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‘The first chapter of 1798’? Restoring a military perspective to the Irish Militia riots of 1793

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 March 2016

Ivan F. Nelson
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Extract

The riots that followed the introduction in 1793 of a system of raising the newly refounded Irish militia regiments by ballot have attracted the attention of several historians. In more recent years the political importance of the episode has been emphasised, and the riots have been represented as marking a crucial stage in the breakdown of social and political relations within Ireland in the 1790s that eventually resulted in rebellion.

This was not the view of Sir Henry McAnally, author of the only complete history of the militia itself, which was written in the 1930s and published in 1949. As befitted the work of a retired civil servant, McAnally’s history was very careful and restrained in its account and analysis of the Militia Act of 1793 and the introduction of the ballot. He did not devote much attention to the operation of the act, regarding the ensuing riots as peripheral to his main focus of interest. Indeed, in comparison to the widespread and serious rioting that accompanied the establishment of the English Militia in 1757, the Irish disturbances appeared to McAnally to be a transient phenomenon, of limited significance. They did not leave ‘in the popular soul any such bitter memories as remained after other episodes in Irish history’. ‘May 1793 is not one of the black months in that story,’ he wrote; ‘it is not the first chapter of 1798.’

Type
Research Article
Information
Irish Historical Studies , Volume 33 , Issue 132 , November 2003 , pp. 369 - 386
Copyright
Copyright © Irish Historical Studies Publications Ltd 2003

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References

1 SirMcAnally, Henry, The Irish Militia, 1793-1816 (London, 1949).Google Scholar

2 Ibid., p.36.

3 Bartlett, Thomas, ‘An end to moral economy: the Irish Militia disturbances of 1793’ in Past & Present, no. 99 (May 1983), pp 41–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

4 Ibid., p. 41.

5 Ibid., p. 42.

6 Smyth, Jim, The men of no property (London, 1992), p. 102.Google Scholar

7 Ibid., p. 105.

8 Ferguson, K. P., ‘The army in Ireland from the Restoration to the Act of Union’ (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Trinity College, Dublin, 1980), p. 149.Google Scholar

9 Ibid.

10 McAnally, Irish Militia, pp 283-5.

11 Memorial of earl of Glandore to Lord Camden, [after July 1795] (P.R.O., WO 68/411/72, Kerry Militia order book).

12 Capital punishment.

13 Western, J. R., The English Militia (London, 1965), pp 143-54.Google Scholar

14 All regular army infantry battalions had ten companies. The militia had three-, six-, seven-, eight-, ten- and twelve-company regiments and battalions.

15 Castlereagh to Clements, 10 Oct. 1798 (P.R.O., WO 68/221/58, back of book).

16 Freeman’s Journal, 20 Apr. 1793.

17 Ibid., 13 June 1793.

18 This proportion is not known. By the Militia Act of 1757 in England it was three-fifths of establishment; it may have been the same in Ireland.

19 In 1802 71 per cent of the officers and soldiers of the Irish Militia were under 25 years of age: see ‘Return of ages and heights of the Irish Militia’, 12 Jan. 1802 (N.L.I., Kilmainham papers, 1131).

20 Pitt to Westmorland, 10 Nov. 1792 (P.R.O., HO 100/38/375).

21 Faulkner’s Journal, 3 Jan. 1793.

22 Ibid., 24 Jan. 1793.

23 P.R.O., HO 100 series.

24 Faulkner’s Journal, 12 July 1793.

25 Freeman’s Journal, 17 May 1793.

26 Extract of disturbances in Leitrim, Mayo, Roscommon, and Sligo (P.R.O., HO 100/44/7).

27 Faulkner’s Journal, 1 June 1793.

28 Ibid., 30 June 1793.

29 Freeman’s Journal, 25 May 1793.

30 Extract of disturbances in Leitrim, Mayo, Roscommon, and Sligo (P.R.O., HO 100/44/7).

31 Capt. John Grey to Col. Craddock, 27 May 1793 (P.R.O., HO 100/44/80).

32 Freeman’s Journal, 25 May 1793.

33 Ibid.

34 Ibid.

35 Ibid., 30 May l793.

36 Ibid., 22 June 1793.

37 Westmorland to Dundas, n.d. (P.R.O., HO 100/44/115).

38 Faulkner’s Journal, 5 June 1793.

39 Freeman’s Journal, 18 May 1793.

40 Extract of disturbances in Leitrim, Mayo, Roscommon, and Sligo (P.R.O., HO 100/44/7).

41 Faulkner’s Journal, 30 May 1793.

42 Westmorland to Dundas, n.d. (P.R.O., HO 100/44/115).

43 Freeman’s Journal, 17 May 1793.

44 Ibid., 11 May 1793.

45 Ibid., 14 May 1793.

46 Westmorland to Dundas, 18 June 1793 (P.R.O., HO 100/44/130).

47 ‘Sketch of the history of the old Kilkenny regiment of militia’ in Kilkenny Moderator, 1859 (N.L.I., J355942).

48 Westmorland to Dundas, n.d. (P.R.O., HO 100/44/115).

49 Faulkner’s Journal, 19 June 1793.

50 Edward Cooke to Westmorland, 27 June 1793 (P.R.O., HO 100/44/183).

51 Freeman’s Journal, 27 July 1793.

52 Westmorland to Dundas, 13 July 1793 (P.R.O., HO 100/44/283).

53 Westmorland to Dundas, 12 July 1793 (ibid., HO 100/44/230).

54 Freeman’s Journal, 27 July 1793.

55 Ibid., 20 June 1794.

56 Ibid., 24 May 1794.

57 Ibid., 6 Mar. 1795.

58 Faulkner’s Journal, 5 May 1795.

59 Camden to Portland, 28 May 1795 (P.R.O., HO 100/57/336).

60 Westmorland to Dundas, n.d. (ibid., HO 100/44/115).

61 Thomas Pelham to duke of York, 14 Nov. 1796 (Gilbert, J. T. (ed.), Documents relating to Ireland, 1795-1804 (Dublin, 1893), p. 100Google Scholar).

66 Freeman’s Journal, 18 May 1793, and Belfast Newsletter, 4-7 June 1793, are examples.

63 In the Downshire papers (P.R.O.N.I.,D/607).

64 Thomas Lane to Lord Annesley, 6 Nov. 1797 (ibid., D/607/13/375).

65 George Stephenson to Lord Downshire, 4 Feb. 1798 (ibid., D/607/F/43).

66 Royal Meath Militia documents (N.L.I., Fingall papers, MS 8029). This deposit has what appear to be original ballot slips.

67 Western, English Militia, p. 274.

68 Freeman’s Journal, 21, 25 May 1793. The City of Dublin Regiment had been ordered to embody on 20 April and had complied by 6 July 1793.

69 Ibid., 11 June 1793.

70 Ibid., 12 July 1793.

71 Ibid., 31 Aug. 1793.

72 Ibid.

73 Ibid., 1 Dec. 1793.

74 Pay lists and muster rolls, City of Dublin Militia (P.R.O.,WO 13/2815).

75 William Wickham to Lord Clements, 24 Nov. 1802 (N.L.I., Clements papers, P.C. 630).

76 John Boyd to Clements, 8 Dec. 1802 (ibid.).

77 Andrew Knox to Clements, 4 Dec. 1802 (ibid.).

78 Richard Maxwell to Clements, 8 Dec. 1802 (ibid.).

79 Faulkner’s Journal, 22 June 1793.

80 Ibid., 12 Apr. l794.

81 Thomas Pelham to Lord Brownrigg, 26 Oct. 1796 (P.R.O.N.I..T/755/3/153).

82 The percentage of regular soldiers on the Irish establishment in the period 1793-1802 was as follows: 1793, 68 per cent; 1794, 47 per cent; 1795, 33 per cent; 1796, 6 per cent; 1797, 6 per cent; 1798, 5 per cent; 1799, 4.5 per cent; 1800, 6 per cent; 1801, 20 per cent; 1802, 20 per cent. The balance was Irish Militia, fencibles and, from July 1798 to July 1800, English Militia. Sources: Ferguson, ‘Army in Ireland’, p. 149; extracts from N.L.I., Kilmainham papers; N.A.I., Rebellion papers, 620/50/56.