The Bodyke Evictions • Díshealbhú Lúbán Díge
Eviction at O'Halloran's, Bodyke. By M. Tuohy.
Seán O'Halloran holding a picture of the Evictions.
Tomás Mac Conmara, Clare County Museum.
John S. Kelly, author of The Bodyke Evictions.
Fr. John Hannon
Bodyke National School
Commemoration stone of the Bodyke Evictions
The Widow McNamara's house.
Captain George O'Callaghan, Westropp.
In the 1880s in Ireland, land rent was high and agricultural prices were low. The tenants became organised and refused to pay high rents. Evictions resulted. There were evictions in many parts of the country. The Bodyke Evictions took place in June 1887. Because of press coverage, these evictions were widely publicised and the events in Bodyke were pivotal in the transfer of land ownership from landlords to tenants in Ireland .
The following play is based on accounts of the evictions at the time, and on what was said by local historians and inhabitants of Bodyke to the school children who were carrying out this project.
The Play
My name is Moira Hannon.I live in the village of Bodyke.
This is a subject all children should know of very well,
because, little did these peasants who were evicted, realise
that it was history in the making,
and something that would affect the farmers of Ireland
from very soon on.
My name is Colonel John O’Callaghan.
I am the landlord and I live in Maryfort.
I decide what rent to charge for my land.
I will not reduce the rents.
My name is Patrick McNamara.
I am a farmer here in Bodyke.
I pay high rent for my farm,
but the price I get for my crops
is falling all the time.
Things cannot go on like this.
We farmers have joined together in a “combination”.
We are led by the parish priest, Father Murphy,
and by the curate, Father Hannon.
My name is Father Peter Murphy.
I am the parish priest of Bodyke-Tuamgraney.
Any legislation which will not enable
the Irish Occupier of Bodyke
to become the owner of the land he tills
will not satisfy
the demands of the Irish people.
My name is John Dillon, of the Irish Land League.
Farmers should offer their landlords a reduced rent.
Pay none at all if this is refused.
Do not touch the land from which a farmer has been evicted.
If any man then takes up that land,
let no man speak to him
or have any business transactions with him.
My name is Tomás Mac Conmara.
I work in the Clare Museum.
I am going to tell you about the Battle of Bodyke.
On the first of June 1881,
Colonel O’Callaghan and one hundred and fifty police
came to Bodyke
to serve notice on 26 tenants.
As they reached Bodyke,
Father Hannon and some helpers
rang the church bell
to warn the people.
A large angry crowd gathered.
A hive of bees was disturbed
And the bees stung all around them.
There was a fight,
and John Moloney of Caherhurley
was hit on the head.
He died later that day.
John Moloney is buried in Kilnoe cemetery.
I am Father Murphy.
I have been in negotiation
with Colonel O’Callaghan’s agents
on behalf of the tenants
seeking a reduction of the high rents.
Agreement has not been reached.
Evictions will begin soon.
I am John Ryan, of The Freeman’s Journal, Dublin.
The people of Bodyke have been expecting evictions
for some days.
People have been gathering daily in Bodyke in large crowds.
Up to 8000 people were present in Bodyke today.
My name is Henry Norman, of the Pall Mall Gazette, London.
The peasants are posted in the hilltops.
The constables are patrolling the roads in the neighbourhood.
The Welsh Fusiliers are kicking their heels in the fine old park.
Father Murphy still waits in complete uncertainty as to what will happen.
Such is the situation in Bodyke today.
I am John Ryan, The Freeman’s Journal:
An eviction party arrived in Bodyke this morning.
Horns were blown from the hills all around.
The church bell was rung.
More than 5000 people quickly gathered, with many more arriving to swell the crowd hugely.
I am Henry Norman, Pall Mall Gazette, London,
the second of June, 1887:
Two evictions were carried out in Bodyke,
County Clare, Ireland, today.
One of the evictions was of an eighty-year-old widow named Margaret McNamara, and her family.
It took the eviction party two hours to evict the family.
My name is Martin Kennedy.
I’ve seen the evictions of Bodyke,
I’ve heard the rifles crack,
I’ve seen the evictions of Bodyke,
And the poor old Widow Mac.
I’ve seen her little furniture
In bits around the yard
And the dear old cot, that once was hot
Is now securely tarred.
I am Henry Norman, of the Pall Mall Gazette, London:
And so the evictions continued.
Some of the houses were well-defended.
Doors and windows were barricaded.
Turf and stones blocked the corners inside.
The eviction party used crowbars to knock the walls.
Hot porridge and hot water
were poured down on the Sheriff’s men.
They had to carry umbrellas.
My name is John O’Halloran, Tenant.
Myself, my wife and my seven children were evicted on the 10th of June.
Reporters were present from newspapers in Paris, London and from all over Ireland.
I am Henry Norman, of the Pall Mall Gazette, London:
The house has been carefully prepared.
A dozen large tubs and pans of water are standing ready.
A heap of peat blocks up the corner.
Pitchforks and long poles are to hand.
I am John O’Halloran, Tenant:
We have put the best of the furniture under a hedge in the next field.
Michael Davitt came up and took the pitchforks.
My son Frank defended the house.
My name is Frank O’Halloran, Tenant.
The Sheriff’s men managed to get a ladder up to the window.
Police mounted the ladder.
I pushed one of the policemen off the ladder.
Father Hannon came up to the top of the ladder.
“No more, Frank,” he said.
His word was law for the whole lot of us.
The police came and took my mother and myself to Limerick Jail.
My name is Seán O’Halloran, Decendant of those evicted.
This is a painting of part of the evictions in Bodyke
in June 1887.
It is a picture of the eviction at Halloran’s Fort.
The picture was in our house at home.
It is copied from an illustration in the
London Illustrated News.
O’Halloran’s Fort is in Kilnoe,
where my people lived.
O’Callaghan-Westropp was the landlord.
The house is still there and is in reasonable repair.
It was my great-great-uncles who were involved.
The O’Hallorans were not the only family evicted.
In all, twenty-seven families were evicted.
I was invited last year to Strade,
the birthplace of Michael Davitt.
He was the founder of the Land League.
He wanted the Irish farmers
to gain control of their own land.
It was very interesting to be part of that celebration of Michael Davitt and the Land League.
After the evictions most of the O’Hallorans emigrated
and went to America.
These are the Bodyke tenants who were evicted,
with their families, in June 1887:
John Liddy
James Liddy
Martin McNamara
Michael Hussey
Patrick Nugent
John Hussey
Margaret McNamara
Henry Nugent
John O’Halloran
Patrick McNamara
Darby Walsh
Patrick Moroney
Matthew Tuohy
Patrick Tuohy
Patrick Keefe
Patrick Wall
Ellen Wall
Michael Hill
Michael Callaghan
Thomas Fahy
John Cooney
Patrick McNamara
Michael McNamara
Patrick McNamara
Michael Moloney
John Bolton
Patrick Liddy
My name is Michael Davitt, Founder of the Land League.
This cowardly assassin government of England
sends armed cohorts
into these peaceful valleys,
along the mountain sides,
to spoil your homes.
We will treasure all these things
today in our hearts.
We will make our children
regret the experiences of today,
and swear to carry on this fight
‘till the landlord’s tyranny
and English government
are destroyed in Ireland.
I am Father Brendan O’Brien, Missionary Priest.
Canon John Hannon, who was the curate in Bodyke,
was parish priest of Miltown Malbay
when Paddy and I were young.
I visited him, with my mother, on my seventh birthday.
She mentioned to him that it was my birthday.
He gave me a bag of oranges to celebrate.
He died a few months later,
on the twenty first of December 1931, at the age of 73.
I remember attending his funeral.
There was a big turn-out. I remember the crowds.
He was buried in the church grounds in Miltown.
I am James Dillon, MP.
I raised the matter of the Bodyke Evictions
in the House of Commons, at Westminster.
I laid the blame firmly on the shoulders of the landlord.
I am Arthur Balfour, the Chief Secretary of Ireland.
Colonel O’Callaghan has acted harshly towards his tenants.
He used his legal rights in a most inhuman way.
I am John S Kelly, Historian.
Conor O’Callaghan-Westropp
offered me photos and maps and papers
which were all going to be burned.
When I arrived he had a huge fire going.
There was a big pile of papers in the centre of the floor.
I saved what I could.
I am Henry Sparling of Scariff.
I second the motion.
The warmest thanks of the tenants of Ireland
to those Bodyke victims of exterminating landlords,
who have so gallantly defended
their homesteads, their rights and their liberties,
against England’s crowbar brigade.