Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gbm5v Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T05:58:46.707Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

How violent was eighteenth-century Ireland?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2016

Neal Garnham
Neal Garnham*
Affiliation:
School of History, Philosophy and Politics, University of Ulster at Coleraine
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

In his recent book dealing with the history of duelling in Ireland, James Kelly comes to the conclusion that eighteenth-century Ireland was essentially ‘a violent society’, peopled at least in part ‘by wilful men who put their individual reputations above their lives, their families, their religion, and the law’. Such comments seem to continue a well-established tradition of interpretation that goes back to the nineteenth century. However, this image of a society in which violence was endemic, and conflict a feature of everyday life, has not gone unquestioned by historians. For example, Thomas Bartlett and Sean Connolly have instead noted the relatively controlled nature of popular protest, the early disappearance of banditry, and the reliance, until the very end of the century, on local enforcement of the law, as possible indications that Ireland may not have been as disorderly a society as has been suggested. These differing interpretations have, in turn, an obvious relevance to the wider debate on how eighteenth-century Ireland should be perceived: as a society irreconcilably and uniquely divided by religious and ethnic conflicts, or as a more or less typical part of the European ancient régime.

Type
Research Article
Information
Irish Historical Studies , Volume 30 , Issue 119 , May 1997 , pp. 377 - 392
Copyright
Copyright © Irish Historical Studies Publications Ltd 1997

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 Kelly, James, ‘That damn’d thing called honour’: duelling in Ireland, 1570–1860 (Cork, 1995) p. 280.Google Scholar See also Henry, Brian, Dublin hanged: crime, law enforcement and punishment in late eighteenth-century Dublin (Dublin, 1994), pp 77–99 Google Scholar; Cullen, L.M., The emergence of modern Ireland (London, 1981), pp 193–209 Google Scholar; Maxwell, Constantia, Country and town in Ireland under the Georges (Dundalk, 1949), pp 156-8Google Scholar; Froude, J.A., The English in Ireland in the eighteenth century (3 vols, London, 1895), i, 453–96Google Scholar.

2 Bartlett, Thomas, ‘An end to moral economy: the Irish militia disturbances of 1793’ in Past & Present, no. 99 (1983), pp 41–64 Google ScholarPubMed; Connolly, S.J., ‘Violence and order in the eighteenth century’ in O’Flanagan, Patrick, Ferguson, Paul and Whelan, Kevin (eds), Rural Ireland: modernisation and change (Cork, 1985), pp 42–61 Google Scholar; idem, Religion, law, and power: the making of Protestant Ireland, 1660–1760 (Oxford, 1995, pp 198–262.

3 For the ongoing debate see Whelan, Kevin, ‘An underground gentry? Catholic middlemen in eighteenth-century Ireland’ in Eighteenth-Century Ireland, x 1995), pp 7–68 Google Scholar; Bartlett, Thomas, ‘“A people made rather for copies than originals”: the Anglo-Irish, 1760–1800’ in International History Review, xii 1990), pp 11–25 CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Leighton, C.D.A., Catholicism in a Protestant kingdom: a study of the Irish ancien régime (Dublin, 1994)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Connolly, S.J., ‘Eighteenth-century Ireland: colony or ancien régime? #x2019; in Boyce, D. George and O’Day, Alan (eds), The making of modern Irish history: revisionism and the revisionist concept (London, 1996), pp 15–33 Google Scholar.

4 Sharpe, J.A., ‘Domestic homicide in early modern England’ in Hist. Jn., xxiv 1981), pp 29–48 CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Stone, Lawrence, ‘Interpersonal violence in English society, 1300–1980’ in Past & Present, no. 101 (1984), pp 22–33 Google Scholar; Sharpe, J.A., ‘The history of violence in England: some observations’ in Past & Present, no. 108 (1985), pp 206-15Google Scholar; Lawrence Stone ‘A rejoinder’, ibid., pp 216–24; Cockburn, J.S., ‘Patterns of violence in English society: homicide in Kent’ in Past & Present, no. 130 (1991), pp 98-122Google Scholar.

5 Kelly, James, ‘Infanticide in eighteenth-century Ireland’ in Ir. Econ. & Soc. Hist., xix (1992), p. 5 CrossRefGoogle Scholar; idem, ‘The abduction of women of fortune in eighteenth-century Ireland’ in Eighteenth-Century Ireland, ix 1994), pp 7–43; Connolly, Religion, law & power, pp 218–20.

6 County Armagh assize indictment books, 1735–97 (Armagh Public Library, uncatalogued); County Tyrone assize indictment book, 1741–1808 (P.R.O.N.I., TYR/4/2/1). The comparatively poor quality of the latter record has meant that throughout this paper a greater emphasis has been placed on the Armagh sources.

7 Cockburn, J.S., ‘Early modern assize records as historical evidence’ in Journal of the Society of Archivists, v 1975), pp 15–31 Google Scholar. For the former view see Wrightson, Keith and Levine, David, Poverty and piety in an English village: Terling, 1525–1700 (London, 1979)Google Scholar; for the latter see Hay, Douglas, ‘War, dearth and theft in the eighteenth century: the record of the English courts’ in Past & Present, no. 95 (1982), pp 117-60Google ScholarPubMed. For a neat summary of the debate see Sharpe, J.A., Crime in early modern England, 1550–1750 (London, 1992), pp 41-8.Google Scholar

8 Dickson, David, Grada, Cormac Ó and Daultrey, Stuart, ‘Hearth tax, household size and Irish population change, 1672–1821’ in R.I.A Proc, lxxxii (1982), sect. C, pp 125–81Google Scholar.

9 Bullingbroke, Edward, The duty and authority of justices and parish officers for Ireland (Dublin, 1766), p. 45.Google Scholar

10 Deposition of James Fennel (Carlow Heritage Committee, Jackson Archive, item JCDZ1/18); deposition of Thomas Bond (P.R.O.N.I, D104/5/3/84); complaint of Lord Kingston relative to an assault (Marsh’s Library, MS Z.3.1.1 xlvi). A transcript of the first document was kindly supplied by Mr David Zeiler.

11 Comments on the Dublin courts (Pearse Street Library, Robinson MS 35.21-7). See [Howard, G.E.?], A treatise on the defects and grievances occasioned by the laws of Ireland (Dublin 1753), pp 8–11 Google Scholar.

12 Pue’s Occurrences, 19–22 July 1718; County Armagh indictment book, 1735–75.

13 County Armagh indictment books.

14 Dublin Daily Advertiser, 5 July 1737; Every man his own lawyer; or a summary of the laws now in force in Ireland (Dublin, 1755) pp 30–31 Google Scholar.

15 Abercorn to Nisbett, 20 Feb. 1755 (P.R.O.N.I., T2541/IA1/20/132); Colhoun to Abercorn, 9 Nov. 1751 (ibid., T2541/IAl/2/102); Hamilton to Abercorn, 31 Mar. 1761 (ibid., T2541/IAl/4/18).

16 Nisbitt to Abercorn, 29 Mar. 1755 (ibid., T2541/IAl/3/68).

17 Tomaselli, Sylvana and Porter, Roy (eds), Rape: an historical and social enquiry (Oxford, 1989)Google Scholar; Clark, Anna, Women’s silence, men’s violence: sexual assault in England, 1770–1845 (London, 1987)Google Scholar; Brownmiller, Susan, Against our will: men, women and rape (London, 1986)Google Scholar.

18 11 Jas I, c. 3; 9 Anne, c. 6.

19 ‘Law quibbles; or a treatise on the evasions, tricks, turns and quibbles commonly used in the profession of the law (Dublin, 1724) pp 70–71 Google Scholar; Every man his own lawyer, p. 340.

20 Law quibbles, pp 71–2.

21 Swift, Jonathan, Journal to Stella, ed. Williams, Harold (2 vols, Oxford, 1963), i, 319–20Google Scholar; St James Evening Post, 20 July 1726.

22 St Leger to Lord Londonderry, 8 Apr. 1720 (P.R.O.N.I., T3425/l/19); Every man his own lawyer, p. 340.

23 An account of the tryal and examination of Mr Brown who was tryed... for a rape committed on the body of one Mrs King of the city of Dublin (Dublin, 1717)Google Scholar.

24 Crown book, Cork city assizes 1789–90 (N.A.I., Crown and Peace records); County Armagh indictment book, 1735–75.

25 Connell, K.H., Irish peasant society: four historical essays (Oxford, 1974), pp 51-3Google Scholar; Kelly, ‘Abduction of women of fortune’. For a full discussion of the crime of rape in eighteenth-century Ireland see Kelly, James, ‘ “A most inhuman and barbarous piece of villainy”: an exploration of the crime of rape in eighteenth-century Ireland’ in Eighteenth-Century Ireland, x 1995), pp 78–107 Google Scholar.

26 Kelly, ‘Abduction’, pp 24–37; idem. ‘Rape’, pp 90–105; County Armagh indictment books.

27 County Armagh indictment book, 1735–75.

28 For a more detailed consideration of these matters see Garnham, Neal, The courts, crime and the criminal law in Ireland, 1692–1760 (Dublin, 1996)Google Scholar.

29 Buľlingbroke, Duty & authority, pp 24–5, 548; Faulkner’s Dublin Journal, 26–30 Nov. 1742; Baker, J.H., ‘Criminal courts and procedure at common law, 1550–1800’ in Cockburn, J.S. (ed.), Crime in England, 1550–1800 (London, 1977), pp 14–16.Google Scholar

30 Willes to earl of Warwick, c. June 1760 (P.R.O.N.I., Mic 236/1/1).

31 [Madden, Samuel], Reflections and resolutions proper for the gentlemen ofIreland (Dublin, 1738), p. 141 Google Scholar; [Skelton, Philip], A dissertation on the constitution and effects of a petty jury (Dublin, 1737), pp 31-2Google Scholar; Burdy, Samuel, The life of Philip Skelton (Dublin, 1792; repr., Oxford, 1914), p. 167 Google Scholar; and see above, n. 20.

32 Crown books, County Antrim summer assize 1766, County Cork summer assize 1769, County Louth Lent assize 1770, County Limerick summer assize 1770, County Londonderry summer assize 1773 (P.R.O.N.I., D207/19/109, 123, 126, 127, 139).

33 3 Hen. VII, c. 1 (Eng.); Fielding, Henry, An enquiry into the causes of the late increase of robbers (Dublin, 1751 ed.), pp 81-3Google Scholar.

34 10 Hen. VII, c. 21; 31 Geo. III, c. 17.

35 Stone, ‘Interpersonal violence’, p. 23; cf. Gurr, T.R., ‘Historical trends in violent crime: a critical review of the evidence’ in Crime and Justice: An Annual Review of Research, iii 1981), pp 295–353 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

36 Seagoe parish registers, 1672–1881 (P.R.O.N.I., Mic 1/74).

37 Garnham, Neal ‘The courts, crime and the criminal law in Ireland, 1692–1760’ (unpublished D.Phil, thesis, University of Ulster, 1995), pp 66–148 Google Scholar.

38 Cockburn, ‘Patterns of violence’, p. 101.

39 Connolly, ‘Violence & order’, p. 57.

40 See, for example, Ball, F.E., The judges in Ireland, 1221–1921 (2 vols, London, 1926; repr., New York, 1927), ii, 53–72, 189–217Google Scholar.

41 Stone, ‘Interpersonal violence’, pp 29–30.

42 Miscellaneous observations on Ireland, 1750–60, by Lord Chief Baron Willes (P.R.O.N.I., T2855/I), p. 43; Pitt to Bedford, 5 Jan. 1760 ( The correspondence of John, fourth duke of Bedford, ed. Russell, Lord John (3 vols, London, 1842-6), ii, 399–401Google Scholar).

43 Hayton, David, ‘Anglo-Irish attitudes: changing perceptions of national identity among the Protestant ascendancy in Ireland, c. 1690–1750’ in Studies in Eighteenth-Century Culture, xvii 1987), pp 145–57 Google Scholar; Smyth, Jim, ‘Like amphibious animals: Irish Protestants, ancient Britons, 1691–1707’ in Hist. Jn., xxxvi 1993), pp 785–97 CrossRefGoogle Scholar; SirCox, Richard, Autobiography, ed. Caulfield, Richard (London, 1860), p. 11.Google Scholar

44 [Howard, G. E.], Some hints for the better promoting the due execution of the laws in this kingdom (Dublin, 1766), p. 3.Google Scholar

45 For example, [Chetwood, W.R.], A tour through Ireland in several entertaining letters (London, 1753), pp 54, 133;Google Scholar M. Misson’s memoirs and observations of his travels over England, with some account of Scotland and Ireland, trans. Ozell, R. (London, 1719), pp 149–54 Google Scholar.>

46 Goff, T.J.A. Le and Sutherland, D.M.G., ‘The revolution and the rural community in eighteenth-century Brittany’ in Past & Present, no. 62 (1974), p. 105 Google Scholar; Hufton, Owen, ‘Attitudes towards authority in eighteenth-century Languedoc’ in Social History, iii no. 3 (1979), p. 301 Google Scholar.

47 Quoted in Parramore, Tom, ‘Gouging in early North Carolina’ in North Carolina Folklore Journal, xxii (1974), p. 54 Google Scholar.

48 Cullen, Emergence of modern Ireland, p. 56.