by Gavin Iremonger and Eoin Dowling - Ms. O’Sullivan’s Class
If it is difficult for us to understand the conditions of Ireland two hundred years ago, it is even more difficult for us as young people to understand the politics of Ireland then. What we have learned was that the political situation was very complicated. The fight in Wicklow was only a small part of a bigger struggle between landlords and tenants and two mighty empires, Britain and France.
Perhaps we could understand the rising by observing the eventful life of a person who was no less influential than the major leaders. His name was Joseph Holt.
Joseph Holt had many jobs. He was a member of the local volunteers, an inspector of wool and cloth, a sub-constable, a billet master for local militias moving through Roundwood and he was also a bounty hunter.
He was deported to New South Wales in Australia, and when he returned to Ireland he moved to Dublin and became a publican.
He was born in seventeen sixty-six in Ballydaniel and married his wife Hester. They lived happily on a decent sized farm and had one son.
A very all-round man and he was well known around the area. He must have felt disappointed and a little angry because he had not gained national fame. Unlike other Protestant leaders such as Wolfe Tone and Henry Joy McCracken, who were executed, Joseph surrendered.
Like so many unfortunate people at that time his house was burned down at the order of the Landlord Thomas Hugo, who hired the yeomen to do the dirty work. Hugo took such extreme measures because of false allegations that Joseph was involved with the United Irishmen.
Joseph joined the United Irishmen because of that incident and because he saw the pain that was inflicted on the Catholics. He also felt a right to vengeance against bigoted landlords such as Hugo.
The large majority of United Irishmen probably joined up because they watched what was happening to the suppressed Catholics.
Catholics were treated grossly unfairly and were controlled by Penal Laws which were designed to demoralise them. The flogging, half hanging and burning of suspects many of them totally innocent was one of the causes of the rebellion. Such horrific and brutal torture was on the whole quite unnecessary and sometimes practised out of shear spite for the Catholics.
When the Penal Laws were made the government suspended the ‘Habeas Corpus Act’, which meant that anyone suspected of being involved with the United Irishmen could be put in prison without a trial.
When someone was suspected of being involved with the United Irishmen the government would use a variety of tortures which were very cruel, such as, the pitch capping, ‘Pitch Capping’ where the person under interrogation had a small piece of pitch soaked brown paper entailed onto the partially shaven scalp and set alight. ‘Shearing’ where the lobes of the victims’ ears were clipped off, and ‘Half Hanging’ and burning where the person under questioning was hoisted up by the neck and then underneath him straw was set alight. There were many more tortures as well.
The Catholics were nearly always treated unfairly. The yeomen inflicted a lot of pain on the Catholics, their houses and valuables were burned and a lot of them were killed even when innocent.
There was a great shortage of arms among Joseph Holt’s men. The primary weapon was the simple pike. This was a long wooden pole with a halberd-like metal head. Often (because even pikes cost money) this was downgraded to a mere sharp stick.
Pikes are no good for hilly ground and were most effective for charging cavalry however, no soldier in his right mind would gallop straight into a horde of men brandishing sharp sticks. A few lucky rebels in Joseph Holt’s group may have had guns, but gunpowder and ammunition cost money also. Joseph Holt solved the problem gunpowder presented, by making his own called ‘Holt’s Mixture’.
The British soldier was well equipped; he had a good rifle, a bayonet, a sabre, a variety of pots and pans, ammunition and gunpowder etc.
The Militia, the Yeomen and the fencibles were probably a little less equipped, but still boasted a formidable arsenal. So the rebels, although out numbering their enemy, still didn’t stand much of a chance.
Joseph fought with his troops in Wexford, and he returned to fight in Wicklow in June. Fr. Murphy went to see him to ask why he hadn’t joined the Wexfordmen in attacking Dublin but Joseph said he felt that his troops weren’t strong enough. After Wicklow, he made an attempt to in attacking Hacketstown but failed in capturing the garrison because they had no heavy guns.
He was successful in killing sixty cavalry at Ballyellis, but when they attacked Meath they were miserably defeated and Joseph was nearly killed. A price of three hundred pounds was put on his head and must have been an extremely tempting offer to any poor peasant who saw the poster.
Joseph Holt was very strict on discipline and if he found any informers he’d flog them or shoot them. They practised frequent drilling in the camps and they were very well organised for illegal rebels. They were all brave men and willing to die for a just cause.
As for the French well, their help came too little, too late and when Humbert surrendered in Ballynamuck, they were devastated because their best hope was in his hands.
I think I can justify his actions by looking at his cause. It is true that he burned four hundred loyalist houses but if your house was burned by Yeomen, I’m sure you’d be just as angry, and we must remember that it was a military target.
In the end he saw no hope of success and surrendered to Lord Powerscourt on November tenth, seventeen ninety-eight.
So, was this rebellion a pointless struggle and was it all a waste of time? I think that the rebellion was not just a brief rising where the rebels were crushed and massacred, but it left a lasting legacy, which eventually achieved their goal.
Surely the insurrection of seventeen ninety-eight was worth while and the rebels deserve thanks for the sacrifices they made, not just the famous figureheads, but the ordinary people who played their part as well.
Nowadays, Catholics and Protestants have equal rights and can call each other friends. Ireland has it’s own independent republic and is rich and prosperous.
It seems that surrender is not always the end.