The most interesting feature of Tipperary is the new town lying on the
outskirts of the old, which represents an exciting incident in Irish
history. During the land war of 1887 the leaders of the Irish party
selected several landlords as examples for boycotting for the purpose of
attracting attention to the conditions in the country and creating
public opinion. This was called "The Plan of Campaign." Among the places
selected as storm centers were the Ponsonby estate near Cork, the
Vandaleur estate in County Clare, the Defrayne estate in Roscommon, the
Massaure estate in County Louth, and the Smith Barry estate in
Tipperary. These estates were selected as battle grounds because the
landlords were treating the tenants badly, were very exacting and
oppressive, and furnished excellent examples to illustrate the evils of
the Irish land and tenantry system. Some of the tenants were behind in
their rents and, being unable to pay, were threatened with eviction
unless they settled on or before a certain date.
Arthur Hugh Smith Barry, the landlord who was selected as an awful
example at Tipperary, is descended from the Earl of Barrymore, whose
title expired when the direct male line became extinct forty or fifty
years ago. He came into possession by inheritance of a large tract of
land near Cork and another tract covering between eight and nine
thousand acres in this vicinity, which paid him an annual revenue of
£7,368. His first wife was a sister of the present Lord Dunraven. His
second and present wife was Elizabeth Wadsworth Post, a sister of former
Congressman James Wadsworth of Geneseo, N.Y., and was the widow of a Mr.
Post at the time of her marriage with Mr. Barry in 1889. They have a
beautiful home at Fota on Fota Island, in Cork Harbor, near Queenstown,
and a town residence in Berkeley Square, London. Mr. Barry has been a
member of parliament and has served the government in different
capacities with great credit to himself and usefulness to his country.
For that reason the old title of his family was revived in 1902 and he
was elevated to the peerage as Lord Barrymore.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account