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Ralahine: An Irish Owenite Community (1831–1833)*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 December 2008

Vincent Geoghegan
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This article is a study of the Owenite community established in Co. Clare, Ireland from November 1831 to November 1833. It examines the role of economic crisis in Ireland in stimulating interest in Owenite solutions. It analyses the differing motivations of the various actors (landowner, Owenite reformer, the peasantry) in joining the venture. It examines the sources of the community's stability – economic, sociological, and cultural. It argues that the community was destroyed by the contradictory roles of its founder, Vandeleur, who was both owner and President. In the process a detailed description of the community is provided, covering matters such as institutional arrangements, the division of labour, wages and benefits, gender relationships, and religion.

Type
Research Article
Information
International Review of Social History , Volume 36 , Issue 3 , December 1991 , pp. 377 - 411
Copyright
Copyright © Internationaal Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis 1991

References

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4 Garnett, R. G., “Robert Owen and the Community Experiments”, in Pollard, S. and Salt, J. (eds), Robert Owen: Prophet of the Poor (London, 1971), p. 52.Google Scholar Garnett has provided pioneering accounts of Ralahine in this work and in his Co-operation and the Owenite Socialist Communities in Britain, 1825–45 (Manchester, 1972), pp. 100–129.Google Scholar His bibliographies are invaluable. An earlier, short account of my own research was published as “Ralahine: Ireland's Lost Utopia”, Communal Societies, 9 (1989), pp. 91–104.Google Scholar

5 There is an interesting discussion of the concepts of “success” and “failure” in Harrison, J. F. C., Robert Owen and the Owenites in Britain and America: The Quest for the New Moral World (London, 1969), pp. 175–176.Google Scholar This book is a gold-mine for anyone interested in Owenism. An excellent recent addition to the literature is Claeys, G., Citizens and Saints: Politics and Anti-Politics in Early British Socialism (Cambridge, 1989).CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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8 Ibid., p. 3.

9 Ibid., p. 22.

10 Ibid., p. 14.

11 Ibid., p. 66.

12 Ibid., p. 138.

13 Ibid., pp. 37–38.

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18 See The Ennis Chronicle and Clare Advertiser, 10 09 1825Google Scholar, also 25 January 1826.

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21 Craig, E. T., An Irish Commune (Blackrock, 1983), p. 2.Google Scholar This is an abridged version of Craig's 1882 work The Irish Land and Labour Question Illustrated in the History of Ralahine and Co-operative Farming (London, Trübner). Craig published many accounts of Ralahine in his long lifetime – some short, some long, and with a number of inconsistencies over time. He wrote forty-seven, mostly autobiographical, letters, “Socialism in England”, for the American Socialist between August 1877 and November 1878 (these are numbered one to forty-six - with two letters numbered IX). He was the major source for W. Pare's account of Ralahine Co-operative Agriculture (London, 1870).Google Scholar His first lengthy and systematic account of Ralahine is to be found in a series of letters written to the The Star in the East from August to December 1838. Some earlier memories can be found in the The New Moral World, 12 November, 17 December, 24 December 1836 and 4 February 1837. His published reports and sketches in fact date back to the time the community was functioning.

22 Supplement to Appendix (E). Reports of Commissioners for Inquiring into the Condition of the Poorer Classes in Ireland. Parliamentary Papers XI, 1836, pp. 154–163.Google Scholar A study of the events of 1830–1831 in the Clare parish of Clare Abbey and Killone can be found in Power, J. “Terry Alt and Lady Clare”, The Other Clare, 10 03 1986.Google Scholar Interesting material on the social structure of a parish in Clare can be found in Part 1 of Kierse, S., The Famine Years in the Parish of Killaloe 1845–1851 (Killaloe, 1984).Google Scholar There has also been a study of another Clare parish, Kilrush. This parish is also of interest because its leading family was a branch of the Vandeleur family. McGuane, James T. in Kilrush from Olden Times (Inverin, 1984)Google Scholar, thus provides useful material on both the first half of the nineteenth century in the county and on the early history of the Vandeleurs.

23 Quoted in Enright, F. P. “The Pre-Famine Worker in the Shannon/Newmarket Area”, The Other Clare, 5 04 1981, p. 8.Google Scholar

24 Quoted in Lees, D., Ralahine: Land War and the Co-operative (Dublin, 1981), p. 17.Google Scholar For local newspaper accounts of the unrest see The Clare Journal for early 1831, particularly: 31 January, 21, 24 and 28 February, 10, 28, and 31 March, 4, 11, 14, and 25 April. See also Power “Terry Alt and Lady Clare”.

25 Finch, , “Letter II”.Google Scholar

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30 For Craig see Garnett, R. G. “E. T. Craig: Communitarian, Educator, Phrenologist”, The Vocational Aspects of Secondary and Further Education, XV (1963), pp. 135–150.CrossRefGoogle Scholar Also note 21.

31 Craig, E. T., “Letter XXII”, American Socialist, 14 02 1878.Google Scholar

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34 Ibid., p. 24.

35 Craig, E. T., “Letter XXXIV”, American Socialist, 9 05 1878.Google Scholar

36 Craig, E. T., “Letter VI”, The Star in the East, 27 10 1838.Google Scholar For Craig on Owen on Phrenology see: Craig, E. T., “Letter IX” (the second – there are two letters designated IX), American Socialist, 1 11 1877Google Scholar, also Garnett, , “E. T. Craig”, p. 150.Google Scholar

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39 Finch, J., “Ralahine: Letter III”, The New Moral World, 14 04 1838.Google Scholar

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42 The evidence suggests, however, that amongst the Irish speakers there were few, if any, monoglots. English was understood and, when necessary, spoken in the comimunity. See: Craig, E. T., “Letter XXVI”, American Socialist, 14 03 1878Google Scholar; “Census of Ireland – General Report”, Parliamentary Papers, XXXI, 1856, p. 222.Google Scholar

43 Craig, E. T., “Letter XXIII”, American Socialist, 21 02 1878.Google Scholar

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50 Finch, , “Letter III”.Google Scholar

51 Gráda, Cormac Ó, “The Owenite Community at Ralahine, County Clare, 1831–33: A Reassessment”Google Scholar, in Craig, , Irish Commune, pp. 199–200.Google Scholar

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53 Finch, J., “Ralahine: Letter IV”, The New Moral World, 21 04 1838.Google Scholar

54 Ibid.

55 Finch, J., “Ralahine: Letter XIV”, The New Moral World, 1 09 1838.Google Scholar

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58 Vandeleur, to Pare, , 3 10 1831.Google Scholar Printed in The Lancashire and Yorkshire Co-operator, 15 10 1831.Google Scholar

59 The Co-operative News, 7 01 1888.Google Scholar

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62 Ibid., p. 36.

63 Finch, J., “Ralahine: Letter X”, The New Moral World, 30 12 1838.Google Scholar

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65 Owen, , Report, p. 87.Google Scholar

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69 Ibid., p. 115.

70 Printed in The Lancashire and Yorkshire Co-operator, 03 1832.Google Scholar

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72 The New Moral World, 28 05 1836.Google Scholar

73 The New Moral World, 27 03 1841.Google Scholar

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75 Ibid., p. 44. This is also discussed in Lee, , Ralahine, p. 38.Google Scholar

76 Finch, J., “Ralahine: Letter XII”, The New Moral World, 14 07 1838.Google Scholar

77 Ibid.

78 Craig, , Irish Commune, p. 75.Google Scholar

79 The Crisis, 13 07 1833.Google Scholar

80 Craig, E. T., “Letter XI”, The Star in the East, 15 12 1838.Google Scholar

81 The Crisis, 13 07 1833.Google Scholar

82 Garnett, , Co-operation and the Owenite Socialist Communities, p. 107.Google Scholar

83 Craig, , Irish Commune, p. 38.Google Scholar

84 Ibid., p. 118.

85 Ibid., p. 119.

86 Ibid., p. 121.

87 See Whelan, I., “Edward Nangle and the Achill Mission, 1834–1852”, in Gillespie, R. and Moran, G. (eds), A Various Country: Essays in Mayo History 1500–1900 (Westport, 1987)Google Scholar; also McNally, K., Achill (Newton Abbot, 1973), pp. 94f.Google Scholar

88 Craig, , Irish Commune, p. 135.Google Scholar

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90 Finch, J., “Ralahine: Letter VI”, The New Moral World, 5 05 1838.Google Scholar

91 The Crisis, 13 07 1833.Google Scholar

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93 Ibid., p. 110.

94 Ibid., p. 135.

95 Ibid., p. 79.

96 The Crisis, 15 12 1833.Google Scholar

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98 Advertisement in The Star in the East, 15 12 1838.Google Scholar

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104 On this controversial topic see Beames, M. R., “Rural Conflict in Pre-Famine Ireland: Peasant Assassinations in Tipperary 1837–1847”, Past and Present, 81 (11 1978), pp. 75–91CrossRefGoogle Scholar, and Fitzpatrick, D., “Class, family and rural unrest in nineteenth-century Ireland” in Drudy, P. J. (ed.), Ireland: Land, Politics and People (Cambridge, 1982), pp. 37–75.Google Scholar

105 Craig, , Irish Commune, p. 160.Google Scholar For newspaper accounts of these events see: The Limerick Chronicle, 13 11 1833Google Scholar, The Dublin Evening Post, 21 11 1833Google Scholar, The Clare Journal, 10 03 1834Google Scholar, and The Clare Journal, 6 12 1834.Google Scholar

106 Craig, , Irish Commune, pp. 148–152.Google Scholar “Ohone” is a mistranscription of the word “Ochón” which means “Alas”. David Lee gives the correct usage in Ralahine, p. 51.Google Scholar

107 The ordinary members had to cope with the Great Famine of 1845–1849. County Clare was one of the four worst affected counties in 1845 (official figures, probably overestimated, suggest that in this initial year over 50% of Clare's potato crop was destroyed by the blight). Since the other three counties (Antrim, Monaghan, and Waterford) were relatively cushioned by their affluence, it could be argued that Clare suffered the first hammer-blow of the famine (see Daly, M., The Famine in Ireland (Dundalk, 1986)).Google Scholar Up to this period the population had been rising. The difference between the censuses of 1841 and 1851 reveal the immediate impact of the Famine in terms of death and emigration (Rathlaheen North: 1841, 83 persons; 1851, 6 persons; Rathlaheen South: 1841, 364 persons; 1851, 337 persons). The figures toward the end of the century tell a story of continuing decline (Rathlaheen North: 1881, 1 person; Rathlaheen South: 1881, 33 persons). Sources: “Population (Ireland)”, Parliamentary Papers, XCI, 1852–1853, p. 389Google Scholar; “Population – Census of Ireland”, Parliamentary Papers, XCI, 1892, p. 24.Google Scholar

To obtain population figures from the 1821 and 1831 censuses one has to use the broader parish unit of Tomfinlough (which includes Ralahine and other local areas, including the town of Newmarket-on-Fergus). Again the effects of 1845–1849 are clear: 1821, 2789; 1831, 4053; 1841, 4401; 1851, 3182; 1881, 1726. Sources: “Population Abstract of 1821”, Parliamentary Papers, XXII, 1824, p. 138Google Scholar; “Population of Ireland”, Parliamentary Papers, XXXIX, 1833, pp. 128–129Google Scholar; “Population – Census of Ireland”, Parliamentary Papers, XCI, 1892, p. 24.Google Scholar

A degree of historical justice was, however, achieved. When the estate was broken up in the 1920s (as a result of the Land Act) a number of the new small farms passed into the ownership of direct descendants of Ralahine members. See: Enright, M., “Ralahine – Clare's First Experiment in Socialism”, The Clare People, 09 1977, p. 13.Google Scholar

The story of Vandeleur's family is a sad one. Of his five children, three died as youngsters: Boyle, the eldest son, was drowned, whilst Diana and Emily died of tuberculosis; Arthur, after a distinguished military career, died at the age of 31. Emily Vandeleur, John Scott's wife, never recovered from the shock and died in June 1843. Arthur, with the help of relatives was, however, ultimately able to keep the estate in the Vandeleur family.

108 Gráda, ó, “The Owenite Community”, pp. 204–205.Google Scholar In an 1838 account, Craig suggests that just before the community collapsed Vandeleur was planning to ease the burden of the community: “Mr Vandeleur had made arrangements at the end of 1833 for reducing the terms, and making the profits resulting from the exertions of the people more certain and available than they were the first two years”. Craig, E. T., “Letter VIII”, The Star in the East, 10 11 1838.Google Scholar No details are given.

109 Wallace, B., “E. T. Craig – The Pioneer of Ralahine”, in O'Riordan, M. (ed.), Ralahine (Dublin, 1985), p. 44.Google Scholar

110 Connolly, J., Labour in Irish History (Dublin, 1971), p. 89.Google Scholar

111 Kautsky, K., The Agrarian Question, 1 (London, 1988), p. 131.Google Scholar

112 Lenin, V. I., Collected Works, 4 (Moscow, 1972), p. 121.Google Scholar

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