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ABSTRACT
The period 1848 to 1867 witnessed what could be regarded as a very small-scale insurgency campaign in Ireland, waged by agrarian groups; the Whiteboys and Ribbonmen. 1848 and 1867 witnessed rebellions by the Young Irelanders and Fenians, which proved to be small-scale and of short duration but the British government had prepared for a nationwide counter-insurgency campaign. The government relied heavily on the militarised Irish Constabulary but in 1848 and 1867 troops were used in large numbers and there were concerns about how they could be best concentrated to meet the envisaged threat.
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Notes
1. Bartlett, “Defence, counter-insurgency and rebellion,” Chambers, Rebellion in Kildare; and O’Donnell, Aftermath.
2. Barton and Foy, The Easter Rising; Hopkinson, The Irish war of independence; McGarry, The Rising; Townshend, Easter 1916; and Townshend, The British campaign in Ireland, 1919–21.
3. See, for example, Gantt, Irish Terrorism in the Atlantic Community, 23–65; Jenkins, The Fenian problem, Newsinger, Fenianism in mid-Victorian Britain, Senior, Last invasion of Canada; and Steward and McGovern, The Fenians.
4. Comerford, “Patriotism as Pastime” and The Fenians in Context.
5. Lowe and Malcolm, “The domestification of the Royal Irish Constabulary, 1836–1922,”; Malcolm, Elizabeth, The Irish policeman 1822–1922; and Palmer, Police and protest in England and Ireland.
6. The standard work on the Young Irelanders remains, Davis, The Young Ireland Movement. See also Kinealy, Repeal and Revolution.
7. Comerford, “Patriotism as Pastime,” The Fenians in Context and “Fenianism,”; and Newsinger, Fenianism in Mid-Victorian Britain.
8. Ó Cathaoir, Soldiers of liberty, 118–139.
9. Ibid: 164–189; and Takagami, “The Fenian Rising in Dublin.”
10. Hobsbawm, Primitive Rebels; and Townshend, Political violence in Ireland, 1–50.
11. Lee, “The Ribbonmen.”
12. Beames, “Rural Conflict in Pre-Famine Ireland”; and Peasants and power, 89–101.
13. Sullivan, New Ireland, 69–95. Cited in Garvin, “Defenders, Ribbonmen and others,” 222.
14. Davitt, The Fall of Feudalism in Ireland. Cited in Garvin, “Defenders, Ribbonmen and others,” 223.
15. Beames, “The Ribbon Societies,” 249.
16. Ó Luain, “Popular Collective Action in Catholic Ulster 1848–1867,” 98.
17. National Library of Ireland (hereafter NLI), Kilmainham papers, Ms. 1059, memorandum Lord Strathnairn, Commander in Chief, Ireland to Chief Secretary, 6 December 1866.
18. This has been carefully detailed in Crossman, Politics, Law & Order in 19th Century Ireland. Appendix F, 199–230.
19. French, “Nasty not nice,” 747.
20. Crossman, Politics, Law & Order, 111–2.
21. NLI, Kilmainham papers, Ms. 1059, letter Major Mockler, 64th Regiment, Tipperary to Military Secretary, 21 December 1866.
22. NLI, Kilmainham papers, Ms. 1054, letter R. Geaves [Colonel?] to Major General Bainbridge, 11 March 1848.
23. NLI, Kilmainham papers, MS. 1059, letter Sir Thomas Larcom to Commander in Chief, 7 December 1866.
24. NLI, Kilmainham papers, MS. 1059, report from Lieutenant Langford Leir, 5 March 1867; letter from Colonel S. Smyth to Under Secretary, 9 March 1867, notes by Major General Bates and Lord Strathnairn, 7 March 1867.
25. NLI, Kilmainham papers, MS. 1059, letter Colonel S. Smyth to Under Secretary, 14 March 1867 and Ms. 1060, same to same, 9 April 1867.
26. Broeker, Rural disorder and police reform in Ireland, 128–159; Malcolm, The Irish policeman, 26–44; and Palmer, Police and Protest, 316–375.
27. Curtis, History of the Royal Irish Constabulary, 88–9; cited in Townshend, Political violence in Ireland, 69.
28. The Times, 18 April 1864 cited in Townshend, Political violence in Ireland, 74.
29. Edward Cardwell to Thomas Larcom, 1 February 1861, NLI Ms 7617, f. 68, cited in Townshend, Political violence in Ireland, 75.
30. NLI, Ms. 1059, Kilmainham papers, Strathnairn to Chief Secretary, 3 December 1866.
31. NLI, Kilmainham papers, Ms. 1059, letter Colonel S. Smyth to Under Secretary, 14 March 1867.
32. NLI, Kilmainham papers, Ms. 1059, letter Colonel S. Smyth to Under Secretary, 11 March 1867; and Scanlon, The Dublin Metropolitan Police, 10.
33. Hanham, “Religion and Nationality in the Mid-Victorian Army,” 162.
34. NLI, Kilmainham papers, Ms. 1054, note of 21 August 1848.
35. Crossman, Politics, Law & Order in 19th Century Ireland, 107–8, Ó Cathaoir, Soldiers of liberty, 118–38; and Semple, “The Fenian infiltration of the British army.”
36. TNA, WO32/6000, General Lord Strathnairn’s views on the social and political state of Ireland, June 1867, cited in Butler, The Irish amateur military tradition in the British army, 19.
37. NLI, Kilmainham papers, Ms. 1059, letter Colonel S. Smyth to Under Secretary, 10 December 1866 and Colonel L. Curzon to Under Secretary, 20 December 1866.
38. NLI, Kilmainham papers, Ms.1059, letter Colonel L. Curzon to Under Secretary, 21 December 1866.
39. NLI, Kilmainham papers, MS. 1059, letter Major O. S. Burne to Under Secretary, 26 December 1866.
40. Butler, The Irish amateur military tradition in the British army, 18–19.
41. NLI, Ms. 1054, Kilmainham papers, notes dated 29th July and 2 August 1848.
42. Kinealy, Repeal and Revolution, 161 and NLI, Ms. 1054, Kilmainham papers, memorandum of 29 January 1848.
43. Robson, Sir Hugh Rose and the Central India campaign 1858, xviii-xix; and Robson, “Rose, Hugh Henry, Baron Strathnairn.”
44. NLI, Kilmainham papers, Ms. 1059, memorandum Lord Strathnairn, C in C, Ireland to Chief Secretary, 3 December 1866.
45. NLI, Kilmainham papers, Ms. 1059, letter Colonel S. Smyth to Under Secretary, 1 January 1867.
46. NLI, Kilmainham papers, Ms. 1059, letter Kenneth D. Mackenzie [Captain?] to Under Secretary, 30 January 1867.
47. NLI, Kilmainham papers, Ms. 1059, letter, Colonel S. Smyth to Under Secretary, 5 March 1867.
48. PRONI, D1939/21/9/9, letter Lord Strathnairn to Lord Erne, 16 December 1866.
49. Blackstock, An Ascendancy Army, 232–268.
50. NLI, Kilmainham papers, MS. 1059, letter Colonel S. Smyth to Under Secretary, 10 March 1867 and Ms. 1060, same to same, 10 April 1867; letter Strathnairn to Secretary of State for War, 12 April 1867; and Crossman, Politics, Law & Order, 110.
51. Burne, Memories, 71.
52. Farrell, Rituals and riots, 160; Griffin, The Bulkies, 116–42; and Townshend; Political Violence in Ireland, 43–44.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Timothy Bowman
Timothy Bowman is Senior Lecturer in modern British military history at the University of Kent. He is the author of a number of books and articles, including, Carson’s Army: The Ulster Volunteer Force, 1910-22 (Manchester University Press, 2007). He is currently working on a study of the Irish soldier in the British army since c. 1680.