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The corruption of the law and popular violence: the crisis of order in Dublin, 1729

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 February 2015

Timothy D. Watt
Timothy D. Watt*
Affiliation:
School of History and Anthropology, Queen's University Belfast
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Extract

Even though violent popular protest was a common feature of life in early eighteenth-century Dublin, the riots that broke out in 1729 were exceptionally severe and long-lasting and resulted in the worst disorder to occur in the capital in decades. Over a ten-month period rival gangs rioted against each other or against government forces, causing a considerable degree of destruction, injury and death. At the height of the disorder, in late spring and summer, ‘vast numbers’ of people were reportedly beaten and abused by rioters, and residents of the city became fearful for their personal safety. According to the Dublin Intelligence citizens moved ‘mostly in a kind of hurry’ on account of the riots; parts of the city became no-go areas, and gangs of ‘reprobates’ gathered on the outskirts of the city to rob travellers and rape women. The political elite voiced their concerns too, in particular at the length of time the disorder was lasting. The archbishop of Armagh, Hugh Boulter, wrote to the secretary of state, the duke of Newcastle, from Dublin in March 1730 complaining that they had ‘suffered very much from riots and tumults in this town last summer and even during the present sitting of the parliament’.

Type
Research Article
Information
Irish Historical Studies , Volume 39 , Issue 153 , May 2014 , pp. 1 - 23
Copyright
Copyright © Irish Historical Studies Publications Ltd 2014

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References

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11 ‘An account of the money collected in pursuance of his majesty’s patents, bearing the date the 5th of May Anno Dom. 1729’ in Daily Courant, 20 Sept. 1729; Daily Journal, 20 Sept. 1729; Kelly, ‘Harvests’, p. 90.

12 Daily Journal, 5 May 1729; Dublin Weekly Journal, 12 July 1729; Monthly Chronicle, Jan. 1729.

13 Dublin Intelligence, 18 Mar. 1729. The actions of Dublin’s food rioters were usually restrained, although on occasions there were injuries and deaths: Kelly, James, ‘Coping with crisis: the response to the famine of 1740–41’ in Eighteenth-Century Ireland, 27 (2012), pp 109–10.Google Scholar

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18 Commons’ jn. Ire. (2nd ed.), v, 642. A riot act was rejected by the Irish Commons on the grounds that the Irish parliament would not pass the bill unless it had been proposed by them. According to Garnham, this highlighted the limit of the executive’s ability to introduce new measures against rioters: Garnham, Neal, ‘Riot acts, popular protest, and Protestant mentalities in eighteenth-century Ireland’ in Historical Journal, 69 (2006), p. 410.Google Scholar

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22 London Evening Post, 22–24 Apr. 1729.

23 Dublin Intelligence, 24 June 1729; London Evening Post, 26–28 June 1729.

24 Daily Courant, 2 Sept. 1729; Faulkner’s Dublin Journal, 19–23 Aug. 1729; Dublin Weekly Journal, 23 Aug. 1729.

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29 Robinson eventually died of his wounds: Faulkner’s Dublin Journal, 10–14 June 1729; Dublin Weekly Journal, 14 June 1729; Daily Post, 28 June 1729.

30 Dublin Weekly Journal, 6 Sept. 1729; Dublin Gazette, 20–23 Sept. 1729.

31 Dublin Intelligence, 23 Sept. 1729. Richard Dickson, the Whig proprietor of the Dublin Intelligence, was attacked by a mob after he published this report. Fortunately for him he was protected by ‘the concourse of honest people, who gathered to know the reason for such uncommon proceedings’: Dublin Intelligence, 18 Nov. 1729; Munter, Robert, The history of the Irish newspaper 1685–1760 (London, 1967), p. 155.Google Scholar

32 Whalley’s General Post-Man, 31 Dec. 1716.

33 2 Geo. I, c. 10; Starr, J.P., ‘The enforcing of law and order in eighteenth-century Ireland’ (Ph.D. thesis, Trinity College Dublin, 1968), p. 34.Google Scholar

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35 Dublin Gazette, 20–23 Sept. 1729.

36 Dublin Weekly Journal, 6 Sept. 1729.

37 Dublin Intelligence, 13 Sept. 1729; Daily Courant, 23 Sept. 1729.

38 The Tholsel, situated on Skinners Row, was used for corporation meetings and court sessions.

39 Dublin Weekly Journal, 17 Sept., 11 Oct. 1729; Dublin Gazette, 20–23 Sept. 1729. There were fourteen justices of the peace in Dublin, but only seven of them took an active part administering justice: Historical Register (15 vols, London, 1730), xv, 113.

40 Dublin Gazette, 20–23 Sept. 1729; Faulkner’s Dublin Journal, 3–7 Feb. 1730.

41 ‘Irish Revenue Board and Irish Board of Customs: minutes’ (hereafter ‘Irish revenue commissioners’ minutes’), 16 May 1729 (T.N.A., CUST 1/21, p. 135).

42 Irish revenue commissioners’ minutes, 7 June, 14 July, 20 Oct. 1729 (T.N.A., CUST 1/21, pp 152/3, 191, 281); Dublin Intelligence, 17 May 1729; Dublin Weekly Journal, 14 June 1729; Daily Post, 31 May 1729; Dublin Gazette, 21–24 June 1729.

43 Commons’jn. Ire. (3rd ed.), v, 1029; Calendar of ancient records of Dublin, ed. Gilbert, J.T. (18 vols, Dublin, 1889–922)Google Scholar [henceforth CAR D], vii, 500.

44 Dublin Intelligence, 1 Nov., 13 Dec., 30 Dec. 1729; Connolly, , Religion, p. 225.Google Scholar

45 Commons’ jn. Ire. (3rd ed.), v, 1077.

46 Dublin Intelligence, 30 Dec. 1729; ‘For better regulating the fees of justices of the peace, and for disabling Alderman Thomas Wilkinson and Alderman Thomas Bolton for acting as justice of the peace within this kingdom’, 3 Geo II, c. 16; Historical Register, xv, 112–28.

47 Lords’ jn. Ire,, iii, 97, 108; CARD,, vii, 474; Historical Register, xv, 128–9.

48 Other gaolers, predating Hawkins, also had notoriety. For example, Richard Blondeville, ‘marshal of Dublin’s Marshalsea’, was dismissed in 1707 for committing ‘oppressions and irregularities’ on prisoners: Twomey, Brendan, Dublin in 1707: a year in the life of the city (Dublin, 2009), p. 18.Google Scholar However, Hawkins was better known to the general public due to the many newspaper reports about him, published in both Dublin and London.

49 ‘Report of the committee of the House of Commons, appointed to enquire into the state of the gaols and prisons in the city of Dublin’ in Historical Register, xv, 98–105; ‘The substance of the report from the committee appointed to enquire into the state of the gaols of the kingdom of Ireland’ in Monthly Chronicle, Dec. 1730, Appendix; McNeill, Charles, ‘New Gate, Dublin’ in R.SA.I. Jnl, ser. 6, 11 (1921), pp 160–2Google Scholar; Gilbert, J.T., A history of Dublin (3 vols., Dublin, 1854–59), i, 265.Google Scholar

50 Starr, ‘Enforcing the law’, Appendix A.

51 Some of the constables were paid by Dublin corporation and others were paid by bribes. The official number of constables with which he was authorised to use was reduced to eighteen following the reforms of 1729: Dublin Weekly Journal, 17 Sept. 1729; Dublin Gazette, 20–23 Sept. 1729.

52 Dublin Intelligence, 9 Dec. 1729; CARD., vii, 226, 458.

53 Whalley’s News-Letter, 11 July 1720.

54 Dublin News-Letter, 28 July 1724. Hawkins also received a reward of £10 for killing Daniel Carroll, ‘a noted robber’, in 1723: C.A.R.D., vii, 226; and, most likely, a share of £20 for the capture of Neice O’Haghain, ‘a proclaimed tory, robber and rapparee’, in 1721: ‘Antrim grand jury presentment book’, 30 Mar. 1721 (P.R.O.N.I., ANT/4/1/1, p. 280).

55 Whalley’s News-Letter, 11 July 1720.

56 Historical Register, xv, 100–01;Dublin Intelligence, 29 Nov. 1729; W[ilkes], W[etenhall], Tom in the Suds; or Humours of Newgate, in four cantos (Dublin, 1737), p. 4;Google Scholar Dublin Gazette, 14–17 Feb. 1730; Monthly Chronicle, Dec. 1730, Appendix.

57 Historical Register, xv, 100; Monthly Chronicle, Dec. 1730, Appendix; C.A.R.D., vii, 160, 165–6.

58 A gratuity of twenty guineas was paid annually to the sheriff: Gilbert, , History of Dublin, i, 264; CA.R.D. Google Scholar, vii, 270, 313, 360, 434, 472.

59 Wilkes, , Humours of Newgate, p. 3.Google Scholar Wilkes was instructed in the excise in 1728: Irish revenue commissioners’ minutes, 14 June 1728 (T.N.A., CUST 1/20, p. 111); and dismissed from the service for being ‘in debt to most people in the town [probably Newry]’ in 1737: Irish revenue commissioners’ minutes, 16 Mar. 1737 (T.N.A., CUST 1/27, p. 366); Katherine O’Donnell, ‘Wilkes, Wetenhall (1705/6-1751)’, in Oxford D.N.B. ‘Bum-bailiffs’ were legal functionaries whose jobs were to serve writs on debtors and collect money and distresses, although reports in newspapers portrayed them as being receivers and vendors of stolen goods: Dublin Intelligence, 23 Sept. 1729; Faulkner’s Dublin Journal, 24–27 Aug. 1734; Powell, M.J., ‘Credit, debt and patriot politics in Dublin, 1763–1784’ in Eighteenth-Century Ireland, 15 (2010), p. 135.Google Scholar

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61 Commons’ jn. Ire. (2nd ed.), v, 668, 708.

62 Monthly Chronicle, Dec. 1730, Appendix.

63 The keeper’s receipts from both prisons were an estimated £1,163, for ‘admission fees’ alone: McNeill, , ‘New Gate’, p. 161.Google Scholar Although the figure probably included ‘benefit from his ale-cellar’: Gilbert, , History of Dublin, i, 268;Google Scholar Johnston-Liik, E.M., History of the Irish Parliament, 1692–1800 (6 vols, Belfast, 2002), i, 276.Google Scholar

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67 Historical Register, xv, 99; Monthly Chronicle, Dec. 1730, Appendix.

68 Monthly Chronicle, Dec. 1730, Appendix.

69 Ibid.

70 Whalley’s News-Letter, 11 July 1720.

71 Ibid.

72 Whalley’s News-Letter, 1 Aug. 1720.

73 Hawkins was arrested again a year later, but nothing appears to have come of it: Whalley’s News-Letter, 4 July 1721.

74 C.A.R.D., vii, 477.

75 Country Journal, 3 Jan. 1730.

76 Ibid.; Dublin Intelligence, 20 Dec. 1729.

77 C.A.R.D., vii, 472.

78 Commons’ jn. Ire. (3rd ed.), v, 1027; Dublin Intelligence, 1 Nov. 1729.

79 Dublin Intelligence, 1 Nov. 1729.

80 Commons’ jn. Ire. (2nd ed.), v, 708.

81 Dublin Intelligence, 1 Nov. 1729.

82 Country Journal, 3 Jan. 1730.

83 Dublin Intelligence, 5 Apr. 1729. According to James Kelly, Kevan Bail was misleadingly described here as the ‘butchers of St Patrick’: Kelly, Liberty and Ormond Boys, p. 24.

84 Dublin Intelligence, 5 Apr. 1729.

85 According to John Rocque’s map (1756) ‘Kevan’s Port’, or ‘St Kevan’s Port’, ran along part of St Kevan’s Street and part of the street now known as Redmond’s Hill: Rocque, An exact survey (Dublin, 1756).

86 Dublin Intelligence, 8 Apr. 1729; Daily Post, 21 Apr. 1729.

87 Dublin Intelligence, 12 Apr. 1729.

88 Ibid. According to the map of Dublin published in 1673, the gallows was situated on the ‘Highway to Merion’ (now Baggot Street Lower), approximately half a mile from Green, St Stephen’s: [Bernard De Gomme] The city and suburbs of Dublin from Kilmainham to Ringsend, wherein the rivers, streets, lanes, allys, churches, gates etc. are exactly described, 15 Nov. 1673 (Dublin, 1673).Google Scholar

89 Dublin Intelligence, 10 June 1729.

90 Daily Courant, 9 July 1729.

91 Dublin Intelligence, 26 Apr. 1729.

92 Ibid., 29 Apr. 1729; Flying Post, 10 May 1729; Daily Post, 6 May 1729.

93 Dublin Intelligence, 29 Apr. 1729; Flying Post, 10 May 1729.

94 Dublin Intelligence, 14 June 1729; London Evening Post, 26–28 June 1729.

95 Daily Courant, 9 July 1729.

96 Fagan, , ‘Catholic mob’, p. 141.Google Scholar

97 Kelly, , Liberty and Ormond Boys, pp 24–5.Google Scholar

98 It was reported that gangs ‘are now distinguished by the appellation Kevan Bail and Smithfield Bail, from the frequent rescue of prisoners out of the hands of peace officers’: Dublin Intelligence, 29 Apr. 1729.

99 Neal Garnham has argued that reforms in ‘policing arrangements’ were not introduced, at least after 1715, in response to public disorder. However Garnham appears not to have considered the events of 1729 in sufficient detail before coming to this conclusion: Garnham, Neal, ‘Police and public order in eighteenth-century Dublin’ in Clark, Peter and Gillespie, Raymond (eds), Two capitals: London and Dublin, 1500–1840, Proceedings of the British Academy, cvii (2001), pp 81–91.Google ScholarPubMed

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104 Country Journal, 3 Jan. 1730

105 Gilbert, , History of Dublin, i, 264.Google Scholar

106 Starr, , ‘Prison reform’, p. 22;Google Scholar Howson, Gerald, Thief-taker general: the rise and fall of Jonathan Wild (London, 1970), p. 28;Google Scholar Kalman, H.D., ‘Newgate prison’ in Architectural History: Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain, 46 (2003), p. 50.Google Scholar

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109 Ibid., pp 19, 288.

110 Trial of William Acton, deputy keeper and leasee of the Marshalsea prison in Southwark at Kingston assizes; on Saturday the 2nd of August 1729 (London, 1729), p. 3; Howson, , Thief-taker, p. 289.Google Scholar

111 Dublin Journal, 13–16 Dec. 1729; To the honourable the Commons of Great Britain in Parliament assembled. The case of Thomas Bambridge (London, 1729); Woodfine, Philip, ‘Debtors, prisons, and petitions in eighteenth-century England’ in Eighteenth-Century Life, 30 (2006), p. 12`.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

112 Direct comparisons were made in newspapers between the prosecutions of Hawkins and Bambridge: Faulkner’s Dublin Journal, 13–16 Dec. 1729. Moreover, the lower social orders in Dublin were increasingly gaining access to newspapers in the early eighteenth century: Munter, , Irish newspaper, p. 153.Google Scholar

113 Starr, , ‘Prison reform’, p. 24.Google Scholar

114 Dublin Intelligence, 17 Mar. 1730; McBride, Ian, Eighteenth-century Ireland: the isle of slaves (Dublin, 2009), p. 336.Google Scholar

115 Dublin Weekly Journal, 13 Mar. 1731.

116 Kelly, , Liberty and Ormond Boys, pp 27–52.Google Scholar

117 Faulkner’s, Dublin Journal, 20–24 Apr. 1731;Google Scholar Dublin Intelligence, 26 Apr. 1731.

118 Pue’s Occurrences, 22–26 June 1731.

119 Dublin Evening Post, 21–25 Nov. 1732.

120 S[wift], J[onathan], Examination of certain abuses, corruptions and enormities in the city of Dublin (Dublin, 1732), p. 3 Google Scholar [original italics]. Bonfires were lit by Kevan Bail to celebrate the safe return of their friend and neighbour Jonathan Swift to Dublin after he made a trip to Ulster: Faulkner’s Dublin Journal, 7–11 Oct. 1729. Swift wrote a poem in 1734 in praise of Kevan Bail, after the gang offered to protect him during a dispute he was having with the M.P. and serjeant-at-law, Bettesworth, Richard: Swift, Jonathan, ‘The Yahoo’s overthrow; or, The Kevan Bayl’s new ballad, upon Serjeant Kite’s insulting the Dean’ in Swift, Jonathan (ed.), The works of Dr Jonathan Swift, Dean of St. Patrick’s, Dublin (8 vols, Dublin, 1765), 8, 162–4;Google Scholar Dublin Journal, 5–9 Feb. 1734.

121 Dublin Intelligence, 3 Feb. 1730.

122 Dublin Weekly Journal, 11 Oct. 1729; Garnham suggests that by the early 1730s Paul Farrell had become a ‘thief-taker’ similar to the infamous Jonathan Wild in London: Garnham, , ‘Paul Farrell’, pp 49–50 Google Scholar. If so, he may have stepped into the shoes left by John Hawkins.

123 Dublin Intelligence, 5 May 1730, 12 Apr. 1731; Dublin Weekly Journal, 4 July 1730; Connolly, , ‘Violence and order’, pp 54–5;Google Scholar Garnham, , ‘;Paul Farrell’, p. 46.Google Scholar

124 Nearly £1,000 was spent rebuilding Newgate prison in 1732: McNeill, , ‘New Gate’, pp 161–2.Google Scholar

125 Faulkner’s, Dublin Journal, 21–25 Apr. 1730;Google Scholar Dublin Evening Post, 21–25 Nov. 1732; Hill, , Patriots, p. 82.Google Scholar

126 Wilkes, Humours of Newgate, Appendix.

127 Dublin Intelligence, 9 Dec., 13 Dec., 16 Dec. 1729; Daily Post, 25 Dec. 1729; Universal Spectator and Weekly Journal, 14 Feb. 1730.128 London Evening Post, 14 May 1730.

128 London Evening Post, 14 May 1730.

129 People were often executed for much less. For example, a young girl called Mary Creton was hanged in Dublin for stealing a calico gown and some linen: Daily Post, 12 June 1729.

130 Irish revenue commissioners’ minutes, 13 Oct., 22 Nov., 5 Dec. 1732, (T.N.A., CUST 1/24, pp 366, 398, 410); Pue ’s Occurrences, 26–30 Sept. 1732. According to Robert Munter, Hawkins died in 1758 after living many years as an innkeeper, and thriving on his notoriety: Munter, , Irish newspaper, p. 155.Google Scholar

131 Carteret was referring to the public disorder in London. However, the comment could have applied equally to the riots in Dublin: Rudé, George, ‘London mob’, p. 8.Google Scholar I am indebted to Professors James Kelly, Mary O’Dowd and Nicholas Rogers for reading an earlier draft of this paper and making important suggestions for its improvement. I am especially indebted to Professor David Hayton, who supervised my Ph.D. at Queen’s University, Belfast, for his unfailing and helpful guidance. Where I have inadvertently ignored the good advice offered to me, or made errors, the fault is mine.