The weather can be bitter in April. But for the unfortunate families evicted from their homes in Derryveagh, Co Donegal, in early April, 1861, it wasn't just the weather that was bitter. The landlord of the Glenveagh estate, 38-year-old John George Adair, drove them from their houses, and put them on the freezing roads of north Donegal.
Adair, who was originally from near Ballybrittas in Co Laois, had begun to buy land in the Glenveagh area in 1857, and by 1859 his estate totalled some 11,500 hectares. From the very beginning there had been trouble between landlord and tenants - not, you may say, unusual in the Ireland of that period.
What distinguished Adair's evictions were that he did not "go to law" to justify his actions. Over the years, he had fined his tenants if their cattle strayed onto his lands - quite a problem for the tenants in a vast area almost without fences or walls. This problem was, however, minor in the light of what was approaching.
Adair, like many landlords in the north and west of Ireland, had discovered the economic benefits of the black-faced sheep, which could generate a great deal more money with a good deal less effort than keeping small tenant farmers on the land. And so, to the mind of the one-time Young Irelander and Tenants' Rights candidate in an election in Limerick, the tenants would have to go.
Scottish shepherds
The tenants, unfortunately, played into the landlord's hands by their hatred of the Scottish shepherds and estate workers whom Adair hired to tend to his flocks. The local people and the Scottish workers seem to have taken an almost instant dislike to each other, and before long the Scots were accusing the natives of rustling sheep from Adair's flocks.
However, the skins of about 75 sheep were found near the cabin used by one of the Scots, James Murray, and the rustling charges seem to have come to nothing. But Murray then disappeared, and his body was found several days later, his head smashed by a rock.
Adair believed his tenants were conspiring against him, and served notice on many of them to quit, in order to settle some farm boundary disputes. When these were resolved, the tenants should have been able to regain possession of their holdings. But Adair decided to get rid of them all.
No evidence of conspiracy
Neighbouring landlords vouched for the integrity of the Adair tenants, and there was no evidence of a conspiracy. The local Protestant minister and Catholic priest both pleaded with Adair not to evict, while Dublin Castle's local officials warned of the consequences. But Adair was adamant. They were going.
And go they did. The evictions of some 46 families, totally almost 250 people, were carried out in early April 1861. Almost 200 militiamen were sent to maintain the peace while the sheriff evicted the tenants. Most of them lived near Lough Gartan in the most fertile part of Adair's estates, while others lived in Glendowan and in the Gweebarra valley; about four families lived in Derrylahan, at the north end of the lough.
The evictions took three days, and some of those made homeless went to live with equally poor relatives. Many of the tenants evicted were very old, and the harsh weather of April 1861 was truly bitter for them. Those not lucky enough to be taken in by relatives or friends ended up in the workhouse in Letterkenny. However, about 150 of them emigrated to Australia, settling near Sydney, where some of their descendants still live in agricultural prosperity.
Australian visitors
About 20 years ago, an uncle of mine, then serving as a garda in a small town not far from Glenveagh, met some of these Australians, who had come to Ireland to see the old homesteads from which their ancestors had been evicted. Over a couple of drinks, my uncle asked them what they thought of the land around Glenveagh. They looked at him for a moment; then one answered: "Jeez, didn't John George Adair do us the favour?"