Easter 1916 as the Liffey gently flows.

Easter 1916 as the Liffey gently flows.

This is the story of my family, the Connollys living in Ireland in the latter half of the 19th Century and the events that overtook them in the early fateful years of the twentieth century. It outlines some Irish history relating to the way large tracts of land in Ireland and Kildare in particular were seized from the natives and occupied by the English ruling classes who imposed impossible restrictions on the local population.

From the time of the Norman invasion in 1169, when a party of Norman knights landed in Bannow in County Wexford at the request of Dermot Mac Murrow the ousted King of Leinster. Later these knights would be followed by the Plantagenet King, Henry the Second, who would reinforce Norman rule in Ireland. He would make it part of his Angevin Empire which would eventually encompass most of medieval France, England and Ireland.  As a result of this occupation the land of Ireland would never be the same again.  Over the years, as one British monarch or another fought for supremacy, Ireland would be their bounty to alot large tracts of lands to their cronies, favourites or followers. Over time this would lead to the plantation of Ireland by followers of the various English powerbrokers of the day. 

Our tale begins in the townland of Ovidstown near Celbridge in County Kildare in 1840 with William Connolly the tenant of a smallholding belonging to the local landlord Nathaniel Barton.  The Barton family had originally been part of such an Ulster plantation and had land in Fermanagh before coming to Kildare in about 1828. They had extensive lands centred on their main residence at that time Barberstown Castle, in Celbridge.

This is a brief introduction to the story of how the Connolly family were living as tenant farmers on a small holding at a time when Ireland was undergoing a period of agitation over land. The Irish Land League was formed in 1879  in the west of Ireland by Parnell and Michael Davitt with the intention of introducing land reform, which would assist tenant farmers. Their motto was 3Fs...

Fixity of Tenure.
Fair Rent
Free Sale.

It was the intended policy of the Land League to bring about change and equity between landlord and tenants by constitutional means, rather than by force.

At this time Europe was experiencing a slump in agricultural prices and Ireland was still suffering the after effects of the terrible potato famine, which made conditions in Ireland extremely tense.

The ideals of the Land League were highly unpopular with many large estate owners who increased rents, which the tenants were in many cases unable to pay. This resulted in a great deal of confrontation between the landlord and tenant.  With many tenants unable to meet the increased rents landlords resorted to evicting tenants who were in arrears. This was where the land league took actions with a form of passive resistance. 

 A classic case  which is well documented involved Captain Charles Cunningham Boycott who was employed as a land steward by Lord Erne  (John Crichton) owner of a number of large estates one on the shores of Lough Mask of 1550 acres which fell under the stewardship of Boycott. He was extremely unpopular and the Land League withdrew labour  from the estate resulting in Boycott having to appeal to the British authorities to aid him in saving Lord Erne's harvest. With the assistance of fifty Orangemen and a regiment of troops to guard them, the harvest was eventually saved. It cost the British government ₤10,000 to save a crop valued only ₤500. Hopefully the forgoing will give the reader some idea of the conditions that prevailed in Ireland during the latter part of the 19th century where the Connolly story begins.

By 1883 the Land League was gaining momentum and popular support around Ireland and had embarked on a series of fundraising meetings countrywide to enable them to fight their cause by constitutional means. It was also the year that the association chose to canvass some areas in county Kildare.  This in turn would impact on the Connolly family and act as a catalyst for the actions of future generations of the family.