Irish National Land League
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The Irish Land League was an Irish political organization of the late 19th century which sought to help poor tenant farmers. Its primary aim was to abolish "landlordism" in Ireland and enable tenant farmers to own the land they worked on. The period of the Land League's agitation is known in Ireland as the Land War.
On April 20, 1879 the first of many "monster meetings" of tenant farmers was held in Irishtown near Claremorris, County Mayo, with an estimated turnout of 15,000 to 20,000 people. Following this a number of local land league organisations were setup to work against the excessive rents being demanded by landlords all over Ireland, but especially in Mayo and surrounding counties
The Irish National Land League was founded at the Imperial Hotel in Dublin, on 21st October, 1879. At that meeting Charles Stewart Parnell was elected president of the league. A.J. Kettle, Michael Davitt, and Thomas Brennan were appointed as honorary secretaries.
The two aims of the Land League, as stated in the resolutions adopted in the meeting, were:
dating from the 1880s
...first, to bring out a reduction of rack-rents; second, to facilitate the obtaining of the ownership of the soil by the occupiers.
That the object of the League can be best attained by promoting organisation among the tenant-farmers; by defending those who may be threatened with eviction for refusing to pay unjust rents; by facilitating the working of the Bright clauses of the Irish Land Act during the winter; and by obtaining such reforms in the laws relating to land as will enable every tenant to become owner of his holding by paying a fair rent for a limited number of years.
Charles Stewart Parnell, John Dillon, Michael Davitt, and others went to America to raise funds for the League with spectacular results. Branches were also set up in Scotland.
The League was created just before the Land War of 1880-1882 in which there was widespread upheaval. The League would decide on a fair rent and then encourage its members to offer this rent to the landlords. If this were refused, then the rent would be paid to the League and the landlord would not receive any money until he saw the light.
Founder of the Land League
The first target was a member of the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy, Canon Ulick Burke, who eventually reduced his rents by 25%. Many landlords resisted these tactics violently and there were deaths on either side of the dispute. The Royal Irish Constabulary, though largely made up of Irishmen, took the landlord's side. Originally, the movement cut across sectarian boundaries, with many meetings being held in Orange halls in Ulster, but this ended as the landed gentry extended their influence within the Orange Order.
Following the Land War, Parnell disbanded the group and founded a National League to campaign on broader issues. Many of the Scottish members formed the Scottish Land Restoration League.
Within a few short decades of the league's founding however, through the struggles of men like William O'Brien achieving the Wyndham Land Purchase Act of 1903 and through its implementation by such land and labour activists as D.D. Sheehan M.P.'s together with the Irish Land and Labour Association, the vast majority of Irish land and housing was, after the final passing of the Labourers (Ireland) Act 1906 and Labourers (Ireland) Act 1911, in the hands of small farmers, not large landowners.
[edit] References
- The Life of Michael Davitt and the Secret History of The Land League by D.B. Cashman and Michael Davitt. (1881)
- The Fall of Feudalism in Ireland by Michael Davitt ISBN 1-59107-031-7
