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Sheriffs’ sales during the land war, 1879–82
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 March 2016
Extract
On Saturday 12 February 1881 two horses belonging to Andrew Kettle, executive member of the Land League, were auctioned at a sheriff’s sale at his residence, Kilmore Cottage, Artane, County Dublin. Lord Talbot de Malahide, Kettle’s landlord, obtained a decree to have Kettle’s goods seized and sold to obtain the £40 in rent Kettle had refused to pay. Norris Goddard, solicitor of the Property Defence Association, a landlord defence organisation, opened the bidding on the first horse at £5 but was soon outbid by Kettle’s brother at £20. A second draught horse was then auctioned to Kettle’s brother for £30, thus raising enough to cover the debt and costs.
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References
1 Freeman’s Journal (henceforth F.J.), 14 Feb. 1881; The Times, 14 Feb. 1881; Kettle, L.J. (ed.), The material for victory (Dublin, 1958), pp xi-xiiGoogle Scholar.
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8 9 Anne, c. 8 (1710). In the 1870s and 1880s the act applied to executions of county court decrees as well as those from superior courts.
9 Report from the select committee on law of distress ..., pp 39–40, H.C. 1882 (284), viii, 329–30.
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19 27 & 28 Vict., c. 99 (29 July 1864).
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21 Proclamations issued by Chief Secretary Forster from May 1881 warned that persons assembling for the purpose of obstructing the execution of the law would be dispersed with force. 45 & 46 Vict., c. 25 (12 July 1882) allowed for the special prosecution of persons assaulting bailiffs attempting to deliver decrees. For crowd activity in the land war see Ball, ‘Crowd activity’, pp 212–49.
22 Carter, Land war in Queen’s County, p. 163.
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25 4 Geo. I, c. 5(1717).
26 8 Geo. I, c. 2(1721).
27 Garnham, Neal, The courts, crime and the criminal law in Ireland, 1692–1760 (Dublin, 1996), p. 205Google Scholar; Ball, ‘Crowd activity’, p. 215.
28 27 & 28 Vict., c. 99 (29 July 1864).
29 Ibid.
30 F.J., 9 Jan. 1882; Gorey Correspondent and Arklow Standard (henceforth G.C. & A.S.), 21 May, 23 July, 27 Aug. 1881; King’s County Chronicle (henceforth K.C.C.), 19 May, 16, 23, 30 June, 21 July, 11,25 Aug., 1 Sept. 1881; The Times, 16 July, 1,11,26 Aug. 1881,8 Jan. 1882.
31 Thompson, End of Liberal Ulster, p. 36. In Ulster it was common for sales of interest in farms to take place in cases where no improvements had been made, and even where the condition of the farm had deteriorated.
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33 27 & 28 Vict., c. 99 (29 July 1864); Dodd, ‘Prize essay’, p. 103.
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35 Bew, Land & the national question, p. 122.
36 Report of her majesty’s commission of inquiry into the working of the Landlord and Tenant (Ireland) Act, 1870 ... [C 2779], H.C. 1881, xviii-xix. Fixity of tenure meant that no rent-paying farmer could be evicted. Free sale referred to the custom of outgoing tenants selling the ‘interest’ in their farms (value of improvements) to the incoming farmer. Fair rent was a vague term referring to a ‘just’ rent, usually below market levels.
37 44 & 45 Vict., c. 4 (2 Mar. 1881).
38 44 & 45 Vict., c. 5 (21 Mar. 1881).
39 In 1879 there were 863; in 1880 there were 2,585; in 1881 there were 4,439; and in 1882 there were 3,433 (Vaughan, Landlords & tenants, p. 280).
40 See table, above, p. 393.
41 Vaughan, Landlords & tenants, p. 21.
42 F.J., 9 Jan. 1882.
43 G.C. & A.S., 19 Mar., 16 Apr., 30 July 1881; K.C.C., 24 Mar., 9, 30 June, 7 July 1881; The Times, 10 Aug. 1881.
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46 Quoted in Ball, ‘Crowd activity’, pp 215–16.
47 Ibid., p. 215.
48 Irish Farmers’ Gazette, 24 Sept. 1881.
49 Thorn’s almanac and official directory (Dublin, 1845- ) annually published the names of each county’s high sheriffs.
50 K.C.C., 21 June 1881. W.E. Forster was chief secretary of Ireland from April 1880 to May 1882. The ‘buckshot’ reference was to a decree by James Lowther, the previous chief secretary, ordering the R.I.C. to use buckshot instead of shot in dealing with crowds during the agitation.
51 The Times, 26 Aug. 1881.
52 K.C.C., 16 June 1881. The P.D.A. and Orange Emergency Committee were in some ways very similar to the Land League: all three were subscription-based aid organisations.
53 Ibid., 30 June 1881.
54 F.J., 1 Mar. 1881.
55 Ibid., 29 Mar. 1881.
56 Ibid., 20 Mar. 1881.
57 Bew, Land & the national question, pp 171–3.
58 Ibid.
59 F.J., 13 July 1881.
60 K.C.C., 1 Sept. 1881.
61 G.C. & AS., 21, 28 May, 23, 30 July, 6, 27 Aug., 10 Sept. 1881; K.C.C., 24 Mar., 19, 26 May, 2, 9, 16, 23, 30 June, 1, 14, 21 July, 4, 11, 25 Aug., 1, 8, 15 Sept., 6, 13 Oct., 24 Nov., 15 Dec. 1881; The Times, 16 July, 1, 8, 10, 11, 13, 26 Aug. 1881.
62 G.C. & A.S., 26 Mar., 16 Apr., 6 Aug. 1881; K.C.C., 24 Mar., 30 June, 1, 14 July, 4 Aug., 13 Oct. 1881; The Times, 8, 10 Aug. 1881.
63 The Times, 15 Feb. 1881.
64 Pameli used this phrase at the 8 June 1879 meeting at Westport (Davitt, Michael, The fall of feudalism in Ireland: or, The story of the Land League revolution (London, 1904), p. 154)Google Scholar.
65 Thompson, End of Liberal Ulster, p. 227.
66 The problem posed by unlettable farms was addressed by the establishment of the Land Corporation in 1882 by Arthur MacMurrough Kavanagh, M.P., to purchase boycotted holdings from landlords.
67 K.C.C., 23 June 1881.
68 G.C. & A.S., 28 May 1881.
69 Ibid., 6 Aug. 1881.
70 K.C.C., 14 July 1881.
71 Ibid., 13 Oct. 1881.
72 G.C. & A.S., 26 Mar. 1881.
73 Dooley, Decline of the big house, pp 99–101.
74 Thompson, End of Liberal Ulster, pp 262–5.
75 Clark, Samuel, ‘The social composition of the Land League’ in I.H.S., no. 68 (Sept. 1971), pp 447-69Google Scholar; idem, Social origins of the Irish land war.
76 Sheriffs’ decree and order books, County Wexford, xv (1879) (N.A.I., 1C 43 56); ibid., xvi (1880) (1C 43 57); ibid., xvii (1881) (1C 43 58); ibid., xviii (1882) (1C 43 59).
77 Rev. J. N. Constable to James Lowther, 9 Dec. 1879 (ibid., C.S.O., R.P. 1879/22801).