bought above £2,000 per annum in the county of Roscommon, where his family have much influence’ (H.M.C., Fortescue MSS, ii. 337).

72 MacLysaght, Edward E., Irish families (Dublin, 1957)Google Scholar.

73 See below p. 112. Dermott and Connor became MacDermott and O’Connor.

74 See Dublin Directory; Hibernian Journal, 12 June i775; Catholic Qualification Rolls (P.R.O.I.). Life of Thomas Reynolds by his son, i. 76-9; Archivium Hibernicum, ix; The O’Conors of Connacht, ed. Charles Owen O’Conor Don, genealogical table vii; McDowell, R.B., ‘The personnel of the Dublin Society of United Irishmen, 1791-4’ in I.H.S., ii. 44 Google Scholar; Burke, Landed gentry (1912), p. 188.

75 Wilsons Dublin Directory, Archiv. Hib., ix; D.E.P., 5 July, 1787; The O’Conors of Connacht, genealogical table vii.

76 Thomas Braughall to Charles Conor, 7 Mar. 1787 (O’Conor MSS, Clonalis).

77 Thomas Reynolds was already considered to be wealthy in 1754. He had a country house at Rathfarnham as well as the premises in Ash Street. The marriage announcements of his two daughters in 1754 and 1762 refer to the fact that they both had considerable fortunes. For many references to marriages and deaths in this family, see Journal of the Association for the Preservation of the Memorials of the Dead in Ireland, vi. 283-6.

78 Life of Thomas Reynolds by his son; John Curry, Review of the civil wars in Ireland (1775), xxi; Archiv. Hib. ix; Wilson’s Dublin Directory; Freeman’s Journal, 6 Oct. 1778; Dublin Evening Post, 10 May 1788.

79 See Wilson’s Dublin Directory. In the years before 1784 the names appear as Connor and Dermott, and in 1784 and after, they become O’Connor and MacDermott.

80 Wilson’s Dublin Directory; Archiv. Hib., ix; Dublin Evening Post, 11 Mar., 28 Dec, 30 Dec, 1786; and O’Connell Fitzsimon MSS. An advertisement in the Public Journal on 13 Oct. 1773 announced that ‘ “The Anthony of Dublin” bound for Cadiz drove from her anchor and bulged, and her cargo of butter drove on the coast of Howth, Baldoyle and Skerries. The proprietor Mr Ant. Dermott Junior, will give 20 shillings for each cask delivered at his house on Arran Quay.’

81 Remarks upon the religion, trade, government, police, customs, manners and maladys of the city of Corke (Cork, 1737), pp. 98-100.

82 See below.

83 The merchant he referred to was Edward Byrne (Drennan Letters, P. 311).

84 Proceedings at the catholic meeting . . . October 31, 1792, p. 21.

85 Hayes, Richard, Old Irish links with France, Dublin, 1946 Google Scholar.

86 Cf. The Dublin Evening Journal of 23 May 1778 announces the marriage of the merchant Michael MacCarthy of Fleet Street with ‘Miss Byrne, sister to Mr Byrne merchant in Bordeaux’.

87 See An Irish trade venture in the eighteenth century, by the Marquis MacSwiney of Mashanaglass (Cork, 1932).

88 See account in Begley, Diocese of Limerick, p. 107-8.

89 See Bellew papers in National Library of Ireland. Theycontain trade accounts etc. showing business done with Edward Byrne and Randall MacDonnell, and with the firm of O’Brien & Comerford, extensive merchants, both partners being members of the general committee of the catholics.

90 Cf. James Fanning of Waterford who made a large fortune in Cadiz (see Edmund Downey, Waterford, 1918, p. 82); and James Wiseman, also of Waterford, grandfather of the cardinal, who settled in Seville in the middle of the eighteenth century. Sir James Caldwell, writing in 1764, remarked that ‘there is not a family in the island that had not a relative in the church, in the army, or in trade in France and Spain ’ (see A brief examination of the question whether it is expedient either in a religious or a political view to pass an act to enable papists to take real securities for money which they may lend (Dublin, 1764), p. 27.