The Land and the People of Nineteenth-Century Cork

The Rural Economy and the Land Question

James S. Donnelly Jr

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN: 9781138739970
• eBook ISBN: 9781351728218
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: 19th Century History
• Index: History

First published in 1975. Using estate records, local newspapers and parliamentary papers, this book focuses upon two central and interrelated subjects – the rural economy and the land question – from the perspective of Cork, Ireland's southernmost country. The author examines the chief responses of Cork landlords, tenant farmers and labourers to the enormous difficulties besetting them after 1815. He shows how the great famine of the late 1840s was in many ways an economic and social watershed because it rapidly accelerated certain previous trends and reversed the direction of others. He also rejects the conventional view of the land war of the 1880s, arguing that in Cork it was essentially a 'revolution of rising expectations', in which tenant farmers struggled to preserve their substantial material gains since 1850 by using the weapons of 'agrarian trade unionism', civil disobedience and unprecedented violence. This title will be of interest to students of rural history and historical geography.

INDEX

Abatements see Rents, reductions in

Abercromby, Sir George, 185

Aghada, 133, 326

Agrarian outrages, 265–8, 282–6, 291, 295, 322–30, 361, 377–8

Agriculture: subdivision of holdings, 13–16, 59–62, 158–63; technical improvements and their effect on demand for labour, 19; production before great famine, 26–44; deflation of 1815–36, 45–6; index numbers of prices in Dublin market (1812–40), 45; victualling contracts, 45–6; neglect of improvements, 62–6; improvements before great famine, 66–9; financial problems of landlords as deterrent to improvements, 68–72; production during great famine, 76–9; prices during great famine, 79–81; index numbers of prices (1840–51), 80; Irish grain exports to Britain (1843–9), 81–2; effect of great famine, 130–1; trends (1851–91), 132–72; decline in tillage after 1851, 133–5; extension of pasture farming, 135–7; prices of butter and store cattle, 135–6; effect of railways, 137–8; dairying, 138–41; dairyman system, 141–5; production and prices (1851–76), 145–58; depression of 1860–4, 146–8; prosperity of 1865–76, 148–50; production and prices (1876–91), 150–8; downturn of 1877–9, 150–1 251–9; adverse climatic conditions in 1880s, 151–3; collapse of butter prices, 153–7; trends in livestock prices, 157–8; demesne farming, 163–5; landlord improvements, 165–9; defects in quality of farming, 169–72; leases, 200–2; effect of crises on emigration after great famine, 231–2; increasing use of machinery after 1860s, 235; labourers’ unionism, 236–9; labourers’ resentment against machinery, 240; production and utilization of milk in County Cork (1854–80), 246–7; recovery of prices in 1880, 262–4; relative prosperity of 1881–4, 293–5; depression of 1884–7, 308–11; effect of foreign competition, 311–13; recovery of cattle prices (1888–90), 363–4; farmers’ difficulties in 1890, 364–6; bad seasons of 1891–2, 366–7, stagnation of production in Ireland after 1910, 384

Aldworth, Richard, 53

Anderson, Sir John, reduces his rents, 49

Anderson mills, 34

Applebe, Edward A., land agent of 3rd...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• ABBREVIATIONS
• ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
• INTRODUCTION
• I THE RURAL ECONOMY, 1815–45
• II THE GREAT FAMINE, 1845–51
• III AGRICULTURE, 1851–91
• IV THE LAND QUESTION AND ESTATE MANAGEMENT, 1850–80
• V LIVING STANDARDS, 1851–91
• VI THE LAND WAR: FIRST PHASE, 1879–84
• VII THE LAND WAR: SECOND PHASE, 1884–92
• CONCLUSION
• BIBLIOGRAPHY
• INDEX
• Maps