Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-g7gxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-04T18:40:49.190Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Popular disturbances in late eighteenth-century Ireland: the origins of the Peep of Day Boys

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 March 2016

Martyn J. Powell
Martyn J. Powell*
Affiliation:
Department of History and Welsh History, University of Wales, Aberystwyth
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The name ‘Peep of Day Boys’, or the less common variant ‘Break of Day Men’, has become most closely linked with the Armagh disturbances beginning in the 1780s. In particular, the Peep of Day Boys are known as the group that metamorphosed into the Orange Order after the ‘battle of the Diamond’ in north Armagh in 1795. In recent years David Miller has done much to provide a more subtle interpretation of the link between the Peep of Day Boys and the Orange Order, and more light has been shed on the nature of popular violence in Armagh by Miller, Jim Smyth and Louis Cullen. However, the origins of the term ‘Peep of Day Boys’ are still rather unclear. Many contemporaries believed that it was linked to Protestant searches for weapons in Catholic homes at daybreak.

Type
Research Article
Information
Irish Historical Studies , Volume 34 , Issue 135 , May 2005 , pp. 249 - 265
Copyright
Copyright © Irish Historical Studies Publications Ltd 2005

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 Miller, David, ‘The Armagh troubles, 1784—95’ in Clark, Samuel and Donnelly, J.S. jr, (eds), Irish peasants: violence and political unrest, 1780–1914 (Manchester, 1983), pp 155–91Google Scholar; Miller, D.W., Peep o’ Day Boys and Defenders: selected documents on the County Armagh disturbances, 1784–96 (Belfast, 1990)Google Scholar; Smyth, Jim, The men of no property: Irish radicals and popular politics in the late eighteenth century (Dublin, 1992)Google Scholar; Cullen, L. M., ‘Late eighteenth-century politicisation in Ireland: problems in its study and its French links’ in idem and Louis Bergeron (eds), Culture et pratiques politiques en France et en Irlande, XVIe - XVIIIe siècle (Paris, 1991), pp 137–57Google Scholar; Miller, D. W., ‘Politicisation in revolutionary Ireland: the case of the Armagh troubles’ in Ir. Econ. & Soc. Hist., xxiii (1996), pp 1–17CrossRefGoogle Scholar; L. M. Cullen, ‘The political troubles of County Armagh: a comment’, ibid., pp 18–24; Miller, D.W., ‘The origins of the Orange Order in County Armagh’ in Hughes, A.J. and Nolan, William (eds), Armagh: history and society (Dublin, 2001), pp 538–608Google Scholar.

2 H.M.C., Charlemont, ii, 69Google Scholar.

3 Byrne, J., An impartial account of the late disturbances in the county of Armagh (Dublin, 1792)Google Scholar, quoted in Miller, Peep o’ Day Boys & Defenders, pp 10–16; Miller, ‘Armagh troubles’, p. 183.

4 Miller, Peep o’ Day Boys & Defenders, p. 9.

5 Smyth, Men of no property, p. 46.

6 Young, Arthur, A tour in Ireland, 1776–1779, ed. Hutton, A. W. (2 vols, Shannon, 1970), ii, 55Google Scholar.

7 Hibernian Journal, 11–13 Nov. 1776.

8 Ibid.

9 Ibid.

10 Magennis, E.F., ‘A “Presbyterian insurrection”? Reconsidering the Hearts of Oak disturbances of July 1763’ in I.H.S., xxxi, no. 122 (Nov. 1998), pp 176-7.Google Scholar

11 Miller, ‘Armagh troubles’, p. 183.

12 Young, Tour, ii, 55.

13 Quoted in Brady, John, Catholics and Catholicism in the eighteenth-century press (Maynooth, 1965), pp 182-3Google Scholar; Hibernian Journal, 6 Jan. 1777.

14 Toby Barnard has recently pointed to the ‘battles at patterns and popular festivals’ in Queen’s County between the commonalty and the soldiery (Barnard, Toby, A new anatomy of Ireland: the Irish Protestants, 1649–1770 (New Haven, 2003), p. 205Google Scholar).

15 Miller, ‘Armagh troubles’, pp 172–3.

16 Maguire, W.A., ‘Lord Donegall and the Hearts of Steel’ in I.H.S., xxi, no. 84 (Sept. 1979), p. 355Google Scholar.

17 Donnelly, J.S., ‘Irish agrarian rebellion: the Whiteboys of 1769–76’ in R.I.A. Proc, lxxxiii (1983), sect. C, p. 313Google Scholar. Donnelly indicates that the authorities believed that many Whiteboy raids were planned in public houses. William Dennison, a publican from Bennettsbridge, County Tipperary, went further and was arrested for seriously wounding Patrick and William Shee of Thomastown in March 1770 (ibid., p. 316).

18 Power, T.P., Land, politics and society in eighteenth-century Tipperary (Oxford, 1993), pp 178–9CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Donnelly, ‘Irish agrarian rebellion’, p. 301; Smyth, Men of no property, p. 35.

19 Senior, Hereward, Orangeism in Ireland and Britain, 1795–1836 (London, 1966), p. 13Google Scholar.

20 Hibernian Journal, 13–15 Nov. 1776.

21 Ibid.

22 Ibid., 26–28 Mar. 1777. A similar notice offering rewards and thanks to the justices of the peace, John Tandy and Harris Kellet, was published in every issue of the Freeman ‘s Journal between 30 November and 10 December, the only difference being that at this stage John Foster was not included as one of the twenty signatories (Freeman ‘s Journal, 30 Nov. - 3 Dec, 7–10 Dec. 1776).

23 Hibernian Journal, 26–28 Mar. 1777.

24 Kerrane, J. G. O., ‘The background to the 1798 rebellion in County Meath’ (M.A. thesis, University College Dublin, 1971), pp 15–24Google Scholar.

25 Dublin Gazette, 1 July 1710, quoted in Brady, Catholics & Catholicism, pp 14–15.

26 Freeman’s Journal, 23 Aug. 1766, quoted in Brady, Catholics & Catholicism, p. 121. The issue of arming Catholics within their ranks was also of concern to the Protestant leadership of the Oakboys. Eoin Magennis has suggested that the leaders ‘did their own job of enforcing the penal laws about the arming of Catholics’ (Magennis, ‘A “Presbyterian insurrection”?’, p. 179).

27 Quoted in Snodaigh, Pádraig Ó, ‘Class and the Irish Volunteers’ in Ir. Sword, lxiv (1986), p. 169Google Scholar.

28 Ibid., p. 172.

29 Malcomson, A. P. W., John Foster: the politics of the Anglo-Irish ascendancy (Oxford, 1978), pp 65-7Google Scholar.

30 Kerrane, ‘Rebellion in County Meath’, pp 21, 28, 36, 48.

31 Smyth, Men of no property, pp 105–7.

32 Quoted in Keogh, Dáire, The French disease: the Catholic church and Irish radicalism (Dublin, 1993), p. 165Google Scholar.

33 Johnston-Liik, E.M., History of the Irish parliament, 1692–1800 (6 vols, Belfast, 2002), v, 128–30Google Scholar.

34 Freeman’s Journal, 20–23 July 1782.

35 O’Connell, M.R., Irish politics and social conflict in the age of the American Revolution (Philadelphia, 1965), pp 268–9Google Scholar.

36 Quoted in Johnston-Liik, Hist. Ir. pari., vi, 198.

37 Freeman’s Journal, 10–13 Aug. 1782. Along with three other M.P.s, Hercules Langford Rowley presented to parliament the most significant petition against the tenantry bill. M. R. O’Connell mistakenly identifies him as Hercules C. Rowley, his son, who did not enter parliament until 1783 (O’Connell, Irish politics & social conflict, p. 270).

38 Freeman’s Journal, 10–13 Aug. 1782.

39 Ibid., 22–24 Aug. 1782.

40 Hibernian Journal, 17–20 Jan. 1777.

41 Ibid., 20–22 Jan. 1777.

42 Donnelly, ‘Irish agrarian rebellion’, p. 299.

43 Cullen, Louis, The emergence of modern Ireland (London, 1981), p. 123Google Scholar: idem, ‘The 1798 rebellion in its eighteenth-century context’ in P. J. Corish (ed.), Radicals, rebels and establishments: Historical Studies XV(Belfast, 1985), p. 102.

44 Cullen, ‘1798 rebellion in eighteenth-century context’, pp 100–03; Connolly, S.J., Religion, law, and power: the making of Protestant Ireland, 1660–1760 (Oxford, 1992), p. 229Google Scholar; Brie, Maurice, ‘The Whiteboy movement in Tipperary, 1760–80’ in Nolan, W. J. (ed.), Tipperary: history and society (Dublin, 1985), pp 150–51Google Scholar.

45 Donnelly, ‘Irish agrarian rebellion’, p. 304.

46 Freeman’s Journal, 21–23 Nov. 1776.

47 Power, Land, politics & society, p. 235.

48 Sleator’s Public Gazetteer, 29 May 1762, quoted in Brady, Catholics & Catholicism, p. 105.

49 Brady, Catholics & Catholicism, p. 261.

50 Freeman’s Journal, 21–23 Nov. 1776.

51 Power, Land, politics & society, p. 181.

52 Bartlett, Thomas, The fall and rise of the Irish nation: the Catholic question, 1690–1830 (Dublin, 1992), p. 175Google Scholar.

53 Hibernian Journal, 25–28 Apr. 1777.

54 Ibid., 4–6 June 1777.

55 Donnelly, ‘Irish agrarian rebellion’, p. 294.

56 Freeman’s Journal, 2–5, 12–14 Nov. 1776; Hibernian Journal, 17–19 Sept. 1777.

57 Donnelly, ‘Irish agrarian rebellion’, pp 295, 333.

58 Ibid., pp 295–6.

59 Whelan, Kevin, ‘Introduction to Section II’ in Bartlett, Thomas, Dickson, David, Keogh, Dáire and Whelan, Kevin (eds), 1798: a bicentenary perspective (Dublin, 2003), p. 101Google Scholar. According to Cullen, Louis, the presence of the Old Irish gentry in Kerry fostered ‘a more tolerant society’ (Cullen, Emergence of modern Ireland, p. 121)Google Scholar.

60 Cullen, Emergence of modern Ireland, pp 209, 219.

61 Smyth, Men of no property, p. 102.

62 Defenders in Roscommon, for example, built on traditional Whiteboy grievances and succeeded in forcing graziers to raise wages and lower rents. Meath Defenders presented an interesting combination of sectarian violence and demands for the regulation of wages and rents. But it is significant that the focus on ‘levelling ideologies’ was in the south of the county (Smyth, Men of no property, pp 45, 112; Garvin, Tom, ‘Defenders, Ribbonmen and others: underground political networks in pre-Famine Ireland’ in Philpin, C. H. E. (ed.), Nationalism and popular protest in Ireland (Cambridge, 1987), p. 230)Google Scholar.

63 Peter Gibbon argues that ‘by the late 1770s almost every parish in Armagh had some representative vengeance group or other, and that these were involved in a fairly regular series of feuding fixtures’. This view, however, is contested by Miller, who doubts whether the evidence exists to prove that conflicts were so widespread. See Gibbon, Peter, The origins of Ulster unionism: the formation of popular Protestant politics and ideology in nineteenth-century Ireland (Manchester, 1975), p. 37Google Scholar; Miller, ‘Armagh troubles’, p. 183.

64 Miller, ‘Politicisation in revolutionary Ireland’, p. 15; Senior, Orangeism, p. 10.

65 Kerrane, ‘Rebellion in County Meath’, p. 34. Hereward Senior has observed that ‘by 1792 terrorism forced down rents in Meath and Cavan, and the tithe became increasingly difficult to collect’ (Orangeism, p. 13).

66 Kerrane, ‘Rebellion in County Meath’, pp 34–7.

67 Ibid., p. 30; Garvin, ‘Defenders, Ribbonmen & others’, p. 230; Chambers, Liam, Rebellion in Kildare, 1790–1803 (Dublin, 1998), pp 33-4.Google Scholar

68 Kerrane, ‘Rebellion in County Meath’, p. 30.

69 Ibid., p. 37.

70 Smyth, Men of no property, p. 78.

71 Cullen, L.M., ‘The politics of crisis and rebellion, 1792–1798’ in Smyth, Jim (ed.), Counter-revolution and union: Ireland in the 1790s (Cambridge, 2000), p. 36Google Scholar; Kerrane, ‘Rebellion in County Meath’, p. 47.

72 Bartlett, Thomas, ‘An end to moral economy: the Irish militia disturbances of 1793’ in Philpin, (ed.), Nationalism & popular protest, p. 202Google Scholar.

73 There was a precedent for this, as the Green Linnets regiment had been sent out of the locality during the American War of Independence, despite promises that this would not occur (Kerrane, ‘Rebellion in County Meath’, p. 44).

74 Ibid., pp 44–5; Bartlett, ‘End to moral economy’, p. 203.

75 Kerrane, ‘Rebellion in County Meath’, p. 47.

76 Drogheda Journal, 28 July 1795.

77 Cullen, Louis, ‘The political structures of the Defenders’ in Gough, Hugh and Dickson, David (eds), Ireland and the French Revolution (Dublin, 1990), p. 124Google Scholar.

78 Suibhne, Breandán Mac, ‘Politicization and paramilitarism: north-west and south-west Ulster, c. 1772–98’ in Bartlett, , Dickson, , Keogh, & Whelan, (eds), 1798, p. 253Google Scholar. I am extremely grateful to Dr Mac Suibhne for his assistance on this subject.

79 For opposing views on the political troubles of County Armagh see Miller, ‘Politicisation in revolutionary Ireland’, pp 1–17, and Cullen, ‘Political troubles’, pp 18–24.

80 Cullen, ‘Political structures of the Defenders’, pp 118, 120.

81 Ibid., p. 118.

82 Miller, ‘Politicisation in revolutionary Ireland’, p. 12.

83 Hibernian Journal, 11–13 Nov. 1776.

84 Byrne, Impartial account, quoted in Miller, Peep o’ Day Boys & Defenders, p. 13; Miller, ‘Politicisation in revolutionary Ireland’, p. 15. See also Senior, Orangeism, p. 10. Miller goes on to observe: ‘Clearly, the name “Peep o’ Day Boys” was current well before the commencement of the “Byrne” narrative, and therefore the behaviour from which the name was so obviously derived — the raid on a house at the hour when its occupants would be most vulnerable — was already part of the repertoire of collective action of Protestant weavers’ (‘Politicisation in revolutionary Ireland’, p. 15).

85 Miller, ‘Origins of the Orange Order’, p. 598.

86 Donnelly, J.S., ‘Hearts of Oak, Hearts of Steel’ in Studia Hib., xxi (1981), pp 17–18Google Scholar; Magennis, ‘A “Presbyterian insurrection”?’, pp 176–7.

87 Lady Moira claimed that there was no single entity that could be identified as the Hearts of Steel movement, but rather that there were different local units, many operating under different names, such as the Hearts of Gold, Hearts of Thunder, Hearts of Flint, and Regulators (Magennis, ‘A”Presbyterian insurrection”?’, p. 180; Jim Smyth, ‘Introduction: The 1798 rebellion in its eighteenth-century contexts’ in idem (ed.), Counter-revolution & union, p. 9).

88 Cullen, ‘Political structures of the Defenders’, pp 117–18.

89 Bartlett, Fall & rise of the Irish nation, p. 69.