Clare History:The Bodyke Evictions: Orators and Agitators

At a tenant rights meeting in Ennis in September 1879 a motion was adopted that, owing to the downturn in the economy, landlords in the county would be requested to reduce their rents. During the following weeks various letters from landlords and tenants appeared in the Clare Journal stating that reductions of between 15% and 20% were being granted on a number of Clare estates. Prior to 1879, landlord-tenant relations on the O’Callaghan estate were good and there was little manifestation of ill-will between the parties. However, when Colonel O’Callaghan offered abatements of rent in 1879, a number of tenants considered them insufficient, claiming inability to pay. In 1880 Colonel O’Callaghan was boycotted.

In the two-page letter below,
a tenant, Michael Hogan, asks
for more time before he pays his rent.

A demonstration organised by the Land League in Scariff, in November 1880, attracted over 10,000 people. A notable feature of the meeting was the prominence of the local clergy in the conflict. Fathers Peter Murphy and J. Hannon, parish priest and curate respectively of Tuamgraney/Bodyke, were active and enthusiastic ‘Leaguers’.

For Fr Murphy the solution to the land question was simply tenant ownership and the only means available to achieve this was organised resistance. The motions adopted at the Scariff meeting included refusal to pay rack rents and refusal to take land rendered vacant by non-payment of rent. On the other hand, Colonel O’Callaghan felt that any attempt to organise the peasants was a crime in itself and the Government was to blame ‘for allowing stump orators and agitators to preach at public meetings a most dishonest gospel to the hoodwinked and misguided peasants.’

Fr J. Hannon, Catholic Curate
of Bodyke-Tuamgraney Parish.
Photo courtesy Archives, NUI, Galway.

On 1 June 1881, a party of 150 police accompanied by Colonel O’Callaghan, arrived at Bodyke to serve writs on 26 tenants for non-payment of rents. By the time the process-serving party arrived at the village, a large crowd had gathered, some carrying sticks. John Moloney, was struck with a rifle butt and died the next morning. Fr Murphy described the events.

Below is a two-page account of the
Battle of Bodyke by Father Murphy. A
signed statement by him was given to
Jessie Craigen, a Scottish woman who
visited Ireland as part of a delegation
of the Democratic Federation, an
organisation that highlighted the plight
of Irish peasants. Craigen’s account of
her visit to Bodyke was published in
‘Report on a visit to Ireland in
the Summer of 1881’ (Dublin 1882).

The ‘Battle of Bodyke’ was the only serious confrontation which took place on the O’Callaghan estate during the early years of the Land War. The event was not likely to be easily forgotten by Colonel O’Callaghan, a man of strong will and character. For Fr Murphy and the Bodyke tenants, it was only the beginning of the struggle for tenant ownership.

A period of relative peace followed the passing of the 1881 Land Act which allowed for the fixing of rents by judicial arbitration for a period of 15 years. Tenants who paid this rent would be given the protection of the law and compensated for improvements carried out, should they vacate their holdings. The judicial rents fixed for Bodyke during 1882-83 represented a 35% reduction on average.

The order fixing the fair (judicial) rent of Peter
Flanagan under the Land Act of 1881.
Click on the image for larger version
Click here for transcription of letter

However, agricultural prices in 1882 were unnaturally high and by 1886/7 – a period of severe depression – judicial rents were considered too high by the tenants and many had difficulty paying and sought reductions.

Below, a three-page exchange of views
between the landlord and his agents
concerning Peter Flanagan’s rent. Flanagan
was a publican in Scariff, where he lived,
and held 50 statute acres in Ballydonahane.
In spite of being a former Secretary of
the Scariff branch of the Land League
he took no part in the Combination,
preferring to settle with O’Callaghan.
In this letter the landlord’s agent
conveys Flanagan’s offer of £5 a
year for grazing of the mountain at
Ballydonahane but the offer is refused.

The national ‘Plan of Campaign’ whereby landlords were offered a reduced rent which, if refused, was than banked to help evicted tenants, was adopted by the Bodyke tenants who entered into a ‘Combination’ to secure their demands. However, Colonel O’Callaghan refused to negotiate, stating that he had already agreed to abatement of rent and any further reductions would result in the financial ruin of his estate.