166-783: The British Association for the Relief of Distress in Ireland and the Highlands of Scotland , known as the British Relief Association (BRA), was a private charity of the mid-19th century in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland . Established by a group of prominent aristocrats, bankers and philanthropists in 1847, the charity was the largest private provider of relief during the Great Irish Famine and Highland Potato Famine of
332-693: A much more limited form of home rule , opted-out of joining the Free State and remained part of the Union under this limited form of self-government. In light of these changes, the British state was renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland on 12 April 1927 with the Royal and Parliamentary Titles Act . The modern-day United Kingdom is the same state, that is to say a direct continuation of what remained after
498-399: A campaign of total social ostracisation against Boycott, a tactic that would one day come to bear his name. The campaign against Boycott became a cause célèbre in the British press after he wrote a letter to The Times . The British elite rallied to his cause and Fifty Orangemen from County Cavan and County Monaghan travelled to his estate to harvest the crops, while a regiment of
664-541: A commitment to the landed aristocracy. He used his London residence as a venue for intimate dinners and private consultations, together with extensive correspondence that kept him in close touch with party leaders in the Commons and with leading figures in the Lords. He gave public rhetorical support to Ultra-Tory anti-reform positions, but then deftly changed positions toward the party's centre, especially when Peel needed support from
830-488: A complete list, see Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs . The coalition that defeated Napoleon was financed by Britain, and held together at the Congress of Vienna in 1814–1815. It successfully broke Napoleon's comeback attempt in 1815. Castlereagh played a central role at Vienna, along with Austrian leader Klemens von Metternich . While many Europeans wanted to punish France heavily, Castlereagh insisted on
996-590: A constitutional government there and recognising the independence of Spain's American colonies after their wars of independence in 1824. British merchants and financiers and, later, railway builders, played major roles in the economies of most Latin American nations. In the 1825 to 1867 era, widespread public demonstrations, some of them violent, escalated to demand reform. The ruling Tories were dead set against anything smacking of democracy or popular rule and favoured severe punishment of demonstrators, as exemplified by
1162-503: A few minor cabinet positions, but his reputation rests on his organising skills and his rhetorical leadership for reform. One historian summarised Bright's achievements: County Mayo County Mayo ( / ˈ m eɪ oʊ / ; from Irish Maigh Eo, Contae Mhaigh Eo , meaning 'Plain of the yew trees ') is a county in Ireland . In the West of Ireland , in the province of Connacht , it
1328-419: A long process, emphasising the urgent need in 1832 to settle the intense and growing political unrest across Britain. He believed that the respectable classes deserved to have their demands for greater representation met, but he refused to extend political power to the mass of the lower middle class and working class, saying that they were not ready to be trusted with it. He wanted to preserve the basic elements of
1494-515: A major impact on British opinion at the time and on history ever since as a symbol of officialdom brutally suppressing a peaceful demonstration thinking mistakenly that it was the start of an insurrection. The Ultra-Tories peaked in strength about 1819–1822 then lost ground inside the Tory Party. They were defeated in important breakthroughs that took place in the late 1820s in terms of tolerating first dissenting Protestants. An even more decisive blow
1660-562: A massive British army and were forced to surrender in less than half an hour. The French soldiers were treated honourably, but for the Irish the surrender meant slaughter. Many died on the scaffold in towns like Castlebar and Claremorris, where the high sheriff for County Mayo, the Honourable Denis Browne , M.P., brother of Lord Altamont, wreaked a terrible vengeance – thus earning for himself the nickname which has survived in folk memory to
1826-648: A metre below the surface. Mesolithic people did not have major rituals associated with burial, unlike those of the Neolithic (New Stone Age) period. The Neolithic period followed the Mesolithic around 6,000 years ago. People began to farm the land, domesticate animals for food and milk, and settle in one place for longer periods. These people had skills such as making pottery, building houses from wood, weaving, and knapping (stone tool working). The first farmers cleared forestry to graze livestock and grow crops. In North Mayo, where
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#17328444897931992-563: A mild peace, with the Kingdom of France to pay 700 million livre in indemnities and lose the territory seized after 1791. He realised that harsher terms would lead to a dangerous reaction in France, and now that the conservative old-fashioned Bourbons were back in power, they were no longer a threat to attempt to conquer all of Europe. Indeed, Castlereagh emphasised the need for a " balance of power ", whereby no nation would be powerful enough to threaten
2158-410: A parliamentarian government, Ireland suffered severely. With a stern regime in absolute control needing to pay its armies and allies, the need to pay them with grants of land in Ireland led to the ' to hell or to Connaught ' policies. Displaced native Irish families from other (eastern and southern mostly) parts of the country were either forced to leave the country or were awarded grants of land 'west of
2324-533: A popular revolution along the French model, employed severe repression. In the mid-1820s, however, as popular unrest increased, the government made a series of dramatic changes. The more liberal among the Tories rejected the ultraconservative "Ultra Tory" faction. The party split, key leaders switched sides, the Tories lost power, and the more liberally minded opposition Whigs took over. The Tory coalition fell apart, and it
2490-549: A public appeal in The Times on 24 December 1846 from an Irishman, Nicholas Cummins, led to a sudden influx of donations from British merchants and bankers, and within days over £10,000 had been raised. Consequently, the British Relief Association was established at the instigation of Baron Lionel de Rothschild to manage donations to the famine relief effort. The BRA held its first official meeting on 1 January 1847 at
2656-627: A successful campaign against the Corn Laws. These were tariffs on imported food that kept up the price of grain to placate Tory landowners. The major factor in the cost of living was the price of food , and the Corn Laws kept the price high. Bright was a powerful speaker, which boosted him to election to parliament in 1843. His radical program included extension of the suffrage, land reform and reduction of taxation. He opposed factory reforms, labour unions and controls on hours For workers, women and children, arguing that government intervention in economic life
2822-489: A uniform fashion, and city officials were elected by the local taxpayers. By far the most important of the reforms was the democratisation of Parliament, which began in a small but highly controversial fashion in 1832 with the Reform Act of 1832 . The main impact was to drastically reduce the number of very small constituencies , with only a few dozen voters under the control of a local magnate. Industrial cities gained many of
2988-830: A watered-down reform. He routinely gave the same advice to foreign governments. Diplomats across Europe took careful note of his move from the Tories to the Whigs, and suspected him of sympathy with the reform movements which were setting off upheavals in France, Belgium and elsewhere, and which frightened the reactionary governments of the major powers Russia, Austria and Russia. In reality he drew his foreign policy ideals from Canning. His main goals were to promote British strategic and economic interests worldwide, remain aloof from European alliances, mediate peace in Europe and use British naval power sparingly as needed. He worried most about France as an adversary, although he collaborated with them as in securing
3154-501: A weekly basis by Association grants during 1847. The increasing demands on the Association led to Strzelecki being appointed Executive Director in May 1847, and several extra volunteer agents were taken on to assist in the relief effort. Lord Robert Clinton , Lord James Butler and Matthew James Higgins were among those who offered their services. By summer 1847 a temporary relief measure in
3320-400: Is a distinct geological difference between the west and the east of the county. The west consists largely of poor subsoils and is covered with large areas of extensive Atlantic blanket bog , whereas the east is largely a limestone landscape. Agricultural land is therefore more productive in the east than in the west. There are nine historic baronies , four in the northern area and five in
3486-516: Is divided into six local electoral areas (LEAs). Councillors are elected for a five-year term. The county town is at Áras an Contae in Castlebar , the main population centre located in the centre of the county. Since 2016, Mayo has been represented on a national political level by four TDs who represent the constituency of Mayo in Dáil Éireann . Previous to 2016 the constituency had five TDs but this
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#17328444897933652-530: Is named after the village of Mayo , now generally known as Mayo Abbey. Mayo County Council is the local authority . The population was 137,231 at the 2022 census . The boundaries of the county, which was formed in 1585, reflect the Mac William Íochtar lordship at that time. It is bounded on the north and west by the Atlantic Ocean ; on the south by County Galway ; on the east by County Roscommon ; and on
3818-720: Is published in the Corrib Gas Proposal Environmental impact statements 2009 and 2010. There is evidence of human occupation of what is now County Mayo going far back into prehistory. At Belderrig on the north Mayo coast, there is evidence for Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age) communities around 4500 BC. while throughout the county there is a wealth of archaeological remains from the Neolithic (New Stone Age) period (ca. 4,000 BC to 2,500 BC), particularly in terms of megalithic tombs and ritual stone circles. The first people who came to Ireland – mainly to coastal areas as
3984-483: Is situated in the village of Murrisk , County Mayo. In 2011 Enda Kenny became the first politician from a Mayo constituency and the second Mayo native to serve as Taoiseach , the head of government of Ireland. Kenny went on to become the longest-serving Fine Gael Taoiseach in Irish history. In the early historic period, what is now County Mayo consisted of a number of large kingdoms, minor lordships and tribes of obscure origins . They included: Mayo County Council
4150-532: Is the authority responsible for local government . As a county council , it is governed by the Local Government Act 2001 . The county is divided into four municipal districts of Ballina, Castlebar, Claremorris and Westport–Belmullet, each with a population of roughly 32,000 to 34,000 people. The council is responsible for housing and community, roads and transportation , urban planning and development, amenity and culture , and environment . County Mayo
4316-449: Is the terminus station on the Dublin to Westport Rail service . Railway stations are also located at Ballyhaunis , Claremorris , Castlebar , Manulla , Ballina and Foxford . All railway stations are located on the same railway line, with the exception of Ballina and Foxford which requires passengers to change at Manulla Junction . There are currently four services each way every day on
4482-541: Is why they built huge, elaborate, galleried stone tombs for their dead leaders, known nowadays as megalithic tombs. There are over 160 recorded megaliths in County Mayo, such as Faulagh . There are four distinct types of Irish megalithic tombs — court tombs , portal tombs , passage tombs and wedge tombs —examples of all of which can be found in County Mayo. Areas particularly rich in megalithic tombs include Achill , Kilcommon , Ballyhaunis , Moygownagh , Killala and
4648-498: The 19th Royal Hussars and more than 1,000 men of the Royal Irish Constabulary were deployed to protect the harvesters. However, the cost of doing this was completely uneconomic: It cost the British government somewhere in the region of £10,000 to simply harvest £500 worth of crops. Boycott sold off the estate and the British government's resolve to try to break boycotts in this completely dissolved, resulting in victory for
4814-689: The Allied and Associated Powers including the British Empire, France, Russia, Italy and the U.S. against the Central Powers of Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire . The deadliest conflict in human history up to that point, the war ended in an Allied victory in November 1918 but inflicted a massive cost to British manpower, materiel and treasure. Growing desire for Irish self-governance led to
4980-762: The Battle of Waterloo to the outbreak of World War I , Britain was almost continuously at peace with Great Powers . The most notable exception was the Crimean War with the Russian Empire , in which actual hostilities were relatively limited. However, the United Kingdom did engage in extensive wars in Africa and Asia , such as the Opium Wars with the Qing dynasty , to extend its overseas territorial holdings and influence. Britain's empire
5146-636: The British Empire . Industrial Revolution accelerated, with textile mills joined by iron and steel, coal mining, railroads and shipbuilding. The second British Empire, founded after the loss of the Thirteen Colonies in the American Revolutionary War of the 1770s, was dramatically expanded in India , other parts of Asia, and Africa. There was little friction with other colonial powers until
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5312-470: The British Isles , but it was smaller in terms of industry, finance, mercantile marine and naval strength. Napoleon expected that cutting Britain off from Continental Europe would end its economic hegemony. On the contrary Britain possessed the greatest industrial capacity in the world, and its mastery of the seas allowed it to build up considerable economic strength through trade to its possessions and
5478-569: The British Royal Household (£247). A donation of £50 was received from the journalists of Punch magazine, a publication which was known for its belittling and acerbic attacks on Ireland. The committee of the Association was ecumenical in nature, including Anglicans , Jews and Roman Catholics, and the donations received from religious bodies reflected this fact. Queen Victoria wrote open letters to Anglicans in March and October 1847, known as
5644-653: The Continental System . This policy aimed to eliminate the threat from the British by closing French-controlled territory to foreign trade. The British Army remained a minimal threat to France; it maintained a standing strength of just 220,000 men at the height of the Napoleonic Wars, whereas the French Imperial Army exceeded a million men—in addition to the armies of numerous allies and several hundred thousand national guardsmen that Napoleon could draft into
5810-512: The Crimean War against the Russian Empire in the 1850s. That war was strictly limited in terms of scope and impact. The major result was the realisation that military medical services needed urgent reform, as advocated by the nursing leader Florence Nightingale . British diplomats, led by Lord Palmerston , promoted British nationalism, opposed reactionary regimes on the continent, helped the Spanish colonies to free themselves and worked to shut down
5976-510: The French Revolution in 1793. Historians find that the violent radical element was small and weak; there were a handful of small conspiracies involving men with few followers and careless security; they were quickly suppressed. Nevertheless, techniques of repression included the suspension of Habeas Corpus in 1817 (allowing the government to arrest and hold suspects without cause or trial). Sidmouth 's Gagging Acts of 1817 heavily muzzled
6142-523: The Industrial Revolution progressed, society changed, becoming more urban. The postwar period saw an economic slump, and poor harvests and inflation caused widespread social unrest. British leadership was intensely conservative, ever watchful of signs of revolutionary activity of the sort that had so deeply affected France. Historians have found very few signs, noting that social movements such as Methodism strongly encouraged conservative support for
6308-524: The Irish Free State gained a degree of independence in 1922. The United Kingdom, from its islands off the coast of Europe, financed the coalition that defeated France during the Napoleonic Wars , and further developed its dominant Royal Navy enabling the British Empire to become the foremost world power for the next century. For nearly a century from the final defeat of Napoleon following
6474-654: The Irish Free State , was affected by the events of the Irish revolutionary period , including the Irish War of Independence and the subsequent Irish Civil War . Major John MacBride of Westport was amongst those who took part in the 1916 Easter Rising and was subsequently executed by the British for his participation. His death served as a rallying call for Republicans in Mayo and led to Mayo men such as P. J. Ruttledge , Ernie O'Malley , Michael Kilroy and Thomas Derrig to rise up during
6640-559: The Irish War of Independence almost immediately after the conclusion of World War I, which resulted in British recognition of the Irish Free State in 1922. Although the Free State was explicitly governed under dominion status and thus was not a fully independent polity, as a dominion it was no longer considered to be part of the United Kingdom and ceased to be represented in the Westminster Parliament . Six northeastern counties in Ireland, which since 1920 were being governed under
6806-561: The Peterloo Massacre in Manchester in 1819. The Tory ranks were cracking, however, especially when Robert Peel (1788–1830) broke away on several critical issues. Nevertheless, the Whig party gets most of the credit. The middle classes, often led by nonconformist Protestants, turned against the Tories and scored the greatest gains. For example, symbolic restrictions on nonconformists called
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6972-802: The Principality of Elba , peace appeared to have returned. Napoleon suddenly reappeared in 1815. The Allies united and the armies of Wellington and Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher defeated Napoleon once and for all at the Battle of Waterloo . To defeat France, Britain put heavy pressure on the United States , seizing merchant ships suspected of trading with France, and impressing sailors (conscription) born in Britain, regardless of their claimed American citizenship . British government agents armed Indigenous American tribes in Canada that were raiding American settlements on
7138-513: The Test Acts were abolished in 1828 . Much more controversial was the repeal of severe discrimination against Roman Catholics after the Irish Catholics organised, and threatened rebellion, forcing major concessions in 1829 . Financial reform, led by William Huskisson and Peel, rationalised the tariff system, and culminated in the great repeal of the tariffs on imported grain in 1846, much to
7304-500: The frontier . The Americans felt humiliated and demanded war to restore their honour, despite their complete unpreparedness. The War of 1812 was a minor sideshow to the British, but the American army performed very poorly, and was unable to successfully attack Canada. In 1813, the Americans took control of Lake Erie and thereby of western Ontario , knocking most of the Indian tribes out of
7470-556: The independence of Belgium from the Kingdom of the Netherlands . He much preferred liberal and reform-oriented nations to reactionary powers. He placed a high priority on building up British strength in India, He spoke often of pride in British nationalism, which found favour in public opinion and gave him a strong basis of support outside Parliament. Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832) was an intellectual who focused on reforming English law . He
7636-558: The wedge tomb type and cist burials. Around 2,500 years ago the Iron Age took over from the Bronze Age as more and more metalworking took place. This is thought to have coincided with the arrival of Celtic speaking peoples and the introduction of the ancestor of the Irish language . Towards the end of this period, the Roman Empire was at its height in Britain but it is not thought that
7802-535: The "betrayal" of the working classes and the "sacrificing" of their "interests" by the "misconduct" of the government. In 1838, Chartists issued the People's Charter demanding manhood suffrage, equal-sized election districts, voting by ballots, payment of Members of Parliament (so that poor men could serve), annual Parliaments, and abolition of property requirements. The ruling class saw the movement as dangerous. Multiple large peaceful meetings across England demanded change but
7968-408: The 'Queen's Letters', and these appeals Church of England congregations raised around £170,000 and £30,000 respectively. Other donations were received from Methodist , Roman Catholic and Baptist groups. Many donations were sent from overseas. Over £20,000 was sent from British North America , and Abraham Lincoln , then a young lawyer, is recorded as having given £5. The largest single donation
8134-499: The 1790–1815 period there was an improvement in morals caused by the religious efforts by evangelicals inside the Church of England, and Dissenters or Nonconformist Protestants as people: became wiser, better, more frugal, more honest, more respectable, more virtuous, than they ever were before." Wickedness still flourished, but the good were getting better, as frivolous habits were discarded for more serious concerns. The leading moralist of
8300-421: The 1840s. During its brief period of operation, the Association received donations and support from many notable politicians and royalty, including Queen Victoria . When potato blight first appeared in Ireland in 1845 there was some sporadic fund-raising activity in the British Isles . However, the scale of the second blight in 1846 brought about a more concerted and widespread relief effort. The publication of
8466-463: The 1890s. British foreign policy avoided entangling alliances. Britain from the 1820s to the 1860s experienced a turbulent and exciting "age of reform". The century started with 15 years of war against France, ending in Wellington's triumph against Napoleon in 1815 at Waterloo. There followed 15 difficult years, in which the Tory Party, representing a small, rich landed aristocracy that was fearful of
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#17328444897938632-404: The 18th century was a period of unrelieved misery. Because of the penal laws , Catholics had no hope of social advancement while they remained in their native land. Some, like William Brown (1777–1857), left Foxford with his family at the age of nine and thirty years later was an admiral in the fledgeling Argentine Navy. Today he is a national hero in that country. The general unrest in Ireland
8798-503: The 1960s and 1970s who argued against deep meanings of Whiggish progress because each of the reforms was relatively minor in itself. Historian Richard Davis concludes that the scholarship of the 1970s represented "a vindication of the main outlines of the old " Whig interpretation ." That is, the Reform Act of 1832 was a response to mounting popular pressure. It was "the culmination of a long historical process, and an important turning point in
8964-505: The Association's committee. Spring Rice, one of the two men on the committee born in Ireland, was made the BRA's secretary, as he had first-hand experience of the potato blight's effect on his family's estates in County Kerry and County Limerick . Each committee member donated at least £1,000 to the relief effort, and the group met daily to coordinate the allocation of funds. From its inception,
9130-558: The Association. Much of the aid was channelled through pre-existing relief groups in Ireland. The BRA's members used their connections to encourage fundraising among municipal bodies and political groups throughout the British Empire . The BRA worked closely with the British Government to coordinate their activity, and aimed to provide assistance to those who could not be reached by the authorities. This necessitated working alongside Sir Charles Trevelyan, 1st Baronet , whose meddling in
9296-463: The BRA received from outside the Association was from Queen Victoria . The Queen had repeatedly refused to act on advice from ministers pending the famine and was frequently derided for a lack of effort and even interest in the crisis. She donated £2,000 (equivalent to £187,000 in 2015) three days after the charity had been established. The Queen had initially sent a donation of £1,000, but the Association's Secretary, Stephen Spring Rice, refused to accept
9462-904: The BRA's activities was only counterbalanced by the administrative skill of Spring Rice and Paweł Strzelecki , the Association's agent in Ireland. Strzelecki's regular eye-witness reports to the Association were reprinted in several British newspapers, thus providing important evidence of the extent of the suffering to the British public. By 1 March 1847, Strzelecki is recorded as having distributed aid in 65 localities across Ireland, which included bales of clothing, over one thousand bags of rice and almost two thousand barrels of meal. Strzelecki had spent £2,953 in County Mayo , £1,740 in County Donegal , and £1,193 in County Sligo by 1 April 1847. In Westport, County Mayo , an estimated 8,000 people were being fed on
9628-514: The Behy/Glenurla area around the Céide Fields . Megalithic tomb building continued into the Bronze Age when metal began to be used for tools alongside the stone tools. The Bronze Age lasted approximately from 4,500 years ago to 2,500 years ago (2,500 BC to 500 BC). Archaeological remains from this period include stone alignments , stone circles and fulachta fiadh (early cooking sites). They continued to bury their chieftains in megalithic tombs which changed design during this period, more being of
9794-521: The British Empire, in practice, these governments were permitted greater management of their own internal affairs, with Britain remaining primarily responsible for their foreign and trade policies. Rapid industrialisation that began in the decades prior to the state's formation continued up until the mid-19th century. The Great Irish Famine , exacerbated by government inaction in the mid-19th century, led to demographic collapse in much of Ireland and increased calls for Irish land reform . The 19th century
9960-465: The British Empire. In response, London began to cooperate with Japan , France and Russia, and moved closer to the United States . Although not formally allied with any of these powers, by 1914 British policy had all but committed to declaring war on Germany if the latter attacked France. This was realized in August 1914 when Germany invaded France via Belgium , whose neutrality had been guaranteed by London. The ensuing First World War eventually pitted
10126-497: The British Relief Association was politically well-connected, particularly to the Whig Party , and this helped it to gain early prominence. The establishment of the charity was praised by the Quaker philanthropist William Edward Forster , who commented on the committee's commitment and desire to provide more assistance "than mere gifts of money" . The potato blight appeared in Scotland in 1845 and again in 1846. The Association therefore allocated one-sixth of its funds to assistance in
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#173284448979310292-409: The Chartists were unable to force serious constitutional debate. In July 1839, however, the House of Commons rejected, by 235 votes to 46, a motion to debate the Chartists' national petition, bearing 1.3 million signatures. Historians see Chartism as both a continuation of the 18th century fight against corruption and as a new stage in demands for democracy in an industrial society. Prime ministers of
10458-528: The Empire with the Slavery Abolition Act 1833 . The government purchased all the slaves for £20,000,000 (the money went to rich plantation owners who mostly lived in England), and freed the slaves, most of whom were in the Caribbean sugar islands. The Whigs became champions of Parliamentary reform by making the Reform Act of 1832 their signature measure. It sharply reduced the numbers of "rotten borough" and "pocket boroughs" (where elections were controlled by powerful families), and instead redistributed seats on
10624-467: The English people, as was customary at that time, followed the religious practices of the reigning monarch and became Protestant. Many Irish people such as Grace O'Malley , the famous pirate queen, had close relationships with the English monarchy, and the English kings and queens were welcome visitors to Irish shores. The Irish however, generally held onto their Catholic religious practices and beliefs. The early plantations of settlers in Ireland began during
10790-413: The French armies when they were needed. Although the Royal Navy effectively disrupted France's extra-continental trade—both by seizing and threatening French shipping and by seizing French colonial possessions—it could do nothing about France's trade with the major continental economies and posed little threat to French territory in Europe. France's population and agricultural capacity far outstripped that of
10956-401: The Government is rising by its side, nay, daily counteracting its views." The Duke of Wellington, Britain's most famous war hero, told Peel, "If we cannot get rid of the Catholic Association, we must look to Civil War in Ireland sooner or later." Peel and Wellington agreed that to stop the momentum of the Catholic Association it was necessary to pass Catholic emancipation , which gave Catholics
11122-406: The Irish Free State's secession, as opposed to being an entirely new successor state . A brief period of limited independence for the Kingdom of Ireland came to an end following the Irish Rebellion of 1798 , which occurred during the British war with revolutionary France . The Kingdom of Great Britain 's fear of an independent Ireland siding against them with Revolutionary France resulted in
11288-458: The Irish economy began to expand in the 1990s and early 2000s, and the population of Mayo increased from 110,713 in 1991 to 130,638 in 2011. In the 2006 National Census, the religious demographic breakdown for County Mayo was 114,215 Roman Catholics, 2,476 Church of Ireland, 733 Muslims, 409 other Christians, 280 Presbyterians, 250 Orthodox Christians, 204 Methodists, 853 other stated religions, 3,267 no religion and 1,152 no stated religion. 9% of
11454-430: The Irish themselves ". The most powerful clan to emerge during this era were the Mac William Burkes, also known as the Mac William Iochtar (see Burke Civil War 1333–1338), descended from Sir William Liath de Burgh , who defeated the Gaelic-Irish at the Second Battle of Athenry in August 1316. They were frequently at war with their cousins, Clanricarde of Galway , and in alliance with or against various factions of
11620-472: The Labour Party. Mary Robinson from Ballina became the first-ever female President of Ireland as a Labour candidate while Pat Rabbitte , originally from Claremorris, served as leader of the Labour Party from 2002 to 2007. Serving alongside Rabbitte was Emmet Stagg , one of the longest-standing Labour TDs of the modern era, himself from Hollymount not far from Claremorris. Irish history has been defined by waves of emigration due to push and pull factors. Mayo
11786-565: The London home of Baron de Rothschild. Rothschild had invited some of the richest and most notable men in British society to the meeting, which was attended by Mayer Amschel de Rothschild , John Abel Smith , George Robert Smith , Henry Kingscote , Samuel Gurney and Hon. Stephen Spring Rice , among others. Future meetings, held at South Sea House in London, were attended by Raikes Currie , Samuel Jones-Loyd, 1st Baron Overstone , Thomas Baring, 1st Earl of Northbrook , George Kinnaird, 9th Lord Kinnaird and David Salomons , who all also served on
11952-426: The O'Conor's of Siol Muiredaig and O'Kelly 's of Uí Maine . The O'Donnell 's of Tyrconnell regularly invaded in an attempt to secure their right to rule. The Anglo-Normans encouraged and established many religious orders from continental Europe to settle in Ireland. Mendicant orders— Augustinians , Carmelites , Dominicans and Franciscans began new settlements across Ireland and built large churches, many under
12118-486: The Parliamentary level, there was a reorganisation of the governmental system in the rapidly growing cities, putting a premium on modernisation and expertise, and large electorates as opposed to small ruling cliques. A rapidly growing middle class, as well as active intellectuals, broaden the scope of reform to include humanitarian activities such as a new poor law and factory laws to protect women and children workers. In
12284-785: The Protestant faith, and his lack of support for the initiative led the Prime Minister, William Pitt the Younger , to resign. During the War of the Second Coalition (1799–1801), Britain occupied most of the French and Dutch overseas possessions , the Netherlands having become a satellite state of France in 1796, but tropical diseases claimed the lives of over 40,000 troops. When the Treaty of Amiens ended
12450-609: The Roman Empire extended into Ireland. Remains from this period, which lasted until the Early Christian period began about AD 325 (with the arrival of Saint Patrick into Ireland, as a slave) include crannógs (Lake dwellings), promontory forts , ringforts and souterrains of which there are numerous examples across the county. The Iron Age was a time of tribal warfare and kingships, each fighting neighbouring kings, vying for control of territories and taking slaves. Territories were marked by tall stone markers, Ogham stones, using
12616-629: The Scottish Highlands. Within days of the Association's being established, requests for support arrive from organisations across Ireland. The committee began lobbying financial and transport companies for assistance. On 4 January 1847 the Peninsular and Oriental Company donated the use of a steamship to transport food to Ireland, and the North Western, Great Western, and South Western railways offered free carriage to all relief going to Ireland from
12782-566: The Shannon' and put off their own lands in the east. The land in the west was divided and sub-divided between more and more people as huge estates were granted on the best land in the east to those who best pleased the English. Mayo does not seem to have been affected much during the Williamite War in Ireland , though many natives were outlawed and exiled. For the vast majority of people in County Mayo
12948-554: The United Kingdom (£100). Additional donations were received from Abdülmecid I , who sent £1,000, and several British politicians, including Lord John Russell (£300), Sir Charles Wood (£200) and Sir Robert Peel (£200). Among the groups to make donations to the Association were the Singapore Irish Relief Fund (£31), the East India Company (£1,000), The Observer (£50), Magdalen College, Oxford (£200) and
13114-709: The United States. The Spanish uprising in 1808 at last permitted Britain to gain a foothold on the Continent. The Duke of Wellington gradually pushed the French out of Spain, and in early 1814, as Napoleon was being driven back in the east by the Royal Prussian Army , the Imperial Austrian Army , and the Imperial Russian Army , Wellington invaded southern France. After Napoleon's surrender and exile to
13280-441: The United States. The trend of emigration would continue in Ireland for decades and Ireland's population has never recovered to its pre-famine levels. The Irish language was almost wiped out. The failure of the British government to respond to the crisis in the eyes of the Irish people would lead to a growth in resentment of Britain and a rise in Irish nationalism . The famine is remembered in Ireland to this day as oppression by
13446-653: The War of Independence. In the ensuing Civil War, many of these leading figures chose the Anti-treaty side and fought in bitter battles such as those in Ballina, which changed hands between pro and anti-treaty forces a number of times. In the aftermath of the Civil War, there was a consolidation of many of those with anti-treaty feelings into the new political party Fianna Fáil . PJ Ruttledge and Thomas Derrig would become founding members of
13612-571: The Whig coalition in 1830. The Tories despised him thereafter as a turncoat, and many of the more radical Whigs were distrustful of his basically conservative views that saw him fainthearted about or opposed to reform measures. He typically warned on the one hand against delays and on the other hand against excessive enthusiasm for reforms, preferring compromise. He was keenly sensitive to public opinion, and indeed often shapes it through his dealings with newspaper editors. When he sensed that public demand had reached an unstoppable momentum, he would work for
13778-459: The Whigs to demand for civil and religious equality. Grievances included a 1753 law that to be legally recognised marriage had to take place in the Anglican parish church . The Anglican parish register was the only legally accepted birth documentation. The Anglican parish controlled the only religious burial grounds. The Universities of Oxford and Cambridge had to reject non-Anglican applicants. At
13944-516: The aristocracy in terms of its control of the House of Commons. However, it ran the government: of the ten prime ministers under Victoria, six were peers. The seventh was the son of a duke. Two (Peel and Gladstone) emerged from the business community and only one (Disraeli) was a self-made man . Of the 227 cabinet members between 1832 and 1905, 139 were sons of peers. Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington , who defeated Napoleon, served as
14110-600: The basis of population. It also broadened the franchise, adding 217,000 voters to an electorate of 435,000 in England and Wales . The main effect of the act was to weaken the power of the landed gentry , and enlarge the power of the professional and business middle-class , which now for the first time had a significant voice in Parliament. However, at this point the great majority of manual workers, clerks and farmers did not have enough property to qualify to vote. Many of them received
14276-523: The cheque and complained to Henry Grey, 3rd Earl Grey that it was "not enough". This was communicated to the Queen, who increased her donation by £1,000. The next day Prince Albert donated £500. In the following weeks additional donations were received from Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen (£1,000), Ernest Augustus, King of Hanover (£1,000), Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge (£500), Princess Mary, Duchess of Gloucester and Edinburgh (£200) and Princess Sophia of
14442-549: The chieftains to become part of the early Churches, other times they remained as separate entities. St. Patrick (4th century) may have spent time in County Mayo and it is believed that he spent forty days and forty nights on Croagh Patrick praying for the people of Ireland. From the middle of the 6th-century hundreds of small monastic settlements were established around the county. Some examples of well-known early monastic sites in Mayo include Mayo Abbey , Aughagower , Ballintubber , Errew Abbey , Cong Abbey , Killala , Turlough on
14608-529: The conquest of Europe the way Napoleon had. Vienna ushered in a century of peace, with no great wars and few important localised ones until the Crimean War (1853–1856). Prussia, Austria, and Russia, as absolute monarchies , tried to suppress liberalism wherever it might occur. Britain first took a Reactionary position at the Congress of Vienna in 1815, but relented and broke ranks with the absolute monarchies by 1820. Britain intervened in Portugal in 1826 to defend
14774-401: The county became a base for the emergence of Clann na Talmhan , an agrarian party in the 1940s and 1950s. Clann an Talmhan's second leader, Joseph Blowick came from South Mayo and that is where his seat was. The party was not able to last in the long run though as it was unable to hold together its voting bloc of both small farmers in the west of Ireland and large farmers in the east. Towards
14940-644: The county, introducing new families such as Burke , Gibbons , Staunton , Prendergast , Morris , Joyce , Walsh , Barrett , Lynott , Costello , Padden and Price , Norman names are still common in County Mayo. Following the collapse of the lordship in the 1330s, all these families became estranged from the Anglo-Irish administration based in Dublin and assimilated with the Gaelic-Irish, adopting their language, religion, dress, laws, customs and culture and marrying into Irish families. They became " more Irish than
15106-572: The decision to unite the two countries. This was brought about by legislation in the parliaments of both kingdoms and came into effect on 1 January 1801. The Irish had been led to believe by the British that their loss of legislative independence would be compensated with Catholic emancipation , that is, by the removal of civil disabilities placed upon Roman Catholics in both Great Britain and Ireland . Despite personal sympathy for Roman Catholics, King George III believed that agreeing to Catholic Emancipation would violate his Coronation Oath to uphold
15272-463: The dismay of grain farmers. The 1846 repeal of the Corn Laws established free trade as the basic principle by which British merchants came to dominate the globe, and brought cheap food to British workers. A depoliticised civil service based on merit replaced patronage policies rewarding jobs for partisan efforts. Efficiency was a high priority in government, with the goal of low taxation. Overall, taxation
15438-666: The east of Ireland, Dermot MacMurrough , appealed to the King of England for help in his fight with a neighbouring king, the response resulted in the Anglo-Norman colonisation of Ireland. County Mayo came under Norman control in AD 1235. Norman control meant the eclipse of many Gaelic lords and chieftains, chiefly the O'Connors of Connacht. During the 1230s, the Anglo-Normans and Welsh under Richard Mór de Burgh (c. 1194 – 1242) invaded and settled in
15604-439: The emergence of a more liberal and broadly based political system… it deserves its old designation of 'Great.'" David Thompson has stressed the revolutionary nature of the entire package of reforms: Chartism was a large-scale popular protest movement that emerged in response to the failure of the 1832 Reform Bill to give the vote to the working class. It lacked middle-class support, and it failed repeatedly. Activists denounced
15770-519: The era, William Wilberforce , saw everywhere "new proofs presenting themselves of the diffusion of religion". Nonconformists, including Presbyterians , Congregationalists , the Baptists and the rapidly-growing Methodist denomination , as well as Quakers , Unitarians and smaller groups. They were all outside the established Church of England (except in Scotland, where the established Church of Scotland
15936-441: The event as an opening battle against revolutionaries. In reaction Lord Liverpool 's government passed the " Six Acts " in 1819. They prohibited drills and military exercises; facilitated warrants for the search for weapons; outlawed public meetings of more than 50 people, including meetings to organise petitions; put heavy penalties on blasphemous and seditious publications; imposing a fourpenny stamp act on many pamphlets to cut down
16102-490: The existing constitution by removing obvious abuses, thinking that this would strengthen aristocratic leadership. He persuaded the king to promise to create enough new peers to force the bill through the House of Lords. The king made the promise while also advising the peers to stop blocking the bill. The Reform Act was Grey's principal achievement; it reflects his pragmatic, moderate and conservative character, as well as his parliamentary skills of timing and persuasion. His cabinet
16268-445: The face of determined House of Commons action. After defeating the first two versions of the Reform Act of 1832, the Whigs got the King to agree to appoint as many new peers as was necessary to change the outcome. He promised to do so, but convinced the Lords it would be much wiser for them to approve the law. A weak ruler as regent (1811–1820) and king (1820–1830), George IV let his ministers take full charge of government affairs. He
16434-753: The first written down words using the Ogham alphabet . The Iron Age is the time period in which the mythological tales of the Ulster Cycle and sagas took place, as well as that of the Táin Bó Flidhais , whose narrative is set in mainly in Erris . Christianity came to Ireland around the start of the 5th century. It brought many changes including the introduction of the Latin alphabet . The tribal ' tuatha ' and new Christian religious settlements existed side by side. Sometimes it suited
16600-456: The flow on news and criticism. Offenders could be harshly punished including exile in Australia . In practice the laws were designed to deter troublemakers and reassure conservatives; they were not often used. One historian would write: "Peterloo was a blunder; it was hardly a massacre." It was a serious mistake by local authorities who did not understand what was happening. Nevertheless, it had
16766-402: The form of an Ireland-wide network of soup kitchens was feeding 3 million people a day. At this point, the BRA decided to reduce the scope of its own operations, and only Strzelecki remained in Ireland on the Association's behalf at the end of June. In autumn 1847 the British government declared that it believed the famine to be over, and that no further money from HM Treasury would be spent on
16932-531: The ground cover was fragile, thin soils washed away and blanket bog covered the land farmed by the Neolithic people. Extensive pre-bog field systems have been discovered under the blanket bog, particularly along the North Mayo coastline in Erris and north Tyrawley at sites such as the Céide Fields , centred on the northeast coast. The Neolithic people developed rituals associated with burying their dead; this
17098-472: The interior was heavily forested – arrived during the Middle Stone Age, as far back as eleven thousand years ago. Artefacts of hunter/gatherers are sometimes found in middens , rubbish pits around hearths where people would have rested and cooked over large open fires. Once cliffs erode, midden remains become exposed as blackened areas containing charred stones, bones, and shells. They are usually found
17264-460: The international slave trade. It was a time of prosperity, population growth and better health, except in Ireland where over one million deaths were caused by the Great Famine when the potato crop failed in the 1840s. The Government did little to help the starving poor in Ireland. Along with the one million deaths, another one million would emigrate in a few short years, mostly to Britain and to
17430-401: The key legal, political, economic and social reforms of the 1830s and 1840s. He especially influenced the reform of education, prisons, poor laws, legal procedures and Parliamentary representation. John Bright (1811–1889) built on his middle-class Quaker heritage and his collaboration with Richard Cobden to promote all varieties of humanitarian and parliamentary reform. They started with
17596-503: The king. The fiasco helped ruin the prestige of the monarchy and it recovered a fraction of the power wielded by King George III in his saner days. Historian Eugene Black says: The Ultra-Tories were the leaders of reaction and seemed to dominate the Tory Party , which controlled the government. Every untoward event seemed to point to a conspiracy on the left which necessitated more repression to head off another terror such as happened in
17762-515: The kingdom of Connacht and ruled by the Siol Muirdaig dynasty, based initially at Rathcroghan in County Roscommon , and from c. 1050 at Tuam . The families of O'Malley and O'Dowd of Mayo served as admirals of the fleet of Connacht , while families such as O'Lachtnan, Mac Fhirbhisigh , and O'Cleary were ecclesiastical and bardic clans. In AD 1169 when one of the warring kings in
17928-520: The leader of the Conservative party in the House of Lords, 1828–1846. Some writers have belittled him as a befuddled reactionary, but a consensus reached in the late 20th century depicts him as a shrewd operator who hid his cleverness behind the facade of a poorly-informed old soldier. Wellington worked to transform the Lords from unstinting support of the Crown to an active player in political manoeuvring, with
18094-583: The local level, everyone who lived in the boundaries of an Anglican church was required to pay taxes to support the parish. The Test and Corporation laws required all national and local government officials had to attend Anglican church services. In February 1828, Whig leader Lord John Russell , presented petitions assembled by the main Nonconformist pressure group, the United Committee, which represented Congregationalist, Baptists and Unitarians. Their demand
18260-469: The main uprising. They marched across the county towards the administrative centre of Castlebar, leading to the Battle of Castlebar . Taking the garrison by surprise Humbert's army was victorious. He established a ' Republic of Connacht' with John Moore of the Moore family from Moore Hall near Partry as its head. Humbert's army marched on towards Sligo, Leitrim and Longford where they were suddenly faced with
18426-425: The majority. The great Reform Act 1832 came at a time of intense public and elite anxiety and broke the logjam. The parliamentary system, based on a very small electorate and large numbers of seats that were tightly controlled by a small elite, was radically reformed. For the first time the growing industrial cities had representation in Parliament. This opened the way for another decade of reform that culminated in
18592-537: The mobilisation of all possible support in each constituency; about 80% of the men voted. The Tories discovered that their conservatism had an appeal to skilled workers, and also to women, hundreds of thousands of whom were organised by the Primrose League . Women's suffrage was not on the agenda. The abolition of the House of Lords , while often discussed, was never necessary because the upper house repeatedly retreated in
18758-412: The north. There are round towers at Aughagower , Balla , Killala , Turlough and Meelick. The Vikings established settlements that later developed into towns (Dublin, Cork, Wexford, Waterford etc.) but none were in County Mayo. Between the reigns of Kings of Connacht Cathal mac Conchobar mac Taidg (973–1010) and Tairrdelbach Ua Conchobair (1106–1156), various tribal territories were incorporated into
18924-499: The northeast by County Sligo . Mayo is the third-largest of Ireland's 32 counties in area and 18th largest in terms of population. It is the second-largest of Connacht 's five counties in both size and population. Mayo has 1,168 km (726 mi) of coastline, or approximately 21% of the total coastline of the State. It is one of three counties which claims to have the longest coastline in Ireland, alongside Cork and Donegal . There
19090-563: The opposition newspapers; the reformers switched to pamphlets and sold 50,000 a week. In industrial districts in 1819, factory workers demanded better wages, and demonstrated. The most important event was the Peterloo Massacre in Manchester , on 16 August 1819, when a local militia unit composed of landowners charged into an orderly crowd of 60,000 which had gathered to demand the reform of parliamentary representation. The crowd panicked and eleven died and hundreds were injured. The government saw
19256-691: The outskirts of Castlebar, and island settlements off the Mullet Peninsula like the Inishkea Islands , Inishglora and Duvillaun . In 795 the first of the Viking raids took place. The Vikings came from Scandinavia to raid the monasteries as they were places of wealth with precious metal working taking place in them. Some of the larger ecclesiastical settlements erected round towers to prevent their precious items from being plundered and also to show their status and strength against these pagan raiders from
19422-417: The overall population was reported to have perished due to warfare, famine and plague between 1641 and 1653, with several areas remaining disturbed and frequented by Reparees into the 1670s. Pirate Queen Grace O'Malley is probably the best-known person from County Mayo between the mid-16th century and the turn of the 17th century. In the 1640s, when Oliver Cromwell overthrew the English monarchy and set up
19588-468: The party and served in Éamon de Valera 's first-ever Fianna Fáil government as ministers. Mayo politicians would continue to contribute to the national political scene over the decades. In 1990 Mary Robinson , from County Mayo, became the first-ever female President of Ireland , and is widely credited with revitalising the position with importance and focus it had never possessed before. During her tenure she unveiled Ireland's National Famine Memorial which
19754-419: The patronage of prominent Gaelic families. Some of these sites include Cong , Strade , Ballintubber , Errew Abbey , Burrishoole Abbey and Mayo Abbey . During the 15th and 16th centuries, despite regular conflicts between them as England chopped and changed between religious beliefs, the Irish usually regarded the King of England as their King. When Elizabeth I came to the throne in the mid-16th century,
19920-496: The period included: William Pitt the Younger , Lord Grenville , Duke of Portland , Spencer Perceval , Lord Liverpool , George Canning , Lord Goderich , Duke of Wellington , Lord Grey , Lord Melbourne , Lord Palmerston and Robert Peel . The aristocracy remained dominant: there were 200 hereditary peers in the House of Lords in 1860; by 1837 they numbered 428; in 1901, there were 592. The number rose to 622 by 1910. Reform legislation in 1832, 1867, 1884 and 1918 weakened
20086-402: The political and social status quo. The major constitutional changes included a reform of Parliament, and a sharp decline in the power and prestige of the monarchy. The Prince regent, on becoming King George IV in 1820 asked Parliament to divorce his wife Queen Caroline of Brunswick so that he could marry his favourite lover. Public and elite opinion strongly favoured the Queen and ridiculed
20252-524: The poll and became the first Sinn Féin TD for Mayo since 1927, riding a nationwide surge for Sinn Féin that year. Despite being historically the third-largest party in Ireland, Labour has struggled to ever make inroads into Mayo. The party has only ever had one TD for Mayo, former party leader Thomas J. O'Connell , who represented South Mayo between 1927 and 1932. While Labour has not proven itself electorally successful in Mayo, Mayo has provided important members to
20418-454: The population depended on the potato as their staple food. By 1848, Mayo was a county of total misery and despair, with any attempts at alleviating measures in complete disarray. There are numerous reminders of the Great Famine to be seen on the Mayo landscape: workhouse sites, famine graves, sites of soup kitchens, deserted homes and villages and even traces of undug 'lazy-beds' in fields on
20584-536: The population of County Mayo live in the Gaeltacht . The Gaeltacht Irish-speaking region in County Mayo is the third-largest in Ireland with 10,886 inhabitants. These Irish-speaking areas of Mayo contain 5,956 Irish speakers. Tourmakeady is the largest village in this area. All schools in the area use Irish as the language of instruction. Mayo has four gaelscoileanna in its four major towns, providing primary education to students through Irish. Westport railway station
20750-456: The potato crop for their sustenance. Disaster struck in August 1845, when a killer fungus (later diagnosed as Phytophthora infestans) started to destroy the potato crop. When widespread famine struck, about a million people died and a further million left the country. People died in the fields of starvation and disease. The catastrophe was particularly bad in County Mayo, where nearly ninety per cent of
20916-555: The present day, 'Donnchadh an Rópa' (Denis of the Rope). In the 18th century and early 19th century, sectarian tensions arose as evangelical Protestant missionaries sought to 'redeem the Irish poor from the errors of Popery'. One of the best known was the Rev. Edward Nangle 's mission at Dugort in Achill . These too were the years of the campaign for Catholic Emancipation and, later, for the abolition of
21082-473: The reign of Queen Mary in the mid-16th century and continued throughout the long reign of Queen Elizabeth I until 1603. By then the term County Mayo had come into use. In the summer of 1588, the galleons of the Spanish Armada were wrecked by storms along the west coast of Ireland. Some of the hapless Spaniards came ashore in Mayo, only to be robbed and imprisoned, and in many cases slaughtered. Almost all
21248-403: The relief effort. Nonetheless, the need for assistance was still apparent, and the Association used its residual funds to help 22 Poor law unions in Ireland. For over eight months approximately 200,000 children in Ireland were provided with free rations of food on a daily basis, and were also given clothing. By July 1848 the British Relief Association's funds were entirely depleted, and the scheme
21414-673: The religious foundations set up by the Anglo-Normans were suppressed in the wake of the Reformation in the 16th century. Protestant settlers from Scotland , England , and elsewhere in Ireland, settled in the County in the early 17th century. Many would be killed or forced to flee because of the 1641 Rebellion , during which a number of massacres were committed by the Catholic Gaelic Irish, most notably at Shrule in 1642. A third of
21580-509: The repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846—ending the tariff on imported grain that kept prices high for the landed aristocracy. Repeal was heavily promoted by the Anti-Corn Law League , grass roots activists led by Richard Cobden and based in the industrial cities; they demanded cheap food. There were a series of reforms of the electoral laws, expanding the number of male voters and reducing the level of corruption. The reactionary Tory element
21746-449: The seats but were still significantly underrepresented in Parliament. The 1831–1832 battle over parliamentary reform was, "a year probably unmatched in English history for the sweep and intensity of its excitement." Every few years an incremental enlargement of the electorate was made by Parliament, reaching practically all male voters by the 1880s, and all the women by 1928. Both parties introduced paid professional organisers who supervised
21912-509: The second half of the nineteenth century, the Imperial government granted increasing levels of autonomy to locally elected governments in colonies where white settlers had become demographically or politically dominant, with this process eventually resulting in Canada , Australia , New Zealand , Newfoundland and South Africa becoming self-governing dominions . While these dominions remained part of
22078-549: The sides of hills. Many roads and lanes were built as famine relief measures. There were nine workhouses in the county: Ballina, Ballinrobe, Belmullet, Castlebar, Claremorris, Killala, Newport, Swinford and Westport. A small poverty-stricken place called Knock , County Mayo, made headlines when it was announced that an apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Joseph and St. John had taken place there on 21 August 1879, witnessed by fifteen local people. A national movement
22244-553: The south of the county: North Mayo South Mayo According to the 2022 census: A survey of the terrestrial and freshwater algae of Clare Island was made between 1990 and 2005 and published in 2007. A record of Gunnera tinctoria is also noted. Consultants working for the Corrib gas project have carried out extensive surveys of wildlife flora and fauna in Kilcommon Parish, Erris between 2002 and 2009. This information
22410-415: The start of the 21st century, the balance of power in Mayo began to shift towards Fine Gael, thanks in part to the emergence of Enda Kenny and Michael Ring . Kenny, who became Taoiseach in 2011, led Fine Gael to a historic victory in the 2011 Irish general election which included securing four out of five available seats for his party in Mayo. In 2020, Rose Conway-Walsh came within 200 votes of topping
22576-478: The tenants. The "Land Question" was gradually resolved by a scheme of state-aided land purchase schemes. The tenants became the owners of their lands under the newly set-up Land Commission . A Mayo nun, Mother Agnes Morrogh-Bernard , set up the Foxford Woollen Mill in 1892. She made Foxford synonymous throughout the world with high-quality tweeds, rugs and blankets. Mayo, as all parts of what became
22742-532: The tithes, which a predominately Catholic population was forced to pay for the upkeep of the clergy of the Established (Protestant) Church. During the early years of the 19th century, famine was a common occurrence, particularly where population pressure was a problem. The population of Ireland grew to over eight million people prior to the Irish Famine (or Great Famine) of 1845–47. The Irish people depended on
22908-457: The upper house. Wellington's success was based on the 44 peers elected from Scotland and Ireland, whose election he controlled. Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey had promoted reform of Parliament since the 1790s, always to be defeated by the Ultra-Tories. The breakthrough came in his success in passage of the Reform Act of 1832. He sought this as the final step of reform, rather than a first step in
23074-570: The vote and the right to sit in Parliament. That happened in 1829 using Whig support. Passage demonstrated that the veto power long held by the ultra-Tories no longer was operational, and significant reforms were now possible across the board. The stage was set for the Age of Reform. The era of reform came in a time of peace, guaranteed in considerable part by the overwhelming power of the Royal Navy. Britain engaged in only one serious war between 1815 and 1914,
23240-433: The vote in 1867. The aristocracy continued to dominate the Church of England, the most prestigious military and naval posts, and high society, but not business, industry or finance. In terms of national governmental policy, the democratic wishes of the entire people had become decisive. Most historians emphasise the central importance of the legislation of the 1830s–60s, although there was a dissenting minority of scholars in
23406-521: The war, Britain agreed to return most of the territories it had seized. The peace settlement was in effect only a ceasefire, and Napoleon continued to provoke the British by attempting a trade embargo on the country and by occupying the city of Hanover , capital of the Electorate , a German-speaking duchy of the Holy Roman Empire which was in a personal union with the United Kingdom. In May 1803, war
23572-520: The war. When Napoleon surrendered for the first time in 1814, three separate forces were sent to attack the Americans in upstate New York , along the Maryland coast (burning Washington but getting repulsed at Baltimore ), and up the Mississippi River to a massive defeat at the Battle of New Orleans . Each operation proved a failure with the British commanding generals killed or in disgrace. The war
23738-542: Was Presbyterian ), They proclaimed a devotion to hard work, temperance, frugality and upward mobility, with which historians today largely agree. A major Unitarian magazine, the Christian Monthly Repository asserted in 1827: The Nonconformists suffered under a series of disabilities, some of which were symbolic and others were painful, and they were all deliberately imposed to weaken the dissenting challenge to Anglican orthodoxy. The Nonconformists allied with
23904-568: Was Robert Peel , who suddenly reversed himself on the Catholic issue and was roundly denounced and permanently distrusted by the Ultra Tory faction of die-hards. Earl Grey , prime minister from 1830 to 1834, and his rejuvenated Whig Party enacted a series of major reforms: the poor law was updated, child labour restricted and, most important, the Reform Act 1832 refashioned the British electoral system. In 1832 Parliament abolished slavery in
24070-460: Was a coalition of diverse interests, so in 1834 when it divided over the Irish church question he resigned. Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston played the dominant role in shaping British foreign-policy as Foreign Secretary (1830–1834, 1835–1841 and 1846–1851) and as prime minister (1855–1858, 1859–1865). He served as Secretary at War in Tory governments for two decades, but switched over to
24236-492: Was a deeply unpopular playboy. When he tried to get Parliament to pass a law allowing him to divorce his wife Queen Caroline , public opinion strongly supported her. After four decades of rule by Pittites and Tories the first breakthrough in reform came in the removal by a Tory government of restrictions on the careers of Protestant Nonconformists in the repeal in 1828 of the laws that required Anglican church membership for many academic and government positions. Much more intense
24402-471: Was a leading promoter of utilitarianism as a working philosophy of action. The "greatest happiness principle", or the principle of utility , forms the cornerstone of Bentham's thought. By "happiness", he understood a predominance of "pleasure" over "pain". He is best known for his inspiration of the radical forces, helping them define those reforms that were most urgently needed and how they could be implemented. His intellectual leadership helped achieve many of
24568-809: Was a necessity for the rapidly growing industrial cities still labouring under a hodgepodge of centuries-old laws and traditions. When Peel took over the Home Office , he abolished the espionage and cruel punishments, ended the death penalty for most crimes, and inaugurated the first system of professional police —who in London to this day are still called "Bobbies" in his honour. The Municipal Corporations Act 1835 modernised urban government, which previously had been controlled by closed bodies dominated by Tories. Over 200 old corporations were abolished and replaced with 179 elected borough councils . Elections were to be based on registered voters, city finances had to be audited in
24734-452: Was a stalemate without purpose. A negotiated peace was reached at the end of 1814 that restored the prewar boundaries. British Canada celebrated its deliverance from American rule, Americans celebrated victory in a "second war of independence," and Britain celebrated its defeat of Napoleon. The treaty opened up two centuries of peace and open borders. Britain emerged from the Napoleonic Wars a very different country than it had been in 1793. As
24900-405: Was about 10%, the lowest in any modern nation. Foreign policy became moralistic and hostile to the reactionary powers on the continent, teaming up with the United States to block European colonialism in the New World through the Monroe Doctrine of 1823. Slavery was abolished throughout the British Empire. The Royal Navy stepped up efforts to stop international trade in slaves. Municipal reform
25066-424: Was always mistaken. He opposed wars and imperialism. His unremitting hostility to the Crimean war led to his defeat for reelection in 1857. He was soon reelected from Birmingham, leading a national campaign for parliamentary reform to enlarge the suffrage to reach the working man. He was intensely moralistic and distrusted the integrity of his opponents. He loathed the aristocracy that continued to rule Britain. He held
25232-445: Was an era of rapid economic modernisation and growth of industry, trade and finance, in which Britain largely dominated the world economy. Outward migration was heavy to the principal British overseas possessions and to the United States. With respect to other powers, the British remained non-aligned until the early 20th century when the growing naval power of the German Empire increasingly came to be seen as an existential threat to
25398-406: Was closely linked to the Church of England , and expressed its strong hostility toward Catholics and nonconformist Protestants by restricting their political and civil rights. The Catholic started to organise in Ireland, threatening instability or even civil war, and the moderates in Parliament emancipated them. The Nonconformists were similarly freed from their restrictions. In addition to reforms at
25564-405: Was declared again. Napoleon's plans to invade Great Britain failed, chiefly due to the inferiority of his navy, and in 1805 a Royal Navy fleet led by Nelson decisively defeated the French Imperial Navy and Royal Spanish Navy at Trafalgar , which was the last significant naval action of the Napoleonic Wars. In 1806, Napoleon issued the series of Berlin Decrees , which brought into effect
25730-553: Was expanded into most parts of Africa and much of South Asia. The Colonial Office and India Office ruled through a small number of administrators who managed the units of the empire locally, while local institutions began to develop. British India , by far the most important overseas possession, saw a short-lived revolt in 1857. In overseas policy, the central policy was free trade , which enabled British financiers and merchants to operate successfully in many otherwise independent countries, as in South America. Beginning in earnest in
25896-527: Was felt just as keenly across Mayo, and as the 19th century approached and news reached Ireland about the American War of Independence and the French Revolution , the downtrodden Irish, constantly suppressed by Government policies and decisions from Dublin and London, began to rally themselves for their own stand against British rule in their country. 1798 saw Mayo become a central part of the United Irishmen Rebellion when General Humbert from France landed in Killala with over 1,000 soldiers playing to support
26062-407: Was finally shut down. In Scotland, the Association's assistance was organised by the Earl of Dalhousie and Lord Kinnaird. In total, approximately £500,000 (equivalent to around £52.26 million in 2019) was raised by the British Relief Association. Over 15,000 individual contributions were sent to the BRA secretariat, each of which was carefully noted in the committee's records. The first donation
26228-474: Was initiated in County Mayo during 1879 by Michael Davitt , James Daly , and others, which brought about a major social change in Ireland. Michael Davitt, a labourer whose family had moved to England joined forces with Charles Stewart Parnell to win back the land for the people from the landlords and stop evictions for non-payment of rents. The organisation became known as the Irish National Land League , and its struggle to win rights for poor farmers in Ireland
26394-512: Was known as the Land War . It was in this era of agrarian unrest that a new verb was introduced to the English language by Mayo - "to boycott ". Charles Boycott was an English landlord deeply unpopular with his tenants. When Charles Steward Parnell made a speech in Ennis , County Clare , urging nonviolent resistance against landlords, his tactics were enthusiastically taken in Mayo against Boycott. The entire Catholic community around Lough Mask in South Mayo where Boycott had his estate became
26560-450: Was one of the counties most depopulated by emigration in the ninetieth and twentieth century. Initially triggered by starvation during the Great Famine , the population fell from 388,887 to 274,830 between 1841 and 1851. Then in search of work in the newly industrialising United Kingdom and the United States, the population plummeted from 388,887 in 1841 to 199,166 in 1901. It reached a low of 109,525 in 1971. Emigration slowed dramatically as
26726-415: Was reassembled under the banner of the Conservative Party. Numerous Tories, such as Lord Palmerston , switched over to the Whig opposition, and it became the Liberal Party . Constitutionally, the 1830s marks a watershed: the end of Crown control over the cabinet. King William IV in 1834 was obliged to accept a Prime Minister who had a majority in Parliament, and the Crown ever since has gone along with
26892-511: Was reduced based on the county's current population in line with proportional representation . The electoral divisions of Cong, Dalgan, Houndswood, Kilmaine, Neale, Shrule, in the former Rural District of Ballinrobe, are in Galway West . Historically, Mayo has tended to vote Fianna Fáil , as Fianna Fáil managed to position themselves in the 20th century as the party best fit to represent farmers with small holdings, who were plentiful in Mayo. With so many of Mayo's electorate being small farmers,
27058-459: Was sent by the Bombay Relief Committee, which had raised £10,177. United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the union of the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland into one sovereign state , established by the Acts of Union in 1801. It continued in this form for over a century. In 1927, it evolved into the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland , after
27224-532: Was the immediate repeal of the hated laws. Wellington and Peel originally were opposed, but then tried to compromise. They finally gave, splitting the Tory party, and signaling that the once unstoppable power of the Anglican establishment was now unexpectedly fragile and vulnerable to challenge. Three men shaped British foreign policy from 1810 to 1860, with only a few interruptions, Viscount Castlereagh (especially 1812–1822). George Canning (especially 1807–1829) and Viscount Palmerston (especially 1830–1865). For
27390-414: Was the long battle over the civil rights of Roman Catholics. Catholic emancipation came in 1829, which removed the most substantial restrictions on Roman Catholics in Great Britain and Ireland. The Duke of Wellington, as Tory prime minister, decided that the surging crisis in largely Catholic Ireland necessitated some relief for the Catholics, although he had long opposed the idea. The other main Tory leader
27556-400: Was the unexpected repeal of the many restrictions on Catholics, after widespread organised protest by the Catholic Association in Ireland under Daniel O'Connell , with support from Catholics in England . Robert Peel was alarmed at the strength of the Catholic Association, warning in 1824, "We cannot tamely sit by while the danger is hourly increasing, while a power co-ordinate with that of
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