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Evictions Absentee landlords were common in Ireland and for many landlord's the main interest was income rather than the conditions of their tenants. Many landlords realized that they could get a higher income by turning their properties to pasture than to continue with the old practice of collecting rents from tenant farmers. Evictions was the most common way of getting rid of unwanted tenants. The tenant frequently built his cottage himself from local materials. However, his rent was higher if he had windows, if his door was over a certain height and if he made any type of improvements or enlargements to the dwelling. The landlords practiced "Rack Renting" in order to get rid of unwanted tenants. Rents were raised to the point that the tenant could not afford to pay them. The landlord then had the tenant evicted for non payment of rent. There were no appeals and no mercy shown. Although the only legal reason for eviction was non payment of the rent there were numerous examples of landlords who evicted tenants if they did not conform to the landlord's wishes. |
The Illustrated London Times, December 16, 1848 The Ejectment of Irish Tenantry Two images and text. |
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Print collection of Maggie Land Blanck |
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The Ejectment |
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The day after ejectment |
Print collection of Maggie Land Blanck |
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EVICTIONS OF PEASANTRY IN IRELAND A vast social change is gradually taking place in Ireland. The increase of emigration on the part of the bulk of the small capitalists, and the ejectment, by wholesale, of the wretched cottiers, will, in the course of a short time, render quite inappropriate for its new condition the old cry of a redundant population. But this social revolution, however necessary it may be, is accompanied by an amount of human misery that is absolutely appalling. The Tipperary Vindicator thus portrays the state of the country:_ "The work of undermining the population is going on stealthily, but steadily. Each succeeding day witnesses its devastation - more terrible than the simoon and more deadly than the plague. We do not say that there exists a conspiracy to uproot the 'mere Irish'; but we do aver, that the fearful system of wholesale ejectment, of which we daily hear, and which we daily behold, is a mockery of the eternal laws of God - a flagrant outrage of the principles of nature. Whole districts are cleared. Not a roof-tree is to be seen where the happy cottage of the labourer or the snug homestead of the farmer at no distant day cheered the landscape. The ditch side, the dripping rain, the cold sleet are the covering of the wretched outcast the moment the cabin is tumbled over him; for who dare give shelter of protection from 'the pelting or the pitiless storm?' Who has the temerity to afford him the ordinary rites of hospitality, when the warrant has been signed for his extinction? There are vast tracts of the most fertile land in the world in this noble country now thrown out of tillage. No spade, no plough goes near them. There are no symptoms of life within their borders, no more than if they were situated in the midst of the Great Desert- no more than if they were cursed by the Creator with the blight of barrenness. Those who laboured to bring these tracts to the condition in which they are capable of raising produce of any description- are hunted like wolves, or they perish without a murmur. The tongue refuses to utter their most deplorable - their unheard- of suffering. The agonies endured by the 'mere Irish' in this day of their unparalleled affliction are far more poignant than the imagination could conceive, or the pencil of a Rembrandt picture. We do not exaggerate; the state of things is absolutely fearful; a demon, with all the vindictive passion by which alone a demon could be influenced, is let loose and menaces destruction. Additional sharpness, too, is imparted to his appetite. Christmas was accustomed to come with many healing balsam, sufficient to remove irritation if not to stanch wounds; but its place is usurped by other and far different qualifications. The howl of misery had succeeded the merry carol which used to usher in the season; no hope is felt that an end will soon be put to this state of wretchedness. The torpor and apathy which have seized on the masses are only surpassed by the atrocities perpetrated by those who set the dictates of humanity and the decrees of the Almighty at equal defiance." Note : Simoon= a hot dry dust-laded wind especially in the Arabian desert |
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Print collection of Maggie Land Blanck. Reprint bought on eBay, 2005 |
"An Irish Eviction, 1850 by F Goodall, R. A." |
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Print collection of Maggie Land Blanck. |
L'Expulsion, scene de moeurs irelandaises from L'UNIVERS ILLUSTRE May 14, 1859 |
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Collection of Maggie Land Blanck. Reprint bought on eBay, William Henry Powell, American Artist "The Eviction" [A Scene from Life in Ireland"], 1871 |
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Photo collection of Maggie Land Blanck. Reprint bought on eBay, 2005 |
"Eviction Scene Vandeleur Estate, Kilrush, County Clare 1881" Photographer Robert French for the Eblana/Lawrence Collection per Ciaran Walsh, April 2006 |
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Print collection of Maggie Land Blanck. |
AN EVICTION IN THE WEST OF IRELAND EXTRA SUPPLEMENT TO THE ILLUSTRATED LONDON NEWS, MARCH 19, 1881 "We have little need or wish, after the protracted discussions of so many months past, upon the grievous condition of affairs between the claims of landlord and tenant in the western counties of Ireland, to dwell much on the distressing scene that is here presented. It is obviously the case of a peasant family being expelled, by the aid of the Irish Constabulary, which is a half-military force, and which has the severest coercive duties to preform, from the humble cottage that has long sheltered man, woman, and child. They have failed to pay the rent, and they are consequently ejected by regular process of law but the aspects of this business, in itself, is harsh and threatening; the scanty furniture, rudely cast out upon the ground, the weeping wife and daughter, the terrified babies, the poor old father, apparently stunned by this great affliction, whom a constable is leading from the door, may well appeal to feelings of humane compassion. Such feelings, to their credit, seem to have touched the officer and men employed in protecting those who come to execute this stern decree of forcible removal and who are perhaps themselves less susceptible of pity on these occasions. The neighbours in the village are naturally in a state of high indignation, as may be seen to the right and left of the premises; but we trust that no actual deeds of violence will be committed" . |
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"RENEWAL OF THE LEASE REFUSED" Compare the difference between the Irish Catholic's cottage and the surroundings of the landlord. |
Print collection of Maggie Land Blanck |
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ALL THAT IS LEFT; SCENE AT A MAYO EVICTION The Illustrated London News, April 17, 1886, |
Print collection of Maggie Land Blanck |
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Excerpts from the accompanying article: " "Agrarian outrages, murders, and other crimes of violence and cruelty, not including the practice of "boycotting," are pretty well confined to certain notorious districts [ of the west ]......The peasantry, in general, can barely keep themselves alive...... Their greatest hardships are those which Nature has inflicted upon them by the niggardliness of the soil, a large proportion of the country being moorland or mountain, rock and bog, and by the unfavorable climate, stormy, wet, and cloudy, from the neighborhood of the Atlantic Ocean. In the judgment of scientific agricultural economists, a considerable part of the land in those western counties is so poor that it cannot afford to pay any rent whatever; its quality, with the effect of the weather that ordinarily prevails, is such that it only just enables the cultivators to earn mere subsistence for themselves and their families. Rent has usually been paid from money earned by one or two men of each family going yearly to England or Scotland for harvest work, and in some cases also by women or young persons going to work for the farmers of Ulster; when this expedition has failed the peasant has sold his last cow, heifer, or pig, or the horse needed for the plough, to pay the rent; but it is seldom paid for the produce of the soil. This is the position, generally of the poor Connaught tenantry, of whom, in that province, there are seventy thousand having less than five acres each, many with land that yields no crops but potatoes and oats and rye; and in some districts, last season, these crops were an utter failure. Our readers will therefore consider what is the meaning of an "eviction" for non-payment of rent, in such a district of Mayo as that where our Artist, Mr. Claude Byrne, the other day made his sketch of the girl, shut out with her father, mother, and the children from the cottage built by their own hands - waiting in charge of their few household goods while they go to find shelter for the ejected family; but it happens too often that they have no roof to cover them at nightfall, and, with little food and scanty clothing, it is likely that the weaker may perish." |
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Print collection of Maggie Land Blanck. THE DISTRESS IN THE WEST OF IRELAND From a Sketch by Mr Claude Byrne The Illustrated London News, April 10, 1886 A Touch of Nature: Scene at an eviction on Clare Island |
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Print collection of Maggie Land Blanck, The Graphic, 1886 "Battle of Saunders' Fort" - the eviction of Thomas Saunders, one of Lord Clanricarde's tenants, Woodford, Galway. Lord Clanricarde, the second Marguis of Clanricarde, owned estates at Portumna Castle and at Woodford. The accompanying article was not available with the print when I bought it. However, the story is told at Moving Here, Migration Histories . This site contains some original records including a copy of a letter written by the Marquis to his land agent, John Blake, in January 1881. The second Marguis of Clanricarde, Hubert George de Burgh was born in 1832. The name Canning was added later. He was: Lord Somerhill or the United Kingdom, the Viscount Burke of Clanmorris in County Mayo, Baron Dunkellin of County Galway, Earl Clanricarde of Ireland, and Marguis of Clanricarde. Hubert George de Burgh-Canning, was the second son and had not expected to be the heir to the estate and titles. When his older brother died at age 40 Hubert inherited the estates. He was a "confirmed bachelor" who collected paintings and ceramics. He was the master of 52,000 acres in Galway from which he received an income of $104,180 a year in 1907. At that time he had visited his Irish estates only once in his lifetime, to attend the funeral of his father in 1874. The agents of Hubert George de Burgh-Canning evicted 359 families in 33 years. He was deprived of his rights to administer his estates by the English Parliament in 1907 due to incompetency. John Henry Blake, a land agent for the the Marquis of Clanricarde was shot and killed in June 1882 on his way to attend mass in Loughrea. No one was tried for the incident. "The worst rack-renter has been the Marquis of Clanricarde, a heartless usurer, who has not visited his estates for some twenty years (not even coming over to the funeral of his own mother), who has refused all concessions, and who upon a late occasion dismissed an agent primarily for forwarding to him a respectful memorial for his tenants. The Nation, Volume 46, February 2, 1888 |
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Print collection of Maggie Land Blanck, The Graphic, 1886 "AN EYE TO EFFECT" From a photograph taken just before an eviction on Lord Clanricarde's estate, Woodford, Ireland |
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Evictions in Galway, May 1, 1886 The Illustrated London News carried an article and pictures on May 1 1886 concerning evictions for non payment of rent in the west. This particular article focused on evictions in Galway. "On one estate we found that the rents, which previously seemed high, had been raised 4s. in the pound about two years ago. Thus holdings which gave 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 acres of oats and about as much of potato, with a wild mountain run for a cow, calf, or pony, had been raised from 5 (pounds) 5 s to 6 (pounds) 6 s......some paid more rent, other less. These little mountain farmers usually had four or five cows or young beasts and twenty or thirty sheep each." The pictures actually show evictions that were carried out in 1883. A detachment of the Royal Irish Constabulary, the sheriff, and a company of "York and Lancaster" Regiment of Infantry seemed to have been required to turn out seventy or so poor families from their land. "It as like a military invasion of the country; they were prepared for fighting; there was an army surgeon with them, and a box, with a red cross on it, containing bandages and medicine for the wounded. No resistance was offered; scarcely anywhere did people enough gather to be called a crowd." |
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The Illuminated London News, May 1, 1886 Landing the troops from a gun-boat in Roundstone Bay |
Print collection of Maggie Land Blanck |
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The Illuminated London News, May 1, 1886 Troops jumping over a stream on their march |
Print collection of Maggie Land Blanck |
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Print collection of Maggie Land Blanck |
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The Illuminated London News, May 1, 1886 Driving on cars to the estate where tenants are to be evicted. The constantabulary rode in the cars, the soldiers marched. |
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The Illuminated London News, May 1, 1886 Surgeon of the force examining the sick wife of a tenant Lest you get the wrong impression, this was to make sure she was not malingering. "At most of the cottages or hovels only the members of the squalid family to be driven out were found; if any were ill, or feigned illness , the army surgeon, examined the state of the patient." |
Print collection of Maggie Land Blanck |
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Print collection of Maggie Land Blanck |
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The Illuminated London News, May 1, 1886 Clearing out a tenant's furniture |
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Print collection of Maggie Land Blanck |
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The Illuminated London News, May 1, 1886 Marching to another eviction |
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The Illuminated London News, May 1, 1886 The sheriff giving possession to the bailiff, handing him a wisp of straw from the thatched roof. "Their few poor articles were carried out of doors; and the Sheriff, according to custom, plucked some straw from the thatched roof and handed it to he landlord's bailiff in token of possession." |
Print collection of Maggie Land Blanck |
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Print collection of Maggie Land Blanck |
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The Illuminated London News, May 1, 1886 An evicted peasant family and Straw hut on the mountain side, the only shelter after eviction |
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Print collection of Maggie Land Blanck THE ILLUSTRATED LONDON NEWS January 29, 1887 The Rent War in Ireland; Burning the houses of evicted tenants at Glenbeigh, County Kerry Evictions took place at Glenbeigh county Kerry on the estate of Rowland Winn in January 1887. No rent had been paid for at least five years, some as long as seven or eight. Various attempts were made to come to some agreement on how much rent would be paid, but the negations kept falling through. Eventually on Wednesday the 12th a party, made up of the sub-sheriff's deputy, four bailiffs, the land agent, and six emergency bailiffs from Dublin, set out to execute the evictions. They were accompanied by a force of fifty policemen. The locals were aware of what was happening and so gathered in large crowds to watch. The first eviction was at the house of Patrick Reardon of Droum three miles from Glenbeigh. He barely had time to remove the furniture from his house when a match was set to the roof. The door was hacked with a hatchet and the walls were felled with crow bars. "The tenant's rent was £4 10s his valuation £2 17. He was eight in the family and had no stock." The party next proceeded to the house of Thomas Burke of Droum. An attempt to fire the roof failed but the house was attacked with crow bars and felled. "The rent is this case was £4 19s, and the valuation £3. There was a family of six" Next was a joint property of Patrick and Thomas Diggins. The wife of Patrick Diggins offered some payment towards the rent but was refused. A match was put to the roof and then the sheriff's representative left leaving the agent to watch the burning of the house. Among the evicted and now homeless were Patrick Diggins "an old man of eighty", his wife and their "little grand-child"." "The former had eight in family and the latter ten. The judicial rent was £8, having been reduced from £12, and the valuation £5 15s. There were four cows in the entire place." The eviction party took Thursday off and renewed their activities on Friday. There was no more burning of the cottages. Among the evicted was Michael Griffin. The article does not say how many evictions were carried out. However on Friday, 23 person were taken prisoner. The prisoners were released without trial because the magistrates were not satisfied with "the legal conditions regulating the appointment of the bailiffs". The evictions continued for some days. See Rootsweb, County Kerry The Irish Question The Truth About Glenbeigh: By Pierce Mahony M.P. for North Meath London: The Irish Press Agency, 25 Parliament Street. 1887 |
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Print collection of Maggie Land Blanck |
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"Eviction of Thomas Considine, Tullycrine July 1888" This image was cut from a book. The caption says that the family were Vandeleur tenants. There were 21 evictions on the Vandeleur estate in Kilrush in July 1888. These evictions became an international incident. See Kilrush Local History, Clare Library for more information on the Vandeleur evictions. See Clare Library Lawrence Collection for more images of this eviction. |
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Print collection of Maggie Land Blanck |
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"An Eviction, Ireland" Cut from a book, title unknown. Written in pencil on margin, "1890" |
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Stoddard Lectures on Ireland, 1901 |
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"Battering down a home, an eviction scene" |
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Stoddard Lectures on Ireland, 1901 |
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"An Evicted Family" |
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STUDIES FROM LIFE IN IRELAND — IV The Graphic March 10, 1888 The following three images are from an article entitled "STUDIES FROM LIFE IN IELAND — IV in the Graphic of March 10, 1888. A group of peasants in the mountains near Woodford, Co. Galway prepared to resist the eviction party by barricading their homes with rocks and anything they could find at hand. The women prepared large pots of hot water to throw at the police. However, men arrived with crowbars and took out a corner of the cottage in order to enter and serve the notice of eviction. |
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The Graphic March 10, 1888 BARRICADING A HOUSE TO RESIST EVICTION THE EVICTION STUDIES FROM LIFE IN IRELAND — IV |
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The Graphic March 10, 1888 THE EVICTION STUDIES FROM LIFE IN IRELAND — IV |
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The Graphic March 10, 1888 AFTER THE EVICTION STUDIES FROM LIFE IN IRELAND — IV |
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Thomas Bateson - Eviction of Tenants in County Down, 1860s |
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Curious to see an example of an eviction notice I went on line to try and find one. I could not find one for Mayo so I bought one from Gortnamoney, parish of Moira, Division of Newry, County Down, dated March 19th 1868. Sir Thomas Bateson was the plaintiff and John Hull the defendant. "Sir Thomas Bateson" (4 June 1819-1 December 1890), 1st Baron Deramore had estates in Belvoir Park near Belfast and at Moira Park, County Down, Ireland. He was a staunch supporter of the Church of England and a Conservative Member of Parliament. He was a adamant opponent of electoral reform saying it would lead to "emasculation of the aristocracy". Vanity Fair ran an article on him in January 28, 1882 called "Landed Estates in Ireland." Prints of the caricature of Thomas Bateson that accompanied the article are widely available on the Internet. Landlords and tenants in mid Victoria Ireland , William Edward Vaughan page 56: "...in 1866 Sir Thommas Bateson decided to have part of his estate in County Londonderry revalued: as the Salters Company have lately increased their rental, Sir Thomas Bateson is of the opinion that the present is a suitable occasion to have the work done" The New York Times June 21, 1866 Rhetoric on Stilts. — The Evening Post of yesterday makes game of the rhetoric of and "English Squire" — Sir Thomas Bateson — who recently said in Parliament that Note : There had been an incident in 1851 involving another Thomas Bateson (Thomas Douglas Bateson) a land agent for Templetown estates near Castleblayney, Co. Monaghan. On the evening of 4th December 1851 Thomas Douglas Bateson, agent for the Templetown estate was murdered on his return from a Petty Sessions meeting in Castle Blayney. Two brothers, Owen and Francis Kelly, who had nothing to do with the murder, were successfully defended by Issac Butt and were released. Three others were later arrested and tried, found guilty and hanged at Monaghan jail on 10th April 1854. They were Neal Quinn, Brian Grant and Patrick Cooney. While their trial was in progress, a second assassination attempt was made on a land agent - this time on the aforementioned Trench, agent for the Bath estate. He was the intended victim but a tip-off prevented the attempt, but two local men were later arrested and charged. Internet 1852 Gentlemens Magazine pa 209 VOL XXXVII Google Book Register of Deaths Died December 4 1851 Died Of wounds received the day before in a murderous attack near Castle Blayney, Thomas Douglas Bateson, esq. agent of Lord Templeton, brother of Sir Thomas Bateson of Londonderry, bart. There is no listing in the peerage for Thomas Douglas Bateson brother of Thomas Bateson. They may have been related but were most likely NOT brothers. |
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Civil Bill Ejectment for Nonpayment of Rent where One Year's Due |
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Collection of Maggie Land Blanck |
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Lord Lucan and Evictions Near Ballinrobe During the Great Famine |
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George Bingham, the 3rd Earl of Lucan, was one of the major landlords in the Ballinrobe area. Known as the "Exterminator" he ruthlessly evicted his tenants at the height of the potato famine. For more on Lord Lucan go to Landlords now or at the bottom of the page. |
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Derryveagh Evictions Donegal, April 8, 1861 |
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150th Anniversary Commemoration of the Lough Gartan Evictions of April 8, 1861. Donegal Genealogy Resorces |
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If you have any suggestions, corrections, information, copies of documents, or photos that you would like to share with this page, please contact me at maggie@maggieblanck.com |
If you wish to use any of the images or information on this page please feel free to do so provided that you give proper acknowledgement to this web site and include the same acknowledgments that I have made to the provenence of the image or information. Thanks, Maggie |
