Sin Sheep and Scotsmen John George Adair and the Derryveagh evictions 1861

80 Pages·2010·5.31 MB·English

Sin,Sheep and
Scotsmen
John George Adair and
the Derryveagh evictions,1861

Sin, Sheep and
Scotsmen
John George Adair and
the Derryveagh evictions,1861
W. E.Vaughan
Appletree Press
and
The Ulster Society
for Irish Historical Studies
First published and printed in 1983 by
The Appletree Press Ltd
7 James Street South
Belfast BT2 8DL
in association with
The Ulster Society
for Irish Historical Studies
© W. E. Vaughan, 1983
Cover photograph: Co. Fermanagh
~-,~k¢~ eviction scene, c. 1880 (Lawrence collection,
Ub National Library of Ireland).
All rights reserved. No part of this
publication may be reproduced, stored
in a retrieval system, or transmitted,
in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical photocopying, recording, or
otherwise, without the prior permission
of the copyright owner.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Vaughan, W. E.
Sin, Sheep and Scotsmen.--(Explorations in
Irish history, ISSN 0263-2799; 2)
1. Eviction--Derryveagh (Ireland)--
History--19th century
I. Title II. Series
33.5’4 HD1511.I73
ISBN 0-86281-108-2
for M.
Acknowledgements
I wish to acknowledge the generous financial assistance given towards
the publication of this book by the Grace Lawless Lee Fund, Trinity
College, Dublin, and by the Ulster Society for Irish Historical Studies.
I wish to thank the custodians of those record repositories mentioned
in the references at pp 69-75 for permission to refer to documents in their
possession. I also wish to thank Dr T. W. Moody for reading a draft of
this work; Dr Brian Walker for asking me to contribute to Explora-
tions in Irish History; John Cornforth for giving me information
about Adair’s career in the U.S.A.; and Rory Bland of Rath House,
Ballybrittas, for showing me the graves of Adair and Edward
Shepherd Mead.
20 December 1982 W. E. Vaughan
26 Trinity College
Dublin 2
Contents
Acknowledgements 6
List of illustrations 9
1 The evictions 11
2 Background 14
3 Derryveagh and the land question 22
4 Post-famine clearances 26
5 Agrarian crime 28
6 Murray’s murderers are not detected 35
7 Who murdered Murray? 39
8 The effects of the evictions 44
9 Adair as a land speculator 50
10 The management of Adair’s estates 60
11 Conclusion 62
References 69
Appendix: Adair’s transactions inlanded property in
Ireland, 1852-85 77

List of lllustrations
Adair’s estate in County Donegal 1861 (map by Mrs Mary Davies,
based on a map in S.P.O., R.P. 1861/7273) 10
John George Adair 1823-85 (Cornelia Adair, My diary, August 30
to November 5, 1874 (privately printed, 1918; photograph Library
of Congress) 13
William Steuart Trench on a domiciliary visit (Realities of Irish
life, p. 177; photograph Trin. Coll., Dublin) 18
Glenveagh Castle, County Donegal, c. 1900 (photograph in a
private collection) 56
Rathdaire (formerly Bellegrove) County Leix, 1982 (photograph
Pieterse-Davison International Ltd) 59
Rathdaire church, 1982 (photograph Pieterse-Davison Interna-
tional Ltd) 66
Glenveagh Castle, County Donegal, c. 1900 (engraved letterhead
in a private collection) 68