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Evictions
in early 20th century recalled
Continuing Mr. Michael Murphy’s recent talk to Beara
Historical Society about the Beara evictions in 1906 and
1907, he said that the last house visited was that of Jeremiah
Stephen Murphy (Stephen was his father, so he was known
as Darby Stephen) and there, when Mr. Gale sub-sheriff applied
for rent due or possession, the tenant stoutly refused either.
When the sub-sheriff and the agents entered the house, the
tenant came to the front, and amidst loud cheering and promises
of support from those present declared that while there
was law in the land he could not be dispossessed of his
holding.
He went on to say that from the old landlord he had a verbal
promise that he would never be disturbed in his holding,
and that this had been renewed in writing by the present
landlord. Soon the bailiffs entered the place and commenced
removing the furniture and while they did so the tenant
walked up and down expostulating vehemently amidst cries
from the crowd of “Don’t pay any rent Jerry”
and “We will stick by you”. ‘Easy to sleep
on another man’s wounds’!
The report then goes on to describe how two sons of the
tenant (17 and 15) came out with sticks but were ushered
away by the police. There were also two younger girls, 12
and 8 years old. Mrs. Murphy is described as ‘evidently
in delicate health’. She was 53 years old at the time,
she lived another 35 years, dying at the age of 88. So the
‘delicate health’ was probably an indication of
the stress and worry she was suffering because of the impending
distress caused by the threatened evictions. I will continue
quoting from the report: Subsequently, when the police had
entered into possession and the emergency men were bringing
in the necessary articles for culinary purposes to serve
them during their stay, one of the tenant’s sons, with
a well-directed throw, caught one of the bailiffs behind
the ear with a stone, inflicting a slight wound.
Capture
He immediately decamped but was captured by police and brought
in handcuffs to Castletownbere, where he now lies a prisoner,
his family refusing to seek bail for him as a protest against
their eviction. That was Michael Murphy who was the 17 year
old son of the tenant, who was then held in Cork County
jail for about seven days until the next Petty Sessions
in Castletownbere (equivalent of District Court). In the
case of the other family members, though a caretaker was
put in the house, the agents agreed owing to the delicate
health of Mrs. Murphy, to allow a room in the house to the
family.
This, the tenant said he would not accept, and declared
that he and his family would go to the Workhouse first.
But when things calmed down, wiser council prevailed and
the offer was accepted. Michael Murphy was brought before
the next Petty Sessions in Castletownbere, presided over
by the Resident Magistrate Mr. Purdon and three other magistrates
who were local men. Dr. J. M. O’Dwyer, Mr. Dan Harrington
and Mr. Michael Regan Harrington. He was charged with seriously
and unlawfully assaulting William Supple, Cork City, who
was employed by the Property Defence Union. He was bound
to the peace for 12 months and acquitted. The R.M. stated
that he disagreed with the verdict but was outvoted by the
others. He, the R.M. would have imposed a more severe penalty
if he had his way. People have been surprised to hear of
evictions as late as 1907. History text books often give
the impression that the Land Question was solved in the
1880s and the Wyndham Act of 1903 is usually the last reference
you will find to the Land Question in those text books.
But in fact, by 1906, less than 30% of rural holdings had
been purchased. (1906 was the year Michael Davitt the founder
of the land League, died). In 1909 an important Land Act,
known as the Birrell Act was passed, which provided for
“compulsory purchase orders against reluctant landlords
in the congested western districts and gave coercive power
to the Land Commission for the first time.
As a result, by 1916 over 60% of rural dwellers had purchased
their holdings. We know that in this parish negotiations
dragged on and were not completed until after the War of
Independence. Some would say there is still unfinished business
as regards the terms of the agreement. When we hear the
word ‘evictions’ in Irish history certain images
come into our mind. They range from Famine clearances to
the evictions of the 1870s and 1880s, from songs like ‘Skibbereen’
(they set my roof on fire, Your mother lay on the snowy
ground) from illustrations in history textbooks of an evicted
family in a rough shelter beside a bank, the Workhouse,
the Crowbar Brigade, the battering ram etc. Compared to
those images, the Kilmacowen evictions were almost humane.
Rights
It bears out something Prof. Joe Lee said in the ‘Land
is Gold’ television programme - that after the various
Land Acts of the 1880s the balance was tailing towards the
rights of tenants. But having said that it would be wrong
to dismiss or underestimate the distress caused by even
the threat of eviction, especially in households where there
were young children and elderly people. One wonders, too,
did the presence of a press reporter, in this case from
the Cork Examiner, have a restraining influence on proceedings.
After all, it was a period in which British policy in Ireland
was summed up in the phrase ‘Killing Home Rule with
kindness’.
Why 300 policemen? It seems like a case of using a sledgehammer
to crack a nut. Obviously the intention was to discourage
any resistance with a massive show of force. (The combined
population of both townlands was less than 180 - take children
and the elderly - about 100 able bodied persons). It is
true it was customary for large crowds to gather at evictions.
At Rossmacowen, east of Castletownbere, a few years previously
there had been violent resistance to the impounding of animals,
which might have been worse but for the intervention of
the local parish priest. It is worth noting that during
the Kilmacowen evictions most of the hostility was not directed
at the police but at the bailiffs, caretakers and agents.
All the evidence points to good relations between the police
and people at that time. A police officer at the time wrote
that their duties were more like housekeeping than peacekeeping.
Peaceful
Even though the county was peaceful - the prison population
of the time was approx. 320 - it was heavily garrisoned
and policed with 27,000 soldiers and 12,000 policemen. The
cost of assembling so many policemen on the occasions of
evictions must have been a factor in convincing successive
British governments of the wisdom of setting the Land Question.
The happy ending to this story is that all the families
concerned later recovered their land through land Purchase
agreement and succeeded, as Parnell had earlier advised,
“to keep a firm grip of their holdings.” He concluded
with a verse from “an Elegy in a Country Churchyard.”
Thomas Grey was writing about people in the English countryside
in the 18th century but we can apply it to the people of
Kilmacowen and Golane of a hundred years ago.
Let not ambition mock their useful toil
Their homely joys and destiny obscure
Nor grandeur bear with disdainful smile
The short and simple annals of the poor
.
At the conclusion Mr. Murphy was given a prolonged round
of applause. The vote of thanks proposed by Connie Murphy
was seconded by Gerdie Harrington. A number of questions
were then put to Mr. Murphy by members of the audience.
Courtesy of Southern Star
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