Anglo-Irish Relation 1 (1851-1914)

How many pounds of potatoes would a grown man in Ireland eat up to?

14 pounds

What years were the Irish Potato Famine?

1845-52

How many Irish people died and how many emigrated during the Irish Potato famine?

1m died

2 million emigrated

What did the Irish use the good land rented to grow, what would they do with the product?

Wheat and corn that they would sell to pay their rent

What would the small piece of land left by farmers be used for?

Growing their own food

Benefits of growing potatoes

Took up very little space

Very nutritious

Grew well in rocky soil

How long could one acre of potatoes feed a family of four for?

A year

What fraction of farmers in Ireland would only grow potatoes for themselves and their family?

2/3

What caused the Great Hunger (Irish Potato Famine)

A blight

When was the blight first seen in Ireland?

1845

What did the blight cause potatoes to do?

Black and rotten when harvested

Where did the other crops that Irish farmers grow go to and the implications of this

Everything else was sent to England to pay the farmers' rent

Irish farmers did not have anything to eat when the crops were bad

What is absentee landlordism and its implications

Person who owns and rents out a profit-earning property, but does not live within the property's local economic region

Not active management, often hiring agents or property managers

Leads to detachment from tenants and local community

What were the longer term reasons for the Great Famine?

Absentee landlordism and single-crop dependence

Who ended the initial government actions in attempts to alleviate Irish famine- what did they pursue?

Whigs led by Lord John Russel

Laissez-faire economic doctrine

What factor contributed to anti-British sentiment and Irish campaigns for independence?

Refusal of London to bar exports from Ireland

How did the Great Famine impact the Irish psychologically and on a national basis?

Native Irish and those resulting in diaspora entered into folk memory

Heighten ethnic and sectarian tensions and boosting nationalism and republicanism

Explain the system used in Ireland for managing property?

"Middleman system"

Rent collection was left in the hands of landlords' agents or middlemen.

How did the British government respond to the Irish Famine?

Authorised import of maize from US which helped avert some starvation

Limited to loans, helping to fund soup kitchens, employment on road building and other public works

How much did the British government spend on relief in total

£8 million

What is a tenant?

Person who pays a rent to occupy property owned by someone else

What is tenure?

Holding property or land for an agreed period of time

What is lease?

Contract for renting property or land for an agreed period of time

What were the Three F's

Fixity of tenure, fair rents and free sale

What are rack rents

Charging extortionate rents and leaving threat of eviction for non-payment

What was the Ulster Custom and its implications

Tenants having security of tenure as long as they kept up to date with their rent payments

They could sell the rights to their holding to another tenant

Ulster farmers more confident about carrying improvements and were more prosperous than the tenants in the rest of Ireland

What was the Home Rule?

Desire by many Irish to repeal terms of Act of Union (1800), to establish parliament in Dublin from which they could conduct domestic affairs

What was the Irish Tenant League

Fromed 1850s and wanted clear rights for tenants i.e. Three F's

What was Protestant Ascendancy and its implications

Position of protestant land-owning class in Ireland that dominate culturally, politically economically and social life

The land had been forfeited by Cromwell in 1650 and redistributed among his protestant supports, leading to a bitter legacy

Fewer than how many people owned the land in Ireland?

800

What % of land was owned by absentee landlords?

23%

What type of farmers were the Irish?

Tenant farmers

How many families were evicted in 1850?

20,000

How much has evictions increased by 1878, and how much in 1880?

Doubled- 1880 double again

What type of land did tenant farmers lease and its effect?

Small plots meaning inefficient farming and low crop yields

Why did tenant farmers struggle to improve their farms with new techniques?

New techniques e.g. clay pipe drainage not pursued for fear landlords would increase rents/evict them

What did Repeal of Corn Laws do to grain prices?

Reduced

Why were conditions in Ulster better?

Due to the "Ulster Custom"

Why were not all landlords expolitative?

Many of themselves were in debt

What did poverty lead to in regards to land?

Unrest and resentment leading to "land wars" of 1870s

What religion did Ulster have a considerable amount of?

Protestants

What was the industry like in Ulster?

More industrialised (Belfast Linen and Shipbuilding) than the rest of Ireland

How did Protestant and Catholics get on in Ulster?

Workers in cities like Belfast did not get on; lived mainly in segregated areas and little disputes often turned into riots

Why were farmers in Ulster more prosperous and the implications of this

Larger farms and Ulster Custom

Impact of famine felt far less

Why did the Ulster mostly support British rule?

They protected Protestants

Where were the Irish ruled from?

Westminster- no separate Irish Parliament

How well was Ireland represented in Parliament despite its falling population - how many MPs did they have?

Well represented with 105 MPs

Around how much men had enough land or property to qualify to vote in 1850

16%

Before what year could Landlords control tenant farmers votes

1872

What was the official church in Ireland?

Anglican

What did everyone have to pay to the Anglican Church, how much was it?

Tithe- 10% of annual earnings whether or not they attended

Less than what % of the population was protestant and what % was Catholic?

Less than 10% protestant and 88% catholic

Who was influential for the Catholics within their communities?

Catholic church and local priests were highly influential

What religion was most landowners?

Protestant

Before what year could Catholics not vote and received many restrictions?

1829

The average Irish family's income was what fraction of the average British by 1850?

1/2

How much did the population fall between 1850-70?

20%

What did the 1800 Act of Union say and do?

Bind Great Britain and Ireland together to become United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland

Effective 1801

What promises were made to Catholics in 1800, what happened to them?

Promised Catholic emancipation and full political rights

Pitt (PM) faced opposition from anti Catholics in his government

They encouraged King George III oppose any changes

How did the land system work in Ireland?

Overwhelmingly dependent on farming

Land subdivided into smaller partitions

Background of O'Connell and what he did

Mobilise and politicise previously passive people

Born into small catholic elite

Educated in France where he witness terror of French revolution

Liberal; believing in Constitutionalism, human rights, brought catholic churches into politics

What effect did Catholic emancipation have?

Collection outside of church accessible to peasants

Union of Roman Catholic challenge law that ban Catholics from parliament unless they renounced their faith

O'Connell became first Catholic to stand in Ireland for more than 100 years

How many protestants were in Ulster and their backgrounds

1m- landed gentry, farmers and factory owners

What type of conflict was present in Ulster?

Sectarian conflict with Catholics

Result of O'Connell campaign

Achieved popular support with mass rallies e.g. Hill of Tara

Peel banned "monster meeting" at Clontarf - O'Connell cancelled it to avoid violence

This led to loss of prestige and momentum for his movement

Following Clontarf, he was arrested for 3 months

What did Peel do in response to the famine in Ireland?

Imported grain

Put hungry to work by building roads and bridges so they could earn money

3/4m people depend on public works

How many Irish left for USA, and what was the impact?

1.8m

Politically active potentially due to influence of O'Connell

Some found themselves in the political outlet of Democratic Party

Who were the Fenians and what did they do?

Materialised bitterness from Irish Famine

1858 rooted in Young Ireland movement that launched after failed rebellion a decade before

Raise political support and funds for new revolution

1863 powerful enough to conduct prestigious meetings

1867 first acts of Irish Terrorism on Britain

What did the Land League do?

Gatherings to prevent the eviction of some tenants

Rural trade union and nationalists movement

What did Gladstone do in 1881?

Land Act

Offer Irish tenants security from eviction and means of securing their rent

Why was the ability to buy land so important

Past of exploitative landlordianism

Whilst economically enriching, symbolically represent emancipation from British

What would Home Rule mean?

Ireland would be governed from Dublin

Who was Charles Parnell and summary of his impact

Irish Nationalist politician who served as leader of the Home Rule League and then INP

1885 he had strong bargaining position; found Gladstone as a willing partner

Home rule defeated

Victorian opinion scandalised by false stories of him

Too contentious, thus cut lose by Gladstone

Role of Irish in British Empire

Ireland part of largest Empire in History- cover 1/4 Earth

East India Company 1/6th workers Irish

What two things prevented a second famine?

Charity organisation and 2 principle relief committees- Dublin mansion house committee and one run by Duchess of Marlborough

When was Parnell speech in Enis?

1880

What were the main takeaway of Parnell speech in Enis?

Prompted a boycott and ostracism for those that took a farm from a man who had been evicted

When was Parnell arrested?

1881

When was Parnell released from prison

1882

Who were the Orange Order and their aims

Protestant order based in Northern Ireland and associated with Ulster protestants

Wanted to maintain protestant ascendancy

Who was the Chief Secretary of Ireland?

WE Foster

Why did WE Foster resign as Chief Secretary of Ireland

Angered by release of Parnell

Who was WE Foster replaced by?

Gladstone nephew Lord Frederick Cavendish

How were Lord Cavendish and his secretary killed and who by- what was the murder called?

Assassin involved in secret society called "The Invincible"

Phoenix Park murder

Was was the fate of the Invincibles that murdered Lord Cavendish and his secretary?

Executed for murder

What was the consequence of Invincible murder Cavendish on alliance between Parnell and Gladstone

Wrecked the chance

When did Gladstone introduce a Home Rule bill?

1886

What was Gladstone justification for proposing Home Rule Bill 1886

Home rule would keep Ireland forever in the British Empire

What % of Irish population concentrated in Ulster

1/4

How did Ulster population in Ireland react to the Home Rule bill by Gladstone?

Opposed it

What did Parnell say Irish nationalist wanted to do with Ulster protestants to appease them?

Wanted to include protestant in the Home Rule Bill

How did the Liberal Party assimilate Gladstone Home Rule bill

They were split over it

How many votes did the Home Rule Bill lose by in the second reading 1886

30

Who was Parnell's lover?

Katherine O Shea

When did The Times write a striking newspaper on Parnell?

1887

What was the letter about that the Times leaked about Parnell

Letter signed by Parnell where he apologised to someone for publicly condemning Phoenix Park murders but saying he had to do it as policy

How did Parnell respond to Times leak?

Claimed they were forged

Who confessed that the Times letters were forged?

Richard Pigott

What court case did Parnell lose and when and the effects?

Divorce case 1890

Captain William O'Shea filed divorce from Wife, naming Parnell as perpetrator

Loss to his reputation and broken alliance with Liberals

What happened to Parnell status as leader of Irish Party and the impact?

Voted out of leadership

Split into anti-Parnellite party and Parnellite party