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‘Irish and English interests’: national conflict within the Church of Ireland episcopate in the reign of George I

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2016

Patrick McNally
Patrick McNally*
Affiliation:
Department of History, Worcester College of Higher Education
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Extract

The reign of George I has long been regarded by historians as an important period in the development in Ireland of what some have called ‘colonial nationalism’. This period witnessed, after all, two long-drawn-out conflicts between the political establishments of Ireland and Britain—the Sherlock v. Annesley case (leading to the Declaratory Act of 1720) and the infamous Wood’s Halfpence dispute of 1723–5. This reign has traditionally been regarded as a ‘difficult’ transitional phase in Anglo-Irish relations which was followed by the superficially uneventful era of government by ‘undertakers’ after the early 1730s, before the ‘national’ question erupted again during the money bill dispute of the 1750s. This article will examine the nature of the anti-English feeling which undoubtedly existed at this time among certain sections of the Irish Protestant community. It will be argued that conflict within the episcopate of the Church of Ireland had a significant role in fomenting much of the ‘national’ tension between the so-called Irish and English interests at this time. It will be suggested, moreover, that disputes over the distribution of ecclesiastical patronage made a major contribution to the development of this conflict.

Type
Research Article
Information
Irish Historical Studies , Volume 29 , Issue 115 , May 1995 , pp. 295 - 314
Copyright
Copyright © Irish Historical Studies Publications Ltd 1995

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References

1 For the related debate surrounding the origins and meaning of the terms ‘Anglo-Irish’ and ‘ascendancy’ see Hill, Jacqueline, ‘The meaning and significance of “Protestant ascendancy”, 1787–1840’ in Ireland after the union: proceedings of the second joint meeting of the Royal Irish Academy and the British Academy (London, 1989), pp 1–22 Google Scholar; McCormack, W. J., ‘Vision and revision in the study of eighteenth-century Irish parliamentary rhetoric’ in Eighteenth-Century Ireland, ii (1987), pp 7–36 Google Scholar; idem, ‘Eighteenth-century ascendancy: Yeats and the historians’ in Eighteenth-Century Ireland, iv (1989), pp 150–81; Kelly, James,‘The genesis of “Protestant ascendancy”: the Rightboy disturbances of the 1780s and their impact upon Protestant opinion’ in O’Brien, Gerard (ed.), Parliament, politics and people: essays in eighteenth-century Irish history (Dublin, 1989), pp 93–127 Google Scholar; idem, ‘Eighteenth-century ascendancy: a commentary’ in Eighteenth-Century Ireland, v (1990), pp 173–87.

2 For more on the politics of this period see McCracken, J. L., ‘Protestant ascendancy and the rise of colonial nationalism, 1714–60’ in Moody, T.W. and Vaughan, W. E. (eds), A new history of Ireland, iv: Eighteenth-century Ireland, 1690–1800 (Oxford, 1986), pp 105–22 Google Scholar; Connolly, S.J., Religion, law, and power: the making of Protestant Ireland, 1660–1760 (Oxford, 1992)Google Scholar; Dickson, David, New foundations: Ireland, 1660–1800 (Dublin, 1987)Google Scholar; James, F.G., Ireland in the Empire, 1688–1770 (Cambridge, Mass., 1973)Google Scholar; Griffin, Joseph, ‘Parliamentary politics in Ireland in the reign of George I’ (unpublished M.A. thesis, University College, Dublin, 1977)Google Scholar; Hayton, David, ‘Ireland and the English ministers, 1707–1716’ (unpublished D. Phil. thesis, University of Oxford, 1975)Google Scholar; McCracken, J. L., ‘The undertakers in Ireland and their relations with the lord lieutenant, 1724–1771’ (unpublished M.A. thesis, Queen’s University, Belfast, 1941)Google Scholar; Victory, Isolde, ‘Colonial nationalism in Ireland, 1692–1725: from common law to natural right’ (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Trinity College, Dublin, 1985)Google Scholar.

3 King to Stanhope, 5 Nov. 1715 (P.R.O., SP 63/373, ff 209–11). See Hayton, David, ‘The crisis in Ireland and the disintegration of Queen Anne’s last ministry’ in I.H.S., xxii, no. 87 (Mar. 1981), pp 193–215 Google Scholar. For a recent discussion of the politics of the Church of England after 1714 see Taylor, Stephen, ‘Sir Robert Walpole, the Church of England, and the Quakers’ Tithe Bill of 1736’ in Hist. .In., xxviii (1985), pp 51–77 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

4 King to Rev. Dr Charlett, 20 Apr. 1715, in King, C. S. (ed.), A great archbishop of Dublin: William King, 1650–1729: autobiography, family and a selection from his correspondence (London, 1906), pp 179-80Google Scholar. For an example of such resentment of clerical interference in elections see earl of Abercorn to Edward Southwell, 3 Nov. 1713 (P.R.O.N.I., Abercorn papers, D623/A/3/2).

5 See, for example, Bp Godwin to Abp Wake, 23 Dec. 1721 (Christ Church, Oxford, Wake MSS, vol. xiii, ff 213–14); Bp Hort to Hugh Howard, 22 Apr. 1732 (N.L.I., Wicklow papers, PC. 227, unfoliated).

6 Mant, Richard, History of the Church of Ireland from the Reformation to the union of the churches of England and Ireland, Jan. 1, 1801 (2 vols, London, 1840), ii, 286–8Google Scholar.

7 Charles Fitzroy, 2nd duke of Grafton; Henri Massue de Ruvigny, 1st earl of Galway.

8 Lords justices to Stanhope, 23 Nov. 1715 (P.R.O., SP 63/373, ff 256–8); Stanhope to lords justices, 10 Dec. 1715 (ibid., SP 67/6, f. 115).

9 Lords justices to Stanhope, 17 Dec. 1715 (ibid., SP 63/373, ff 308–9).

10 Stanhope to lords justices, 27 Dec. 1715 (ibid., SP 67/6, f. 117).

11 Grafton to ———, 6 Jan. 1716 (ibid., SP 63/374, ff 12–13).

12 Delafaye to ———, 8 Jan. 1716 (ibid., ff 18–19).

13 Stanhope to lords justices, 27 Dec. 1715, 14 Jan., 1 May 1716 (ibid., SP 67/6, ff 117, 118–20,142-3).

14 D. N. B. entry.

15 King to Molyneux, 2 May 1716 (T.C.D., King correspondence, MS 2533, pp 221–4).

16 Godwin to Wake, 24 Jan. 1716 (Christ Church, Oxford, Wake MSS, vol. xii, ff 318–19).

17 Midleton to Mrs Ally Brodrick, 30 Dec. 1720 (Surrey Record Office, Midleton MSS, vol. iv, f. 385).

18 Godwin to Wake, 31 Oct. 1716 (Christ Church, Oxford, Wake MSS, vol. xii, ff 90–91).

19 Godwin to Wake, 11 Feb., 3 May, 31 Oct. 1716 (ibid., ff 16–17,45-6,90-91); Mant, Ch. of Ire., ii, 288–90; King to Molyneux, 2 May 1716 (T.C.D., King correspondence, MS 2533, pp 221–4).

20 ——— to Molesworth, 27 Mar. 1716 (P.R.O., SP 63/374, ff 185–6).

21 James, F. G., ‘The Church of Ireland in the early eighteenth century’ in Historical Magazine of the Protestant Episcopal Church (Austin, Tex.), xlviii, 4 (1979), pp 442-51Google Scholar. For the position of Protestant dissenters in Ireland see Beckett, J. C., Protestant dissent in Ireland, 1687–1780 (London, 1948).Google Scholar

22 See Victory, Isolde, ‘The making of the Declaratory Act of 1720’ in O’Brien, (ed.), Parliament, politics & people, pp 9–29 Google Scholar.

23 Synge to Wake, 30 Sept. 1717 (B.L., Add. MS 6117, ff 126–9).

24 Godwin to ———, 9 Oct. 1717 (P.R.O., SP 63/375, ff 208–9).

25 King to Wake, 10 May 1718 (T.C.D., King correspondence, MS 2535, pp 166–71).

26 King to Wake, 25 Mar. 1718 (ibid., pp 125–6).

27 Synge to Wake, 29 Apr. 1718 (B.L., Add. MS 6117, ff 137).

28 Evans to Wake, 25 Mar. 1718 (Christ Church, Oxford, Wake MSS, vol. xii, ff 246).

29 Godwin to Wake, 12 Apr. 1719 (ibid., ff 252–3). For more on this episode see Sykes, Norman, William Wake, archbishop of Canterbury, 1657–1737 (2 vols, Cambridge, 1957), ii, 222–34Google Scholar.

30 Nicolson to Wake, 17 Jan. 1720 (B.L., Add MS 6116, ff 94–5).

31 The three others were Viscount Midleton (lord chancellor), Viscount Doneraile (brother of Sir John St Leger, one of the barons), and Earl Fitzwilliam, a strong supporter of the government (Lords ‘ jn. Ire., ii, 626–8).

32 Nicolson to Wake, 23 Feb. 1720 (B.L., Add. MS 6116, ff 95–6).

33 NicoIson to Wake, 31 Oct. 1719 (ibid., ff 91–2).

34 Nicolson to Wake, 17 Oct., 30 Nov. 1719 (ibid., ff 90–93).

35 Connolly, Religion, law, & power, pp 280–94; Beckett, Protestant dissent, pp 71–81.

36 Nicolson to Wake, 14 Dec. 1723 (B.L., Add. MS 6116, f. 127).

37 Evans to Wake, 11 Apr. 1719 (Christ Church, Oxford, Wake MSS, vol. xiii, f. 50).

38 King to Molyneux, 30 July 1715 (T.C.D., King correspondence, MS 2533. pp 37–8); King to Nicolson, 30 July, 16 Sept. 1715 (ibid., pp 40–42, 86–7).

39 King to Sunderland, 8 Feb. 1715 (ibid., MS 750/4, p. 29).

40 Synge to Wake, 19 Nov. 1719 (B.L., Add. MS 6117, ff 142–3); see also King to Bp of Lincoln, 19 July 1715 (T.C.D., King correspondence, MS 2533, pp 23–5); Synge to Wake, 29 June 1722 (B.L., Add. MS 6117, ff 163–4).

41 James, F. G., ‘The active Irish peers in the early eighteenth century’ in In. Brit. Studies, xviii, 2 (1979), pp 52–69 CrossRefGoogle Scholar, esp. pp 67–9.

42 Nicolson to Wake, 17 Oct., 30 Nov. 1719 (B.L., Add. MS 6116, ff 90–93).

43 Bolton to James Craggs, 3 Nov. 1719 (P.R.O., SP 63/378, ff 133–4).

44 Baron Pocklington to Wake, 3 Nov. 1719 (Christ Church, Oxford, Wake MSS, vol. xiii, f. 122). For a more detailed discussion of the background to this popery bill and the origins of the notorious ‘castration clause’ (which remain obscure) see Connolly, Religion, law, & power, pp 281–2.

45 King to Molyneux, 2 May 1716 (T.C.D. King correspondence, MS 2533, pp 221–4).

46 King to Molyneux, 24 Nov. 1724 (ibid., MS 2537, pp 187–190); King to Molyneux, 2 May 1716 (ibid., MS 2533, pp 221–4).

47 King to Molyneux, 2 May 1716 (ibid., MS 2533, pp 221–4).

48 King to Dean Trench, 12 Feb. 1717 (ibid., MS 2534, pp 87–8).

49 King to Synge, 21 Mar. 1717 (ibid., MS 2534, pp 129–30).

50 King to Bp of Cloyne, 24 Dec. 1726 (ibid., MS 750/8, pp 170–72); King to Carteret, 6 June 1727 (ibid., p. 204); Boulter to Newcastle, 1 Jan. 1727 ( Letters written by His Excellency Hugh Boulter (2 vols, Dublin, 1770), i, 94Google Scholar (henceforth Boulter letters)); King to Bp of Cloyne, 6 June 1727 (T.C.D., King correspondence, MS 750/8, p. 205).

51 King to Grafton, 20 Dec. 1720 (T.C.D., King correspondence, MS 8191, p. 169).

52 Figures from Mant, Ch. of Ire. Ire, 781–92.

53 Bolton to Wake, 19 Apr. 1720 (Christ Church, Oxford, Wake MSS, vol. xiii, f. 168).

54 King to Dr Coghill, 22 Dec. 1716 (T.C.D., King correspondence, MS 2534, pp 36–7).

55 King to Rev. John Blair, 18 May 1725 (ibid., MS 2537, p. 245).

56 Carteret to Wake, 17 Apr. 1724 (Christ Church, Oxford, Wake MSS, vol. xiv, f. 192); Godwin to Wake, 14 July 1725 (ibid., f. 276). Cotterell was appointed as bishop of Ferns and Leighlin in 1743.

57 King to Molyneux, 24 Nov. 1724 (T.C.D., King correspondence, MS 2537, pp 187–90).

58 King to Bp of Norwich, 11 Dec. 1714 (Mant, Ch. of Ire., ii, 289).

59 Godwin to Wake, 3 Mar. 1722 (Christ Church, Oxford, Wake MSS, vol. xiii, ff 323–4).

60 Godwin to Wake, 11 Apr. 1722 (ibid., vol. xiv, ff 6–7). The appointment to this post would have been decided, officially at least, by the Treasury. The viceroy had no official influence in the filling of revenue posts.

61 Nicolson to Wake, 29 Feb. 1724 (B.L., Add. MS 6116, ff 130–31 ).

62 Evans to Wake, 15 Mar. 1723 (Christ Church, Oxford, Wake MSS, vol. xiv, f. 60).

63 Godwin to Wake, 24 Jan. 1724 (ibid., f. 152).

64 Dowries to Nicolson, 17 Feb. 1722 ( Nichols, John (ed.), Letters on various subjects, literary, political, and ecclesiastical, to and from William Nicolson (2 vols, London, 1809), ii, 549–50Google Scholar).

65 Godwin to Wake, 2 June 1722 (Christ Church, Oxford, Wake MSS, vol. xiv, ff 22–3).

66 Godwin to Wake, 16 Jan. 1723 (ibid., f. 48).

67 King to Francis Annesley, 26 Nov. 1725 (T.C.D., King correspondence, MS 750/8, pp 53–5).

68 Nicolson to Wake, 6, 20 Jan. 1722 (B.L., Add. MS 6116, ff 103–5).

69 King to Grafton, 16 Feb. 1722 (King (ed.), A great archbishop of Dublin, pp 231–2).

70 King to Wake, 3 Feb. 1722 (B.L., Add. MS 6117, ff 71–2).

71 None of these bishops were Irish-born, and all had been appointed since the accession of George I ( Phillips, W. A. (ed.), History of the Church of Ireland from the earliest times to the present day (3 vols, Oxford, 1933-4), iii, 198Google Scholar).

72 Nicolson to Wake, 4 Mar. 1722 (B.L., Add. MS 6116, ff 120–21); Synge to Wake, 26 Mar. 1722 (ibid., Add. MS 6117, ff 162–3).

73 McCrackcn, ‘The undertakers in Ireland’, pp 26–53.

74 McGuire, James, ‘The Irish parliament of 1692’ in Thomas Bartlett and David Hayton (eds), Penal era and golden age: essays in Irish history, 1690–1800 (Belfast, 1979), pp 1–31 Google Scholar; David Hayton, ‘The beginnings of the “undertaker system” ‘, ibid., pp 32–54; McNally, Patrick, ‘Patronage and politics in Ireland, 1714–1727’ (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Queen’s University, Belfast, 1993), pp. 68–72 Google Scholar; Dickson, David, New foundations: Ireland, 1660–1800 (Dublin, 1987), pp 66–79 Google Scholar.

75 Boulter to Newcastle, 4 Mar. 1725 (Boulter letters, i, 12).

76 Henry Maule to Wake, 9 June 1724 (Christ Church, Oxford, Wake MSS, vol. xiv, f. 202).

77 Boulter to Townshend, 29 Apr. 1725 (Boulter letters, i, 17–18); Boulter to Newcastle, 12 Oct. 1725 (ibid., pp 39–40); Carteret to Delafaye, 28 Oct. 1725 (P.R.O., SP 63/386, f. 222); Boulter to Newcastle, 19 May 1726 (Boulter letters, i, 58–60); Boulter to Carteret, 7 Mar. 1727 (ibid., pp 116–18).

78 Boulter to Wake, 23 May 1727 (Boulter letters, i, 133–4); Boulter to Gibson, 21 Feb. 1727 (ibid., pp 114–16).

79 Boulter to Gibson, 25 Apr. 1727 (ibid., pp 126–7).

80 Boulter to Gibson, 14 Dec. 1729 (ibid., pp 271–2).

81 Boulter to Gibson, 2 Jan. 1730 (ibid., pp 275–6).

82 Godwin to Wake, 2 Aug. 1718 (Christ Church, Oxford, Wake MSS, vol. xii, ff 298–9).

83 McNally, ‘Patronage & politics’, pp 226–7.

84 Synge to Wake, 3 Jan. 1724 (B.L., Add. MS 6117, ff 175–7).