Defenders (Ireland)

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The Defenders were a militant agrarian secret society in 18th century Ireland, who were involved in the 1798 rebellion.

Contents

1 Origin
2 Defenders and the Militia Act 1793
3 Defenders and United Irishmen
4 References
5 See also
6 Sources

Origin

The Defenders originated in county Armagh in Ulster in 1784, to protect Catholics from attack by the Protestant "Peep O'Day Boys". Sectarian conflict had arisen out of the entry of Catholics into the linen producing business and their being blamed for the downturn in the market, although the actual cause was the increasing industrialization of the business which was steadily eroding the previous largely cottage-based nature of the industry. Violence continued until the battle of the Diamond in 1795 saw the "Peep O'Day Boys" emerge victorious. This victory was marked by the foundation of the Orange Order and the waging of a campaign of ethnic cleansing in mid Ulster which forced thousands of Catholics to seek refuge in Connaught and Leinster, and in many cases, bringing the Defender organisation with them.

Defenders and the Militia Act 1793

The Catholic Relief Act of 1793 had removed some the penal restrictions imposed upon Catholics but the English declaration of war against revolutionary France was followed by the passing of the Militia Act which was a form of partial conscription. Although the terms of the Act stipulated that conscripts would serve in Ireland, it was widely believed that men would be sent abroad and the resultant opposition saw thousands taking the Defender oath. Members were sworn in catechisms, one such oath went:

The French Defenders will uphold the cause. The Irish Defenders will pull down British laws.

The Defenders did not have a centralised leadership but were organised in loosley connected local cells and the huge growth in membership was limited by their lack of weapons which they sought to rectify by launching raids on the big houses of the Ascendancy. County Leitrim saw the most Defender activity with raids on Carrick-on-Shannon and Manorhamilton. They were eventually defeated at Drumkeerin in May 1793 but despite the ensuing repression, again rose in open rebellion in 1795 and hundreds of soldiers had to pour into the county to defeat them.

Defenders and United Irishmen

The United Irishmen had early identified the Defenders as potential allies and leading members such as James Hope had regularly travelled throughout the country organising cells and distributing propaganda such as the Northern Star newspaper. Defender cells were easily transformed into United Irish cells and those who held dual membership were often referred to as being "up and up". The precise role of the Defenders as an organisation during the rebellion is therefore hard to assess but Colonel Foote, commander of the British force and one of it's few survivors of the battle of Oulart Hill referred to the victorious rebels as "Defenders" as opposed to United Irishmen in his official account of the defeat.

The Defenders were usually depicted as subject to residual sectarianism, ultra-Catholic, guilty of anti-Protestantism and having only paid at best lip service to the non-sectarian ideals of the United Irishmen. While this was undoubtedly true of a proportion of Defenders, Catholic priests were not immune to their wrath as in Athlone in 1793 where a priest who preached in favour of the Militia Act was almost hung to death. J. Brady: Catholics and Catholicism in 18th century Press, (1965) p. 240

The fortunes of the Defenders were closely tied to the United Irishmen by the outbreak of the rebellion in 1798 and they did not survive it's failure, however their influence endured in the later formation of similar groups like the Ribbonmen in the 1830s.

References

Sources

Thomas Bartlett, Kevin Dawson, Daire Keogh, "Rebellion", Dublin 1998
Liam Kelly "A Flame now Quenched: Rebels and Frenchmen in Leitrim 1793-98", Dublin 1998