Monster agitators

Two years before the Great Famine (1845-51), and almost a decade after the population peaked, Daniel O'Connell led a movement for the Repeal of the Act of Union (1801) between Great Britain and Ireland. From January to September of 1843 O'Connell addresses 38 'Monster Meetings'. these drew crowds of typically 50,000; O'Connell was accompanied on the podium at each event by about 100 people, comprising clergy, merchants and substantial landholders. His supporters were dubbed 'Repealers' and identified by name and place in the press. By referencing contemporary land and commercial registers, our knowledge of these individuals is expanded. The 3,600 identified represent principally the middle classes of 1840s Ireland; the 200 Repeal Wardens are the only representatives of the 'lower classes', the bulk of the 800,00 card-carrying Repealers. The 38 county-level meetings and some 70 parish events are chronicled, up to the meeting scheduled for 8 October 1843 at Clontarf, Co. Dublin which was 'abandoned' by O'Connell having been 'proclaimed' by the civil authorities. Poverty, destitution and land tenure, the primary causes of Repeal Agitation, are quantified; income, expenditure and valuations of Pre-Famine Ireland are converted to current values in Euro to accentuate the deprivation of the masses. -- Publisher description