Tithe War

Tithe payment was an obligation on those working the land to pay ten per cent of the value of certain types of agricultural produce for the upkeep of the clergy and maintenance of the assets of the church.

[2] The majority of the population in Ireland who continued to adhere to Catholicism were then obliged to make tithe payments which were directed away from their own church to the reformed one.

This increased the financial burden on subsistence farmers, many of whom were at the same time making voluntary contributions to the construction or purchase of new premises to provide Roman Catholic places of worship.

Emancipation for Roman Catholics was promised by Pitt during the campaign in favour of the Act of Union of 1801 which was approved by the Irish Parliament, thus abolishing itself and creating the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

It was not until 1829 that the Duke of Wellington's government promoted and parliament enacted the Roman Catholic Emancipation Act, in the teeth of defiant royal opposition from King George IV.

These issues, more often than not, were inflamed by the senior Irish Roman Catholic clergy, who were now dependent on voluntary contributions due to the discontinuation of the Maynooth grant.

A campaign of passive resistance was proposed by Patrick "Patt" Lalor (1781–1856), a farmer of Tenakill, Queen's County, who later served as a repeal MP (1832–35).

The first clash of the Tithe War took place on 3 March 1831 in Graiguenamanagh, County Kilkenny, when a force of 120 yeomanry tried to enforce seizure orders on cattle belonging to a Roman Catholic priest.

On 18 June 1831, in Bunclody (Newtownbarry), County Wexford, people resisting the seizure of cattle were fired upon by the Irish Constabulary, who killed twelve and wounded twenty; one yeoman was shot dead in retaliation.

That is deemed to have had a significant influence on its overall outcome for the anti-tithe movement, ensuring that the event marked the beginning of the end of tithes in Ireland.

Taking stock of the continuing resistance, in 1831 the authorities recorded 242 homicides, 1,179 robberies, 401 burglaries, 568 burnings, 280 cases of cattle-maiming, 161 assaults, 203 riots and 723 attacks on property directly attributed to seizure order enforcement.

[10][11] The conflict had the support of the Roman Catholic clergy and the following quotation, from a letter written by the Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin, Dr. James Doyle to Thomas Spring Rice became the rallying cry for the movement: There are many noble traits in the Irish character, mixed with failings which have always raised obstacles to their own well-being; but an innate love of justice, and an indomitable hatred of oppression, is like a gem upon the front of our nation which no darkness can obscure.