IRELAND: TOPIC 2
I have used paragraph headings on the essay below, however, do not do this in your exam - instead use the headings as a brief essay plan in your rough work.
SAMPLE ANSWER
Michael Davitt’s role in the Land Wars/How successful was Michael Davitt in seeking land reform? It is hardly surprising that someone like Michael Davitt would play such an important role in the Land Wars from 1879 – 1882. Born onto a poor farm in Co Mayo in 1846, Davitt’s earliest memory was of his own “family’s eviction”, when he was only five years old, for nonpayment of rent. Destitute, they moved to Lancashire, where Davitt, never forgetting his Irish roots, joined the Fenians in 1865. He was arrested for treason in 1870 and sentenced to 15 years hard labour in prison. Released in 1877, he travelled to Co Mayo where he was shocked to see tenant farmers still struggling under appalling social and economic conditions. He decided there and then that he would dedicate his life to fighting for land reform in Ireland.
Relations between landlords and tenants
The need for reform became a huge issue in Ireland when in the late 1870s conflict broke out between landlords and tenants due to the ‘Great Depression’ in Britain. This, coupled with the invention of refrigeration and competition from abroad, led to a drop in prices for farm produce. There was also a drop in demand for Irish labour in Britain, which was a vital source of income for struggling Irish farmers. Furthermore, from 1877 to 1879 a series of disastrous harvests led to a reduction in farm incomes and a drastic rise in evictions – Davitt, like many others, feared a second famine was imminent and knew something would have to be done to alleviate the situation.
New departure
Determined to find a solution, Davitt travelled to New York where he met the leader of Clan na Gael, John Devoy. Together they came up with what became known as the ‘New Departure’. This was a proposal to unite physical force (the Fenians) and constitutional nationalists to get them to agree to agitate for land reform first, and then seek full independence. They put their proposal to the leader of the Fenians in Ireland, Charles J Kickham, and although he refused to adopt the ‘New Departure’ as Fenian policy, he left it to individual members to support it or not. They then put their idea to up and coming MP, Charles Stewart Parnell, who gave it his tacit agreement. With such support behind him, Davitt had taken a really important step towards gaining land reform.
Meetings in Mayo and founding of the Land League 1879
Boosted by this success, Davitt attended a mass meeting in Mayo organised by local journalist James Daly. Desperate to find some way of improving their situation, 10,000 farmers turned up and the meeting resulted in rent reductions for some farmers in Mayo and Galway. Building on this success, Davitt and Parnell later addressed a mass meeting in Westport, where Parnell reminded farmers of the suffering of the famine and urged them to ‘keep a firm grip on your homesteads’.
As momentum grew, the following October, Davitt founded the National Land League of Ireland and invited the charismatic Parnell to become its first president. The League ran under the slogan, ‘The Land
of Ireland for the People of Ireland’. Davitt’s aims were to achieve the three ‘Fs’ (fair rent, fixity of tenure, freedom of sale), end rack-renting and ensure tenant proprietorship.
Agrarian crime and boycotting
Although Davitt intended to gain reform through peaceful means, agrarian crime continued to rise as the economic crisis worsened throughout the coldest and wettest summer on record; landlords and their agents were attacked, houses were burnt and cattle slaughtered. To bring the situation under control, the League proposed using ‘moral force’ or boycotting. This meant evicting landlords and tenants who took land from evictees were shunned in public. They were refused service in local shops, shunned in mass, and people crossed roads to avoid them. Soon evicting landlords found it very difficult to find labourers to help run their estates and they couldn’t replace evicted tenants. Even though boycotting was very successful, agrarian crime continued to rise.
Gladstone’s duel approach
Determined to restore calm to the country and to break the power of the Land League, British Prime Minister Gladstone decided on a duel approach. He introduced coercion, which meant members of the League were arrested ‘on suspicion’ of organising agrarian crime. Because of his role as one of the main leaders, Davitt was one of the first jailed. This led to widespread outrage, which Gladstone hoped to quell by introducing his 2nd Land Act, legalising the three Fs all over the country and establishing a Land Court to determine fair rents. Farmers who could afford to raise one quarter of the cost to buy their farms could borrow the remainder from the British Government. While this appealed to the better-off, those with leases or in arrears were excluded. At this stage, Parnell, who had by now been arrested himself, issued a ‘No Rent Manifesto’ urging tenants to withhold rent and refuse to attend the Land Courts. A furious Gladstone then banned the Land League.
Kilmainham Treaty
With evictions and tensions rising throughout the entire country, by the spring of 1882, Gladstone realised he would have to compromise with the League. The Kilmainham Treaty offered a solution. Under this treaty those in arrears were helped clear their debts, coercion was dropped and the leaders, including Davitt, were released. In return, Parnell agreed to work to restore order to the country. However, Davitt was outraged with Parnell over the treaty. He saw it as an act of betrayal and believed that his role as founder of the Land League had been compromised.
Plan of Campaign – Land Nationalism
As Parnell now turned his attention to Home Rule, Davitt continued his role as champion of land reform and in 1886 backed the Plan of Campaign. This proposed collective bargaining on individual estates. It was tried on 116 estates and was successful on 84 of these. Davitt was also a founding member of the United Irish League. However, his role as champion of land reform arguably came to an end at this time, as some of his more radical proposals, such as Land Nationalism, found little support among his earlier followers.
Conclusion
To conclude, Michael Davitt devoted much of his life to fighting for land reform for Irish tenant farmers. He was the driving force behind many campaigns that prevented evictions and he laid the groundwork for the various Land Acts introduced by British governments between 1879 and 1909. Arguably, though, his greatest achievement was the foundation of the first mass movement of modern times - the Land League.