Byrne's Dictionary of Irish Local History

by Joseph Byrne

  lord lieutenant’s school fund. The lord lieutenant’s school fund was established in 1819, having been first mooted by Thomas Orde in 1787 as a vehicle to provide funds for the purchase and construction of schools and for the provision of free education for the poor. Although primarily intended to finance the education of poor Catholics, the money was channelled through Protestant societies. Between 1819 and 1826 the fund commissioners disbursed over £63,000 for educational purposes but little of that sum found its way into Catholic hands. Having been given a free hand to dispose of the money as they saw fit, the commissioners introduced so many obstacles that few Catholics succeeded in prising money from their grasp. In the six years to 1825 all but 12 out of a total of 481 grants had favoured Protestants, largely because Catholics were unable to provide strong guarantees of local financial aid. The commissioners also demanded the vesting of title in the local Church of Ireland minister, a requirement that proved obnoxious to Catholics. Slated by the commissioners of inquiry into Irish education, the fund was extinguished after 1825. When the national system was established in 1831, public moneys voted by parliament to the national school system were funnelled to the board of education through a fund also known as the lord lieutenant’s education fund. This new fund was administered more equitably and continued to finance the school system until 1848. Thereafter the money was transmitted through the exchequer. (Akenson, The Irish education experiment, pp. 83–5.)

  lord protector. The title assumed by Oliver Cromwell, the principal puritan military leader, after the forcible dissolution of the Rump (the purged English parliament) in 1653. In 1658 Richard Cromwell succeeded his father as lord protector but was deposed in April 1659.

  lords, house of. The upper house of the Irish parliament emerged as a distinct parliamentary entity in 1536–7 and remained the premier house until the Act of Union. Membership and procedure were regulated by Ulster king of arms at least until 1688 after which the house was self-regulating. It was presided over by the lord chancellor. In the eighteenth century the house comprised 22 spiritual peers (4 archbishops – all Englishmen – and 18 bishops) and a variable number of temporal peers. In the first half of the century the lay peers were largely inactive and the spiritual peers exercised considerable political influence. From 1750, however, the initiative passed to the lay peers as peerages were offered to loyal politicians for their service in the commons and as bribes to MPs to stifle parliamentary opposition. Throughout the eighteenth century the house was never full. Many peers were absentees and although all peers received writs of summons Catholic peers were unable to attend because of the oath of supremacy. No dissenters sat in the lords. The influence of the upper house lay chiefly in its control of the composition of the commons with almost half of the seats in the lower house in the gift of the lay and spiritual peers. The right of the lords to exercise appellate jurisdiction over decisions of the Irish courts was voided with the passage of the British Declaratory Act in 1720 but final judicature was restored in 1782. Only fragments of the early proceedings of the house have survived but the printed series, the journals, commences in 1634. (Journals of the house of lords; James, Lords; McCracken, ‘The political structure’, pp. 71–72.)

  lorimer. A bit and harness maker.

  losset. 1: A large, flat wooden disc used as a kneading trough 2: A productive field or good fertile land.

  loy. A long, heavy spade used to cut and turn sods to form lazybeds.

  lucht tighe. (Ir., the members of a household) Mensal lands, the distinct parcel of land which furnished provisions for a Gaelic lord’s table.

  lumper. A large, watery potato widely cultivated in Ireland during the 1830s and 1840s. It did not store well but its high yield ensured its popularity among the poor. Also known as the ‘horse potato’.

  lunula. A crescent-shaped early Bronze Age ornament worn by women around the neck.

  lynchet. A terrace of soil found on the downward side of a field, a consequence of soil creep from contour ploughing during medieval or earlier times.

  M

  mace. A club, usually of iron with a wooden handle, designed to smash defensive armour.

  machicolation. An opening in the floor of a projecting parapet or in the roof of an entrance through which missiles, stones or hot liquids might be cast upon attackers. A murder-hole.

  madder. A climbing plant (rubia tinctorum), the root of which was used to make a medium to strong red dye.

  maghery. (Ir., machaire, a plain) The area controlled by the English administration during the fifteenth century comprising the Pale and its marches (borders). The 1488 Act of Marches and Maghery defined the Pale boundaries as stretching from Dundalk to Dalkey and as far inland as 20 miles. By a series of parliamentary subsidies the maghery was enclosed piecemeal by ditches and castles as a defence against Irish raids. In 1495 Poynings’ parliament obliged the march inhabitants to construct a double rampart and ditch on the boundary of the march with the maghery and additional ditches between the marches and the Irish. For defensive rather than administrative purposes the term ‘maghery’, the land of peace, was sometimes applied to the Pale to distinguish it from the marches, the land of war. (Ellis, Reform, pp. 50–52.)

  magistrate. Dissatisfaction with the competence of many justices of the peace led to the emergence in Ireland of the magistrate. Lay part-time magistrates exercised the same judicial powers as a justice of the peace at the quarter-sessions but like the justices they proved unsuitable despite efforts by successive governments to improve their effectiveness. In 1795 (33 Geo. III c. 36) whole-time stipendiary magistrates exercising control over the city police force were appointed in Dublin. Stipendiary magistrates were introduced to be independent of local (especially Orange and Protestant) influence and control. This initiative proved so successful that from 1814 the lord lieutenant was empowered to appoint ‘magistrates of police’ and an attendant constabulary force to pacify proclaimed areas. After 1822 resident stipendiary magistrates with no connection to the police could be appointed at the request of the justices of the county. Finally, the 1836 act (6 & 7 Will. IV, c. 13) which legislated for a national constabulary force also provided for the appointment of resident magistrates throughout the country. These, too, were independent of the police and reported to the chief secretary on the state of their districts. By 1912 there were 64 resident magistrates operating outside Dublin. The magistrate presided over presentment sessions of the grand jury at the assizes, acted as an ex-officio member of the board of guardians of a poor law union and in the mid-nineteenth century could appoint police sub-constables. See police.

  mail. Iron links woven into a metal shirt which was worn to protect the wearer from slashing blows during combat. It was less effective against piercings.

  mainprise. The action of procuring the release of a person – who would otherwise be committed to jail – by going surety for his appearance in court on a specific date.

  mainpernor. 1: The surety for a released prisoner’s appearance in court on a specific date 2: A person who goes surety.

  majority, age of. Until 1985 (Age of Majority Act, s.2) the age of majority was 21 years. Prior to the introduction of the Tenures Abolition Act in 1662 the wardship and marriage of an heir in minority to the estate of a chief tenant (see capite, in) reverted to the crown for the duration of the minority. Customarily wardships were auctioned to the highest bidder who was thereby enabled to take the profits of the estate and demand a marriage price. The guardian was required to maintain the ward and, after the Reformation, ensure that Catholic minors were educated as Protestants at Trinity College. Upon attaining his majority the heir must sue out livery in the court of wards and liveries and pay relief (a payment usually equivalent to one year’s profits of the land) to obtain legal possession of his estate. The crown’s pecuniary interest in the business of wardship was increased after the Reformation with the creation of a large number of chief tenancies on lands formerly held by the monasteries and it was the desire to maximise
crown revenue from this source that led to the establishment of the court of wards and liveries. The inquisition post-mortem was the process by which the state detected instances of heirs in minority. See ousterlemain.

  Malthus, Thomas (1766–1834). The economic and demographic theories of the English economist Thomas Malthus heavily influenced British government thinking on the question of poverty. This is manifest in the ideology which underpinned the 1834 Poor Law Act in England and its Irish equivalent when introduced four years later. Malthus maintained that population expands to the limit of subsistence and only grows when the means of subsistence permit. Population, however, grows exponentially while the food supply increases arithmetically. Thus the food supply will act as a check on population growth unless it is previously checked by self-restraint, vice or starvation, afflictions which can only be avoided by war or disease. Malthusian demographic theory was gloomy and pessimistic. Poverty was an inevitable feature of human existence and state or private charity, by removing the restraint of subsistence, encouraged the poor to procreate prolifically. Such thinking provided a powerful rationale for blaming the poor for their own misfortunes and absolved the state and the affluent of responsibility. Poor law should be abolished, Malthus maintained, because it limited the mobility of labour and encouraged fecundity. Money spent on relief was wasted. He thought workhouses should be established for severe distress but that conditions within them should be hard. Ireland, with its rapidly growing population, poverty and heavy dependence on a single root crop, appeared to present the English administration with the Malthusian economic model par excellence. In fact, however, population growth had begun to decelerate from 1841 and when the Great Famine struck Ireland was producing a surplus of food for export. Malthusian theory also overlooked the safety valve of emigration as a means of reducing demographic pressure on the food supply. The philosophy of Malthus is manifest in the minimalist stance of government during the famine including the stringent administration of poor relief within the workhouses, the ending of outdoor relief, an emphasis on local responsibility for distress, the reluctance of government to respond when the crisis became extreme and general during the late 1840s (and, indeed, to reduce what was available as the famine progressed), non-intervention in the markets to halt food leaving the country and agreements with merchants not to sell food below local market prices. (Kinealy, This great calamity, pp. 10–18; Ó Gráda, Malthus.)

  maltster. A maker of malt. In malt-making grain was softened by immersion in water and allowed to germinate after which it was used in the brewing and distilling of alcohol.

  manchet. The finest white wheaten bread. See paindemaine.

  mandamus, order of. (L., we order) A command issuing from the king’s bench directed to any individual or corporate body or inferior court requiring the performance of some specified duty which pertained to that individual or office.

  maniple. An embroidered strip of cloth worn over the left arm at the wrist by a priest at the eucharist.

  manor. An estate granted manorial status by crown charter, consisting not merely of land but also certain entitlements, such as the right to hold manorial courts (court leet, court baron and court of piepowder). It was therefore as much a social and legal as a geographical or economic construct. John Norden’s 1607 definition of the manor as a ‘little commonwealth, whereof the tenants are the members, the land the bulk and the lord the head’ neatly encapsulates the three interrelated elements without which a manor could not exist: a lord, tenants and land. In medieval Ireland five classes of tenants have been identified, not all of whom were present on every manor and some – by acquiring additional land under certain conditions – embraced two or more tenures. The highest status belonged to the freeholders, freemen whose estates were heritable and who could dispose of their land as they saw fit. Apart from owing suit of court the freeholders were free of labour services. The firmarii, leaseholders owing money rent and labour services, were also freemen as were the gavellors (gavillari) – rent-paying tenants-at-will who owed services and paid money rent. The cottiers (cotagii) paid rent for their cottages and crofts and worked for the lord and other tenants. At the lowest level were the betaghs (betagii), usually the most numerous group on the manor, who occupied the lowest social status and were equivalent to the unfree bondsmen and villeins of England. Although usually associated with medieval and early modern times, manorial courts persisted in Ireland into the mid-nineteenth century. See bailiff, hayward, infangenetheof, outfangtheof, pinder, seneschal. (Report from the select committee of manor courts, Ireland, HC 1837 (494) XV. 69; Gillespie, ‘A manor court’, pp. 81–87.)

  manor borough. A small town absorbed into an adjacent or surrounding manor and entitled by royal charter to elect two members to the Irish parliament. There were six in Ireland, the medieval boroughs of Athboy and Ratoath and the four seventeenth-century creations of Mallow (James I), Doneraile, Granard and Mullingar (all Charles II). The lord of the manor exercised complete control over a tiny electorate of Protestant freeholders that ranged in size from 12 in Mullingar to 50 in Granard. Manor boroughs were freely bought and sold throughout the eighteenth century. Only Mallow survived the Act of Union.

  manor courts. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the manor courts provided a small debt recovery service, exercised common law jurisdiction up to the sum of £200 and retained the ancient jurisdiction of court baron which was held as often as there was business to conduct. Legislation enacted in 1785 and again in 1787 aimed to regulate the courts and their records and ensure that presiding seneschals were suitably qualified. By 1837 there were about 200 manor courts operating in Ireland providing quick and relatively cheap redress to litigants. Critics attacked the seneschals for their incompetence and alleged that some manor courts were conducted in public houses. They were abolished in 1856 (22 Vict., c. 14). For the medieval and early modern manorial courts see court leet, court baron. (Report from the select committee of manor courts, Ireland, HC 1837 (494) XV. 69.)

  mansard. A roof with a double slope on either side, the lower slope having a steeper incline than the upper.

  manse. Dwelling of a Presbyterian or Anglican minister

  Mansion House Committee. A nineteenth-century charitable body of concerned citizens which relieved distress during the food shortages of 1831 and which was reconstituted in October 1845 in response to widespread unease generated by the spread of potato blight. Supported by the lord mayor and lord lieutenant, the committee pressed the government to provide relief works, halt the export of corn and shut down distilleries. In 1880, a new body, the Mansion House Fund for Relief of Distress in Ireland was established to provide financial support to local relief committees following the collapse of the potato crop that year. The lord mayor, Edmund Dwyer Grey, presided. By December 1880 the resulting relief fund had attracted subscriptions totalling in excess of £180,000. The minutes of this body were printed and an extensive collection of original records are held in the Dublin Civic Archives in Pearse Street.

  mantle. A falling or cloak

  Manuscript sources for the history of Irish civilisation. Edited by R. J. Hayes, director of the National Library of Ireland, Manuscript sources for the history of Irish civilisation is the most comprehensive guide to manuscript sources for Irish history and one of the first ports of call for historians engaged in serious research. It is the most thorough guide to manuscripts held in the National Library and lists most of the collections in public as well as in private hands, both in Ireland and abroad. Microfilm numbers appended to individual entries indicate that the relevant document is available on microfilm. A criticism that Hayes’ work mainly drew on the printed catalogues of foreign libraries and overlooked the relevant National Archives has been partly addressed in the supplementary volumes. See Periodical sources for the history of Irish civilisation. (Hayes, The manuscript sources; First supplement, 1965–75.)

  marcate. Of land, as much as is worth one mark per year (13s. 4d.).

 
marches. Frontier land of disputed ownership dividing one ethnic group from another.

  mark. Money of account, worth 13s. 4d. or two-thirds of a pound.

  market cross. A cross associated with market towns where public announcements were cried.

  marksman. An illiterate voter who exercised his franchise by placing his mark on the ballot paper.

  marl. A soil consisting of clay and limestone that was spread as a fertiliser or manure. Excessive marling was destructive of land.

  marque, letter of. A commission issued by government to private individuals authorising them to capture and plunder enemy merchant shipping. See privateer.

  marram. See bent grass.

  marriage. A feudal incident in which the choice of partner of a minor was of the lord’s choosing, inevitably encouraging the lord to demand a price. In the case of estates held in capite, the king was entitled to provide wives for his underage wards. Invariably this right was sold on to others who sought to profit from the marriage, often without regard to the ward’s interest.

  marshalsea. A debtors’ jail. Until 1872 indebtedness was punishable by imprisonment. Small debtors were usually lodged in the county prisons along with other felons but Dublin possessed a number of prisons specifically appointed for debtors, the marshalseas. There debtors were held until their debts were re-paid, maintained at their own expense and to a standard of living relative to their means. See bankruptcy court, court of conscience.

  mart. 1: A fat cow 2: In the counties of Leinster, a beef that was paid to the lord 3: In modern usage, a livestock sale.