Tithe Defaulters, Ireland, 1831

Compiled by Stephen McCormac

Tithe Defaulters Schedules, 1831

 

There are one hundred sixty_two boxes containing what are called Official Papers Miscellaneous Assorted (OPMA for short) files in the National Archives, Bishop St, Dublin. These OPMA boxes have some items of great genealogical interest. The Tithe Defaulter Schedules fall into this category. These schedules are lists of the names of the people who did not pay their tithes for the year 1831.

At this point a little history might be helpful. When increasing numbers of tithe payers refused to pay tithes during the years 1830 and 1831, in particular, many Church of Ireland clergymen found themselves in difficult

financial circumstances. The Government of the day set up what was called Clergy Relief Fund 1831, 'by an Act passed in the second year of His present Majesty' (1832), to alleviate their distress. It had '1831' in its title

because the clergymen could only claim for the arrears of that year. One consequence of this Act was that the Government then had the job of collecting the arrears of tithes in each parish rather than the clergymen.

The fund totaled L60,000 only. I say 'only' because for the thirteen counties

I have dealt with there were arrears of L31,193. In County Kilkenny alone

there were arrears of L12,115. Incidentally, the tithe defaulter, as a result

of this Act of 1832, became not a debtor of the Church of Ireland clergymen

but a debtor of the State. Apparently this made no difference. According to

J.C. Beckett: The Makings of Modern Ireland 1603_1923 (page 310), the State

spent some L27,000 in recovering a mere L12,000. There were outstanding

arrears of L1,000,000.

If the clergyman wished to seek assistance under the terms of the Act, he had

to swear an affidavit setting out the methods he had employed in attempting to

recover the arrears of tithe for 1831. To accompany the affidavit he had to

write out a Schedule, 'hereunto annexed', setting out the 'Names,

Descriptions, and Places of Abode of the Persons, Occupiers of Land' within

his Parish or the 'Representatives of such of them that are dead'. He also had

to state how much tithe was due from each tithe payer and how much each tithe

payer was in arrears. The affidavits and the schedules then had to be sent to

Dublin Castle for a decision as to whether relief would be granted or not

under the terms of the Act which set up the Clergy Relief Fund.

All of these conditions were met and it is because of this that the Schedules

attached to the affidavits are such a valuable source of information.

There are 1,061 pages of names of Tithe Defaulters. These 1,061 pages of names

cover 232 Parishes and list 29,027 names. This is a unique record of people

living in Ireland, and of their address and occupation, at the time that the

various schedules were compiled, namely, in June, July and August, 1832. Given

the paucity of census material for 1831 and the fact that although the Tithe

Applotment Books cover much more of Ireland than these Defaulter Lists, they

do not give occupations, neither do they have the variety of 'observations'

made in the schedules. These schedules are an important addition to other

genealogical sources. I also take that view that insofar as the clergymen

wanted their money they would have been particularly careful to give the names

of all tithe defaulters. For this reason I would expect these lists of names

to be very comprehensive in terms of the parishes they cover. Indeed, in some

parishes the total number of defaulters is greater than the total number of

families as recorded in the 1831 Census. This could, of course, be a fault of

the 1831 Census.

While there are two hundred and thirty_two parishes recorded, there are only

one hundred and twenty_three Affidavits. The discrepancy is due to the fact

that several clergymen were vicars or rectors of more than one parish. These

Affidavits are also a source of genealogical material. They obviously give the

name of The Church of Ireland clergymen. In addition to this the signatures of

the clergymen were witnessed by a Law Officer, whose signature is attached.

The Law Officer sometimes identifies himself as either a J.P. or a Magistrate.

In some instances he tells us that he is a Mayor. Thus, for example, we have

the identity (and the signature) of the Mayor of Clonmel, M. Chaytor; the

Mayor of Cashel, Benjamin White; the Mayor of Waterford, Henry Alcock; the

Mayor of Kilkenny, William Robertstown and the Mayor of Youghal, M.Hale. But

the affidavits also name a variety of other people including priests, tithe

agents, vicars of adjoining Parishes for which there are no Schedules. They

also give us the name of the Lieutenant of Castletown Yeomanry, Mr. Dixie

Blundell of Inch Glebe, Arklow.

The affidavits also mention the Whitefoot System and 'Hurlers'. And here some

more history is needed. It was under the pretext of holding hurling matches

that the mass meetings in protest against tithe payments were held. Of course,

to hold hurling matches one had to acquire a hurley, somehow. This would have

been quite dangerous because to cut down a tree, shrub or sapling valued at

L1.0.0 or more, was punished by transportation. The protesters or hurlers were

warned of this by a friend of Daniel O'Connell, Patrick Costelloe, who was a

partner in a Kilkenny law firm. He criticised those who had cut down timber to

make hurley sticks as being 'wrong, foolish and illegal' (see The Tithe War in

County Kilkenny 1830_1834 by W. Noland & K. Whelan).

The Affidavits repeatedly convey the constancy of the united resistance to the

payment of tithes, which they call a 'Combination'. The majority of the

affidavits also deal with the violence of the resistance to the payment of

tithes. Some examples will help:

That in consequence of the general resistance to the payment

of Tithes....no proceedings were taken to enforce payment.....

and also, from a Notice being posted up in said Parish (Grange

Silvia, Co. Kilkenny) that if John Lane, who was employed in

collecting said tithes, did not quit said Parish, to prepare his

Coffin.

(From the Affidavit of the Rev. John French.)

Again in the affidavit of the Rev. William Hughes, rector of Outrath and

Mortlestown (Co. Kilkenny), we read the following:

Memorialist was deterred....by the murder of the Rev. Mr.

Whiting in his immediate neighbourhood.

 

.....The affidavits can also be quite dramatic. For example, the affidavit of

the Rev. Alexander Staples of Gowran Parish, Co. Kilkenny reads:

Memorialist drove at various times for the amount of

Tythe due. When the cattle were locked up two horns

sounded as signals from hill to hill.

One is left wondering what happened next. What agitation did the sounding

horns initiate?

Above all the affidavits refer to 'the affair at Carrickshock'. This incident

terrified the Church of Ireland clergymen and put an end to their attempts to

recover the arrears of tithes. What was this 'affair'?

Carrickshock is a townland near Hugginstown in County Kilkenny, in the Parish

of Knocktopher. On Wednesday, 14th December, 1831, a crowd of five hundred

people followed a party of thirty_eight police under the command of the chief

constable, Captain Gibbons, and a process server, named Edmund Butler, whom

the police were obviously protecting. The crowd wanted Butler to be handed

over to them. The confrontation eventually turned nasty. A hail of stones

rained down on the police and Gibbons and fourteen of his men were killed. So

also were Butler and twenty_five to thirty local people (see Nolan & Whelan).

Small wonder that 'the affair at Carrickshock' terrified many rectors. Oddly

enough, the affidavit of the clergyman in whose parish this slaughter occured,

Hans Hamilton, Vicar of Knocktopher, (and also vicar of Kilmaganny,

Aghavillar, Derrynahinch & Donnemaggar Parishes), understates the whole

affair. It reads:

...by citation, and frequent notices to pay and settle

afterwards by filing bills in the Court of Exchequer, all

which were rendered ineffectual by a combination and]

conspiracy among the Roman Catholic parishoners

which ended in the murder of the Chief Constable of

Police and fourteen Sub_Constables.

I find it strange that he does not dignify the dead with their names. Twenty_

six people were charged with these killings but they were all released. Some

of them are listed as tithe defaulters. For example, Thomas Ryan, William

Norris, James Cashin and James Walsh. But the Schedules of Tithe Defaulters

can help us even more. They can give us further insights into history, no

matter how local or trivial. For example, if we wish to know the names of some

of the people who were among that crowd of five hundred we can turn to the

lists of tithe defaulters for Knocktopher and surrounding parishes. Thus

history has many sources of confirmation.

The lists of names of tithe defaulters are interesting in themselves. There

are various gems of information, or gossip, in them that are very local and

immediate. For example, there is the absolute gem of the following entry:

Address: Coolnabrone alias Coorigan Townland, Powerstown Parish, co.Kilkenny

Name: Anstace Norris, wife of John Norris, carpenter, living in America.

This entry would be of priceless value to the Norris family concerned,

researching their family history today. Immediately we wonder, did Anstace

ever join her husband in America, or did John return to Ireland to rejoin

Anstace? Who knows? But it is wonderings such as these that make genealogy so

gripping a pursuit. This entry also gives us a change in name for the

townland.

I am of the opinion that it will take the scrutiny of many pairs of eyes to

fully judge the value of these Schedules of Tithe Defaulters. ( *from

anita___at this point Mr. McCormac lists a number of examples of entries,

while although interesting, all concern Co. Kilkenny___I will skip over these

and move onto his concluding paragraph*)

Although the Tithe Defaulters Index does not cover every county, it is a

useful research tool which, in view of the deficit of Irish material, will

assist many thousands of local historians and genealogists. In conclusion, may

I say that I hope others will be encouraged to undertake their own study of

the Schedules.

                                                                   

                                              Copyright Stephen McCormac

                                                                        Last Updated 22 Januasry 2023