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113-568: Since the 1870s a Land War had been waged incessantly by tenant farmers in Ireland against their gentry landlords mainly due to rack-renting , evictions and depressed economic conditions. The United Kingdom Government tried to alleviate tensions by introducing several Irish Land Acts which only partly relieved the situation. At the turn of the century the United Irish League , founded in 1898, intensified agrarian agitations and pressure on

226-554: A "defence fund" for legal representation in eviction cases and support for evicted families. Rent strikes could also be effected in a Slowdown way, with paying a fraction now and promising more next week while making oneself unavailable, it could include obstacles for rent collectors, re-occupation of farms rented by evicted defaulters, etc. The Meaghers of Kilbury are credited as the inventors of this kind of tactics when they practiced it in January 1880. Contemporary opponents argued that

339-631: A continued increase. In April 1882 Parnell moved to make a deal with the government. The settlement, known as the Kilmainham Treaty , involved withdrawing the manifesto and undertaking to move against agrarian crime. By 2 May all internees were released from jail, Davitt on 6 May, the day of the Phoenix Park Murders . With the Land League still suppressed, Parnell resurrected it with much ceremony together with Davitt on 17 October, proclaimed as

452-535: A deal which became known as the New Departure . As a result of this agreement, the physical-force and parliamentary wings of Irish nationalism agreed to work together on the land issue. This collaboration was cemented by a meeting on 1 June 1879 in Dublin between Devoy, Parnell, and Michael Davitt . It is disputed what was actually agreed to. Davitt maintained that there was no formal agreement, while Devoy claimed that

565-502: A defeat for the small farmers; besides "a legacy of bitterness and cynicism in Connaught", the main effect of their campaign was to show how Irish nationalism had become a bourgeois movement, including many large graziers. By the Irish War of Independence (1918–1922) about half a million people were occupying uneconomic smallholdings, mostly in the west of Ireland. In addition, veterans of

678-438: A different constellation in 1909 as O’Brien’s All-for-Ireland League . The Dunraven group had their own Irish patriotism, seeing home rule was inevitable. But they were atypical of their caste and never came to terms with the mass politics driving Irish nationalism and Ulster Unionism. Land War The Land War ( Irish : Cogadh na Talún ) was a period of agrarian agitation in rural Ireland (then wholly part of

791-434: A foreign system of land tenure upon it. Nominally, the Land League condemned large-scale grazing as improper use of land that rightfully belonged to tillage farmers. As investment in grazing land was the main vehicle of upward mobility for rural Catholics, the new Catholic grazier class was torn between its natural allegiance to Irish nationalism and its economic dependence on landlords to rent land for grazing. Many sided with

904-415: A nationalist candidate for a by-election to Wexford in 1880 following the death of William Archer Redmond , against John Redmond , the son of the deceased MP. After John Redmond stood aside, Healy was returned unopposed to parliament. In parliament, Healy did not physically cut an imposing figure but impressed by the application of sheer intelligence, diligence and volatile use of speech when he achieved

1017-668: A new conference to deal with the west, with evicted tenants, a Labourers' Bill and improved finances of the Wyndham act. O'Brien called on the Irish Party to confer with them, Dillon describing this as subordinating the party to Dunraven and Healy, the Association then fading from the political scene after the failure of the Irish Council Bill which O'Brien viewed as a step in the right direction, or "Home Rule by instalments", to reappear in

1130-543: A new non-violent moral tactic against those taking over the land of evicted tenants. Parnell gave a speech in Ennis in 1889, proposing that when dealing with such tenants, rather than resorting to violence, everyone in the locality should instead shun them. This tactic was then widened to landowners. The term "boycott" was coined later that year following the successful campaign against County Mayo land agent Charles Boycott . The concerted action taken against him meant that Boycott

1243-546: A new organisation called the Irish National League . Preceded by economic difficulties due to droughts in 1884 and 1887 as well as industrial depression in England causing shrinking markets, the 1886–1891 Plan of Campaign was a more focused version of agitation and rent strikes. Tenants on an estate would meet and decide on what was a fair rent to pay their landlord, even though rents had already been judicially fixed by

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1356-572: A reduction in rent from the landlords which became known as the Plan of Campaign , organised in 1886 amongst others by Timothy Harrington . Initially a passionate supporter of Parnell, he became disenchanted with his leader after Healy opposed Parnell's nomination of Captain William O'Shea to stand for a by-election in Galway city . At the time O'Shea was separated from his wife, Katharine O'Shea , with whom Parnell

1469-621: A role of non-productive managers within the island's overall economy. Conflict between landlords and tenants arose from opposing viewpoints on such issues as land consolidation , security of tenure , transition from tillage to grazing , and the role of the market. The Irish nationalist politician Isaac Butt pointed out the fact that Catholic Irish were tenants was worse than "the heaviest yoke of feudal servitude". The Devon Commission of 1843–44 found that various forms of tenant right were practiced throughout Ireland, not just in Ulster . There

1582-500: A scheme on the possible extension of the principle of self-government for Ireland. On 31 August 1904 the Reform Association released a preliminary report calling for the devolution of larger powers of local government for Ireland. This was followed by a publication on 26 September outlining a scheme foreseeing administrative control over Irish finances by a partly elected authority to promote bills for purely Irish purposes. When with

1695-411: A storm broke loose. Wyndham publicly denied knowledge of the scheme and disavowed Home Rule in any guise, though MacDonnell let it be known that he had informed him. Wyndham later claimed he mislaid his letter. The whole matter developed into the "Devolution Crisis of 1904–5", a complex affair, involving political intrigue and personal drama. The reports became quickly less significant than the scandal that

1808-423: A tenant had been evicted, and purchasing their holding under the 1885 Ashbourne Act . Other forbidden actions included "participating in evictions, fraternizing with, or entering into, commerce with anyone who did; or working for, hiring, letting land from, or socializing with, boycotted person". Tribunals were typically led by the leaders of local chapters, holding open proceedings with a common law procedure. This

1921-567: Is likely that Wyndham tacitly encouraged the debate on devolution in August, and it is possible that he even involved Tim Healy MP in an effort to broaden the reformists base. Both the mainstream Conservative Party and the Ulster Unionists for whom the Association was a Trojan Horse for home rule, sensed political treachery, the Irish party held outside the centrist consultations. John Dillon MP,

2034-502: The 1880 general election due to clerical opposition. On 21 October 1879, the land League of Mayo was superseded by the Irish National Land League based in Dublin, with Parnell made its president. As the land agitation progressed, it was taken over by larger farmers and the centre of gravity shifted away from the distressed western districts. In Mayo, the autumn potato harvest was only 1.4 tons per acre, less than half of

2147-654: The Anti-Treaty side in the following Irish Civil War . In the Irish Free State , their grievances fueled the Fianna Fáil party and led to the Land Acts of 1923 and 1933, which caused the "dramatic redistribution" of large farms and estates to smallholders and the landless. Some of the Land League's local branches established arbitration courts in 1880 and 1881, which were explicitly modelled on British courts. Typically,

2260-471: The December 1910 election when defeated by Richard Hazleton ). He waged war during the 1890s with Dillon and his National Federation (INF) and then intrigued with Redmond's smaller Parnellite group to play a substantial role behind the scenes in helping the rival party factions to reunite under Redmond in 1900. Healy was extremely embittered by the fact that both his brothers and his followers were purged from

2373-639: The Dáil Courts would be guilty of professional misconduct. This was challenged by Tim Healy and no final decision was made on the matter. Before the December 1918 general election , he was the first of the AFIL members to resign his seat in favour of the Sinn Féin party's candidate, and spoke in support of P. J. Little , the Sinn Féin candidate for Rathmines in Dublin. He returned to considerable prominence in 1922 when, on

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2486-576: The Earl of Dunraven , who had been the presiding genius of the Land Conference and of that triumph of conciliation. Many were moderate southern supporters of the Irish Unionist Alliance . It immediately issued a manifesto proclaiming "a policy of conciliation, of good will and of reform" by means of "a union of all moderate and progressive opinion irrespective of creed or class animosities" with

2599-512: The Great Famine , rises in agricultural prices were not matched by rent increases, leading to an increase in the tenant's stake in the farm, which may have risen to as much as 10–20 years of rent. The existence of tenant right was accepted by creditors who would extend loans with the tenant right as collateral. During the Great Famine (1845–1849), the poorest cottiers and agricultural labourers died or were forced to emigrate, freeing up land that

2712-589: The Healy Clause in the Land Law (Ireland) Act 1881 which provided that no further rent should in future be charged on tenant's improvements. By the mid-1880s Healy had already acquired a reputation for a scurrilousness of tone. He married his cousin Eliza Sullivan in 1882, they had three daughters and three sons and he enjoyed a happy and intense family life, closely interlinked both by friendship and intermarriage with

2825-572: The Irish Boundary Commission (1924-25) which determined the border between the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland , Healy made clear his opinion on how the border should be determined: The requirement of the Treaty that the Boundary should be determined in accordance with the wishes of the inhabitants subject to the other conditions therein mentioned, renders it necessary that the wishes of

2938-573: The Irish Crown Jewels . By the 1910s, it looked as though Healy was to remain a maverick on the fringes of Irish nationalism. However, he came into notoriety once more when returned in the January 1910 general election in alliance with William O'Brien's newly founded All-for-Ireland Party (AFIL), their alliance based largely on common opposition to the Irish party. He lost his seat in the following December 1910 election , but soon afterwards rejoined

3051-519: The Irish Volunteers and first Irish Republican Army had been promised land in exchange for their service. In 1919–1920, a wave of land seizures took place in western Ireland, and in 1920 agrarian crimes were recorded at their highest level since 1882. When their hopes for acquiring more land were dashed by the fact that the Anglo-Irish Treaty made no mention of the land issue, many joined

3164-599: The Landlord and Tenant (Ireland) Act 1870 . The act actually increased agrarian tensions, as landlords attempted to evade provisions intended to protect departing tenants, while the tenants retaliated by setting up local Tenants' Defence Associations . One such the Route Tenants' Defence Association , was however hostile towards the League. Agrarian crimes were rising during the late 1870s, from 135 in 1875 to 236 two years later. At

3277-517: The League could not possibly exist". The land question in Ireland was ultimately defused by a series of Irish Land Acts , beginning in 1870 with rent reform, establishing the Land Commission in 1881, and providing for judicial reviews to certify fair rents. The Ashbourne Act of 1885 started a limited process of allowing tenant farmers to buy their freeholds , which was greatly extended following

3390-704: The Marquess of Sligo , the largest landowner in Mayo; Davitt persuaded Parnell to speak and 8,000 people turned out. Parnell went on with the engagement even after John MacHale , Archbishop of Tuam , denounced the meeting in a 7 June letter to The Freeman's Journal . Parnell also wanted to prevent the new movement's capture by Fenian radicals, as the latter were unacceptable to the Catholic clergy and to larger tenants, on whose support Parnell depended. This meeting, especially Parnell's speech in which he promoted peasant proprietorship,

3503-595: The North Eastern Railway Company in Newcastle-upon-Tyne . There he became deeply involved in the Irish Home Rule politics of the local Irish community. After leaving for London in 1878 Healy worked as a confidential clerk in a factory owned by his relative, then worked as a parliamentary correspondent for The Nation newspaper owned by his uncle, writing numerous articles in support of Parnell,

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3616-763: The Sacred Congregation for Propaganda . In 1887 the Criminal Law and Procedure (Ireland) Act 1887 was passed to deal with the offenses surrounding the Campaign. After the 1881 and 1885 Land Reform Acts (see below), many Tory press commentators described the Plan of Campaign as an opportunistic and cynical method of revenge following the division of the Liberal Party and the rejection of the first Irish Home Rule Bill in June 1886. It

3729-668: The Ulster Unionist Council , later important in organising unionist resistance to the Government of Ireland Act 1914 . O'Brien remained firmly convinced that the only way forward to achieving All-Ireland self-government lay in co-operation with the Dunraven reformists. In September 1905 when his newspaper The Irish People reappeared it carried in its second number the manifesto of the Irish Reform Association, calling for

3842-581: The Union , the Land Purchase (Ireland) Act 1903 . This Act set the conditions for the break-up of large estates by government-sponsored purchase. Alongside the political and legal changes, the " Long Depression " affected rent yields and landlord-tenant relations across all of Europe from the 1870s to the 1890s. The population of Ireland was overwhelmingly rural; in 1841, four-fifths of the population lived in hamlets smaller than 20 houses. This ratio declined over

3955-434: The United Irish League , and aimed to secure fair rent, free sale, and fixity of tenure for tenant farmers and ultimately peasant proprietorship of the land they worked. From 1870, various governments introduced a series of Land Acts that granted many of the activists' demands. William O'Brien played a leading role in the 1902 Land Conference to pave the way for the most advanced social legislation in Ireland since

4068-464: The United Kingdom ) that began in 1879. It may refer specifically to the first and most intense period of agitation between 1879 and 1882, or include later outbreaks of agitation that periodically reignited until 1923, especially the 1886–1891 Plan of Campaign and the 1906–1909 Ranch War . The agitation was led by the Irish National Land League and its successors, the Irish National League and

4181-644: The Viceregal Lodge , the former 'out of season' residence of the Lord Lieutenant , the former representative of the Crown until 1922. Healy officially entered office as Governor-General on 6 December 1922. He never wore, certainly not in public in Ireland, the official ceremonial uniform of a Governor-General in the British Empire . At that time, in the 1920s, Healy was unique amongst viceregal representatives in

4294-416: The 1885 act. They would offer to pay the lower rent, and if it was refused, would instead pay it to the Plan of Campaign fund. These rent strikes targeted the most heavily indebted and financially insecure landlords, who faced a choice between immediate bankruptcy and accepting a lower income. Lord Clanricarde had evicted many tenants and became the main target. Given the extended franchise allowed in 1884 ,

4407-420: The 1902 Land Conference , by the Land Purchase (Ireland) Act 1903 . Augustine Birrel 's Act of 1909 allowed for compulsory purchase , and also allowed the purchase and division of untenanted land that was being directly farmed by the owners. These Acts allowed tenants first to attain extensive property rights on their leaseholdings and then to purchase their land off their landlords via UK government loans and

4520-790: The Act and were imprisoned in October 1881 in Kilmainham Jail , together with other prominent members of the League, under the Irish Coercion Act . While in jail, they issued the No Rent Manifesto , calling for a national tenant farmer rent strike until their release. Finally, on 20 October the Government moved to suppress the Land League. A genuine No Rent campaign was virtually impossible to organise, and many tenants were more interested in "putting

4633-720: The Association blocked the advance of the Nationalist cause. The diehard Unionists of Ulster were also against the scheme – "worse than Home Rule of the Gladstone type, or Repeal of the Union ", said Sir Edward Carson MP. The head of the Civil Service in Dublin Castle , Sir Anthony MacDonnell , a Mayo Catholic originally appointed by Wyndham, anxious to do something for Ireland, helped Dunraven's group at his invitation and began to draft

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4746-638: The British Empire in this regard. Healy was also unique (along with his successor, James McNeill ) amongst all the Governors-General in the British Empire in the 1920s in that he was never sworn in as a member of the Imperial Privy Council . Nor was he ever sworn into the Privy Council of Ireland , a body that ceased to exist in early December 1922. Thus, unusually for a Governor-General within

4859-558: The Catholic hierarchy. From September, priests quickly assumed leadership roles in the movement and presided over more than two thirds of the meetings in the rest of 1879. The movement continued to gain strength as the economic situation deteriorated. Involvement of the clergy made it much more difficult for the British government to take action against the movement, which instilled "almost perfect unity" among Irish tenant farmers. In several constituencies, Land League-backed candidates failed in

4972-705: The Conference. O'Brien resigned from the Irish Parliamentary Party in November 1903, claiming he was making no headway with his policy of conciliation. O'Brien's defiance of the party encouraged the landlord 'Land Conference Committee' to summon a meeting in Dublin early in 1904 attended by three hundred of the leading Irish gentry and landlords who resolved themselves into the Irish Reform Association , led by

5085-571: The Empire, he never gained the prefix ' The Right Honourable ' nor the post-nominals ' PC '. Healy proved an able Governor-General, possessing a degree of political skill, deep political insight and contacts in Britain that the new Irish Government initially lacked, and had long recommended himself to the Catholic Hierarchy : all-round good credentials for this key symbolic and reconciling position at

5198-450: The Healy brothers supported the Allied and the British war effort. Two had a son enlist in one of the Irish divisions , Timothy's eldest son, Joe, fought with distinction at Gallipoli . Having done much to damage the popular image and authority of constitutional nationalism, Healy after the Easter Rising was convinced that the IPP and Redmond were doomed and slowly withdrew from the forefront of politics, making it clear in 1917 that he

5311-565: The IPP had promised not to act against the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) and made other concessions in exchange for Irish-American support. The west of Ireland was hit by the 1879 famine , a combination of heavy rains, poor yields and low prices that brought widespread hunger and deprivation. Compounded by the reduction in opportunities for outside income, especially seasonal agricultural income in Great Britain, many smallholders were faced with hunger and unable to pay their rent. Some landlords offered rent abatement, while others refused on

5424-488: The IPP had to gain credibility with the larger number of new voters, choosing the most numerous Irish group: the low-to-middle-income rural electorate. Most IPP members were Catholic, and appealed to Rome for moral support. So did the government, and the Vatican issued a Papal Rescript followed by an encyclical " Saepe Nos " in 1888, condemning the activities of the Land League, particularly boycotting. Saepe Nos also claimed to extend and clarify an earlier similar ruling by

5537-539: The IPP list in the 1900 general election, and that his support for Redmond in the re-united party went unrewarded; on the contrary, Redmond soon found it wiser to conciliate Dillon. But two years later Healy was again expelled. He remained "the enemy within", recruiting malcontent MPs to harass the party and survived politically by dint of his assiduous constituency work, as well as through the influence of his clerical ally Dr. Michael Cardinal Logue , Primate of All Ireland and Archbishop of Armagh . Healy remained rooted in

5650-449: The IPP's anti-Parnellite majority group broke away forming the Irish National Federation (INF) under John Dillon . Healy was at first its most outspoken member, when in 1892 he won North Louth as an anti-Parnellites, who in all won seventy-one seats. But finding it impossible to work with or under any post-Parnell leadership, especially Dillon's, he was expelled in 1895 from the INF executive committee, having previously been expelled from

5763-440: The IRB council refused to sanction agrarian activism. Speakers included John O'Connor Power MP, Fenian Thomas Brennan , Glasgow-based activist John Ferguson , and Daly. Local Fenians organised meetings, at Claremorris on 25 May with 200 attendees and Knock on 1 June with a reported 20,000–30,000 turnout, in protest of the Church's position. Another meeting was held in Westport, County Mayo on 8 June, in protest against

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5876-479: The Irish party deputy leader, who believed that the party could maintain its hold upon the country only if it remained pledged absolutely to Home Rule, and those other nationalists such as Michael Davitt , who thought like him, had taken to the field against what Dillon called 'Dunraven and his crowd', and savagely repelled his movement towards a national unity that would embrace all classes and creeds, Joe Devlin MP telling his constituents "they were not going to seek

5989-414: The Irish party's minor nine-member pro-Parnellite Irish National League (INL) under John Redmond . In the following decades, largely due to his expanding legal practice, he became a part-time politician and estranged from the national movement, setting up his own personal 'Healyite' organisation , called the "People's Rights Association", based on his position as MP for North Louth (a seat he held until

6102-462: The Irish people never forgave him for his role during the divorce crisis, permanently damaging his own standing in public life. The rift prompted nine-year-old Dublin schoolboy James Joyce to write a poem called Et Tu, Healy? , which Joyce's father had printed and circulated. Only three lines remain: His quaint-perched aerie on the crags of Time Where the rude din of this century Can trouble him no more. Following Parnell's death in 1891,

6215-399: The King. The constitution was enacted in December 1922. Healy was the uncle of Kevin O'Higgins , the Vice-President of the Executive Council and Minister for Justice in the new Free State. Initially, the Government of the Irish Free State under Cosgrave wished for Healy to reside in a new small residence, but, facing death threats from the IRA , he was moved as a temporary measure into

6328-466: The Land Act to the test". It further seemed that the Coercion Act, instead of banishing agrarian crime, had only intensified it. Although the League discouraged violence, agrarian crimes increased widely. For the ten months before the Land Act was passed (March–December 1880), the number of "outrages" were 2,379, but in the corresponding period of 1881 with the Act in full operation the numbers were 3,821. The figures to March 1882, with Parnell in jail, showed

6441-514: The Land Acts were not the only factor causing this redistribution; the Great War and conflict during the Irish revolutionary period also facilitated the selling of land. Land agitators came to see the reforms they sought as a panacea for rural Ireland's ills. In fact, emigration and economic disadvantage continued apace, while the greatest beneficiaries of land reform were the middle class of medium farmers. Timothy Michael Healy Timothy Michael Healy , KC (17 May 1855 – 26 March 1931)

6554-442: The Land Commission. The 1903 Act gave Irish tenant farmers a government-sponsored right to buy, which is still not available in Great Britain today. The success of the Land Acts in reducing the concentration of land ownership is indicated by the fact that in 1870, only 3% of Irish farmers owned their own land while 97% were tenants. By 1929, this ratio had been reversed with 97.4% of farmers holding their farms in freehold. However,

6667-408: The Land League because of the greater financial resources offered; this brought larger farmers and graziers into the movement. The league adopted the slogan "the land for the people", which was vague enough to be acceptable to Irish nationalists across the political spectrum. For most of the tenant farmers, the slogan meant owning their own land. For smallholders on uneconomic holdings, especially in

6780-456: The Land League, creating a mixed-class body whose actual economic interests conflicted. This further consolidated the nationalist nature of the Land League. The government set up the Land Commission in 1881 with quasi-judicial powers that eventually enabled most tenant farmers to buy freehold interests in their land. After the general election of April 1880 with the Land War still raging, Parnell believed then that supporting land agitation

6893-470: The Land War amounted to an "organised campaign of terrorism". In his biography of Michael Davitt, T. W. Moody acknowledged that the crime resulted from the Land League's militancy, but argued that statistics disprove the idea that the Land League maintained a "reign of terror". The most common type of agrarian offence was the sending of threatening letters. Davitt and other Land League leaders denounced agrarian crime in strong language, and local chapters of

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7006-451: The National League passed many resolutions against it. However, the organisations were not in control of their rank-and-file. Between 1879 and in 1881, crimes related to the Land War rose from 25% to 58% of all crime in Ireland, without the leaders calling for an end to the agitation. Only 16 percent of agrarian crimes led to arrests, much less than the 50% rate for non-agrarian offences. Gladstone believed that escalating crimes were proof of

7119-436: The O'Brienites, O’Brien providing the 1911 north-east Cork by-election vacancy created by the retirement of Moreton Frewen . Healy's reputation was not enhanced when he represented as counsel his associate William Martin Murphy, the industrialist who sparked the 1913 Dublin Lockout . Healy assiduously cultivated relationships with power brokers in Westminster such as Lord Beaverbrook , and once they were introduced at Cherkley,

7232-512: The Sullivans of west Cork. Through his reputation as a friend of the farmers, after having been imprisoned for four months following an agrarian case, and backed by Parnell, he was elected in a Monaghan by-election in June 1883, deemed to be the climax in the Healy–Parnell relationship. In 1884 he was called to the Irish bar as a barrister (in 1889 to the inner bar as King's Counsel , in London in 1910). His reputation allowed him to build an extensive legal practice, particularly in land cases. He

7345-402: The Unionist administration in Dublin Castle, headed by Wyndham and Dudley, had apparently “gone native” and succumbed to home rule. Dudley made open avowal of his sympathies and wish to see Ireland governed in accordance with Irish ideas. When in fact it actually seemed they had sought to govern Ireland through confidential conversations and so defuse the Home Rule movement. Despite his denials, it

7458-402: The approval of the Lord-Lieutenant , the Earl of Dudley , MacDonnell sponsored this scheme for the devolution of certain domestic affairs to an Irish Council, it heralded high hopes for O'Brien, that Ireland had somehow entered a new era in which 'conference plus business' could replace agitation and parliamentary tactics as a primary strategy for achieving national goals. After the publication

7571-442: The campaign were abandoned on the run-up to the debates on the Second Irish Home Rule Bill in 1893. The IPP was by then divided into the Irish National Federation and the Irish National League over Parnell's divorce crisis. Between 1906 and 1909, smallholders seeking more land launched the Ranch War , demanding the sale of untenanted land owned by landlords and the breakup of large grazing farms. Opponents of ranching highlighted

7684-419: The cases were heard by the executive committee, which would summon both parties, call witnesses, examine evidence presented by the parties, make the judgment and assign a penalty if the code had been broken. Sometimes, juries would be called from the local communities and the plaintiff occasionally acted as prosecutor. Despite the trappings of common-law procedure, American historian Donald Jordan emphasizes that

7797-441: The centre of public life. He joked once that the government didn't advise him, he advised the government: a comment at a dinner for The Duke of York (the future King George VI) that led to public criticism. However, the waspish Healy still could not help courting further controversy, most notably in a public attack on the new Fianna Fáil and its leader, Éamon de Valera , which led to republican calls for his resignation. Much of

7910-431: The century, but only due to emigration from rural areas and not from growth of the towns and cities. Land in Ireland was concentrated into relatively few hands, many of them absentee landlords . In 1870, 50% of the island was owned by 750 families. Between 1850 and 1870, landlords extracted £340 million in rent—far exceeding tax receipts for the same period—of which only 4–5% was reinvested. This led landlords to take on

8023-529: The change it indicated in the attitude towards the national question of a powerful group of moderate Irish Conservatives. He welcomed it particularly for its harmony with his own principles of Conference, Conciliation and Consent. It was, he added, a fresh manifestation of the spirit of national fellowship and co-operation engendered by the Land Conference. Devolution is the Latin for Home Rule happily chimed in T. P. O'Connor MP from London In contrast John Dillon MP and Michael Davitt were wholly in discord, that

8136-599: The co-operation of a few aristocratic nobodies" . In March Wyndham, hounded by Unionist MPs, fell from office for having broken faith in Unionism. He retired in May 1905 driven into political oblivion by a union of angry loyalists and nationalists, including Dillon, which helped to precipitate a schism which lasted the life of the Home Rule movement. Wyndham's successor Walter Long MP pursued tighter administrative enforcement and MacDonnell

8249-462: The congested western areas, it meant being granted larger holdings that their families had held previous to the Great Famine evictions. For radicals such as Michael Davitt, it meant land nationalization. The fusion between land agitation and nationalist politics was based on the idea that the land of Ireland rightfully belonged to the Irish people but had been stolen by English invaders who had foisted

8362-695: The contact between governments in London and Dublin went through Healy. He had access to all sensitive state papers, and received instructions from the British Government on the use of his powers to grant, withhold or refuse the Royal Assent to legislation enacted by the Oireachtas . For instance, Healy was instructed to reject any bill that abolished the Oath of Allegiance . However, neither this nor any other bill that he

8475-439: The crime he has committed... if the population of a county in Ireland carry out this doctrine, that there will be no man ... [who would dare] to transgress your unwritten code of laws. Charles Stewart Parnell , at Ennis meeting, 19 September 1880 One of the Land League's main tactics was the famous boycott , whose target at first was " land grabbers ". Land League speakers including Michael Davitt began to advocate

8588-744: The extended 'Bantry Gang', a highly influential political and commercial nexus based originally in West Cork , which included his key patron, the Catholic business magnate and owner of the Irish Independent , William Martin Murphy , who provided a platform for Healy and other critics of the IPP. However, at least after 1903, Healy was joined in his estrangement from the party leadership by William O'Brien . O’Brien had been for years one of Healy's strongest critics, but now he too felt annoyed both by his own alienation from

8701-597: The fact that many ranches had been created after the famine from land formerly tilled by evicted smallholders. Organised by the United Irish League and Laurence Ginnell , the Ranch War involved cattle drives, public rallies, boycotting, and intimidation. Between August and December 1907 alone, 292 cattle drives were reported to the authorities. It was most intense in areas of Connacht, North and East Leinster and North Munster where large grazing farms and uneconomic smallholdings existed side by side. The campaign resulted in

8814-529: The failure both of his government's policy of coercion and the Land League's No Rent strategy. Agrarian outrages decreased significantly after the founding of the Irish National League in 1882, due to the latter's system of dispute resolution for agrarian issues which imposed boycotting as its most severe punishment. British officials often claimed that the National League's effectiveness was due to

8927-571: The family of Francis Sheehy Skeffington as an observer at the court martial of Captain Bowen-Colthurst, and he participated in the subsequent Royal Commission of Inquiry into the murders at Portobello Barracks. During this time, Healy also represented Georgina Frost , in her attempts to be appointed a Petty Sessions clerk in her native County Clare. In 1920 the Bar Council of Ireland passed an initial resolution that any barrister appearing before

9040-518: The fear of violence from lawless elements if the litigant did not comply. Sociologist Samuel Clark argued that the threat of violence helped the Land League enforce its rulings and silence its enemies. In 1889, the Special Commission on Parnellism and Crime found no links between the IPP and agrarian crime. One British official explained that, while he was certain that the League did not plan or commit crimes, "without outrage and intimidation

9153-590: The first governor-general of the Irish Free State . He was born in Bantry , County Cork , the second son of Maurice Healy, clerk of the Bantry Poor Law Union , and Eliza (née Sullivan) Healy. His elder brother, Thomas Healy (1854–1924), was a solicitor and Member of Parliament (MP) for North Wexford and his younger brother, Maurice Healy (1859–1923), with whom he held a lifelong close relationship,

9266-473: The grounds that their tenants were participating in anti-landlord agitation. Irish historian Paul Bew notes that five of the largest landlords in Connacht also refused to contribute any money to relief funds, despite collecting more than £80,000 annually in rent. According to historians such as William Vaughan and Phillip Bull, the serious agricultural recession combined with a unified nationalist leadership set

9379-572: The inhabitants first be ascertained. Healy seemed to believe that he had been awarded the Governor-Generalship for life. However, the Executive Council of the Irish Free State decided in 1927 that the term of office of Governors-General would be five years. As a result, he retired from the office and public life in January 1928. His wife had died the previous year. He published his extensive two-volume memoirs in 1928. Throughout his life he

9492-483: The landlords. As a consequence a number of leading and progressive landlords proposed to negotiate terms to settle the age old "Irish land question" by calling a Land Conference backed by the Chief Secretary for Ireland George Wyndham . The swift success of the Land Conference resulted in the enactment of the Land Purchase (Ireland) Act 1903 , won by William O'Brien MP, leader of the tenant representation during

9605-407: The meeting, having come from all parts of Mayo and counties Roscommon and Galway . The main issue was rent, which was typically paid in the spring; due to the poor harvest tenants could not afford to pay and many had been threatened with eviction. The crowd was guided and led into position by local Fenians—recruited by Davitt in an earlier trip with help from local IRB leader Pat Nally —even though

9718-447: The newly emergent and more militant home rule leader, and his policy of parliamentary obstructionism . Parnell admired Healy's intelligence and energy after Healy had established himself as part of Parnell's broader political circle. He became Parnell's secretary but was denied contact to Parnell's small inner circle of political colleagues. Parnell, however, brought Healy into the Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP) and supported him as

9831-590: The object of "the devolution to Ireland of a large measure of self-government without disturbing the Parliamentary Union ." Within three days John Redmond MP, who was on a mission pleading Irish American support cabled "The announcement [of the Irish Reform Association] is of the utmost importance. It is simply a declaration for Home Rule and is quite a wonderful thing. With these men with us Home Rule may come at any moment." O'Brien welcomed it for

9944-487: The party and by Redmond's subservience to Dillon. Involved with the Irish Reform Association 1904–5, they entered a loose coalition, which lasted throughout the life of the IPP. They were in agreement that agrarian radicalism brought little return, and with Healy practically becoming a Parnellite, they preferred to pursue a policy of conciliation with the Protestant class in order to further the acceptance of Home Rule. Redmond

10057-488: The party, believing it was recklessly endangering the party's alliance with Gladstonian Liberalism . Healy became Parnell's most outspoken critic. When Parnell asked his colleagues at one party meeting "Who is the master of the party?", Healy famously retorted with another question "Aye, but who is the mistress of the party?" – a comment that almost led to the men coming to blows. His savage onslaught in public reflected his conservative Catholic origin. A substantial minority of

10170-549: The previous year. At the Land League conference in April 1880, Parnell's program of conciliation with landlords was rejected in favour a demand for the abolition of "landlordism", promoted by Davitt and other radicals. On 17 May, Parnell was elected to the presidency of the IPP. Local chapters of the Land League frequently were formed from previous associations such as Tenants' Defence Associations or Farmers' Clubs, which decided to join

10283-423: The rest of the community." Larger farmers and landlords were better able to cope with a boycott, by weathering temporary loss of income, hiring scabs, or ordering supplies by mail. While the effectiveness of boycotting has been disputed the phrase and tactic has passed into the language of non-violent action. Rent strikes were used as a means of pressuring landlords to reduce the rent. Withheld rents often went to

10396-489: The same time emigration (which acted as a pressure valve for political tension) decreased by more than half. Nevertheless, as late as 1877 the areas which would be heavily affected by Land League agitation were completely calm, without any hint of what was to come. In 1878, the Irish-American Clan na Gael leader John Devoy offered Charles Stewart Parnell , then a rising star in the Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP),

10509-471: The stage to produce a powerful and lasting popular movement. The Land War began on 20 April 1879 at a mass meeting in Irishtown, County Mayo organised by local and Dublin-based activists, led by Davitt and James Daly . The activists tried to mobilize an alliance of tenant farmers, shopkeepers and clergy in favour of land reform. Although the clergy refused to participate, some 7,000 to 13,000 people attended

10622-444: The tribunals essentially were an extension of the local branch judging if its own rules had been violated. These courts were described as a "shadow legal system" by British academic Frank Ledwidge. According to historian Charles Townshend , the formation of courts was the "most unacceptable of all acts of defiance" committed by the Land League. In 1881, Chief Secretary for Ireland William Edward Forster grumbled that Land League law

10735-520: The urging of the soon-to-be Irish Free State 's Provisional Government of W. T. Cosgrave , the British government recommended to King George V that Healy be appointed the first ' Governor-General of the Irish Free State ', a new office representative of the Crown created in the 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty and introduced by a combination of the Constitution of the Irish Free State and Letters Patent from

10848-406: Was a means to achieving his objective of self-government. Prime Minister Gladstone attempted to resolve the land question with the Land Law (Ireland) Act 1881 . The Act gave greater rights to tenant farmers, so-called dual ownership , but failed to eliminate tenant evictions. Parnell and his party lieutenants, William O'Brien, John Dillon and Willie Redmond went into a bitter verbal offensive against

10961-603: Was a solicitor and MP for Cork City . His father was descended from a family line which in holding to their Catholic faith, lost their lands, which he compensated by being a scholarly gentleman. Timothy Michael Healy was educated at the Christian Brothers school in Fermoy , and was otherwise largely self-educated, in 1869 at the age of fourteen going to live with his uncle, Timothy Daniel Sullivan MP, in Dublin . He then moved to England finding employment in 1871 with

11074-407: Was a tension between English law, which protected the absolute property rights of the landlord, and Irish custom on the other hand in which the tenant enjoyed an "interest" in the property, which he could buy or sell. This "interest" could be as much as 4–6 years rent, which incoming tenants had to pay with capital that they might otherwise have spent on their own improvements. In the decades following

11187-492: Was also described as cruel, as new rent strikes would inevitably result in more evictions and boycotting as before, with all the associated intimidation and violence. Other reporters saw it as a matter of justice and of continuing concern to genuine liberals. The Campaign led on to events such as the Mitchelstown massacre in 1887 and the imprisonment of IPP MPs such as William O'Brien for their involvement. The violent aspects of

11300-455: Was an Irish nationalist politician, journalist, author, barrister and a controversial Irish Member of Parliament (MP) in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland . His political career began in the 1880s under Charles Stewart Parnell 's leadership of the Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP) and continued into the 1920s, when (on 5 December 1922) he was appointed as

11413-509: Was ascendant: ... all law rests on the power to punish its infraction. There being no such power in Ireland at the present time, I am forced to acknowledge that to a great extent, the ordinary law of the country is powerless; but the unwritten law is powerful, because punishment is sure to follow its infraction. From 1882, the Irish National League organised courts to replace those of the earlier organisation. The key provisions forbade paying rent without abatements, taking over land from which

11526-461: Was confined to a subordinate role. It was a severe blow to the hopes of O’Brien and Dunraven for further advancing the spirit of conciliation. During the “devolution crisis” Ulster Unionists were so outraged that the head of the Civil Service in Dublin Castle, MacDonnell, a Catholic appointed by Wyndham, was involved in the devolution plan to run Ireland through elected councils, that they set up

11639-410: Was elected for South Londonderry in 1885, but lost to a Liberal Unionist in 1886. In the 1887 North Longford by-election , he was returned unopposed. Prompted by the depression in the prices of dairy products and cattle in the mid-1880 as well as bad weather for a number of years, many tenant farmers unable to pay their rents were left under the threat of eviction. Healy devised a strategy to secure

11752-649: Was formidable because he was ferociously quick-witted, because he was unworried by social or political convention, and because he knew no party discipline. Towards the end of his life he mellowed and became otherwise more diplomatic. He died on 26 March 1931, aged 75, in Chapelizod , County Dublin , where he lived at his home in Glenaulin, and was buried in Glasnevin Cemetery . In his novel The Man Who Was Thursday , G. K. Chesterton describes one of his characters as

11865-532: Was great friends with Janet Aitken for the remainder of his life. Redmond's and the IPP's powerful position of holding the balance of power at Westminster —and with the passing of the Third Home Rule Bill assured—left Healy and the AFIL critics in a weakened position. They condemned the bill as a 'partition deal', abstaining from its final vote in the Commons. With the outbreak of World War I in August 1914,

11978-615: Was in general sympathy with Arthur Griffith 's Sinn Féin movement, but not with physical force methods. In September that year he acted as counsel for the family of the dead Sinn Féin hunger striker Thomas Ashe . He was one of the few King's Counsel to provide legal services to members of Sinn Féin in various legal proceedings in both Ireland and England post the 1916 Rising. This included acting for those interned in 1916 in Frongoch internment camp in North Wales. In 1916, he also represented

12091-449: Was intended to uphold the League's image of being in favour of the rule of law, just Irish law instead of English law. When a man takes a farm from which another has been evicted, you must shun him on the roadside when you meet him, you must shun him in the streets of the town, you must shun him at the shop-counter, you must shun him in the fair and at the marketplace, and even in the house of worship... you must shun him your detestation of

12204-679: Was purchased by larger farmers. In 1850, the Tenant Right League briefly dominated Irish politics with the demand for free sale, fixity of tenure, and fair rent . Although it never caught on with the poor smallholders in Connacht which it was intended to help, the League spurred the creation of the Independent Irish Party . In 1870, the Liberal Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone pushed through

12317-568: Was secretly instructed to block were introduced during his time as Governor-General. That role of being the UK government's representative, and acting on its advice, was abandoned throughout the British Commonwealth in the mid-1920s as a result of an Imperial Conference decision, leaving him and his successors exclusively as the King's representative and nominal head of the Irish executive. Concerning

12430-416: Was secretly living. Healy objected to this, as the party had not been consulted and he believed Parnell was putting his personal relationship before the national interest. When Parnell travelled to Galway to support O’Shea, Healy was forced to back down. In 1890, O'Shea sued his wife for divorce, citing Parnell as co-respondent. Healy and most of Parnell's associates rejected Parnell's continuing leadership of

12543-426: Was sympathetic to this policy but was inhibited by Dillon. Redmond, in an act of rapprochement , briefly re-united them with the party in 1908. Fiercely independent, both split off again in 1909, responding to real changes in the social basis of Irish politics. In 1908 Healy acted as counsel for Sir Arthur Vicars , former Ulster King of Arms , in connection with the 1908 investigation of the previous year's theft of

12656-520: Was unable to hire anyone to harvest the crops in his charge. Boycott was forced to leave the country; and the tactic spread throughout the country. The use of "intimidation" to enforce a boycott had to be criminalized in the Prevention of Crime (Ireland) Act 1882 . According to the Inspector General, boycotting "constituted a form of imprisonment for the victim who was isolated and separated from

12769-460: Was widely commented in the press as far afield as London. Initially, the movement was non-sectarian in character and Protestant tenants also took part in meetings. The focus of the leadership shifted from agitation to organization to harness the new energy for the nationalist cause. On 16 August 1879, the Land League of Mayo was founded in Castlebar , at which point the first overtures were made to

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