Clare - Ejectment List

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Surviving Ejectment Books

There is an almost complete set of Ejectment Books for County Clare from 1816 to 1914. These documents of the Circuit Court list applications from landlords seeking to evict their tenants. Per "Irish Roots" genealogy periodical published in Ireland, they are a "wealth of information" and an ejectment might explain a family's disappearance from a townland or parish. Women were often given with their full names and sometimes their maiden names. Information generally includes names of members of the family, others involved in the case, location of specific farms, previous occupiers of the land, landlords, details of the lease. Where several tenants are listed they represent a substitute townland census.

The surviving Ejectment Books are listed in the Circuit Court County Indexes which are at the National Archives, Dublin. The actual records are currently (1997) held at the Four Courts so it is necessary to order them a day in advance through the National Archives, Bishop Street, Dublin. Note, the "old" classifications (P and Q) are old catalogue card numbers and these records may not have survived. Look for those stamped "Salv. 1922" and those with "new" catalogue numbers in red ink, which imply surviving records.

The Ejectment books are written in longhand and with minimal punctuation, but they give much more information on families than do the tithe applotment books. Some abbreviations are found in the records such as "a", which is felt to represent "against," and "PP" which might stand for "proven process", and "C" for case. Numbers at the top of the page indicate the case number.

Co. Clare is fortunate in that the Civil Bills of the Circuit Court also appear to have survived the 1922 fire at the Four Courts.

Ejectments must have touched every family in Ireland. For the poor, it was something to be constantly dreaded. Eviction was regarded as nothing less than death by slow torture. (Over three thousand persons, including 84 widows, were evicted from the estate of Major Denis Mahon at Strokestown, Co. Roscommon in 1847 alone.)

Evictions often preceded at a rate of 150 persons a week, with sometimes 40 to 50 houses levelled in a single day. Evictions seldom took place without the levelling of houses.

Capt. Kennedy, the Poor Law Inspector for Co. Clare wrote, "The number in receipt of out-door relief on 24th March, 1849, was 22,661 at a weekly cost of 559 pounds for food alone."

On August 13, 1848, Capt. Kennedy had written to the Poor Law Commissioners stating:

"These helpless creatures are not only unhoused but driven off the lands, no one remaining on the lands being allowed to lodge or harbour them. It is obvious they must go somewhere till disease and privation thin their numbers, and whenever they acquire a residence the proprieter must eventually suffer, both in purse and character for the neglect or cupidity of others. Without means or energy they cannot emigrate, and without employment they cannot exist but on the rates. When the winter sets in these evicted destitute will be in an awful plight, as their temporary sheds, behind ditches or old fences, are quite unfit for human habitation, and if they attempted to build anything permanent they would be immediately demolished."

- British Parliamentary Papers, 1849

The Ejectment Books are a little-known resource, but they contain much information. There are 17 Co. Clare ejectment books (including two that are missing) for the period 1816-1850. There are another 28 books for the years 1850-1914. Co. Clare has the largest number of surviving ejectment books as they were not at the Four Courts when it burned in 1922. Also surviving are the Civil Bills of the Circuit Court.

Throughout the 19th century, Ireland's impoverished tenants eked out a precarious existence from the soil. Since the turn of the century rapid population growth had led to continual sub-division of farms and more marginal land being brought under cultivation. Townlands often teemed with tenants working uneconomic patches of reclaimed bog and mountain. The potato, which was the staple diet of the majority, was a crop subject to frequent blight. Harsh and oppressive laws, unfeeling landlords, the "hanging gale," and the fear of ejectment were features of daily life.

Random evictions had occurred throughout Ireland before the 1840s, but it was the dreadful famine years that turned a stream into a flood. Faced with a blighted potato crop, tenants were often forced to sell everything they had to feed their families. The ramshackle poor law which was intended to provide relief for the distressed now exacerbated a developing crisis. Landlords receiving little or no income from rents were still liable to pay rates on holdings rate at 4 pounds and under. The number of bankrupt estates under the Court of Chancery was evidence of the harsh economic pressures. For some landlords the choice was stark: evict the tenatry or face impoverishment themselves. For other landlords ejectment was an opportunity to be rid of an unnecessary expense. Numerous properties were sold under the Encumbered Estates Act at prices which failed to cover mortgages and debts The new owners, often from the merchant class, were even more relentness in their clearance of tenants than the established landlords.

The sessions in Clare took place at Ennis, Killaloee, Kilrush, Sixmilebridge and Tulla.

Below is a record of a proposed eviction:

Ennis Sessions, Tuesday, March 26th, 1833 - Case #5

M. Greene was the attorney for the plantiffs.

Wm. Causabon Purdon Esq., a prominent East Clare landlord, was the plantiff.

James Touhy and Michl. Ryan are listed and presumed to be legal officers, perhaps process servers or baliffs.

Tenants who are listed as defendants include:

Owen Toohy
Anne Toohy alias Finaun
Rose Hogan
Dominick Hogan
Michael Sheedy
Wm. Melody
Thos. Sheedy
Michl. Hourigan
Michl. Dea
Michl. Brady
Daniel Brady
Daniel Quigley
Thos. Farrell
Martin Coffee
John St. Laurence

The reason for the proposed eviction was as follows:

For non-payment of rent of all That and Those that farm in Belkelly formerly in the possession of Dominick Hogan and Peter Hogan, since decd., and now in the poss'ion of said Defts. (defendants). Bounded viz on the North and East sides by Patk. Kelly's farm and by James Barry's and Mathew Ryan's farms; on the South by the part of Doctor MacNamara's farm called Behernagh. Situated in the Parish of Ogonnelloe and Barony of Tulla. Yearly rent 35 pounds late Irish currency. Sum due 135 pounds Sterling present currency.

You can compare this list of the names of tenants being ejected in 1833 with the list of tenants assessed for tithes in 1825 in the tithe applotment book for Belkelly (Purdon) 1825:

James O'Dea, John St. Lawrence, Owen Tuohy, Michael Hourigan, Thos. Sheedy, and Patrick Coffee. Notice spelling variations from record to record. (Info. from article in "Irish Roots" genealogy periodical, 1997.)

The verdict of the court in this case was "Possession Decreed."