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CSO/RP/1830/1304

File of documents arising from a split of the Presbyterian congregation of Clough, County Down, with one part electing [Arian] Rev David Watson as minister, and the other part electing [orthodox] Rev Francis Dill as minister. Includes correspondence between John Craig, Down, [County Down], to Lord Castlereagh [Frederick William Robert Stewart MP, later 4th Marquess of Londonderry], passing on resolutions passed by the one part of the congregation of Clough listing William M Cammon and 100 members on their decision to leave the Synod of Ulster and join the Presbytery of Antrim, and also passing on copy of their letter appointing Rev Watson to succeed the late Rev Campbell, also listing c.120 elders, seatholders and others. Also includes letters from Robert Park, moderator, Synod of Ulster, Ballymoney [County Down], to Hugh Percy, 3rd Duke Northumberland, [Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Dublin], and his private secretary [Archdeacon] Thomas Singleton, representing that the other part of the congregation are Arian and arguing that their own minister Rev Dill ought to receive the bounty; includes a separate testimonial for Dill from [William Bisset, Church of Ireland Bishop of Raphoe]. Further, includes memorial by Dill to Henry William Paget, 1st Marquess Anglesey, [Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Dublin], asking that since the other side has not taken the opportunities available for legal proceedings and has taken recourse to violence, the bounty be paid to him. This includes an annotation by Richard W Greene, [legal advisor, Dublin], finding in Dill’s favour. [See also CSO/RP/1830/349 and 950.]

19 Jul 1829-13 May 1830

1831

CSO/RP/1830/1398

Letter from George Spratt, Thomas Crosgrave, George Young, Joseph Carson senior, Joseph Carson junior, William Cummins, members of the second Presbyterian Congregation of Downpatrick, [County Armagh], part of the Synod of Ulster, to John Waring Maxwell, asking him to use his influence with Sir Francis Leveson Gower, [Chief Secretary], Dublin Castle, to have their congregation included with those receiving the royal bounty, following their unsuccessful petition for it. Enclosing copy of this petition, signed by Rev William D Stewart, their minister, to Henry William Paget, 1st Marquess Anglesey, [previous Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Dublin], with magistrates Alexander Miller and James [Hartnett] certifying that Stewart has sworn the Oath of Allegiance.

29 May 1828-18 Feb 1830

1830

CSO/RP/1830/1633

Letter from [Rev] Samuel Hendren, Presbyterian Seceding Minister of Middletown, Carricklane, [County Armagh], to [Sir Henry Hardinge [1st Viscount Hardinge, Chief Secretary, Dublin Castle], asking for a reply to an application for the royal bounty; recent developments in the area. Also includes annotations mentioning Lord Gosford Lord Gosford [Archibald Acheson, 2nd earl Gosford], and asking for an enquiry.

18 Sep 1830-24 Sep 1830

1830

CSO/RP/1830/1717

File of applications from the Presbyterian congregations of Dunfanaghy, [County Donegal], Tandragee [County Armagh] and Ballyblack, County Down, all members of the Synod of Ulster, regarding receipt of the royal bounty (Regium Donum). Includes covering letters by C Brownlow, magistrate, Lurgan, [County Armagh] and by [Robert Stewart, 1st Marquess of Londonderry], to Sir Henry Hardinge [1st Viscount Hardinge, Chief Secretary, Dublin Castle], enclosing memorials from [Rev] Richard Dill, Minister, with elders and other members of the congregation of Tandragee, from Rev Alexander McIlwain, Minister of Ballyblack, and separate memorial from [Rev] David Reid, Presbyterian Minister, and three members of the congregation, Dunfanaghy, with Reid and Dill applying for the bounty, and with McIlwain applying for first class. Dill’s and Reid’s memorials are further endorsed by magistrates who took the two ministers’ oath of allegiance.

10 Aug 1830-15 Oct 1830

1830

CSO/RP/1830/2184

Memorial from [Rev] Joseph Kelso, late Presbyterian Minister of Maragall, Lisburn, [County Armagh], and 45 aggrieved members of his congregation, to Hugh Percy, 3rd Duke Northumberland, [Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Dublin], describing how disaffected members of the congregation had Kelso removed; asking to allow Kelso the royal bounty until his debt is paid, mentioning their agent Mr Hutcheson, Tandragee [County Armagh]; endorsed by John [Mussen], Vicar of Maragall, and Robert Hill, Curate, Ballinderry [County Antrim].

20 Mar 1830

1830

CSO/RP/1830/2242

Letter from [Sir] Robert Peel, [Home Secretary], Whitehall, [London, England], to Hugh Percy, 3rd Duke Northumberland, [Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Dublin], stating that the King [William IV] graciously received addresses from the General Synod of Ulster, the Presbyterian Synod of Munster, and from the City of Cork.

31 Jul 1830-9 Aug 1830

1830

CSO/RP/OR/1830/319

Two letters from Lord Farnham [John Maxwell-Barry, 5th Baron Farnham], Farnham [House], [Cavan, County Cavan], to Sir Henry Hardinge, [1st Viscount Hardinge, Chief Secretary, Dublin Castle], pointing to the large number of recent outrages, and enclosing a letter from John King, Presbyterian Minister and governor, [Kells, County Meath]. Also, draft reply by Hardinge summarising measures taken by the police and military for securing the disturbed district.

11 Oct 1830-15 Oct 1830

1830

CSO/RP/CA/1824/33

Memorandum by author identified as 'S N E' [Stephen N Elrington] providing an eyewitness account of a meeting of the Catholic Association at the Corn Exchange, chaired by Mr Barron of Waterford; noted that the catholic rent was invested in the names of [Cornelius] M’Loughlin [McLoughlin], D Lynch and [Nicholas] Mahon, treasurers; a number of letters were read including from [Richard Hely Hely-Hutchinson, 1st Earl of Donoughmore] praising the Hutchinson family, from John Luther of Clonmel proposing 74 candidates for membership, from Rev Corbett of Kilrush, [County Clare] reporting on a grievance and from the Ladies of Drogheda concerning fundraising; new members were admitted including Mr Crawford of the firm Bemish and Crawford, [Thomas Coen] the Catholic Bishop of Clonfert, [William Thomas Nugent, 5th Baron Nugent of Riverston], General O’Farrell Ambrose and Dr O’Reilly of Waterford, the only surviving delegate of 1793; [Nicholas Purcell] O’Gorman reported that police in County Clare had searched peasants for arms and asked that more copies of the address to the people be circulated; noted that this address was being translated into Irish; O’Connell noted that catholic soldiers were unable to advance in the British army but that many, including his relatives, were promoted on the continent; D Lynch presented a report recommending that a delegation comprised of O’Connell, Sheil and [John] Bric visit catholic associations in England; O’Connell refused to allow individuals from Cavan join the association anonymously, despite the interjections of Mr O’Reilly, and clarified that they were not a secret society; O’Connell noted that 100000 catholic tracts were ready for circulation to schools; in a speech eulogising the editors of the ‘London Examiner’ who had contributed £5, O’Connell stated that if Ireland were not ‘restored to her rights’ he wished that ‘a new Bolivar may be found … and that the spirit of the Greeks and the South Americans may animate the people of Ireland’ [this passage extensively highlighted in pencil]; Sheil was anxious that every chance be given to the parliamentary education commission and both he and [Frederick W] Conway stated, for the record, that Mr Blake had recently declined to subscribe to [the Kildare Place Society] and that Leslie Foster believed that the people of Ireland could not be educated without the aid of the catholic clergy; O’Gorman proposed that an address be made to the people of England urging them not to support bible societies and schools whose aim was to ‘uncatholicize’ Ireland; Mr M’Namara [McNamara] noted that at a bible meeting in Ennis, attended by Capt Gordon and Mr Noel, it was said that there were 23 [Kildare Place Society] schools in County Clare; O’Connell hoped that Mr Stewart would be elected for Waterford and the Hares and Bandons ‘driven’ from Cork adding that the Beresfords were a ‘tastleless’ and ‘talentless family’ hostile to everything serviceable to Ireland; in response to a letter from Mr Lawless of Belfast, O’Connell claimed that amongst the northern dissenters who abandoned the catholics in the 1798 rebellion were the father and uncle of [Henry] Joy, Solicitor General [passage underlined and including annotation ‘Shame!’]; Sheil however hoped that presbyterians and catholics would unite against the established church; O’Connell presented four petitions on the subjects of emancipation, church building, tithes and church rents and church wardens and moved that the forthcoming report on the Delap case be presented to [Richard Wellesley, Lord Lieutenant] to prevent it being ‘cushioned’ in [Henry] Goulburn’s [Chief Secretary] office; O’Connell proposed that they subscribe £20 to John Smith’s society for the protection of protestant dissenters in London.

16 Dec 1824

1824

CSO/RP/CA/1826/26

Memorandum providing eye-witness account of a meeting of the 'New Catholic Association' chaired by William McDermott Esq, with verbatim transcription of speeches. Outlines subscriptions to the catholic rent, including lists of names, locations and amounts; and the voting in of new members. Letter received from [William] Brett, Secretary of the Relief Committee in County Louth, concerning the difficulties in managing donations for freeholders as a result of the recent change of currency, and the differing opinions of the Attorney General [William Plunkett] and the Solicitor General [Henry Joy] on the issue – decided that the legal advice of [Daniel] O’Connell would be sought at the earliest opportunity. Lengthy debate originated from report given by [William Francis] Finn. In response to a claim made by Leslie Foster in the House of Commons that the ratio of catholics to protestants in County Kilkenny was 12 to 1, when a survey by [William] Tighe had found it to be 1972 to 1, Finn stated that he devoted himself ‘to ascertain the real state of the population… if the Slaves of Rome knew how to count their numbers they never would have submitted to the oppressed as they were’. Subsequent discussion covered a variety of topics, such as: a reflection on census returns from the city of Dublin and the general catholic population in Ireland; a dispute concerning the relative difficulty of conducting a census in the north of Ireland; and finally, a consideration of the relationship between catholics and presbyterians in Ulster and the difference between ‘the Presbyterians of the North… [and] the Presbyterian Orangemen or the Established Church Orangemen.’ Also refers to the setting up of a committee to publish a clarification in response to a recent report on the management of the Richmond Penitentiary, [Report of the Commissioners directed by the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, to inquire into the state of the Richmond Penitentiary in Dublin, 1826], which was as a source of ‘public excitement’ as its findings were considered to have been ‘tortured and pressed into a sectarian subject’. Contains unidentified handwritten annotations throughout the text, highlighting passages relating to the political facets of the association, its subscriptions and the frequency of its meetings; in particular, [John] Lawless’s declaration to the assembly that the catholic rent was ‘the great lever with which you will rise and the great power with which you will beat down the common enemy’.

28 Oct 1826

1826

CSO/RP/CA/1826/28

Memorandum providing eye-witness account of a meeting of the 'New Catholic Association' chaired by Henry Murrough Esq, with verbatim transcription of speeches. Outlines subscriptions to the catholic rent, including lists of names, locations and amounts; the voting in of new members; and details of both incoming and outgoing donations for relief of the forty shilling freeholders. Report given by [Nicholas Purcell] O’Gorman of a growing number of bible societies in County Clare. Refers to the establishment of an ‘eavesdropping system’ by members of such societies, which reported information directly to Dublin Castle. He moved a vote of thanks to William McNamara, ‘the poor man’s magistrate’, who had worked tirelessly against these societies in the Clare area. [William] McDermott substantiated O’Gorman’s account, stating that Lord Gort [Charles Vereker, 2nd Viscount Gort] was staunchly opposed to such ‘strolling vagabonds’ in the neighbouring county of Galway. [Daniel] O’Connell continued discussion from previous meetings, moving that a clergyman be appointed in each parish to oversee the completion of the census; reporting census returns from various counties including Meath, Longford, Roscommon, Donegal and Derry. He also reported the findings of the committee appointed to aid the family of the recently deceased [Edward] Hay. Refers to the setting up of a subscription to which members could contribute, and a vote of thanks to Mr Finn of the Feinaglian School, Jervis Street, Dublin for his offer to educate three of Hay’s sons free of charge. Also refers to the voting in of two presbyterian members, Robert Rownan and Thomas Jordan, and the importance of attendees restraining themselves ‘from all manner of sectarian feelings’. Further to his previous criticisms of the commission of education, O’Connell stated that while he did not have an issue with the aim of the inquiry or commissioners such as Frankland Lewis, he took exception to the ‘ridiculous’ and ‘offensive’ interrogations of catholics at Maynooth College, County Kildare, by Leslie Foster: ‘I do not think there is to be a greater Dr Faustus to be met with any where of little intellect and great pretention than the aforesaid Leslie Foster’.

11 Nov 1826

1826