evictions

Dated Monday 30 July 1888. Mary O'Dea's house was the first of three O'Dea households evicted; the second (a sub-tenant) was in error. Vividly described at trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/169707904 , including ...

... The house of Mary O'Dea was the next that was visited. It too. had the doors, windows, and furniture completely removed, and inside, when the sheriff, police, and emergencymen entered the sight was pitiable enough. A turf fire was burning in the big open grate. Beside it sat, or rather crouched, an old woman; the tenant and her daughter stood at her side. Inspector Hill tells the woman to go out, and the daughter replies, "We will only go when we are put out." Mr. Hill said, "You really will have to go, see," and was about to further persuade her when the sheriff stepped forward, and, putting his hand on the old woman, said -- "Come, out with you." Mrs. O'Dea answered, "Yes, I'll go, God help me, but 'tis you who put me out." Mother and daughter then left the house. Quite close stands the cabin of a widow of the same name, Mary O'Dea. It was stated by the under-agent that she was a sub-tenant of the woman last evicted ... ...

Clare Library doesn't know which house this, but suggested Tullycrine for the location.

I know from the other Tulycrine/Tullycreen photos that W.L was refering to the DED rather than the townland of which there are five. www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Clare/Tullycreen/ There is this other ODea eviction scene-- not yet digitised-- but in the Clare Library-- that was taken in the Townland of Knockaderreen. There is a mention in the C.L of the bailiff going to the wrong O Dea on the day. Not the above I hope. The other ODea house. for which the census returns tally www.flickr.com/photos/91549360@N03/23547319296/in/datepos...

Sharon Corbet O Mac If this is the Mary O'Dea house, it should be fairly close to John Flanagan's, which was visited immediately before, according to the newspaper report. And then they went to the wrong Mary O'Dea ("sub-tenant"), and then the widow Johanna O'Dea ("the last house ..."). Common sense says that the forces would not have zig-zagged all over the countryside, But then I am flummoxed by the two newspaper reports inconsistencies about Thomas Bermingham. The one says it happened on 30 July; the other on 31. It may well be that the various Australian newspapers lost some of the fine detail in the editor's rush to tell a good yarn, or at least condensed the action. They would have been reprinting reports from actual newspapers and magazines via ship (hence the six week delay in publication) rather than telegraphic short messages. Has anyone been able to find the original of these reports, probably in the Daily News (Dublin?London), the Nation or the Freeman ? There should be more detail and accuracy included.

This Clare Library page - www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclare/genealogy/don_tran/fam_... - has terrific background information (should anyone be looking for it), including this about the sequence of events ...

... The McGrath eviction [Thursday 26/7/1888 - a photographer turned up - Robert French?] was the one which got most attention and in retrospect, it can be seen with its accompanying tragedy, to have put immense pressure on the landlord. There were two further days of evictions with Mr. French, the photographer, present on both days. On Monday 30th July Patrick Carrig, Thomas Considine, John Flanagan, the Widow O'Dea and Johanna O'Dea from the Tullycrine area were evicted, and a Mrs.O'Dea had her door burst in with a sledge before the evictors realised they had come to the wrong house. On the following day the procession again moved in the Kilkee direction and evicted John Connell, Thomas Bermingham and Thomas Higgins. Thomas Higgins was the last person to be put out of his house and holding in the Vandeleur Evictions of the summer of 1888. ...

At wikipedia. The photo there is 1895, and a lot less hair.

The catalogue says: Taken during a lecture tour of the United States.

Per that wikipedia article: Shortly before his arrest, Davitt had persuaded his family to emigrate to the United States. In July 1878, Davitt made a trip to visit them and raise money through a lecture tour to bring his mother and youngest sister back to Ireland (his father had since died). Upon his arrival in New York, he was welcomed by the United States-based republican organisation Clan na Gael and its leader, John Devoy. In its first such venture of the kind, the Clan organised Davitt's lecture tour, which lasted until December.

So July-December 1878, after he was in prison but before the Land War.

Flickr is sometimes amazing! Lots of images of Michael Davitt, gradually growing balder and beardier ...
"About 1880" via Paul O'Farrell
1884 book via Internet Archive Book Images
In 1895 via State Library Victoria Collections
In 1904 via TG4

One of only two men who spoke out publicly against the Limerick Pogrom, together with John Redmond. A true gentleman

I see the Wikipedia photo of 1895 is sourced from the State Library of Victoria (Australia), like a similarly dressed one above. Likely from a photo session when Michael Davitt visited Australia in that year. Via Trove a glowing contemporary description of the man ...
...Davitt came, not as a prince by the accident of birth, and with no other claim to a princely title, but as a prince among men by virtue of the possession of some of the rarest gifts of .Nature, a splendid intellect, a manly presence, and a self-sacrificing zeal for the welfare of his fellow-men. ...
... The secret of the love which people bear to Michael Davitt is further shown in the magnetic presence of the man. With a commanding figure, and a keenly intellectual face, there is an irresistible attraction which commands attention, and which inspires confidence and respect. Possessing a finely - strung nervous temperament, and with a face beaming with kindness, he still gives the impression that he possesses a reserve force of scathing sarcasm and fierce invective with which he could smite his enemies if occasion demanded. His language is unmistakable— clear, outspoken, and honest, every word bearing the mint mark of earnest conviction. ...

See - trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/124811042

For anyone interested, though we first posted this image a few years ago, the events it captures were covered in a 2015 episode of Tríd an Lionsa (available, as of Nov 2015, on the TG4 web-player).

Bodyke is the home parish of novelist, Edna O'Brien

Bodyke changed the course of Irish history in the 1880's when the Bodyke evictions became headline news.

www.google.ie/maps/@52.8842186,-8.5971789,3a,85.2y,125.4h... Eviction memorial

The females are wearing aprons, but there are no local industries.