Irish Volunteers (18th century)

Not to be confused with Volunteers of Ireland.

"Irish Volunteers" usually refers to an early twentieth century nationalist organisation in Ireland. This article is about the 18th century militia of the same name.

The Irish Volunteers were a militia in late 18th century Ireland. The Volunteers were founded in Belfast in 1778 to defend Ireland from the threat of foreign invasion when regular British soldiers were withdrawn from Ireland to fight across the globe during the American War of Independence. Under the pressure of the American Revolution, and the Volunteers, Westminster would eventually concede legislative independence to the Dublin parliament. Members of the 1st Belfast Volunteer Company would lay the foundations for the establishment of the United Irishmen organisation.

History

Main articles: Irish Patriot Party and History of Ireland 1691–1801

In late 1778, alarmed by the activities of French and Spanish privateers and the prospect of a French invasion, "the inhabitants of Belfast were left to their own defence" according to Lord Charlemount, the Lord Lieutenant of County Armagh who said that they had been "abandoned by Government in the hour of danger". The date of the original muster-roll of the Belfast First Volunteer Company was 17 March 1778. It later adopted nationalist colours and called itself the Green Company. While the Chief Secretary in Dublin Castle John Hobart, 2nd Earl of Buckinghamshire said that he very much approved their formation, in reality according to A.T.Q. Stewart there was few things he approved of less, but dared not say so in public. The war with the American colonists having drastically reduced the number of troops in Ireland a matter of some importance for the stability in Irish society with the landed gentry reacting nervously. The almost unanimous sympathies of Irishmen during the American War of Independence were on the side of the Americans, whose grievances were very similar. When the Irish Parliament voted money to raise regiments for service against the Americans, it resulted in a 'hailstorm of indignation about its ears.'

However they were also marked by liberal political views. For instance although only Anglican Protestants were allowed to bear arms under the Penal Laws, the Volunteers admitted Presbyterians and a limited number of Roman Catholics, reflecting the recent Catholic Relief Act of 1778. The Government attempted to start a scare by saying that Catholics were securing arms under cover of Volunteering, however the Patriot Opposition countered this by requesting that Catholics refrain from Volunteering. The Catholics complying with this request, raising large sums of money in which buy equipment for the Protestant Volunteers, leaving the Government who had tried to divide Protestants and Catholics actually promoted their Union.

The Volunteers would provide in addition to a patriotic outlet, with each corps becoming a debating society, it would also bring about a shift in power with the Volunteers being controlled by progressive politically minded people and not by the Establishment.

In addition, their officers were elected by the rank and file.^{[citation needed]} In 1779, the Volunteers demonstrated in Dublin for Free Trade between Ireland and England. Previously, under the Navigation Acts, Irish goods had been subject to tariffs upon entering England, whereas English goods could pass freely into Ireland. The Volunteers paraded fully armed with the slogan, "Free Trade or this", as referring to cannon. also cited "Free trade or a Speedy Revolution". According to Liz Curtis the English regime in Ireland was vulnerable, and the Volunteers used this to press for concessions from England using their new found strength. This demand of the Volunteers was quickly granted by the British government. The Dublin Volunteers' review in College Green in November 1779 was painted by Francis Wheatley.

In 1782, after agitation by the Volunteers and by a Parliamentary grouping under Henry Grattan, greater autonomy and powers were granted to the Irish Parliament. Radicals named these concessions, "the constitution of 1782".

In February 1782 at a Volunteer convention held in Dungannon, delegates from a number of Ulster Volunteer corps would pledge their support for resolutions advocating legislative independence for Ireland. Whilst proclaiming their loyalty to the British Crown, many of its membership were just as concerned with securing Irish free trade and opposing English governmental interference in Ireland as they were in repelling the French.

The Volunteers became less influential after the end of the war in America in 1783, and rapidly declined except in Ulster. On 14 July 1791, on the second anniversary of the fall of the Bastille, the Belfast Volunteers exuberantly paraded through Belfast and agreed to send a declaration to the national assembly of France, to which they received "rapturous replies".

Uniform

The Volunteers had to pay for their own uniforms and arms, and they were therefore described by Henry Grattan as the "armed property of the nation".^{[citation needed]} The colour of the Volunteer uniforms varied, for example the First Magherafelt Volunteers, one of the first corps to be founded in Ireland, in June, 1773, had scarlet uniforms, faced with black. The Aghavoe Loyals had scarlet uniforms faced with blue, whilst the Castledurrow Volunteers wore green uniforms faced with white and silver lining.

Leading Volunteer and Patriot, Henry Grattan, is recorded as wearing a blue Volunteer uniform.

Competitions

Volunteer Corps would participate in competitions against each other. The First Magherafelt Volunteers are recorded as having won two silver medals in 1781, for skill with broadsword, and best target shot at 100 yards.

The features of the 100 yard target shot medal, which is now in the hands of the Ulster Museum, were: oval shaped containing an engravement of two cavalry swords in a saltire along with the company's name, the year, and the competition. The reverse side contained two sprays of shamrock in a field with a harp bearing a royal crown. It also included the motto Pro Rege et Patria (Latin: "For King and Country").

Organisation

By 1782, the Volunteers appear to have been organised into battalions and brigades, with ten to twelve companies each. Each company would consist of between 60 and 100 men, and would be raised in each parish where the number of Protestants made it viable. Where necessary two or three parishes would be merged to form a company. Alongside the parish companies, towns would have one or more. Officer wise a company had a captain, lieutenant, and ensign.

Catholic emancipation

The Volunteers had no unified view in regards to Catholic emancipation. The Volunteers exerted considerable pressure on the British government to ease the Penal Laws on Catholics such as the Relief Acts of 1778 and 1782. At the Dungannon Convention of 1782, a resolution was passed that proclaimed the rejoice at the relaxation of the Penal Laws, whilst saying that Catholics "should not be completely free from restrictions". In contrast at Ballybay, County Monaghan, the Reverend John Rodgers addressed a meeting of Volunteers, imploring them "not to consent to the repeal of the penal laws, or to allow of a legal toleration of the Popish religion". John Wesley wrote in his Journal that the Volunteers should "at least keep the Papists in order", whilst his letter to the Freeman's Journal in 1780, which many would have agreed with, argued that he wouldn't have the Catholics persecuted at all, but rather hindered from being able to cause harm.

County Armagh disturbances

In the 1780s sectarian tensions rose to dangerous levels in County Armagh, culminating in sectarian warfare between the Protestant Peep o' Day Boys and the Catholic Defenders that would rage for over a decade. Many local Volunteers, holding partisan views, became involved in the conflict. In November 1788, the Benburb Volunteers were taunted by a "Catholic mob" near Blackwaterstown. The Benburb Volunteers then opened fire upon the Catholics killing two, and mortally wounding three others. In July 1789, the Volunteers assaulted the Defenders who had assembled at Lisnaglade Fort near Tandragee, resulting in more lives being lost. In 1797 Dr. William Richardson wrote a detailed analysis for the 1st Marquess of Abercorn, where he claimed that the troubles were caused by the excitement of volunteering during the American War of Independence, which gave "the people high confidence in their own strength".

The Belfast Volunteers

Outside of Ulster, Catholics found few supporters as Protestants where a minority concerned with their privileges. In Ulster, Protestants and Catholics where almost equal in number and sectarian rivalries remained strong, exemplfied by the County Armagh disturbances. In contrast, east of the River Bann in counties Antrim and Down, the Protestants were such an "overwhelming majority" that they had little to fear from Catholics, and became their biggest defenders.

The Belfast Volunteer delegates to the national convention of 1782 were "bitterly disappointed" that their fellow Volunteers were still opposed to giving Catholics the vote. In 1783 they became the first company of Volunteers in Ireland to admit Catholics into their ranks, and in May 1784 attended mass at St. Mary's chapel. Indeed the building of this chapel was largely paid for by the Belfast Volunteer company.

In 1791, the 1st Belfast Volunteer Company passed its own resolution argueing in favour of Catholic emancipation. A small group of men from this company started to prepare the ground for the creation of a new radical organisation in the town, the United Irishmen.

Other radical Volunteers later joined the United Irishmen movement, which eventually advocated an independent Irish Republic and an end to sectarian laws, launching the 1798 rebellion in an attempt to secure their aims.

Demise and legacy

The demise of the Volunteers occurred during 1793 with the passing of the Gunpowder Act and Convention Act, both of which "effectively killed off Volunteering", whilst the creation of a militia, followed by the yeomanry, served to deprive the Volunteers of their justification of being a voluntary defence force.

It was the Volunteers of 1782 which would launch a paramilitary tradition in Irish politics, a tradition, whether nationalist or unionist, has continued to shape Irish political activity with the ethos of "the force of argument had been trumped by the argument of force". Irish republicanism an offspring of the Volunteers of 1782, owes much to influences of both the American and French revolutions.

The Volunteers of the 18th century set a precedent for using the threat of armed force to influence political reform. George Washington, also a member of the landed gentry, had written about them: "Patriots of Ireland, your cause is our own". While their political aims were limited, and their legacy was ambiguous, combining future elements of both Irish nationalism and Irish unionism, among early 20th century Irish nationalists the Volunteers were represented as a proto-nationalist organisation.

Renowned Irish historian and writer James Camlin Beckett, stated that when the Act of Union between Great Britain and Ireland was being debated in the Parliament of Ireland throughout 1800, that the "national spirit of 1782 was dead". Despite this, Henry Grattan, who had helped secure the Irish parliament's legislative independence in 1782, bought Wicklow borough at midnight for £1,200, and after dressing in his old Volunteer uniform, arrived at the House of Commons of the Irish parliament at 7 a.m., after which he gave a two hour speech against the proposed union.

Denis McCullough and Bulmer Hobson of the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) established the Dungannon Clubs in 1905..."to celebrate those icons of the constitutionalist movement, the Irish Volunteers of 1782"

MacNeill stated of the original Volunteers, "the example of the former Volunteers (of 1782) is not that they did not fight but that they did not maintain their organisation till their objects had been secured".

Sources

• Stewart, A.T.Q. (1998). A Deeper Silence: The Hidden Origins of the United Irishmen. Blackstaff, ISBN 0 85640 642 2.
• Jackson, T.A. (1946). Ireland Her Own. Cobbett Press.
• Curtis, Liz (1994). The Cause of Ireland: From the United Irishmen to Partition. Beyond the Pale Publications. ISBN 0 9514229 6 0.
• F.X. Martin, T.W. Moody (1994). The Course of Irish History. Mercier Press. ISBN 1 85635 108 4.
• Llwelyn, Morgan (2001). Irish Rebels. O'Brien Press. ISBN 0 86278 857 9.
• Connolly, S.J., Oxford Companion to Irish History, Oxford University Press, 2007. ISBN 978-0-19-923483-7
• Kelly, M. J. (2006). The Fenian ideal and Irish nationalism, 1882-1916. Boydell & Brewer Ltd,.ISBN 9781843832041.
• Townshend, Charles (1983). Political violence in Ireland: government and resistance since 1848. Clarendon Press. ISBN 9780198217534.

See also

• Ireland 1691-1801