The Land Question
After the Famine a new spirit of nationalism became evident in the people of Ireland. The Young Irelander movement supported violent protest against the British government during the famine. Another movement, founded in Castlebar’s Imperial Hotel, was The Irish National Land League in October 1879 which had grown out of the Mayo Tenants Defence Association founded the previous year by James Daly, owner of the Imperial Hotel. Charles Stuart Parnell was elected its President with the help of one of Mayo’s most celebrated sons; Michael Davitt. They fought for the rights of the tenant by resisting evictions, holding mass meetings, holding demonstrations and withholding of rents until reductions were forthcoming. The Land War eventually proved effective and the government made available loans for tenants to buy out their holdings in the form of various Land Acts. After the death of ‘The Exterminator’ George Bingham in 1888 his son, also George became the 4th Earl of Lucan. He was more popular and generous towards the people. He gave the Green to the people of the town and gave the Catholic Church the site for the present ‘Church of the Holy Rosary’ at Chapel Street. The terms of his agreements with the tenants were generous and his wife initiated a small tweed industry creating employment. The 4th Earl died in 1914 just at the outbreak of World War I. Click here for 1916 |
Eviction scenes. Photographs taken by Thomas Wynne between 1838 and 1893 at Castlebar.
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