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Fenian documents in the State Paper Office

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2016

Breandán Mac Giolla Choille
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Extract

The state papers in the State Paper Office, Dublin Castle, are the documents which were received or created in the office of the chief secretary to the lord lieutenant of Ireland and in a small number of related offices or departments. The departments or related offices were: the convict department, with records for 1778–1924; the privy council department, with records for 1800–1922; the chief crown solicitor’s department, with records for 1848–1922; the police and crime department, with records for 1848–1920; and the general prisons board, with records for 1836–1928.

Type
Bibliography
Information
Irish Historical Studies , Volume 16 , Issue 63 , March 1969 , pp. 258 - 284
Copyright
Copyright © Irish Historical Studies Publications Ltd 1969

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References

1 Hereafter referred to as S.P.O. and C.S.O.

2 This paper outlines how the C.S.O. dealt with police submissions on secret societies and political crime in Fenian times; there were later reorganizations and changes of title, one of which was ‘department’. See Giolla Choille, B. Mac (ed.), Intelligence notes 1913–16 (Dublin, 1966), pp xxiii-xxiv.Google Scholar

3 Established in 1877 it took over the record-holdings of superseded offices (see McDowell, , Ir. Administration, p. 159).Google Scholar In a similar manner the departments of the privy council office and chief crown solicitor contain records antedating their establishment.

4 Regular preservation of state papers in Dublin Castle began with the establishment of a paper office in 1702. All but a few of the state papers for 1702–90 perished in the Public Record Office in 1922.

5 Available in typescript (59 pp) in S.P.O.

6 The order of quotation is determined by the requirements of description; consequently, it is not fully chronological.

7 This is one of the largest headings in each year, having 15 subheadings in 1867, most of which are concerned with ‘establishment’ matters (such as appointments and rewards). The sub-heading ‘Reports’ is the most likely to contain material on the state of the country (criminal and political).

8 For crown witnesses, resident magistrates and situations, references are to be found through the index under the first letter of the surnames.

8 For crown witnesses, resident magistrates and situations, references are to be found through the index under the first letter of the surnames.

9 The remarks in note 7 apply to this heading, which in 1867 has 11 sub-headings.

10 C.S.O., R.P. 1885/24044. (Note : R.P. = registered paper; citation is by year and number, but see also note 13.) Other references in 1865 to the escape are in nos 12998, 13016, 13245, 13271, 13297, 13490, 13881–2.

11 As mastery of these registers is a sine qua non for the research scholar, the method of searching may be explained. The entry corresponding to the number of the registered paper should be examined and, if a search is determined on, the two columns headed ‘ Former Communication ’ and ‘ Subsequent Communication ’ must be consulted. The numbers in the second of these should be followed until the column becomes blank for the first time : it is at this final number in the register the file should be bespoken in S.P.O.

12 Ryan, Desmond, The Fenian chief: a biography of James Stephens (Dublin, 1967), pp 58–59.Google Scholar

13 C.S.O., R.P. 1856/12589 on 1856/14212. (This type of citation is used to indicate a particular paper on a file containing a large number of papers.)

14 C.S.O., R.P. 1861/8418 on 1877/3591.

14 C.S.O., R.P. 1861/8418 on 1877/3591.

15 Thomas A. Larcom, under-secretary, 1853–68.

16 The estimated attendance at the laying of the foundation stone (a) of the Catholic University, 20 July 1862, was 130,000 with 30,000 in a procession that took 90 minutes to pass, and (b) of the O’Connell monument, 8 Aug. 1864, was 480,000 with 45,000 in procession.

17 C.S.O., R.P. 1863/11941.

18 Appointed 29 July 1861, served under Carlisle and Wodehouse, succeeded by Chichester Fortescue, 7 Dec. 1865 ( Hughes, J.L.J., ‘The chief secretaries in Ireland, 1566–1921’, in I.H.S., 8, no. 29 (March 1952)).Google Scholar

19 C.S.O., R.P. 1864/12151.

19 C.S.O., R.P. 1864/12151.

20 Of the 932 registered papers received in C.S.O., 9–27 Feb. 1867, 124 relate to Fenianism; the corresponding numbers for 28 Feb.-15 Mar. 1867 are 1,150 and 343.

21 A calendar to Fenian papers in C.S.O. registered papers is in progress in S.P.O.; it now covers the period 9 Feb-12 Sept. 1867 (177 pp).

22 Fenian papers, reports on Fenianism, 1864–5, no. 233 (Cronin to under-secretary, 11 Sept. 1865). See section (b) for description. The acknowledged source of information in no. 233 was Warner, ex-sergeant in Cork Militia Artillery, ‘captain in the Fenian army’ and drill-instructor to the N. and S. sides of Cork City.

23 Ibid., no. 237 : Daniel Ryan to the under-secretary.

24 Ibid., no. 252 (head-constable Hughes, Ballincollig, to inspector general), seen by under-secretary on 14 Sept.; also despatch, no. 23 of A files, described below, § II (B) 11.

25 Government correspondence book, Sept. 1865-Dec. 1866, p. 162. (This book contains outgoing C.S.O. letters to government offices and departments in England; it is one of 99 vols which cover 1827–1921). The commissions sat: in Dublin, 27 Nov.-14 Dec. 1865; in Cork, 14 Dec-5 Jan. 1866; in Dublin, 5 Jan.-2 Feb.

26 Appointed solicitor general in 1861, attorney general in 1865.

27 C.S.O., R.P. 1866/2139 (1 Feb. 1866) on 1867/2871.

28 Son of Mathew Anderson (crown solicitor for county and city of Dublin, 1859–85), appointed crown solicitor for counties and cities of Waterford and Kilkenny (S.P.O., Civil affairs book, 1867–70, p. 234).

28a Moody, T.W. (ed.), The Fenian movement (Cork, 1968), p. 119.Google Scholar

29 Abstract of reports. See below, § II (B) 7.

30 A file 89, written 24 Jan., received C.S.O., 4 Feb. 1866.

31 A file 96, written 3 Feb., received C.S.O., 14 Feb. 1866.

32 Act to empower the lord lieutenant or chief governor or governors to apprehend or detain for a limited time such persons as he or they shall suspect of conspiring against H.M. person and government (29 and 30 Vic, c I ; renewed 1866–68 (31 Vic, c. 7, 28 Feb. 1868).

33 Lists and statistics. See below, § II (B) 5.

34 Anderson, Robert, Sidelights on the home rule movement (London, 1906), p. 37.Google Scholar

35 In the event, S. L. Anderson ‘was obliged to leave the work almost entirely’ to his brother Robert. See letter to Lord Naas in papers attached to abstracts and history.

36 These papers are the exception referred to above, p. 270.

37 This must surely be the first large-scale attempt by police in Ireland to use photography—then in its infancy—for purposes of identification. I am informed by Detective-sergeant J. Desmond, head of the photographic section, Technical Bureau, Garda Síochána, that the earliest recorded use of photography for police purposes in Great Britain was at Birmingham in 1859.

38 They now fill 14 cartons. A calendar to these papers has been begun.

39 Numbered consecutively from (i) F1-F5076 (24 Dec. 1867) and (ii) 5R-9134R (22 Dec. 1874) with 9135R (30 Sept. 1879). F papers are also found with C.S.O. registered papers and the converse is equally true.

40 Anderson, Robert, The lighter side of my official life (London, 1910), p. 23.Google Scholar

41 The heading Fenianism re-emerges in the indexes to C.S.O. registered papers 1875-83 but with comparatively few entries (maximum in 1878, minimum—2 in 1883).

42 Moody, T.W., ‘The Fenian movement : a select bibliography’ in The Fenian movement (Cork, 1968), pp 113–26.Google Scholar In Section (A) 2 (‘Historical works : special studies’), the following might be added :

43 Among these are : Devoy’s Recollections of an Irish rebel, which has hitherto been accepted much too uncritically; A. M. Sullivan’s account of the Fenians in New Ireland, which is far from trustworthy; and Frank Roney’s Autobiography, which greatly exaggerates the part he played.

44 Not included in Moody, The Fenian movement, is Lúing, Seán Ó, John Devoy, Baile Átha Cliath, 1961.Google Scholar State papers were used as sources in this book and also in Marcus Bourke’s biography of John O’Leary.

45 Desmond Ryan, The Fenian chief: a biography of James Stephens. Wide though he cast his net for sources, Fenian documents in the S.P.O. are not found among them. (He did however use some of them indirectly, in e.g. the Larcom papers.)

46 See FitzSimon, R. D., ‘The Irish government and the Phoenix Society’ (M.A. thesis, U.C.D., 1965).Google Scholar

47 A research student, Mr A. J. Semple, working under the supervision of Professor T. W. Moody in Trinity College, Dublin, is now investigating this subject (see ‘Research on Irish history in Irish universities, 1968–9’ I.H.S., xvi, no. 6, p. 94).