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State-aided Land Purchase under the Disestablishment Act of 1869
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 July 2016
Extract
It has been usual in works on nineteenth century Irish history to treat the Irish Church Act, 1869, as having been solely or predominantly an act of political justice and a setting right of an unfair relationship between churches and communities. The important place which the act holds in British economic policy as the first enactment for state-aided tenant purchase of land in Ireland has been generally ignored. What attention the subject of tenant purchase at that early period has received both from contemporaries and from subsequent writers has been mainly centred on the Landlord and Tenant (Ireland) Act, 1870, which was, in its tenant purchase provisions, a much less successful and less extensively applied measure. There are several reasons for this ignoring of the place of the Irish Church Act in the history of tenant purchase. Neither the act nor any part of it was classified as falling within the mass of legislation to which the collective citation of the Land Purchase (Ireland) Acts was given, nor was it specifically directed to be read as part of any of these later acts.
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References
page 58 note 1 32 & 33 Vic, c. 42.
page 58 note 2 The following authorities may be mentioned as having noticed this significance of the Irish Church Act in the history of Irish land, but none of them very fully : Montgomery, W E., The history of land tenure in Ireland (1889), p. 135 Google Scholar ; Bonn, M. J., Rolleston, tr. T W, Modern Ireland and her agrarian problem (1906), p. 92 Google Scholar ; Hooker, E. R., Readjustments of agricultural tenure in Ireland (1938), p. 53 ff.Google Scholar
page 58 note 3 33 & 34 Vic, c. 46.
page 58 note 4 Ibid., s. 32-41, usually known as ‘ the Bright clauses’
page 58 note 5 Maxwell, T H., An outline of the law of landlord and tenant and of land purchase in Ireland (1909), p. 93 ff.Google Scholar
page 59 note 1 Trevelyan, G. M., The life of John Bright, p. 347 ff.Google Scholar; Mills, J. T, John Bright and the Quakers, ii. 133.Google Scholar
page 59 note 2 Leech, H. J. (ed.), The public letters of John Bright, p. 142 ff.Google Scholar
page 59 note 3 Hansard cic. 1759
page 59 note 4 Ibid., cxci. 32.
page 60 note 1 3 Hansard, cxciv. 417.
page 60 note 2 Leech, H. J. (ed.), The public letters of John Bright, p. 11 Google Scholar
page 60 note 3 Hammond, J. L., Gladstone and the Irish nation, p. 72 ff.Google Scholar
page 60 note 4 See in particular his plans for the spending of the residue of the property, which, though not realised, show no evidence that he foresaw the slow processes of loans and sinking funds by which the residue was actually made available (3 Hansard, cxciv. 458 ff.). It may also be observed that historical writers who have superficially followed Gladstone's impression of how the residue could be spent have tended to give altogether misleading accounts of what happened. E.g., the table of expenditure in W Alison Phillips (ed.), History of the Church of Ireland, iii. 373, making, as it does, no distinction between permanent annuities, capital sums, interest, their association as sinking fund charges, and other forms which payments took, is worthless.
page 61 note 1 The commissioners of church temporalities in Ireland.
page 61 note 2 The Public Money Drainage Act, 1850 ; 13 & 14 Vic, c. 31.
page 61 note 3 3 Hansard, cxciv. 450 ff.
page 61 note 4 Ibid., cxcvi. 62 ff. ; and cxcvii. 11 58.
page 61 note 5 Ibid., cxcvi. 62 ff; and 66.
page 61 note 6 Cf. Bill to put an end to the establishment of the Church of Ireland, etc., s. 33, pp. 15-16, H.C. 1868-9, (27), iii ; and 32 & 33 Vic, c. 42, s. 34.
page 62 note 1 32 & 33 Vic, c. 42, s. 3.
page 62 note 2 Sir Charles Stanley Monck, 4th Viscount Monck in Irish peerage and 1st Baron Monck in peerage of U.K., 1819-94 (D.N.B., supp.).
page 62 note 3 James Anthony Lawson, 1817-87 (D.N.B.).
page 62 note 4 1802-71 (D.N.B.).
page 62 note 5 3 Hansard, cxcvi. 422.
page 62 note 6 Report of the commissioners of church temporalities in Ireland, 1869-74, p. 3, [C. 1148], H.C. 1875, xx.
page 62 note 7 By 32 & 33 Vic, c. 42, s. 43.
page 62 note 8 3 & 4 Wm. 4, c. 37.
page 62 note 9 32 & 33 Vic, c. 42, s. 11
page 62 note 10 Ibid., s. 43
page 62 note 11 Ibid., s. n.
page 62 note 12 Ibid., s. 12.
page 63 note 1 It is not correct without qualification to state, as is sometimes done, that the Church of Ireland was ‘ re-endowed ’ Apart from the £500,000 and the restoration of church fabric, the compensation (by 32 & 33 Vic, c. 42, s. 14 and following sections) was for individual interests ; and it was entirely a matter of personal choice whether any individual ecclesiastic would choose to take his compensation in the form of a capital sum to be handed over to the representative church body or of a terminable life annuity paid to himself directly by the church temporalities commissioners. A 12% bonus given with the capital sum in every diocese where three-quarters of the clergy chose that form of compensation might, however, be regarded as a measure of re-endowment. The capital sum was calculated in accordance with average expectation of life and was therefore liable to be completely exhausted when the clergyman died. The bonus of 12% was intended to provide for the greater expectation of longevity among clergymen. All but a small proportion of this capital was spent on the purposes for which it was paid ; and the present endowments of the Church of Ireland have been built up, not from sums handed over by the church temporalities commissioners, but largely by the efforts of its members. They met their new duties with competence and zeal, and, apart from other increasing regular payments, their voluntary contributions to a sustentation fund amounted to nearly £4,000,000 in the first 20 years after disestablishment.
page 64 note 1 Rep. comm. ch. temp, in Ire., 1869-74, p. 11, [C. 1148], H.C. 1875, xx.
page 64 note 2 Report of the commissioners on revenues and condition of established church in Ireland, p. xxv, [4082], H.C. 1867-8, xxiv.
page 64 note 3 Return of aggregate amount of annual income vested in the commissioners of churck temporalities in Ireland (1877), p. 6, H.C. 1877, (235), lxvi. The commissioners here confess their inability to give this information. A return of total acreages of episcopal lands in Ireland by dioceses in 1833 appeared in Digest of inquiry into the archiepiscopal and episcopal revenues and patronage in Ireland, H.C. 1833, (263), xxvii. It would be quite possible from the several returns made before the disestablishment, from the returns of sales by the church temporalities commissioners, from the records of the church property department of the Irish land commission and from the registry of deeds, to get details of all pieces of church land as they were held in the nineteenth century.
page 65 note 1 Rep. comm. ch. temp. in Ire., 1869-74, p. 9, [C. 1148], H.C. 1875, xx.
page 66 note 1 The term ‘ owner ’ was defined as including a ‘ limited owner ’ as defined by the Landed Property (Ireland) improvement Act, 1860. But this would appear to have been practically misrecital, for that act (23 Vic., c. 19) does not contain the definition. Reference was evidently intended to cover the whole group of preceding landed property improvement acts (10 & n Vic., c.32; 12 & 13 Vic., c. 23 ; and 13 & 14 Vic., c. 31), to which the act of 1860 is merely a minor addition without a codifying character. The actual definition of limited owner is in the act of 1847 (10 & ri Vic., c. 32, s. 7) It covers a holder of land under a variety of short or medium term leases as well as long leases.
page 67 note 1 8 & 9 Vic., c. 20, s. 126-39.
page 67 note 2 Rep. comm. ch. temp, in ire., 1869-80, p. 16, [C. 2773], H.C. 1881, xxviii.
page 67 note 3 Ibid., p. 17.
page 67 note 4 Ibid., appendix, p. 269, [C. 2773-1], H.C. 1881, xxviii.
page 67 note 5 Rep. comm. ch. temp, in Ire., 1878, p. 4, [C. 2288], H.C. 1878-9, xx.
page 68 note 1 Rep. comm. ch. temp, in ire., i86g-8o, p. 17, [C. 2773], H.C. 1881, xxviii.
page 68 note 2 Ibid., appendix, p. 269, [C. 2773-1], H.C. 1881, xxviii.
page 68 note 3 32 & 33 Vic, c. 42, s. 34, ss. 5.
page 69 note 1 Second report from Committee of public accounts, 1875, p. 63, H.C. 1875, (336), viii.
page 69 note 2 Rep. comm. ch. temp, in Ire., 1869-74, p. 9, [C. 1148], H.C. 1875, xx.
page 69 note 3 A copy of the form of acceptance appears in Rep. comm. ch. temp, in Ire., 1869-80, appendix, p. 47, [C. 2773-1], H.C. 1881, xxviii.
page 69 note 4 Rep. comm. ch. temp, in Ire., 1875, p. 12, [C. 1400], H.C. 1876, xx.
page 70 note 1 Rep. comtn. ch. temp, in Ire., 1873. p. 13.
page 70 note 2 Ibid., pp. 13-14. I am not in a position to say whether this condition of the property represented a survival of some earlier system of rotation.
page 71 note 1 Ibid., p. 14.
page 71 note 2 Accounts of the commissioners of church temporalities in Ireland, 1880, p. 3, H.C. 1881, (268), xxviii.
page 71 note 3 Rep. comm. ch. temp, in Ire., 1869-8o, p. 12, [C. 2773], H.C. 1881, xxviii.
page 71 note 4 Rep. comm. ch. temp, in Ire., 1877, p. 4, [C. 1960], H.C. 187S, xxiv
page 71 note 5 Rep. comm. ch. temp, in Ire., 1869-8o, p. 17, [C. 27-3], H.C. 1881, xxviii.
page 72 note 1 Rep. comm. ch. temp, in Ire., 1869-8o, p. 17.
page 72 note 2 Accounts comm. ch. temp, in Ire., 1872, p. 4, H.C. 1874, (233), li.
page 72 note 3 Rep. comm. ch. temp, in Ire., 1876, p. 4, [C. 1648], H.C. 1877, xxvi.
page 72 note 4 Ibid., p. 4.
page 73 note 1 Rep. comm. ch. temp, in Ire., 1869-8o, p. 15, [C. 2773], H.C. 1881, xxviii.
page 73 note 2 Ibid., appendix, p. 254, [Cc; 2773-1], H.C. 1881, xxviii.
page 73 note 3 Rep. comm. ch. temp, in Ire., 1876, p. 5, [C. 1648], H.C. 1877, xxvi.
page 73 note 4 Ibid., p. 5.
page 73 note 5 Rep. comm. ch. temp, in Ire., 1877, p. 4, [C. i960], H.C. 1878, xxiv.
page 73 note 6 Rep. comm. ch. temp, in ire., 1878, p. 4, [C. 2288], H.C. 1878-9, xx.
page 74 note 1 Rep. comm. ch. temp, in ire., i86g-8o, p. 16, [C. 2773], H.C. r881, xxviii.
page 74 note 2 Ibid., p. 15.
page 74 note 3 Ibid., appendix, p. 269, [C. 2773-1], H.C. 1881, xxviii. Slight variations in the time of estimate cause small inconsistencies in these figures and in others given elsewhere in this article. The amount of £97,014 just quoted as the total annual value of yearly and other tenures sold does not agree with the figures from the same report stating that £98,105 of annual income from this source was vested in the commissioners and that £1,036 was retained unsold as stipends, etc. There have also been inconsistencies with regard to numbers of holdings.
page 75 note 1 Rep. comm. ch. temp, in Ire., 1869-80, p. 15, [C. 2773], H.C. 1881, xxviii.
page 75 note 2 Rep. comm. ch. temp, in Ire., 1877, p. 3, [C. 1960], H.C. 1878, xxiv
page 75 note 3 Return by dioceses of total number of holdings sold by comm. ch. temp, in Ire. to 31st Dec, 1880, summary, H.C. 1881, (193), ixxii. This records 964 such cases.
page 75 note 4 Rep. comm. ch. temp, in Ire., 1869-80, p. 15, [C. 2773], H.C. 1881, xxviii.
page 75 note 5 Ibid., p. 14.
page 75 note 6 Richey, A. G, The Irish land laws (1880), pp. 81-9.Google Scholar
page 75 note 7 Rep. comm. ch. temp, in Ire., 1875, p. 14, [C. 1400], H.C. 1876, xx.
page 76 note 1 Accounts comm. ch. temp, in Ire., 1872, p. 2, H.C. 1876, (263), xx.
page 76 note 2 Rep. comm. ch. temp, in Ire., 1876, p. 4, [C. 1648], H.C. 1877, xxvi.
page 76 note 3 The following is a list of these schedules of sales made by the church temporalities commissioners. The first to appear was a house of lords sessional paper, Return showing the name of each purchaser of lands sold by comm. ch. temp, in Ire., the denomination of land sold, etc., etc., H.L. 1876, (203), x. This dealt with sales of yearly and other tenures up to 1 July 1876, and it was continued in Rep. comm. ch. temp, in Ire., 1877, p. 28 sq., [C. 1960], H.C. 1878, xxiv, which brought the list up to 31 December 1877 About the same time there was produced another schedule, published separately from the reports of the commissioners, Return up to 31 Dec. 1877, of holdings exceeding three acres in extent sold by comm. ch. temp, in Ire., etc., H.C. 1878, (380), lx. The list of sales effected in 1878 appeared in Rep. comm. ch. temp, in Ire., 1878, p. 48 sq., [C. 2288], H.C. 1878-9, xx. In the appendix to the final report of the commissioners there was given a complete schedule of sales of 8,639 holdings up to 31 Dec. 1880, Rep. comm. ch. temp, in Ire., 1869-80, appendix, pp. 151-252, [C. 2773-1], H.C. 1881, xxviii. Two returns were also published separately about the same time, Returns of holdings purchased by tenants from the church temporalities (Ireland) commissioners and of all holdings purchased by tenants in the landed estates court since the passing of the land act of 1870, etc., H.C. 1880, (408—sess. 2), lvi, running up to 31 Aug. 1880, and Return by dioceses of the total number of holdings sold by comm. ch. temp, in Ire., up to 31 Dec. 1880, etc., H.C. 1881, (193), ixxii. To avoid confusion, which may easily arise in reading the reports and returns of the commissioners, it may be noted that when the commissioners referred to sales to tenants the reference usually covered only sales of yearly and other unrenewable tenures even when this was not explicitly stated. Reference to a ’ return by dioceses ‘ or to details of how many holdings fell into different classes of acreage do not contradict the statement already made that it is impossible to obtain easily total acreages or details of distribution by dioceses. General summaries of the number of holdings in particular dioceses or classifications of holdings by size could be constructed easily, and without special calculation, by running down the columns of a complete schedule of sales, classifying them at a glance and marking them, without any attempt to add up totals in acres, roods and perches.
page 77 note 1 Return of advances and repayments under the Irish church act, 1869, and the cveral land acts 1870, 1881, 1885 and 1888, H.C. 1890, (125), lx.
page 77 note 2 Basing his figures on statements made by Madden, solicitor general for Ireland, 19 Nov. 1888 ; 3 Hansard, cccxxx. 1520 ff.
page 77 note 3 Montgomery, W E., The history of land tenure in Ireland (1889), p. 175.Google Scholar
page 78 note 1 44 & 45 Vic., c. 71.
page 78 note 2 44 & 45 Vic., c. 49.
page 78 note 3 Report of the Irish land commissioners, 1881-82, p. 1, [C. 3413], H.C. 1882, xx.
page 78 note 4 Ibid.
page 78 note 5 First report from the select committee of the house of lords on land law (Ireland), p. 4, H.C. 1882, (249), xi.
page 78 note 6 Return of names, titles and salaries of officers and clerks in the land commission, Ireland, 31 Dec. 1891, H.C. 1892, (248—sess. 1), lxv.
page 79 note 1 Rep. Ir. land comm. 1888-89, p. 9, [C. 5876], H.C. 1889, xxvii.
page 79 note 2 Rep. Ir. land comm., 1910-11, p. 9, [Cd. 5795], H.C. 1911, xxix, pt. 1
page 79 note 3 D.N.B., suppl. iii. 183.
page 79 note 4 12 & 13 Geo. 5, c. 13 (N.I.).
page 79 note 5 Rep. Ir. land comm., 1882-83, p. 5, [C. 3897J, H.C. 1884, lxiv.
page 79 note 6 Rep. Ir. land comm., 1886-87, P. 6, [C. 5223], H.C. 1887, xxv.
page 79 note 7 48 & 49 Vic., c. 73, s. 23.
page 79 note 8 50 & 51 Vic., c. 33, s. 25.
page 80 note 1 54 & 55 Vic., c. 48, s. 10.
page 80 note 2 56 & 57 Vic, c. 54.
page 80 note 3 59 & 60 Vic., c 47, s. 26, ss. 2.
page 80 note 4 Ibid., s. 26, ss. 1.
page 80 note 5 Accounts of the Irish land commissioners in respect of church temporalities in Ireland, 1897-98, p. 3, H.C. 1899, (66), xix.
page 80 note 6 Details of these payments are available annually in Accounts of the Irish land commissioners in respect of church temporalities in Ireland and in Northern Ireland finance accounts.