Tipperary Studies
A.M. Sullivan’s New Ireland as a source of Tipperary Research Topics
A.M. Sullivan (1829-84) was born in Bantry and worked as a journalist, including a period with Tipperary Leader before owning and editing various papers, most famously the Nation. His book New Ireland was published in 1877 and in an expanded edition in 1882. It was a best-seller and remained such for a long time. In many households, it was the Irish history book and for decades remained the standard (and uncredited) source for a variety of topics. In spite of its age, it is not very difficult or expensive to get a copy. Its relevance with respect to Tipperary is that, reflecting the county’s unique status, the book has a disproportionate amount of Tipperary material, thus providing a starting point for student research. As detailed below. Sullivan devoted whole chapters to topics of Tipperary interest. This book is also of interest because it gives background information on matters such as disestablishment, obstruction and land war, which feature in text books but which for Sullivan were current affairs.
Fr Theobald Mathew has numerous biographies and there are specialist studies about the temperance movement generally. Contemporary newspapers gave him a great deal of coverage, not least his death. Topics include his relationship with the Mathew family; what his crusades revealed about alcohol abuse in Ireland and the impact of his crusade on the county, using especially newspaper coverage of his meetings in various towns.
Ballingarry and 1848. Sullivan was just the right age to be influenced by Young Ireland and family tradition was that in July 1848 he set out for Tipperary, only to suffer the indignity of his family coming after him and forcing him to return home. When he writes about these events in his book, he admires people like Doheny and Stephens, though his own politics had evolved somewhat. In the section of this folder looking at Tipperary Historical Journal, the point was made that 1848 in Tipperary offers plenty of scope for student research. Individuals such as Doheny, Fintan Lalor, O’Mahony or O’Leary could be at the centre of an answer to just one question: motivation. O’Leary for example, then 18 years old, put it all down to reading Thomas Davis. (Maybe, he just wanted to get back at his father?)
“The Crimson Stain” is the wonderful title of Sullivan’s chapter about Tipperary’s reputation for murder. What student could fail to be caught by the opening sentence?
“At eleven o’clock on the morning of Wednesday, 1st of March 1848, three
murderers were led out to die in front of Clonmel jail.”
The three were brothers Henry and Philip Cody who the previous July had murdered Edmund Madden at Killurney, near Slievenamon and John Lonergan “the widow’s son” who was convicted of murdering William Roe of Rockwell in Boytonrath the previous October. In the same chapter Sullivan tells the story of “Cut” Quinlan, perhaps not nationally notorious but a name that still resonates around Anacarty.
Such was the level of non-political crime in Tipperary that the government instituted a special commission in Clonmel in 1848 to deal with these and other crimes such as the attempt of the life of R.U. Bayly, a landlord near Nenagh. A comprehensive and contemporary account of these trials is available in Tipperary Studies. (See Finding Tipperary.) In all five individuals were executed, the other two on 4 March.
John Sadlier’s story is told in a chapter called “The Suicide Banker” and reference was earlier made in the Biography Section to this individual. Incidentally before the publication of Jim O’Shea’s biography, Sullivan’s account was the invariable source for all references to Sadlier.
The Arbuthnot Abduction. This was an infamous episode of landlord excess and sexual obsession. In 1854 John Carden of Barnane kidnapped the well-connected Eleanor Arbuthnot, with the result that uniquely for someone of his class, Carden was given two years hard labour. A more “balanced account” by Arthur Carden was published in THJ (2000). A study of this episode would need to look beyond the drama at issues such as landlord power, codes of behaviour and attitudes to women.
Fenians. Several chapters deal with what for Sullivan was not history but current events and even in this context his perspective is of interest as he looks at things as someone who has grown away from fundamentalist republicanism. There is much Tipperary coverage, information about O’Leary, Kickham and insurrection in the county. New Ireland is an interesting source both with regard to information and interpretation with respect to Fenianism generally and of course in Tipperary. As Philip Allen, the youngest of the Manchester Martyrs was born in Tipperary and their deaths are commemorated all over the county, Sullivan’s telling of their story is of interest. Finding Tipperary lists more recent sources. A research topic such as “Public opinion and the Manchester Martyrs” could look at how the trio are commemorated and remembered. A.M. Sullivan’s brother T.D. was responsible for the anthem “God Save Ireland”.
Ballycohey. Sullivan devotes a chapter to this so-called “battle” resulting from a landlord’s attempt to enforce his legal rights and impose a lease with draconian terms on his tenants. Two people were killed. The landlord, the notorious William Scully lived to become the largest private landowner in the United States and the passage of the 1870 Land Act was made easier. Finding Tipperary gives other sources, including a biography of Scully.
last updated on: Tuesday, 03-Aug-2010 15:37:59 IST