Author: Will Gray

County of Cork.—Mr. O’Connell a Candidate. 12th July 1841

Will GrayLeave a comment

This has been buried in a mass of information about the election in 1841 for a couple of years whilst I worked out how to best deal with it. This specific post caught my eye whilst I was trying to deal with which Bartholomew Verling was which. What it really did spark was the whole series of posts on the 1841 election.

The important thing to know is the election was stretched over almost a fortnight. So when Daniel O’Connell wasn’t elected in Dublin City, he was still able to stand in Cork County. He was also on the ballot, and elected in Meath.

What is quite so surprising is how many of the family are in this one, all detailed at the end of the post.

COUNTY OF CORK.—MR. O’CONNELL A CANDIDATE;—THE NOMINATION.—CORK,

Monday Night, July 12th .—Mr. O’Connell, the victim of foul play and Orange chicanery in Dublin, is now the leading candidate for the representation in Parliament of the Yorkshire of Ireland,—of the county of Cork,—with its million of inhabitants. Authorized by the two gentlemen—Messrs. Roche and Barry, the former members—the committee in the direction of the Liberal electoral interests despatched on Saturday night a gentleman, Bartholomew Verling, Esq., of Cove, with full power to announce to Mr. O’Connell the retirement of one, or, if necessary, of both the gentlemen by whom the county had been represented, in order that the interests of the country might be promoted, and the successful machinations of the Tories in other places met and counterbalanced. Mr. Verling arrived at Carlow yesterday, where he met Mr. O’Connell, and at full work for the independence of that proverbially Tory-Orange county. The liberator of his country received the communication with delight. Mr. Verling posted to Cork, and arrived at seven this morning. The committee sat at eight. Mr. O’Connell’s letter was then read, and before nine o’clock the city was all commotion. Placards were posted in every direction. In the mean time, the Tory arrivals were incessant and numerous; and when, at twelve o’clock, the county court was thrown open, and-the usual frightful crush and crash of the populace took place, the appearance of things rightfully indicated how, as it is said here, “the cat hopped.’ Mr. G. Standish Barry presented himself. Greatly did he regret that circumstances had arisen that placed him in the position of retiring from the high and distinguished honour of being a.candidate for the fourth time, for the representation of the county. But the temporary defeat of Ireland’s liberator required that some one, should make the sacrifice ; and in his person that sacrifice was now made. He had pleasure in retiring for Mr. O’Connell (tremendous cheering), not simply of retiring, but he had the great gratification of proposing as the representative of the county of Cork in Parliament, Daniel O’Connell, Esq. (Awful cheering.) In an excellent speech, well delivered and well received, the nomination was seconded by Francis Bernard Beamish, Esq., our late representative for the city .of Cork. Nothing could exceed the wild enthusiasm of the people at having before them as a candidate Mr. O’Connell. The scene was at times terrific. Proposed by Daniel Clanchy, Esq. J.P. of Charleville, and seconded by Eugene M’Carthy, Esq., Of Ruthroe, Mr. Burke Roche was introduced to the constituency. The reception was enthusiastic. The Conservative candidates Messrs. Leader and Longfield, met with a sorry reception. The high sheriff (Mr. Barry) appealed in their behalf in vain. The Tories will persevere to the last. But such a defeat as awaits them

The above text was found on p.6, 17th July 1841 in “The Tablet: The International Catholic News Weekly.” Reproduced with kind permission of the Publisher. The Tablet can be found at http://www.thetablet.co.uk .

The text below is taken from the Spectator also on 17th July 1841. Both papers took a strongly anti-Tory stance

The Spectator 17 July 1841: CORK COUNTY has been a candidate for the honour of returning Mr. O’Connell. As soon as it was known that he was thrown out at Dublin, Mr. Standish Barry retired to make room for him. Mr. Burke Roche stood with him. The Tory candidates were Mr. Phillpotts Leader and Mr. Longfield.

In the letter accepting the invitation of the electors to stand, Mr. O’Connell says-

” We cannot disguise to ourselves the fact, that my defeat in Dublin will give an insolent confidence to our enemies—to the bigoted enemies of Ireland. They will gladly hail it as a proof of the declining strength of the popular power, a proof which would be annihilated by a victory in my name in such a county as Cork. It strikes me that we should thus counteract time Dublin loss. It is quite true that such loss was occasioned by means which betoken the depravity of our adversaries, and not any alteration in popular opinion or in popular determination. Still, it requires to be counteracted ; and such counteraction would be only the more powerful by my being unnecessarily returned for your county. But I do not think I could be personally present in Cork before Wednesday morning. Under these circumstances, I leave myself in sour hands. You command my services—you command my political action. If it is thought fit to elect me for Cork county, I will sit for that county, and none other, in this Parliament. The coming into operation of the Municipal Bill, however insufficient in other respects that bill may be, will enable me to regain Dublin.”

CORK CITY. The Liberals, Daniel Callaghan and Francis Murphy, triumphed here, over Colonel Chatterton and Mr. Morris. The Tories complain of intimidation and obstruction. On the 8th, an elector was killed. The Cork Constitution says-

” The organization was complete. Every ‘enemy ‘ was known and marked; and, as he quitted the booth, a chalk on his back commended him to ‘ justice.’ If the military were outside, execution was deferred ; but they ‘ dogged ‘ him till the danger was past, and then a shout or a wink pointed him for vengeance. The women were usually the first ; the courageous men came after, and the unfortunate fellow was beat, and cut, and trampled. Then is the triumph of diabolical enmity. A demoniac shout is raised, and even a woman dances in the blood! We write a literal fact : when Mr. Norwood’s skull was broken in the manner described on Thursday, one of the female followers of Murphy and Callaghan actually danced in the blood that lay red upon the ground.”

The family bits.

Just to recap, Bartholomew Verling of Cove has two grandsons also called Bartholomew Verling who are first cousins. The elder Bartholomew Verling (1786 – 1855) of Cove is John Roche of Aghada’s nephew twice over. His mother is John Roche’s sister, Ellen, and his father is Mary Roche’s (nee Verling) brother, John Verling. His brother is Dr James Roche Verling (1787 – 1858) was one of Napoléon’s doctors on St. Helena [making both of them 1st cousins 5x removed].

“Roche and Barry” are Edmond Burke Roche, and Garrett Standish Barry. Barry was the first Catholic MP elected to represent Cork County after the Catholic Emancipation Act of 1829, and was elected in 1832. Roche was elected in 1837.  

Garrett Standish Barry (1788-1864) is the 1st cousin 1x removed of 5x great aunt Mary Grehan, and his great-nephew Henry Standish Barry was at Downside with 2x great uncle Frank Purssell, and a guest at his wedding.

Edmond Burke Roche is slightly more complicated. He is the 1st cousin 1x removed of General Edmund Roche whose wife Anna Austin was Charles Cooper Penrose-Fitzgerald’s aunt. Charles C P-F’s wife was Henrietta Hewson which made her a 2nd cousin of 3x great aunt Mary O’Bryen. 

Edmond Burke Roche also has the distinction of being Prince Harry’s great, great, great grandfather. 

Dan Callaghan was the M.P for Cork City for nineteen years from 1830 until his death in 1849 aged 63. His sister Catherine was married to James Joseph Roche another 1st cousin 5x removed, and a 1st cousin of the Verling boys.

And finally, Dan the man himself is the father-in-law of a 1st cousin 1x removed of 5x great aunt Mary Grehan.

Dublin election 10th July 1841

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THE DUBLIN ELECTION.—On Saturday [10th July], a new project was started by the Tories to prevent their defeat. They brought to the poll a batch of freemen, or pretended freemen, not registered six months, and some who were not registered at all. The assessor decided upon admitting every man of them ! At the last election of this city, a similar attempt was made by the Tories, but the then assessor, Mr. George, although himself a Tory, at once decided against the proposition and the unregistered and unqualified freemen were rejected. At half-past three o’clock, Mr. Monahan, counsel for the Liberals, applied to the sheriff to open another booth for voters in the letter M, as 600 of them remained unpolled. The assessor peremptorily refused. It is by such means as these that the Tories will effect a temporary triumph in the city of Dublin. A new trick has just been discovered, which it is feared has had a considerable influence on the election. Some of the Tory agents were detected in Mr. O’Connell’s committee-rooms busily engaged in marking ” dead,” and ” gone away,” on the slips which were laid out for the agents, in order to bring up the Liberal voters, and this of course prevented the agents in seeking out the parties named on the slips.

RETURN OF THE TORIES. — OUTRAGEOUS PROCEEDINGS.— (July 11.) It was not until after five o’clock this (Sunday) morning that the sheriffs and their assessor completed the return of the votes polled at the election, which was announced as follows :—

Gross Poll.

  • West, (T), 3,860,
  • Grogan, (T), 3,839 ;
  • O’Connell, (R), 3,692 ;
  • Hutton, (R), 3,662.
  • Majority of West over O’Connell, 168 ;
  • Majority of Grogan over Hutton 177.

This majority has been obtained by the most reckless violation of law and decency, and by the monstrous decisions of the assessor, especially that regarding household voters, rejected because “house and premises” appeared in their certificates, signed by the registering barrister. They might just as reasonably have been rejected for having noses upon their faces. Every respectable barrister, whether Whig or Tory, openly exclaims against this most unwarrantable and shameless decision. But the decision of the assessor, yesterday, was, if possible, a more monstrous violation of law and common sense : he decided that freemen not six months registered, or freemen not registered at all, should be admitted to vote, although the law expressly declares that no man can vote whose name has not been at least six months on the register. When this decision was announced, a horde of unfledged freemen, or pretended freemen, manufactured for the purpose by the dying corporation, rushed into the booths and voted for the Tory candidates. At this moment the Liberals were fast breaking down the small Tory majority. “Well, then,” said the Liberal agents, ” if six months registry be not necessary for Tories, it surely is not necessary for Liberals, and we have an immense majority of voters registered within six months.” Accordingly, numbers of household voters of this class came up, but they were rejected, on the ground that they were not six months registered. The very same class of freemen voters were brought forward by the Tories on the last day of the Dublin election in 1837, when the assessor, Mr. George, although a decided Tory in politics, refused to allow their votes. But the climax of Tory injustice is yet to come. At three o’clock yesterday, the polling in booth M was altogether stopped, by order of the sheriffs. There are nearly twice as many voters in this letter as in any other, and more than two-thirds of them are Liberals. The sheriffs refused, although repeatedly applied to, to appropriate two booths; in order that time might be allowed for polling all. At three o’clock yesterday afternoon, when the Liberals were gaining considerably in the booth M, the sheriffs altogether stopped the polling, on the pretence that it was necessary to put on the disputed votes from the previous day. At this moment there were hundreds of Liberal voters waiting to be polled in booth M. An application was again made to the sheriff to open a second booth, but there was a peremptory refusal. All the other booths were kept open until five o’clock, although in most of them, especially the booths where the Tories had been strongest, there were none to poll. By this proceeding, hundreds of Liberal electors have been altogether excluded from recording their votes. At a later period of the day the corporate functionaries, having become frightened at the probable consequences of their own conduct, it was announced that booth M would be open for votes for a short time after five o’clock ; but the Liberal voters, after waiting in the open street all day, had of course gone to their homes, on hearing it announced that the poll had finally closed.

DUBLIN CITY. The scenes of anarchy and bad spirit with which the polling commenced on Tuesday week were continued till the close on Saturday, with augmented violence. Each side charges the other with unfair attempts to influence the votes, and with outrage; but the charge of violence is mostly preferred by the Tories, while the Liberals are the strongest in the accusation of partiality. To judge as well as one can at a distance, by means of grossly contradictory accounts, both parties seem supported in their allegations by facts. It is said that as soon as Mr. O’Connell heard who was to be the Assessor, a Mr. Waller, he exclaimed that, no matter what the numbers might be for him, he should not be returned. The charges on this head are very distinctly stated by an elector, who writes to the Morning Chronicle from Dublin, on Saturday night-

” In Ireland, for a voter to establish his right to vote, on coming to the poll he must produce the certificate of his registry; which is given to him by the Clerk of the Peace, under the authority of the Registering Barrister, and for which he is in no way responsible. On this occasion great numbers of these certificates describe the qualification as for “house and premises,” or “a Lease and concerns.” In all these cases the Assessor decided for the rejection of the votes; stating that it should have been for ‘a house’ alone, and that the insertion of the words ‘and premises’ in the certificate invalidated the vote; although the Act of Parliament distinctly states that the certificates shall be conclusive as to the right of voting; and notwithstanding that he thus assumed a power not given to the Judges, of overruling the decisions of the Registering Barrister, when favourable to the claimant. It may not, at first sight, be obvious how this decision injures the Liberal interest, as it would apparently tell equally against Tories and Liberals; but it is only necessary to point out that there are about 2,000 freemen in Dublin to whom it does not apply; five-sixths of whom, through bribery and gratitude to the Corporation who made them, invariably vote for the Tories. This happy invention for disenfranchising whole constituencies has, for the first time, been brought into play, as it were by concert, in all places where, by the existence of freemen and an unscrupulous Sheriff, the Tories could gain by it; and Athlone, Dublin, and Waterford, will, in consequence, return five Tories to the next Parliament, in the face of undoubted Liberal majorities of the bona fide electors in each of those places. Another decision of the Assessor made last night, when the success of the Liberals, with fair play, was pretty evident, was, that ‘ Freemen, though only freemen for one day, were entitled to vote’ ; a decision which, although they might have carried the last Dublin election by it, they had not then the courage to make, but which the near prospect of office and power has now given them heart to venture on.” 

Englishmen, who since the Reform Bill [of 1832] have seen the City of London polled out in one day, will be surprised at hearing that the City of Dublin cannot be polled out in five. But so it is. At five o’clock this evening, the latest hour allowed by law for keeping open the poll, about 200 electors tendered their votes for O’Connell and Hutton, accompanied by a declaration that they had attended at letter M booth, to which they belonged, without having it in their power during the whole of the election to record their votes. The explanation is this. The names beginning with that letter are by far the most numerous in Dublin; and of them the vast majority are Liberals. It was therefore obviously the interest of the Tories that obstacles should be thrown in the way of their voting. The first step to this end was to allot but one booth, and that most inconveniently placed, for the letter; the second, to place in it to receive the votes a deputy physically incompetent for the duty; who, by putting the oaths to all voters occupied on the average five minutes in recording each vote. But will it be believed in England, that, not content with this, at about three o’clock this day, the Sheriff or his Assessor sent arbitrarily to stop the polling at that booth, about 70 votes having been given in it for the Liberals and 13 for the Tories by that hour ? He actually did so; and it was only on the indignant remonstrance of those present that he consented to open it again at about four, and continue it until five, when the tender of the 200 voters incapacitated from voting took place.

Further authentic evidence of this obstruction is given in a letter which Mr. Henry Grattan wrote to the Morning Register— ” I was stopped in the street today, by a number of electors, who complained to me that they could not poll in booth letter M. I went with them to the committee-rooms of Messrs. O’Connell and Hutton. I advised them to draw up a statement of their complaint, which they could, if required, verify by affidavit. They did so; and, having signed it, I accompanied them to the assessor’s room, and the paper was handed to the agent. I proceeded with a number of electors to booth M; and though upwards of 1,600 (as was stated to me) were to poll there, the booth was small, being in size not larger than any of the rest. There was no accommodation for the electors; and being in the open street, they were exposed to the torrents of rain that were then falling. I remained there for three quarters of an hour, and, with my watch in my hand, I minuted the poll ; and, from three minutes after three o’clock to twenty minutes to four o’clock, the electors were polled at the rate of five minutes each man. I saw some unable to get in — numbers complained they could not poll — one elector had been there two days — another, with only one leg, had been standing half the day unable to get polled — others stated they could not wait, as they were obliged to leave Dublin that evening. The agent of Messrs. O’Connell and Hutton had each upwards of twenty certificates in their hands, and the electors were unable to come up — many went away tired and disgusted, and I saw them afterwards unable to get polled.” These statements are made with so much confidence, and are so faintly disputed on the other side, that much doubt is thrown on the final result of the poll as it was declared by the Sheriff at five o’clock on Sunday morning, as follows—West, 3,860; Grogan, 3,839 ; O’Connell, 3,602; Hutton, 3,662.

It is difficult to say how much the violence of the O’Connell party is to be attributed to exasperation at such proceedings. The first day that the polling commenced, Mr. O’Connell bitterly complained in public of the conduct of the Assessor : his language, indeed, was peaceful ; but his complaints and evident forebodings of failure were calculated in the highest degree to inflame the passions of the irritated people. Large bodies of men, it is said, maintained a lawless patrol in the streets, impeding some voters and driving others to the poll. Among those, the coal-porters were conspicuous. The following sidelong explanation of the Dublin Pilot of Friday tends to substantiate the assertions of the opposite party-

“The multitude which surrounded the Court-house throughout the day was densely numerous ; but nothing could be more laudable than the peaceful and orderly manner in which they conducted themselves. A single votary of Bacchus was not to be seen in this immense concourse. The coal-porters left their work upon the Quays at an early hour; and in a body nearly three hundred strong marshalled themselves in the various avenues leading to the hustings: they were all of them provided with whips, shillelaghs, or thongs, with which they with gentle violence kept the crowd in good order, putting them off to either side of the road, and thus keeping a clear and unobstructed passage in the middle, through which the cars and other vehicles conveying the voters might pass. What a fine instance was there not here of disinterestedness and honest zeal in these poor fellows, sacrificing a day’s earnings that they might contribute their humble efforts to facilitate the advancement of the popular cause !  Ubiquitous jarveys were flying all day through the town. [ ie. people were rushing about town in hired coaches all day] “

It is easy to suppose that the city in which coal-porters, in bodies three hundred strong, were allowed to perform the office of police “with gentle violence,” was not kept in the best order. The military were called out on Thursday [8th July] to protect the voters as they proceeded to the poll ; and they were afterwards reinforced. But riots were of constant occurrence. The outrages upon individuals, however, most distinctly prove the uncontrolled state of the place. We copy a few instances from the accounts in the Times- ” A large party of coal-porters proceeded in regular battle array up to Meath Street, to the house of an aged gentleman named Cradock, an officer on half- pay : the ruffians forced an entrance, and proceeded to search the premises, in order to drag the owner to the hustings to record his vote for the Repealers. They found the poor old gentleman in bed, unwell; and on declaring his inability to comply with their behests, they fell upon him with bludgeons, and inflicted two extensive fractures on his skull. The unhappy man was conveyed to the Meath Hospital; where, on inspection by the resident doctors, the wounds were pronounced to be of a decidedly dangerous character.”

The correspondent of the Times gives another tale from the mouth of Mr. Nugent, a Roman Catholic butcher-  ” He assured me that he has been obliged to quit his house and provide himself with a private lodging; that the forebodings of the mob who attacked his house on Wednesday, and declared to him that there was not a grazier in Smithfield who would venture to make a sale to him, have been verified to the letter; that he went to Smithfield on Thursday, and could not make a single purchase, and was seriously recommended by a grazier who was kindly disposed towards him, to hasten away from the market, lest he should meet with personal violence. He assured me that he has already sustained a loss of about 60/. [shillings modern day £3,580]  in damage to his house and furniture, and that he fears he shall be obliged to close and forsake an establishment in which he has resided and carried on business for twenty-two years.”

Another-

” Mr. William Gorman, barrister-at-law, was wantonly and brutally assaulted in Capel Street, on Saturday last. He lies seriously indisposed at his residence in Harcourt Street. Notwithstanding the numerous wounds inflicted on his head, strong hopes are entertained of his recovery by Dr. Kirby, who is in attendance. The learned gentleman was with difficulty rescued from a ferocious mob, and escorted to his house in a great state of exhaustion by a body of mounted police.”

One more-

” An old man named Cox, upwards of seventy years old, residing in Usher Street, who registered as a Conservative, had been waited upon to vote for Messrs. West and Grogan ; but he said it would injure him severely if he voted, and he was not further pressed. A body of coal-porters was sent to bring him, but he refused to go, and barricaded his house. They went away disconcerted ; and a second time they came, he thought to get out by the back way, but the premises were surrounded. Seeing no chance of escape, he took with him his gun for protection and climbed to the top of a house in his yard to escape through a neighbour’s house. He was seen, and menaces uttered against him; and in raising his gun to his shoulder it went off, as we are informed, unintentionally on the part of Cox, and the discharge took effect, and shot off the finger of a coal-porter. He got into a neighbour’s premises; he let himself down out of a loft by a rope, and was, as he thought, secure from his pursuers; but he had no sooner alighted than he was secured and carried off to Green Street, put into a cellar, his life threatened, a knife displayed, and told that his throat would be cut if he did not vote for O’Connell and Hutton. His coat was torn, and he was otherwise ill-used ; and finally, seeing there was no escape, he consented to be brought to the booth, and there stated to the deputies that it was from fear and danger of his life he gave his vote for O’Connell and Hutton. This fact was entered on the poll-book, and informations of the facts were lodged by him at the Head-office of Police. Cox got 30s. in silver, to pay for his coat, from some of the agents for the Liberal candidates. He had to sleep at an hotel from apprehension ; and four policemen were put in charge of the house and premises.”

The subjoined version of this same story, given by the Dublin Pilot, is a sample of the contradictions to be met with- ” Mr. Cox, of Usher Street, was waited on by a parcel of men belonging to the Tory party, who thought to compel him to vote for them ; but he refused ; and after some time they went away, swearing they would kill him. In a short time after, a few of the Liberal party waited on him ; when he imagined that they were the same persons who first visited him, and, very unfortunately for all parties, Mr. Cox fired on the people, and shot a man named Campbell very severely in the hand. Mr. Cox subsequently voted for O’Connell and Hutton.”

The same paper supplies one or two charges of violence against the Tories-

” About one o’clock, a riot, which for some time assumed rather a serious appearance, occurred in Capel Street. The origin of it we could not correctly ascertain but of this fact we are cognizant, that a person named Scott, a friend of West and Grogan, drew a loaded pistol to fire on the people ; but the deadly weapon was at once rescued from him; and although this act was in itself quite sufficient to enrage the populace, yet they behaved with the most steady and cool forbearance.”

The next is headed ” Orange insult to a clergyman “

” In booth K, a Catholic clergyman came up to vote ; when West’s agent said to him, ‘Oh, here is one of the surpliced ruffians ‘ An affidavit to the fact was sworn, and laid before the Sheriff.”

The Liberals having expressed a doubt as to the legality of the declaration on Sunday morning, the Sheriff went to the Court-house on Monday, and repeated the declaration.

The above text was found on p.6, 17th July 1841 in “The Tablet: The International Catholic News Weekly.” Reproduced with kind permission of the Publisher. The Tablet can be found at http://www.thetablet.co.uk .

Tipperary and Mallow – 12th July 1841

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COUNTY OF TIPPERARY.—TERRIBLE EXCITEMENT—ORANGE OUTRAGES.—Monday (second day)[12th July].—Clonmel has been in a state of great excitement since Friday evening, when about one hundred of the Ormond Orangemen arrived, armed to the teeth, although guarded by police. One of these had a scuffle with a townsman in the evening, when he stabbed him at once ; the poor man’s life is despaired of. The polling has been, going on briskly at the side of the Liberals, notwithstanding the oath of allegiance is put to all the Catholics. On the Tories from Cahir coming in today, one of their cars broke down in the street, and they were greatly hooted ; one of them (a gentleman) ‘most valiantly’ wounded an unarmed poor man in the neck. The Liberals had 71 majority at five o’clock ; they will have 100, at least, at the close of the poll this evening.

The above text was found on p.6, 17th July 1841 in “The Tablet: The International Catholic News Weekly.” Reproduced with kind permission of the Publisher. The Tablet can be found at http://www.thetablet.co.uk .

The text below is taken from the Spectator also on 17th July 1841. Both papers took a strongly anti-Tory stance.

TIPPERARY. Fierce riot disturbed the election at Clonmel. As some dragoons were escorting a body of electors into the town, on Monday, a quantity of stones were thrown down upon them from an arch under which they passed, and three were knocked from their horses. The Chief Constable was struck from his horse with a stone. The Police were ordered to fire : they did so, and four people fell, badly if not mortally wounded. A Mr. Perry defended himself from an attack with a dagger, and he stabbed a man in the chest.

The disorders were not confined to the town. On Monday, there was a riot at Bansha, where one man was shot dead, while nine were badly wounded by the military or police ; and at New Birmingham, near Killenaule, three country-people were shot dead and others wounded in an affray. On Tuesday, when the Liberal Members, Maher and Cave, were returned, Clonmel had become quiet.

MALLOW. co. Cork: Mr. Longfield retired from the contest before the termination of the poll, on Friday (9th July); leaving Sir D. Norreys to be declared. The violences that led to that step began with the nomination in the Court-house; at which some priests took a prominent part. After a storm of personal abuse, a desperate affray occurred. A crowd of people rushed into the building and drove the Tories from their station in the gallery- ” This did not satisfy the blood-thirsty wretches,” says an account, which bears, however, marks of partisanship;  “who, perceiving that Mr. Longfield, his proposer, seconder, agents, and friends, were beneath them, mounted the gallery, and leaped on the heads of those gentlemen, who had no means of escape, as they were pressed together by the mob surrounding them at all points. During this scene, the ruffians in the lower part of the court were yelling on the desperadoes above; amidst which was to be heard,’ Murder the Orangemen !’ the cries of the injured, the screams of those who saw nothing before them but death, (many of whom were Sir Denham’s own friends,) and the shouts of Dr. Linehane and Mr Braddle, both Justices of the Peace, to spare the lives of the Tories. Here Mr. Ware, Justice of the Peace, called upon the Stipendiary for assistance, to endeavour to protect the lives of those who were in jeopardy; but the Stipendiary was unable to stir; and the fright he appeared in seemed to make him regret that he had not taken the precautions he was bound to have taken; and there he was in the closely-packed crowd, looking up to Father Collins in the most piteous manner, imploring him to save their lives.”

Sir (Charles) Denham Orlando Jephson-Norreys, 1st Baronet (1 December 1799 – 11 July 1888), known as Denham Jephson until 1838. In July 1838 he was created a baronet, [of Mallow in the County of Cork]. Later that month he assumed by Royal licence the additional surname of Norreys M.P. from Mallow in 1826,a seat he held until 1832. He was re-elected in 1833, when the incumbent, William Daunt, was unseated on petition.He continued to represent Mallow in Parliament until 1859.

Belfast election – July 10th 1841

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BOROUGH OF BELFAST.—JULY 10.—The following is the final close of the poll :—Tennent (T), 927;  Johnson (T), 913 ; Lord Belfast (R), 623 ; Mr. Ross (R), 794. The Tories bribed to a tremendous amount, and committed enormous perjury. The Liberals will petition. On Tuesday a question arose as to the affidavits on which a great body of the voters polled. Mr. Whiteside took the objection that the certificate placed on those affidavits had not the signature of the clerk of the peace, as expressly required by the act of Parliament. The objection, if it had prevailed, would have struck off, at once, about seventy of the votes of the Reformers. The learned gentleman was heard in support of the objection at great length. Mr. O’Hagan replied in an argument which occupied several hours. The assessor took time to consider; and, on Wednesday morning, to the great disappointment of the Tories, who expected, as in the ” house and shop case,” to carry the election by a coup de main, overruled the objection, although his own opinion, in a book published by him some years ago, was cited and strongly urged by Mr. Whiteside. The next device of the Tories was to raise innumerable objections, for the purpose of creating delay to the voters in booth ‘M’,  [ voters went to a booth allocated by the first letter of their surname] where the great strength of the Liberals lay. Mr. O’Hagan pressed the assessor in every way to remedy this grievance. He urged that the letter might be divided, and two booths erected, which would have enabled the Reformers to poll their men. The assessor would not consent to this, holding himself bound to keep all the voters whose names began with the same letter in the same booth. Mr. O’Hagan then contended for the placing of more than one deputy in booth M ; but the assessor would not consent to this, declaring that he had no power to do so under the act of Parliament. The result was, that an immense body of the stanchest electors in the borough remained unpolled.

The above text was found on p.6, 17th July 1841 in “The Tablet: The International Catholic News Weekly.” Reproduced with kind permission of the Publisher. The Tablet can be found at http://www.thetablet.co.uk .

The text below is taken from the Spectator also on 17th July 1841. Both papers took a strongly anti-Tory stance.

BELFAST. The poll finally stood thus on Saturday evening—Emerson Tennent, 927; Johnson, 913; Lord Belfast, 321 Ross, 792. Charges of obstruction, bribery, and personation abound- ” In the first place,” says the Northern Mail,” there was the system of delaying, for the purpose of preventing part of the electors from voting. In one booth, this system was carried so far, that, as we are informed, a whole hour, or even more, was occasionally spent in polling a single tally !  The consequence is, that it is impossible but that a large number of the electors (probably from 80 to 100) who belong to the particular booth will be unable to vote at all! Corruption and abomination have stalked abroad, almost without an attempt at disguise. One man, when on his oath in the booth, stated that the Tories had offered him a bribe of 30/.[shillings – modern day £1,790] Another elector mentioned elsewhere, that a leading person in the Tory party had tempted him with 100/.[shillings – modern day £5,967] to be applied in corrupting two or three voters.”

The same paper relates, among others, rather a striking story of perjury and personation- ” In booth No. 2 (B and D), when the Tory strength was nearly exhausted, a broken tally of two was brought up, for Mr. Johnson. The two names on the tally were John Gilmore Dunbar, and James Buchanan. Mr. Dunbar’s vote was admitted, of course, without hesitation. When the name of Buchanan (registered from a house in Verner Street) was called, the agent for Lord Belfast (Mr. Smith) at once suspected that all was not right. The unfortunate man—not Buchanan (who had been two years out of his house)— but a hired perjurer, who had been sent up to personate him—looked ghastly pale ; his lips quivered, and his whole frame seemed agitated. It was whispered to the agent, that the man was a personator. The wretch took the Bible in his hand, and, in a state of awful trepidation, proceeded to repeat the false oath. When he came to the solemn words, ‘So help me God,’ there was a cry of ‘Perjury, perjury !—that man is William M’Dowell the carpenter, and not Buchanan, the lawyer.’ This was too much for him. He had struggled hard with his conscience, in order to earn the wages of crime; but the better impulse, fortunately, prevailed, when he was thus confronted ; he dropped the sacred book, in dismay, and fled from the booth, a dreadful living testimony to Tory criminality. As he was going out of the booth, Mr. Smith said to him, ‘ You have saved your soul from perjury ; and you will bless me, and curse the party who tempted you, on your deathbed.'”

On petition Emerson Tennent and Johnson were unseated and new writ issued. At the by-election in 1842, James Emerson Tennent and David Ross were elected as ‘a compromise entered into by which one of each party was to be returned’.

Carlow 10th July 1841

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CARLOW.—Mr. O’Connell arrived here on Friday about two o’clock, accompanied by Mr. Barrett, of the Pilot, and very shortly after the following address was forwarded to the people of this and the adjoining counties :—

“Carlow Town, 10th July, 1841.

“MEN OF CARLOW COUNTY AND THE ADJACENT COUNTIES,

I have, my beloved friends, the pleasure to inform you that a decided majority of the electors of the county of Carlow have declared in favour of Yates and Daniel O’Connell, jun.  [Daniel O’Connell, junior (1816 – 1897) was the youngest of the four sons of Daniel O’Connell. He was unsuccessful in this election, but became M.P. for Dundalk for a year, Waterford City for a year, and Tralee for ten years. All three of his brothers were also at one time M.P’s] 

All we want for success is, that the people should NOT commit any kind of riot, assault, or violence.

Remember, my dear friends, that whoever commits a crime strengthens the enemy. There is a large force of police in the county; they will protect the people as long as the people are peaceable, quiet, and orderly. Respect the police, my friends, and aid them to keep the peace.  There is a large force of her Majesty’s troops—of the troops of our beloved and revered Queen—in the county. These troops belong to the bravest army in the world.

The young and gallant gentleman who commands these troops, and the soldiers themselves’ are the friends of the people. They will protect the people from the Orangemen, so long as the people obey the law, and commit no violence on anybody.

Confide in the bravery, the good temper, and discipline of her Majesty’s soldiers. The military are your friends so long as you do not assault or injure any man. Depend on it that the military will protect you from the Orangemen, and will scatter the Orangemen if they commence any attack on the people. Do you not, my friends—do you not commence any attack on anybody. If you are attacked, the police and the military will give you instant assistance. No man is a friend of mine who commits any riot, or assault, or injury to any man. No man is a friend of mine who commits any crime, or breaks the law.

PEACE—ORDER—REGULARITY.

Keep the peace every one of you—stop any of the people who maybe disposed to break the peace. Keep the peace, and we shall certainly succeed at this election. Keep the peace, and we shall certainly beat Bruen and his colleague. “The Orangemen are anxious that the peace should be broken— the Orangemen are desirous of riot and tumult, that they may injure and spoil the election. Disappoint the Orangemen, and let there be no riot or tumult.

Be peaceable—be orderly—be regular ; give no offence to any one. Canvass peaceably but firmly, and the day of triumph is ours. ” Hurrah for the Queen and Old Ireland I “ I offer you the most friendly and anxious advice. Take my advice, and success is certain. 

I am, my loved friends, your ever faithful servant,

DANIEL O’CONNELL.

The above text was found on p.6, 17th July 1841 in “The Tablet: The International Catholic News Weekly.” Reproduced with kind permission of the Publisher. The Tablet can be found at http://www.thetablet.co.uk .

The text below is taken from the Spectator also on 17th July 1841. Both papers took a strongly anti-Tory stance.

CARLOW COUNTY. The nomination of Colonel Bruen and Mr. Banbury, Tories, and Mr. Daniel O’Connell junior and Mr. Ashton Yates, Liberals, passed off more quietly than might have been expected. Mr. Yates was seconded by a “Father,” and Mr. Daniel O’Connell was proposed by another of the fraternity. Both parties agreed that there should be no speaking, in order to save the chance of a riot. Mr. O’Connell, the man himself, was present, and did his best to keep the people quiet. He issued an order that all sticks should be delivered up by the peasantry who crowded into the town : it ran thus—” No sticks. Daniel O’Connell.” In less than twenty minutes great numbers were deposited in Honton’s Hotel, where Mr. O’Connell was staying, or in the committee-room of the Liberals. One party of peasantry, some hundreds strong, flung theirs away into the fields the moment they heard the order ; and a shower of sticks flying through the air attested, by a strange phenomenon, the power of O’Connell. The town was lined with military ; artillery was stationed in the streets, and the place wore the air of a town in a state of civil war ; but the day passed without a disturbance of any moment. The Whig accounts complain that Mr. Doyne, Colonel Bruen’s agent, attended at the polling-booth, and ostentatiously took down the names of those who voted for the Liberals. 

Meath election – 9th July 1841

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MEATH COUNTY ELECTION.—RETURN OF MR. O’CONNELL. —TRIM, FRIDAY [9th July], Four o’Clock P.M.—Daniel O’ConnelI, Esq., has just been returned for this county, in conjunction with Mr. Grattan. Mr. Corbally retired, in order to give the seat to Mr. O’Connell, in the event of Tory corruption defeating him in Dublin. [O’Connell was also returned for County Cork and chose to sit for Cork]. Both Grattan and O’Connell were Repealers. At the subsequent by-election Matthew Corbally was elected unopposed as a Whig. He had previously been the M.P. briefly after Morgan O’Connell’s retirement in 1840. 

The above text was found on p.6, 17th July 1841 in “The Tablet: The International Catholic News Weekly.” Reproduced with kind permission of the Publisher. The Tablet can be found at http://www.thetablet.co.uk .

The text below is taken from the Spectator also on 17th July 1841. Both papers took a strongly anti-Tory stance.

MEATH. Mr. Corbally has retired, to make way for Mr. O’Connell ; who, with Mr. Henry Grattan, was returned without opposition on Friday ; being proposed by Mr. Corbally himself.

The Times on the 20th July reported things rather differently. It was fiercely pro-Tory, and very anti-Whig, anti-Catholic, and very anti-Daniel O’Connell.

DUBLIN, JULY 18, ELECTION INTELLIGENCE

MEATH

It is said that Mr. Corbaly, who was so unceremoniously kicked out of the representation of this county to make room for the great rejected of Dublin, actually had a large party engaged for dinner at Corbalton Hall to celebrate his re-election for Meath, and when the fatal tidings arrived that he was to be thrown overboard, he expressed his indignation against Mr. O’Connell in  no very measured terms, personal chastisement being more than hinted at. Mr. Henry Grattan too, fumes and flusters at the insult put on the men of Meath by Mr. O’Connell in first accepting the seat merely as a warming-pan tiIl his election for Cork county was secured then scurvily giving the go-by to the sheep ticklers, and, said Mr. Henry Grattan, inflicting at the same time the additional blow of leaving the county but half represented at the opening of Parliament.

Morgan O’Connell (1804 – 1885)  who was Daniel O’Connell’s second son had been M.P. for Meath between 1832 and 1840. Morgan purchased a commission in Simon Bolivar’s Irish Legion even though he was only 15 years old. He survived that, and during his return home in 1821 caught tropical fever, got shipwrecked twice. He was still only seventeen when he returned. On his return his father said ” His South American adventure had made a man of him. Otherwise, it would have been difficult to tame him down to the sobriety of business.”

Morgan fought a duel with Lord Alvanley, on his father’s behalf, on 4 May 1835 at Chalk Farm. Daniel O’Connell had vowed in 1816 never to fight a duel again. He had killed John D’Esterre in a duel in February 1815, which didn’t prevent him almost immediately trying  to fight a duel with Sir Robert Peel. But by 1816 he had seen the error of his ways. Morgan was challenged to a duel by Benjamin Disraeli in December 1835 following astonishingly anti-semitic abuse of Disraeli by Dan, but refused.

Waterford election – 8th July 1841

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OUTRAGE AT WATERFORD.—ELEVEN PERSONS SHOT.—On Thursday evening, [July 8] about nine o’clock, a crowd of children assembled in the Manor, and were shouting, “Down with the Tories !” “Wyse and Barron for ever !” with several exclamations of a like nature, when a monster, named Morgan, who resides in Henry-street, opened his door, and deliberately fired a pistol, loaded with balls or slugs, on the young and innocent creatures ; he then reloaded and fired again, then shut his door, and fired a third shot from his window. He succeeded in his deadly purpose. Will it be credited, he wounded eleven defenceless children, three of whom are not expected to recover ? Some boys, indignant at this horrid and brutal outrage, assailed the residence of this wretched and blood-stained man, and broke the windows in front of his house, but they were stopped by a few discreet neighbours. The police conducted the prisoner in perfect safety to the mayor’s office. The following named wounded persons (all being under the age of eighteen) sat at the side bar :—Johanna Heneberry, Alice Foley, Mary Doyle, Alice Keating, Michael Kelly, and Martin Magrath. Some of the other persons wounded were sent to the Leper Hospital, and others are in so dangerous a situation that they cannot be removed. Among the latter are a son of Mr. Thomas Torpey, a little girl named Mountain, and a boy named Quilty. About half past ten the prisoner Morgan was brought forward, when the mayor read the depositions of some of the wounded people, charging the prisoner with having fired two pistol shots. The mayor said he should commit the prisoner, and would not take bail. Since writing the above, we have heard that the child named Mountain has died of her wounds. Morgan is fully committed. – Abridged from the Waterford Chronicle.

WATERFORD (CITY).—SECOND DAY’S POLL, July 8.—The Conservatives started a fourth candidate this morning,—W. Morris Reade, Esq. The following is the close of the poll at five minutes past six o’clock p.m. :—Barron (R), 193; Wyse (R), 192; Christmas (T), 127; Reade (T), 111. Electors have been objected to on both sides as having registered out of house and premises, instead of house or premises; but the same objection having been raised at Dublin the assessor here has determined to be governed by the decision which shall be come to in the metropolis on the subject. —TEN O’CLOCK, P.M.—Four children have been severely wounded by a Conservative and his son, who fired pistol-shots and a blunderbuss laden with slugs on an unarmed mob. The perpetrators of this brutal act are in prison. Another man was stabbed by a man in the arm with a dagger, and two of the police wounded by the same instrument.

The above text was found on p.6, 17th July 1841 in “The Tablet: The International Catholic News Weekly.” Reproduced with kind permission of the Publisher. The Tablet can be found at http://www.thetablet.co.uk .

The text below is taken from the Spectator also on 17th July 1841. Both papers took a strongly anti-Tory stance.

WATERFORD CITY. Mr. [Thomas] Wyse and Mr. [Henry] Barron retired before the close of the poll, on Monday ; when Mr. [William] Christmas and Mr. [William Morris] Reade were declared duly elected. The contest was disgraced by savage riots. In the course of it, one Morgan fired a pistol, in self-defence, say the Tories ; but the persons he shot were boys and girls, eleven in number. One of them died, and Morgan was committed at the Police-office for trial. The Sheriff was thrown down and trampled on ; and four houses were “wrecked”; one of them being “literally torn down by the mob.”

Barron and Wyse having been defeated by the two Conservatives in 1841, were reseated on petition the following year.

Sir Thomas Wyse KCB (1791 – 1862), one of the ultimately successful M.P.’s probably bears more study. He was a Catholic and educated at Stonyhurst,  and Trinity College, Dublin. The family were Anglo-Irish having arrived in the C12th during the reign of Henry II. He married Princess Letizia Bonaparte [Napoléon’s niece] in Italy in 1821, when he was 30 and she was 16. The marriage seemed to be fairly rocky. After an especially violent fight in 1824, she fled to a convent and asked for a separation.  Eight months later, when Wyse threatened to leave Italy without her, she submitted to him, and travelled to Ireland with him. The arguments continued, and in May 1828 they agreed to a separation. Letizia threw herself into the Serpentine in Hyde Park in a suicide attempt and was rescued by Captain Studholme John Hodgson (1805–1890),  who became her lover. They had three children who all used the surname Bonaparte-Wyse.

 

Daniel O’Connell to the Electors of the County of Cork 6th July 1841

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This is part of a series of posts about the 1841 election rather specifically from an Irish perspective. At the time the letter was written Daniel O’Connell was standing for election as an M.P. in Dublin City. Things changed six days later. “Roche and Barry” are Edmond Burke Roche, and Garrett Standish Barry. Barry was the first Catholic MP elected to represent Cork County after the Catholic Emancipation Act of 1829, and was elected in 1832. Roche was elected in 1837.  Edmond Burke Roche also has the distinction of being Prince Harry’s great, great, great grandfather.

TO THE ELECTORS OF THE COUNTY OF CORK.

Dublin, 6th July, 1841.

” Who would be free, themselves must strike the blow ?”

Fellow-Countrymen,

We have arrived at the most important crisis in the affairs of Ireland. The liberty and the religion of the Irish people are at stake. The question is, whether the Orange miscreants, who have so long plundered our country, and persecuted our people, are to trample upon us again—to outrage our venerated clergy, and to inflict the virulent hostility of their blasphemous scurrility upon the most sacred rites of the Catholic religion.

I am convinced that not one liberal Protestant in the county of Cork will refuse to vote for Roche and Barry. I am convinced that not one Catholic will vote against Roche and Barry. In fact, the Catholic who does not vote for Roche and Barry is a traitor to his country, and a renegade to his religion. 

Remember, my friends, that the exterminators have openly avowed themselves. And, although, as in this city, they have felt it prudent to qualify the bitterness of their hostility to the Catholics, yet their designs of destruction are sufficiently manifest, even from the equivocal language which they now choose to employ, instead of an open declaration of vengeance.

There is no scheme too vile — no misrepresentation too atrocious — no cunning trick too dirty or too false — for the Orange Tories of your county to make use of, in order to delude or deceive the people to their own destruction.

Amongst other dirty tricks, the Orange faction in your county have asserted that the ministerial plan on the subject of the cornlaws would be injurious to the farmers. I wish you to understand this subject as well as I do. The ministerial plan which Mr. Roche supports, and which I support, is a fixed duty of eight shillings per quarter upon wheat ; and so in proportion upon other grain.

Now, attend to me, I beg of you, my fellow-countrymen. You know me I never deceived you nor any of you : and I tell you distinctly and emphatically, that of all the plans respecting the cornlaws, the ministerial plan of a fixed duty, which both Roche and Barry will support, is the very best for the farmer ! It is so for this reason ; that at present, rents are charged upon the farmers according to the highest prices that corn can bring ; and a speculation takes place respecting rents, in which, as you well know, the landlords have always the best of it.

The fixed duty gives, on the contrary, a fixed and steady rule of price for corn, and therefore a fixed criterion for rent ; thus giving to the farmer the surplus profits when the corn produces a price higher than in ordinary years..

I am bound to add, that after having investigated this subject with all the care and attention due to it from me, whose great object is the good of all the people—the good of the farmers when it varies from that of the aristocracy or landlords, I am thoroughly and conscientiously convinced that the best plan for all the farmers would be the total abolition of the corn-laws.

But that is not the question at present. The present question lies altogether between the plan of a sliding scale of corn duties and the plan of a fixed duty. This latter is the plan which Lord John Russell and his friends—including Messrs. Barry and Roche—will support.

Remember, my dear friends, that I, who, by counselling the people right, extorted emancipation, and put down Protestant ascendancy, in despite of the Orange aristocrats and landlords, who would now deceive and delude you on the subject of the corn-laws—remember, I say, that I, whom you have honoured with the name of the Liberator,—remember, that I tell you that the plan of a fixed duty, which both Roche and Barry support, is infinitely preferable for the farmers, than the sliding and slippery scale with which Leader and the Orange landlords endeavour to gull and deceive you.

As to Leader [Nicholas Leader, one of the Tory candidates.] himself, he is by birth and fortune a gentleman. If he remained quiet, nobody would refuse to admit him to be such. But in politics he is a shabby and despicable fellow. I knew him when he commenced his political career, and he came out not only a Liberal but really as a Radical ; and he is now endeavouring to represent the county of Cork at the head of all the Orange enemies of the people. Say to him, honest men of the county of Cork, “Shame upon thee, Leader! Shame, where is thy blush?”

Whoever votes for Leader, or for any man of his principles, votes for the extermination of Catholicity ; for the Orange Tories—for the haters of Ireland and the Irish—for the revilers of our clergy—for the blasphemers of our religion Those who refuse to vote for Barry and Roche are equally despicable traitors. They are to be loathed and shunned by every honest man.

Those who vote for Barry and Roche vote for the Queen and her ministers ;—for old Ireland and freedom;—for religion and liberty.

Recollect that the faction to which Leader has now attached himself is that which, by the most atrocious treachery, enacted the penal laws against the Catholics ; which set the same price—that is, £5.—upon the head of a wolf and the head of a priest ; which proscribed Catholic education ; which would still employ education for the purposes of trickery and exclusive proselytism.

Leader’s faction is the faction that has proclaimed in the city of Dublin the uprooting of Catholicity ; which seeks the restoration of Protestant ascendancy and Orange domination.

Leader’s faction call your priests ” surpliced ruffians “ and ” anointed vagabonds.”

Leader’s faction call the holy sacrifice of the mass ” mummery.” They call the Catholic religion an “abject superstition” and a “vile idolatry.”

Liberal Protestants of the county of Cork—and you especially, Catholic electors—shall there be found amongst you any man so thoroughly a traitor and a renegade as to give a single vote to Leader, or to the faction to which he belongs ?

Will any of you refuse to vote against the Orange faction, and in favour of my excellent and beloved friend, Edmund Roche, and of his esteemed colleague, Standish Barry ?

Let every man, then, who confides in me, who is ready to take my honest advice—let every liberal Protestant, and let every conscientious Catholic, vote for the religious liberty of Old Ireland.

That is let him record his vote for Roche and Barry.

I am, beloved countrymen, your faithful and devoted servant,

DANIEL O’CONNELL

The British and Irish election of 1841

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This post is largely to put some context into a series of posts that will follow about the election in Ireland in 1841. The total Irish electorate of almost 50,000 [from a population of 6.5m] and 50% larger than the combined Scottish and Welsh electorate [26,500 and 7,700 respectively]. All were dwarfed by an English electorate of just over 500,000. All in all, the total electorate was 584,200 men.

Sir Robert Peel

The election of 1841 brought Sir Robert Peel to power for the second time, though his first term as Prime Minister had lasted only four months as the head of a minority government. It is regarded as having been one of the most corrupt elections in British parliamentary history, the Westminster Review stating that the “annals of parliamentary warfare contained no page more stained with the foulness of corruption and falsehood than that which relates the history of the general election in the year 1841”. 2016 -2018 are running it close.

Only 3.17% of the total population voted.

At the election, there was a swing of 2.6% to the Conservatives giving them a majority of 76 seats over the combined opposition [367 to 291 – Whig 271,  Irish Repeal Party 20]. The Tories campaigned mainly on the issue of Peel’s leadership, whilst the Whigs were largely tinkering with the Corn Laws, proposing replacing the existing sliding scale of import duties on corn with a uniform rate. The Corn Laws made it expensive to import grain from other countries, even when food supplies were short. The laws were supported mainly by landowners, both Tory and Whig, and opposed by urban industrialists and workers.

There was also the issue of electoral reform again, with a substantial view that the Reform Act of 1832 hadn’t gone far enough. The Whigs were largely a landowning aristocratic party, though in favour of reducing the power of the Crown and increasing the power of Parliament. [i.e. Their own power through the House of Lords] They were slowly evolving into the Liberal Party, which was essentially a coalition of Whigs, free trade Tory Peelites, and free trade Radicals. A move not fully complete until 1868.

1841 was curious in so far as even radical [English] support favoured the Tories,  it being felt that Peel would be more open to electoral reform. Radical opinion also appeared to favour the business background of Peel and his supporters to the aristocratic and landed background of the Whigs.

Daniel O’Connell

The Whigs also lost votes to the Irish Repeal group who they had an electoral pact with between 1835 and the 1841 election. The Repeal Association was an Irish mass membership political movement set up by Daniel O’Connell in 1830 to campaign for a repeal of the Acts of Union of 1800 between Great Britain and Ireland. The Association’s aim was to revert Ireland to the constitutional position briefly achieved  in the 1780s, legislative independence under the British Crown – but this time with full Catholic involvement, but there was still a substantial property qualification. The total Irish electorate was 50,000 men from a population of 6.5m.

The Irish election was partisan, sectarian, and violent. It also had a distinct geographical split with the Tories receiving most support in Ulster, and some eastern counties, as well as pushing through a fraudulent poll in Dublin. There was also substantial anti-Catholic opinion within the Tory party. It is all very multi-layered, and there are some subtle gradations to be navigated. In Ireland it is safe to say being on Daniel O’Connell’s side is probably walking with the [moderate middle class] angels.

 

George Hopkins stealing drink 1815

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My great-grandfather’s first father-in-law [he, G G’pa, married twice] was a George Hopkins. He appears to have been transported to Australia in about 1847. There seem to be a few George Hopkins who show up with criminal records, and probably aren’t all the same person. This may well be the right George – there’s about six years difference between his age here, and the 1841 census – but that census rounded up people’s ages by five years for some bizarre reason. But he’s an entertainingly bad boy. This one was prosecuted at the Old Bailey in 1815, and sent to Newgate prison [1 year, and a whipping]
JOHN BENNET, GEORGE HOPKINS. Theft: grand larceny.  15th February 1815

JOHN BENNET and GEORGE HOPKINS were indicted for feloniously stealing, on the 15th of January, three pints of brandy, value 4 s.[£181.50] a pint of rum, value 3 s.[£136.10] a quart of geneva [gin], value 4 s.[£181.50] two quarts of wine, value 6 s. [£272.20] eight bottles, value 1 s. 4 d. [£60.79] the property of Christopher Smith, esq. Newman Smith , and William Petter Woodhouse , and a basket, value 1 s. [£45.37] the property of John Adnam. [ The total value was 19s.4d., or a modern-day equivalent of £877.40 ]

GEORGE WHEATLEY. I am night constable.

Q. On the evening of Sunday the 15th of Januuary, where were you?

A. I was in Union Street; I saw the prisoner John Bennet in Union Street, with this basket in his hand, and the contents, except this bottle. It was between the hours of seven and eight. I asked him what he had got there, he did not give me a satisfactory account; he asked me what it was to me. I asked him to go into some public-house with me to give me a satisfactory account; I got him to a public-house door, he put the basket down. The prisoner Hopkins then came up, and while we were talking, the prisoner Hopkins took up the basket, and run away; I had got hold of Bennet. Hopkins came by, and got hold of the basket; he ran about twenty-yards; I stopped him with the basket.

THOMAS CHILDS . I am constable of St. Saviours. I was at Union Hall when the prisoners were brought there, on Sunday, the 15th of January, I went to the watchhouse; I asked them where they lived; Bennet told me 223, Kent-street; they both lived together in one room; I found a pint bottle of brandy in a hamper; I found a letter in Hopkins’s box, in that letter was

“send me a bottle of brandy for the old man, for he has nothing to drink but small beer.”

WILLIAM PETTER WOODHOUSE . The names of the firm are Christopher Smith , Newman Smith, and William Petter Woodhouse ; we are wine and spirit merchants , Queen-street, in the City of London. The two prisoners were porters in our house; they were employed in the warehouse and the cellars. There are two pint bottles of brandy, one quart bottle of brandy, a quart of rum, and three of port wine; I can identify the bottle of brandy with the name on it, of which a pipe of wine was sent in our cart; this bottle is a sample of the pipe of wine; it appears to have been emptied and filled with brandy; I have every reason to believe it is all our property; we sent the pipe in the cart; the sample we keep ourselves as a check to the carrier, least there should be any change or alteration in the journey. The prisoners had full employment at our house from seven o’clock in the morning until eight at night.

Q. What is the value of each?

A. About five shillings the quart, about half a crown the pint. I know this bottle to be our property.

The prisoners called four witnesses, who gave them a good character.

BENNET, GUILTY , aged 24.

HOPKINS, GUILTY , aged 22.

Confined one Year , and whipped in Jail .

London Jury, before Mr. Common Serjeant.

Old Bailey Proceedings Online (www.oldbaileyonline.org, version 8.0, 18 July 2018), February 1815, trial of JOHN BENNET GEORGE HOPKINS (t18150215-43).