Protection of Persons and Property (Ireland) Act 1881

Last updated

Act of Parliament
Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (variant 1, 1952-2022).svg
Long title An Act for the better Protection of Person and Property in Ireland.
Citation 44 & 45 Vict. c. 4 [1] [2]
Introduced by William Ewart Gladstone, Prime Minister, 24 January 1881 [3]
Territorial extent  Kingdom of Ireland
Dates
Royal assent 2 March 1881 [4]
Repealed25 August 1894
Other legislation
Repealed by Statute Law Revision Act 1894
Status: Repealed
The 1881 act was introduced by William Ewart Gladstone William Ewart Gladstone by Rupert Potter.jpg
The 1881 act was introduced by William Ewart Gladstone

The Protection of Persons and Property (Ireland) Act 1881, [fn 1] (44 & 45 Vict. c. 4) also called the Coercion Act, was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which allowed for internment without trial of those suspected of involvement in the Land War in Ireland. [5] The provisions could be introduced by proclamation of the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in any area of the island. Lists of internees had to be laid before Parliament.

Contents

Enactment

William Edward Forster by Henry Tanworth Wells. William Edward Forster by Henry Tanworth Wells.jpg
William Edward Forster by Henry Tanworth Wells.

The 1881 act was one of more than 100 Coercion Acts applied to Ireland under the Union. [1] W. E. Gladstone was returned to office in 1880, during the agrarian violence and civil disturbance of the Land War in Ireland. William Edward Forster was made Chief Secretary for Ireland. He carried the Compensation for Disturbance Bill through the Commons, only to see it thrown out in the Lords. On 24 January 1881, he introduced a new Coercion Bill in the Commons.

The bill was strongly opposed by the Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP), which took its obstructionism tactic to new heights by filibustering the second reading for 41 hours. Eventually the Speaker resorted to ignoring IPP MPs requesting the right of speech and put the question. This controversial unprecedented move was soon formalised when Gladstone secured an amendment of the rules of order to allow for cloture ("guillotine") motions. After the bill became law in March, The Spectator commented that it had "virtually occupied the whole time of the Lower House for seven weeks and a day; for though some part of the discussion was nominally devoted to the Queen's Speech, even that debate hardly turned upon any other subject." [7]

Implementation

A total of 953 people were detained under the act. [8] Many of them were active in the Irish National Land League; this was sufficient for the "reasonable suspicion" required by the act. On 13 October 1881, IPP leader Charles Stewart Parnell was arrested under the act after his newspaper, the United Ireland , had attacked the Land Law (Ireland) Act 1881. [9] The arrest warrant accused Parnell of acting as principal in inciting others to "abstain from...pay[ing] rents lawfully due". He was interned in Kilmainham Gaol. [9] United Ireland published a No Rent Manifesto the week after Parnell's imprisonment, and the Land League was banned, only to reappear as the Irish National League. [10] Detention of Irish Americans with U.S. citizenship caused a diplomatic row between London and Washington. [11]

Ending

The act was due to expire 30 September 1882. [12] [13] A bill to repeal it was defeated on first reading in February 1882, having been introduced by Thomas Sexton, a signatory of the No Rent Manifesto. [14] Forster proposed renewing the act indefinitely to deal with the crisis, but the rest of the government disagreed, and negotiations began with Parnell. [15] These lead to the "Kilmainham Treaty", which ended boycotting such that the act was allowed to expire. [15] Both Forster and the Lord Lieutenant, John Spencer, 5th Earl Spencer, resigned in May 1882. [15]

The act was repealed by the Statute Law Revision Act 1894. [16]

Influence on William Morris

The Irish Coercion Act was important in the political development of William Morris. Up to 1881 Morris considered himself a Liberal and was the treasurer of the National Liberal League, but the Coercion Act made him irrevocably break with the Liberal Party, having come to regard its name as "only a label". This was a decisive moment in Morris' leftward development, culminating in declaring himself a Revolutionary Socialist some years later. [17]

Footnotes

  1. The Act had no official short title. It was referred to as Protection of Persons and Property (Ireland) Act, or with Person in the singular, and/or with (Ireland) omitted.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cloture</span> Parliamentary procedure forcing a quick end to a debate

Cloture, closure or, informally, a guillotine, is a motion or process in parliamentary procedure aimed at bringing debate to a quick end.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Edward Forster</span> 19th-century British politician, industrialist and philanthropist

William Edward Forster, PC, FRS was an English industrialist, philanthropist and Liberal Party statesman. His purported advocacy of the Irish Constabulary's use of lethal force against the National Land League earned him the nickname Buckshot Forster from Irish nationalists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Irish Parliamentary Party</span> Irish political party at Westminster, 1874–1922

The Irish Parliamentary Party was formed in 1874 by Isaac Butt, the leader of the Nationalist Party, replacing the Home Rule League, as official parliamentary party for Irish nationalist Members of Parliament (MPs) elected to the House of Commons at Westminster within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland up until 1918. Its central objectives were legislative independence for Ireland and land reform. Its constitutional movement was instrumental in laying the groundwork for Irish self-government through three Irish Home Rule bills.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William O'Brien</span> Irish nationalist journalist and politician

William O'Brien was an Irish nationalist, journalist, agrarian agitator, social revolutionary, politician, party leader, newspaper publisher, author and Member of Parliament (MP) in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. He was particularly associated with the campaigns for land reform in Ireland during the late 19th and early 20th centuries as well as his conciliatory approach to attaining Irish Home Rule.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Dillon</span> Irish politician and the last leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party

John Dillon was an Irish politician from Dublin, who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) for over 35 years and was the last leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party. By political disposition Dillon was an advocate of Irish nationalism, originally a follower of Charles Stewart Parnell, supporting land reform and Irish Home Rule.

The Government of Ireland Bill 1893 was the second attempt made by Liberal Party leader William Ewart Gladstone, as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, to enact a system of home rule for Ireland. Unlike the first attempt, which was defeated in the House of Commons, the second Bill was passed by the Commons but vetoed by the House of Lords.

The Land Acts were a series of measures to deal with the question of tenancy contracts and peasant proprietorship of land in Ireland in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Five such acts were introduced by the government of the United Kingdom between 1870 and 1909. Further acts were introduced by the governments of the Irish Free State after 1922 and more acts were passed for Northern Ireland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Davitt</span> Irish republican, nationalist agrarian agitator (1846–1906)

Michael Davitt was an Irish republican activist for a variety of causes, especially Home Rule and land reform. Following an eviction when he was four years old, Davitt's family migrated to England. He began his career as an organiser of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, which resisted British rule in Ireland with violence. Convicted of treason felony for arms trafficking in 1870, he served seven years in prison. Upon his release, Davitt pioneered the New Departure strategy of cooperation between the physical-force and constitutional wings of Irish nationalism on the issue of land reform. With Charles Stewart Parnell, he co-founded the Irish National Land League in 1879, in which capacity he enjoyed the peak of his influence before being jailed again in 1881.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arson in royal dockyards</span> Capital crime in the UK until 1971

Arson in royal dockyards and armories was a criminal offence in the United Kingdom and the British Empire. It was among the last offences that were punishable by capital punishment in the United Kingdom. The crime was created by the Dockyards etc. Protection Act 1772 passed by the Parliament of Great Britain, which was designed to prevent arson and sabotage against vessels, dockyards, and arsenals of the Royal Navy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kilmainham Treaty</span> Informal agreement between William Gladstone and Charles Parnell

The Kilmainham Treaty was an informal agreement reached in May 1882 between Liberal British prime minister William Ewart Gladstone and the Irish nationalist leader Charles Stewart Parnell. Whilst in gaol, Parnell moved in April 1882 to make a deal with the government, negotiated through Captain William O'Shea MP. The government would settle the "rent arrears" question allowing 100,000 tenants to appeal for fair rent before the land courts. Parnell promised to use his good offices to quell the violence and to co-operate cordially for the future with the Liberal Party in forwarding Liberal principles and measures of general reform. Gladstone released the prisoner and the agreement was a major triumph for Irish nationalism as it won abatement for tenant rent-arrears from the Government at the height of the Land War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Land War</span> Civil unrest and protests in support of land reform in late 19th-century Ireland

The Land War was a period of agrarian agitation in rural Ireland that began in 1879. It may refer specifically to the first and most intense period of agitation between 1879 and 1882, or include later outbreaks of agitation that periodically reignited until 1923, especially the 1886–1891 Plan of Campaign and the 1906–1909 Ranch War. The agitation was led by the Irish National Land League and its successors, the Irish National League and the United Irish League, and aimed to secure fair rent, free sale, and fixity of tenure for tenant farmers and ultimately peasant proprietorship of the land they worked.

A Coercion Act was an Act of Parliament that gave a legal basis for increased state powers to suppress popular discontent and disorder. The label was applied, especially in Ireland, to acts passed from the 18th to the early 20th century by the Irish, British, and Northern Irish parliaments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">J. J. Clancy (North Dublin MP)</span> Irish politician

John Joseph Clancy, usually known as J. J. Clancy, was an Irish nationalist politician and Member of Parliament (MP) in the House of Commons for North Dublin from 1885 to 1918. He was one of the leaders of the later Irish Home Rule movement and promoter of the Housing of the Working Classes (Ireland) Act 1908, known as the Clancy Act. Called to the Irish Bar in 1887, he became a King's Counsel in 1906.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Gilhooly</span> Irish politician

James Gilhooly (1847–1916) was an Irish nationalist politician and MP. in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland as member of the Irish Parliamentary Party, from 1910 the All-for Ireland Party, who represented his constituency from 1885 for 30 years until his death, retaining his seat in eight elections.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Plan of Campaign</span>

The Plan of Campaign was a stratagem adopted in Ireland between 1886 and 1891, co-ordinated by Irish politicians for the benefit of tenant farmers, against mainly absentee and rack-rent landlords. It was launched to counter agricultural distress caused by the continual depression in prices of dairy products and cattle from the mid-1870s, which left many tenants in arrears with rent. Bad weather in 1885 and 1886 also caused crop failure, making it harder to pay rents. The Land War of the early 1880s was about to be renewed after evictions increased and outrages became widespread.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Sexton (Irish politician)</span> Irish journalist, financial expert, nationalist politician and Member of Parliament

Thomas Sexton (1848–1932) was an Irish journalist, financial expert, nationalist politician and Member of Parliament (MP) in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 1880 to 1896, representing four different constituencies. He was High Sheriff of County Dublin in 1887 and Lord Mayor of Dublin from 1888 to 1890. Sexton was a high ranking member of the Irish Parliamentary Party, raised up by Charles Stewart Parnell himself. However, Sexton broke with Parnell and joined the Anti-Parnellites in 1891 following Parnell's marriage scandal. Sexton was disheartened by the subsequent infighting amongst the Anti-Parnellites and pulled back from politics. He thereafter became the chairman of the Freeman's Journal, one of the largest newspapers in Ireland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Irish Home Rule movement</span> Political campaign for self-government (1870–1918)

The Home Rule movement was a movement that campaigned for self-government for Ireland within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It was the dominant political movement of Irish nationalism from 1870 to the end of World War I.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Land Law (Ireland) Act 1881</span> United Kingdom legislation

The Land Law (Ireland) Act 1881 was the second Irish land act passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Criminal Law and Procedure (Ireland) Act 1887</span> United Kingdom legislation

The Criminal Law and Procedure (Ireland) Act 1887 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which amended the criminal law in Ireland to give greater law enforcement power to the authorities. It was introduced by Arthur Balfour, then Chief Secretary for Ireland, to deal with the Plan of Campaign, an increase in illegal activity associated with the Land War. It was informally called the Crimes Act, Irish Crimes Act, or Perpetual Crimes Act; or the Jubilee Coercion Act.

The Irish Council Bill was a bill introduced and withdrawn from the UK Parliament in 1907 by the Campbell-Bannerman administration. It proposed the devolution of power, without Home Rule, to Ireland within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. A partly elected Irish Council would take control of many of the departments thitherto administered by the Dublin Castle administration, and have limited tax-raising powers. The bill was introduced by Augustine Birrell, the newly appointed Chief Secretary for Ireland, on 7 May 1907. It was rejected by the United Irish League (UIL) at a conference in Dublin on 21 May, which meant the Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP) aligned to the UIL would oppose it in Parliament. Henry Campbell-Bannerman announced on 3 June that the government was dropping the bill, and it was formally withdrawn on 29 July.

References

Sources

Primary
Secondary

Citations

  1. 1 2 Laura K. Donohue (2003). "Civil Liberties, Terrorism, and Liberal Democracy: Lessons from the United Kingdom" (PDF). In Arnold M. Howitt; Robyn L. Pangi (eds.). Countering Terrorism: Dimensions of Preparedness. MIT Press. p. 421. ISBN   978-0-2625-8239-1.
  2. "THIRD READING. (, )". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard) . 2 March 1881. pp. HL Deb vol 259 c1. Retrieved 15 November 2016.
  3. Anne Kane (2012). Constructing Irish National Identity: Discourse and Ritual during the Land War, 1879–1882. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 220. ISBN   978-1-1370-0117-7.
  4. Joseph Anthony Amato (2002). Rethinking Home: A Case for Writing Local History. University of California Press. p. 4. ISBN   978-0-5209-3633-1.
  5. "Gladstone and Ireland". historylearningsite.co.uk.
  6. National Portrait Gallery, London, accessed September 2009
  7. "News of the Week". The Spectator (2749). London: 1. 5 March 1881.
  8. Simpson, Alfred William Brian (1994). In the Highest Degree Odious: Detention Without Trial in Wartime Britain. Oxford University Press. p. 4. ISBN   9780198259497 . Retrieved 15 November 2016.
  9. 1 2 The Times , Arrest of Mr. Parnell, 14 October 1881
  10. Aldous, Rishard; Puirseil, Niamh, eds. (2008). "'No Rent Manifesto' The Land League calls for a rent strike against landlords, 18 October 1881". We Declare; Landmark Documents in Ireland's History. London: Quercus. pp. 90–91. ISBN   978-1-84724-672-1.
  11. Edwards, Owen Dudley (2009). "American Diplomats and Irish Coercion, 1880–1883". Journal of American Studies. 1 (2): 213. doi:10.1017/S0021875800007866. ISSN   0021-8758.
  12. Protection of Persons and Property Act 1881, section 4
  13. House of Commons Procedure Committee (14 December 2015). "2 The House's practice". Notification of the arrest of Members. UK Parliament. fn.8. Retrieved 15 November 2016.
  14. "Protection of Person And Property (Ireland) Act Repeal Bill; Motion For Leave". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard) . 9 February 1882. pp. HC Deb vol 266 cc342–66. Retrieved 15 November 2016.
  15. 1 2 3 Nicholls, David (1995). The Lost Prime Minister: A Life of Sir Charles Dilke. A&C Black. p. 108. ISBN   9781852851255.
  16. "Statute Law Revision Act, 1894, Schedule 1". Irish Statute Book . Retrieved 15 November 2016.
  17. Arthur Clutton-Brock, "William Morris", Grange Books,Rochester, Kent, 2007, P.140.
Hansard, Bills index