A Troubled Landscape:The Ejectment Books of County Clare

Nicola Jennings

"…we, the descendants of the old and faithful tenantry, have been cast upon the world homeless wanderers, to seek shelter for ourselves and our helplessfamilies in huts or cabins built in bogs or commons, the residences of our forefathers being levelled to the earthby those land-jobbers." Clare Journal, 1831.

The Clare Ejectment Books 1are the original records ofSessions, including judgements, which were held in the towns of Sixmilebridge, Ennis, Kilrush, and Ennistimon after the passing of the Ejectment Act of 1816.2 Ejectments involved landlord and tenants. The Plaintiffs were the Landlord, his agent or a middleman. The Defendants were the tenants or under tenants, mostly landless labourers or tenant farmers. A Landlord was required to obtain a court judgement before he could eject tenants from his land and it is the records of these judgements which form the Ejectment Books. Not allDefendants were evicted; many cases were dismissed, or heard again at a later date.

A number of Ejectment Books, though not a complete run, survive for County Clare. Ejectment Books have 1 Ejectment Books of County Clare (Four Courts) ID/40/16 - ID/40/32.2 56 George III c. 88

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survived for other Counties, usually considerably later in date, though none appear to exist for Northern Ireland. The Clare Ejectment Books are the earliest stillin existence. They run from 1816 to 1850 and are housed in the Four Courts, Inns Quay, Dublin 7.

The importance of the Ejectment Books lies in the amount of genealogical information which they contain, much of it of value to the descendants of emigrants. Theyare particularly interesting in one respect as a source in that they often give the names of women. A brief look at some of the more unusual surnames in the Ejectment books found that many were peculiar to County Clare.

In 1815 the Battle of Waterloo and the defeat of France brought an end to the Napoleonic Wars. The events in Europe were to have devastating results for Ireland. Demand for Irish agricultural products had been greatly increased by the war with France, resulting in better wages, and assisting the rise in population which continued up to the Famine of 1847.3 The end of the Napoleonic Wars reduced the need for grain. Landlords wanted to turn land over from tillage to pasture as grassland farming had become more profitable than tillage.4

This conversion of tillage land to grazing led to the wholesale clearances of the poorer tenants from arable land. As landlords cleared land suitable for grazing, so tenants were forced to utilise land in areas of poor quality. This had the inevitable result of leaving a very large population of landless labourers without any source of income or means of support.

The economy of Clare was agriculturally based. Land was held under the landlord system. The landlord rented large tracts of land to big farmers and middlemen, who then rented parcels of ground to cottiers and landless labourers. Rents were inflated. These holdings usually consisted of from one to five acres.

3 Dominic Haugh, ‘The Agri Labourer in Irish society’, The Other Clare, vol. 32, 2008, page 67.4 Gearóid Ó Tuathaigh, Ireland before the Famine, 1798-1848, Dublin, Gill & Macmillan, 1990, page 136.

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Many labourers worked for the right to grow potatoeson small plots – essential for the survival of their families, and no money changed hands. The rate of ejectments increased and 31-year leases were no longer granted.

The rapid increase in population between 1800 and 1830 is clearly shown in the census returns. The 1821 census shows a population of 208,009 in County Clare.5 By 1831 this number had increased to 258,000.6

With too many smallholders it must have been apparent to landlords that the situation was becoming untenable. The few who attempted to improve the situationdid so by following a policy of consolidation in an attempt to halt subdivision and subletting and increase the size of the farms to a viable unit. Consolidation wasattempted by landlords such as Lord Norbury, Vandeleur ofKilrush, Butler of Castlecrine and Gore, and became a second cause of evictions. It was described by a contemporary, Jonas Studdert, as both dangerous and unpopular.7

That emigration was a possibility is evident from an item in the Clare Journal and Ennis Advertiser of April 1818 whichrecorded that two large ships were at Limerick, receivingpassengers for St. John’s and St. Andrew’s. But without sufficient money to pay the fare such a way out was impossible for the landless labourers.

The summer of 1816 was unusually wet and cold, resulting in the entire wheat crop being lost.8 In March 1818 The Clare Journal and Ennis Advertiser published important advice to the public as to how to fight the spread of fever.

5 Abstract of answers and returns under the Population Act of Ireland 1821, page 146. [1824 (577, 1823)]. House of Commons Parliamentary Papers Online, http://parlipapers.chadwyck.co.uk, accessed 18 May 20116 Population, Ireland, Return of the populations of the several counties in Ireland, as enumerated in 1831, page [n/a], (1831-32(60)), House of Commons Parliamentary Papers, http://parlipapers.chadwyck.co.uk, accessed 1 July 2011.7 Flannan P. Enright,’ Pre-Famine reform and emigration on the Wyndham Estate in Clare,’ The Other Clare, 8, 1984, page 34.8 Timothy P. O’Neill, ‘Clare and Irish Poverty, 1815-1851’, Studia Hibernica, 1974, page 10, JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org, accessed 27 March 2011

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The famine in 1822 was even worse, disease broke outand the government provided relief. The distress and hardship among the peasantry of County Clare during this period is well documented in the press of the day.

Distresses of the Peasantry in Ireland.It is no longer mere distress – it is not the destitution of one

parish, or one district – famine has come upon the country, with its constant attendant, pestilence. It is not a solitary individualor two that has perished of want – it is not a heart broken family that is dying of starvation. The population of nearly a quarter of the island are in the jaws of destruction…The curate of Ennistymon.County Clare says, ‘This parish is inhabited by the most wretched class in society, and unless something is done to afford them immediate relief, it is my firm conviction that more than half the parish will fall victims before the 15th of July.9

Details published in the Caledonian Mercury in 1822 and collected from the clergy and gentry provide estimates.10

Barony of Inchiquin: 3,609 totally destitute.Barony of Bunratty, Parish of Phenagh: 555 requiring immediate assistance.Parishes of Bunratty and Dromline: 667 inhabitants destitute.Parishes of Kilfintinan and Killeely: 1,247 in absolute want of food.Parish of Finloy (?): 696 in absolute want of food.Parish of Kilnasula: 600 have applied for immediate assistance.Barony of Clonderalaw: 1,300 in actual want of food.Parishes of Kilmaley, Kilconry and Clonlanon (?): 1,500 requiring assistance.Union of Quin: 3,600 in want of food.Half Barony of Tulla: 7,552 in absolute want of provisionsBarony of Ibrickane: 5,000 without any means whatever of purchasingfood.

9 Caledonian Mercury, July 11, 1822 Issue 15735 in 19th Century British Library Newspapers, http://find.galegroup.com, accessed 21 June 201110 Caledonian Mercury, May 9, 1822. Issue 16826 in 19th Century British Library Newspapers, http://find.galegroup.com, accessed 21 June 2011

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Baronies of Corcomroe and Burren: 10,000Clareabbey: 1,179 have applied for assistance.

1831 was another year of starvation in Clare. The ‘tenants’, in a public petition, addressed the Lord Lieutenant William Henry Paget, Marquis of Anglesey in the Clare Journal of Monday 11th April 1831.

That from the year 1800, a large portion ofthe Aristocracy and Gentry of this country left their ancient residences, and went to reside in foreign countries, leaving their tenantry to the management of land-agents; theconsequence has been that according as the respective farms became out of lease, they were let in large farms to grazers and land-jobbers, to fatten black cattle and sheep; andwe, the descendants of the old and faithful tenantry, have been cast upon the world homeless wanderers, to seek shelter for ourselves and out helpless families in huts orcabins built in bogs or commons, the residences of our forefathers being levelled to the earth by those land-jobbers.

The petition was an accurate description of conditions in Clare. It went on to describe the disastrous crops, the collection of tithes, the lack of employment for labourers and the cruelty of the Sub-Letting Act.

Following the Ejectment Act of 181611 a landlord was required to obtain a court judgement before he could evict his tenants, a civil-bill ejectment. The Act made legal eviction easier. A tenant whose rent stood at less than £50 a year could have a case brought against him. The cost of the decree was small, thus the result was an increase in evictions, and a corresponding increase in unrest.12

11 56 George III c. 8812 James S. Donnelly, Captain Rock: the Irish agrarian rebellion of 1821-1824, Madison, University of Wisconsin Press, 2009, pages 228-9, http://books.google.com, accessed 17 June 2011.

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Ten years later the Subletting Act of 182613 was intended to prevent the assignment, subdivision and subletting of farms. It was generally approved by landlords. Adam Smith believed the Subletting Act to havebeen beneficial, ascribing the slower increase of population in Ireland from 1830 to 1840 to its influence.14

The small middle, business, or professional, class rarely appears in the Ejectment Books, though some exceptions are found.

Ennis 20th April 1820James O’Dea and Gilbert O’Dea against Elizabeth

Heavens, widow of Jno Heavens. Ejectment for non payment of rent for the shop and dwelling house in Millstreet in the town of Ennis as held by the said John Heavens…decree in this case with a stay of execution until the 20th day of April instant.15

Businesses include Fisheries and Eel Weirs, a Ball Ally and a Malt House.

From the following example it can be seen that the Ejectment Books provide a remarkable amount of valuable genealogical information, e.g. wife, widow, son and heir,even grandson of the deceased, and often give the surnames of women before marriage.

Dennis Vaughan and Sarah Vaughan o/wise Rogers his wife which said Sarah is the only daughter and Heiress at law of John Rogers deceased.16

Occasionally the occupation of the defendant will be

given, for example, farmer, cordwainer, victualler. An unusually detailed example is the case of

Augustine Greene assignee of the Estate and effects of Morty Kerin an insolvent Debtor, involving part of the farm and lands of Gortnaboul, Parish of Kilshanny, Barony

13 7 George IV, c 2914 Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, new edition, Edinburgh, Black, 1863, page 570, http://books.google.ie accessed 18 June 201115 Ejectment Book ID/40/16 Ennis 10th April 1820 No. 1. James O Dea.16 Ejectment Book ID/40/19 Sixmilebridge, 15th July 1830 No. 9. Wm Causabon Purdon.

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of Corcomroe. Some of the Defendants were listed as follows.

Michl Lysaght surviving lessee of Michl Considine dec’d, Mary Considine widw and Execr in wrong or orwiseof Michl Considine dec’d, Morty Considine, Patrick Considine, Thos Considine, Michl Considine, Andw Considine, James Considine, Penelope Considine, Mary Considine, Margt O Loughlin and Bridget Considine, children of the said Michl Considine dec’d and of the said Mary Considine widw17.

The Widow Considen (sic) and Murt Considen (sic) arefound in the Tithe Applotment Books for the previous yearbut no other family members are listed. Church records for the Parish of Kilshanny held in the Clare Heritage and Genealogical Centre, Corofin, do not begin until 1868.18 This ejectment case came up again in the Kilrush Sessions of March 25th 1835, where it was again dismissed.19 The Considine family are not found in Griffiths Valuation20 in the Parish of Kilshanny.

The locations of the lands involved are detailed, especially in towns, where the name of the street, and inhabitants of adjoining properties are often given resulting in a quite precise location.

That Dwelling house wherein the said William Kennedy at the time of the demise hereinafter mentionedresided with six feet six inches in Depth and thirteen feet six inches in length of the yard in the rere therof together with the right of Ingress and Egress thereto thro the passage under the said house which said premises are bounded on the Western side by the land in the rere of Churchstreet to the North by Murty Spellissys forge to the south by the House lately occupied by Pat Halloran Shoemaker and the passage under the said house thereby demised and to the Eastward by the remainder of the said yard which said

17 Ejectment Book ID/40/21 Ennistimon 5th January 1835 No.11. Augustine Greene.18 Clare Heritage and Genealogical Centre, http://www.clareroots.com/ accessed 18 June 201119 Ejectment Book ID/40/22 Kilrush, 25th March 1835 No. 2 Augustine Greene20 Origins, www.irishorigins.com, accessed 17 June 2011

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demised premises are situate in the black lane in the rere of Churchstreet in the Town of Ennis.21

The names of farms, townlands, parishes and Baronies are given along with the amount of acreage involved and many local names. Land measurements were not exact, an acre could be variable in size, and an acre in PlantationMeasurement, often referred to in the Ejectment Books, was larger than an English or statute acre. Frequently land was measured, not by its size, but by its location and quality. The type of land is described, bog, tillage,coarse bottom and so on.

The nature of the lease is sometimes supplied, with date and lives and other persons involved. Reasons for ejectment are given – usually for non-payment of rent, or desertion of premises. The annual rent is noted and the amount of rent outstanding. Although Irish Currency had been abolished in 1826 and no longer existed as a separate denomination,22 rents continued to be quoted in the Ejectment Books in both ‘late Irish currency’ and in sterling.

The outcome of the case, or judgement is given. Lawyers and other members of the public are named. Not all ejectments resulted in eviction. Many cases were dismissed, but many also were taken again and successful on the second attempt.

An example of an Ejectment case heard at the Ennis Sessions on the 12th October 1818 was that of James Semple.

21 Ejectment Book ID/40/17 Ennis 21st October 1825 No. 3. Bindon BloodEsq.22 John Stafford-Langan, Irish Coinage, http://www.irishcoinage.com/index.html,accessed 11 June 2011.

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Sir Edward O’Brien Bart. against James Semple, late of Clare, eldest son and heir of John Semple Defendant.

Ejectment for recovery of the possession of all that and those the Bowling Green in Clare bounded on the South West by Mrs Hickies Garden, on the North West by the Road (?) by the River Fergus on the North East, and by the Dead yard onthe South East, in as large and ample a manner asthe same was demised to the said John Semple deceased by Sir Lucius O’Brien Bart deceased by reason of £32.13.6 being more than Eight years rent of said premises ending 25 March last being due and unpaid to the Pl….Possession Decreed.

Sir Edward O’Brien (1773-1837), 4th Bt., father of William Smith O’Brien, was the largest landowner in Clare, and the son of Lucius O’Brien.

James Semple was the eldest son and heir of John Semple who had been invited to Clare by Lucius O’Brien the father of Edward O’Brien to build the bridge at Clare

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Castle.23 Clare Castle was being developed by Lucius O’Brien, including houses and a quay.

John Semple was the first in a family of builders, known for their work in Dublin, including Essex Bridge over the Liffey, and many churches throughout Ireland. Although the Ejectment Books name James as the eldest sonand heir of John Semple, information which was provided by a lawyer in a court of law and is presumably correct, he is not listed in the Dictionary of Irish Architects 1720-1940.24 John Semple’s large family were baptised in St. Thomas’s Church Dublin,25 with the apparent exception of James. This is not surprising as it is clear from the baptismal records that the Semple family moved constantly.

The following graphic description of an ejectment is taken from County Kilkenny in 1831, but no doubt the scene would have been much the same in County Clare. Notethe reference to Daniel O’Connell, who was returned to Parliament in the famous Clare bye-election of 1828.

The Sheriff of the county [Kilkenny] had…executed an habere, by which eleven families, comprising sixty-eight families, were turned out on the high-ways, without house or home to shelter them, in this most inclement season of the year. The screams of the men, women, and children, as they were forced off these lands, which they and their ancestors had for the last two centuries and a half occupied, were truly heart-rending…. To this appalling condition then has this heartless, yet noble lord, and hisequally merciless law and land agent, reduced these once valuable members of society. Can the neighbourhood on which these sixty-eight individuals are flung, be expectedto continue its present state of tranquillity? The exhortations of the great pacificator to the people to persist in obedience to the laws, have the greatest possible influence in ordinary cases. But on outcasts likethese unfortunate people for causes over which they could have had no controul [sic], writhing under the pressure ofunparalleled misery, with their feelings wound up with

23 The bridge at Clare Castle was demolished in 1971. A photograph of the bridge can be found in the Lawrence collection in the National Library.24 Dictionary of Irish Architects 1720-1940. (Irish Architectural Archive) http://www.dia.ie/architects/view/4865, accessed 11 April 2011. See John Semple (1).25 Raymond Refaussé, Editor, The Register of the Parish of St Thomas, Dublin, 1750-1791. Dublin, RCBL, 1994.

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indignation, despair and consequent desperation, and on those who may sympathise with their sufferings, it is to be feared they will fall powerless.

AN ENEMY TO PERSECUTION. Callan, 18th Jun 183126

Much emphasis has been placed on later evictions, those for example carried out during the Great Famine, the Lucan evictions of 1848 of County Mayo, the Bodyke evictions of 1887 and the Vandeleur evictions of 1888-1900. Little attention has been paid to the earlier evictions which took place in County Clare.

Where did the evicted tenants go? There was no workhouse in Clare though a small poorhouse or ‘almshouse’ appears to have existed in Ennis before 1824.In the Ejectment Books we find Maria Faulkner looking foran ejectment from an’old house or ‘cowl’ in Millstreet, Ennis, formerly known by the name of the Poor House’.27

Workhouses were set up after 1838 and the Poor Law Act ‘An Act for the more Effectual Relief of the Destitute Poor in Ireland’. Eviction in these circumstances would have had an immediate and catastrophic effect on vulnerable families.

Did the early evictions have a longer term effect? The displacement of people by ejectment may have contributed to the later catastrophic loss of life of theGreat Famine. These were the people who were to suffer increasing hardship during the Famine. Living on the margins of society they would have been quicker to succumb to starvation and illness. Without assistance they would not have had the finances with which to emigrate. The passing of the Poor Law Act in 1838 although it established workhouses for the destitute, andencouraged assisted emigration, also made the large scaleevictions of the Famine Period in County Clare inevitable.

A listing of the Ejectment Books which survive can be found in the Crown and Peace Office Records in the National Archives in Bishop Street, Dublin. The EjectmentBooks are housed in the Four Courts, Inns Quay, Dublin 7 but are accessed through the National Archives in Bishop

26 The Freeman’s Journal, Jan 22, 1831 in 19th Century British Library Newspapers, http://find.galegroup.com, accessed 13 April 201127 Ejectment Book ID/40/16 Ennis 20th April 1824 No. 11 Maria Falkner

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Street and should be requested in advance. Seventeen early Ejectment Books exist for County Clare, from 1816 to 1850. Most of 1843 is missing, from January 1843 to October 1843.

Published in The Other Clare, vol 36. 2012, pp.60-62.

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