Guide to the Papers of Sir Thomas Larcom (as filmed by the AJCP), 1858-1864

 

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Collection context

Summary

Collection number:
M852
Creator:
Larcom, Thomas, Sir
Extent:
5 items
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

Acknowledgement of use of this material should refer to the location of the original material and to the Australian Joint Copying Project.

Items from this collection should include references to the location of the original material and to the AJCP nla.obj number, which serves as the online identifier for the digital copy.

Example: M Series: Journal of Capt. James Cook, 18 February 1770, British Library Add. MS 27885 (AJCP ref: http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-1234)

Availability:
Available
Access conditions:
Available for reference.

Background

Content Summary:
Correspondence and newspaper cuttings concerning murders, arson and other crimes committed by members of the Ribbon Society in County Donegal and the government's retaliatory eviction measures, especially in Derryveagh in 1861. Many of the evicted families emigrated to Australia.
Biographical / Historical:

Sir Thomas Larcom

Sir Thomas Larcom (1801-1879) was born in Gosport, Hampshire. He studied at the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich and was commissioned in the Royal Engineers. In 1824 he joined the Ordinance Survey. He moved to Ireland in 1826 and was appointed as an assistant in the Ordinance Survey of Ireland in 1828. He held this position for twenty years.

In 1848-51 Larcom worked briefly with the Board of Works and Famine Relief before being appointed Under-Secretary for Ireland. It was the first time that the office was non-political and permanent. He instituted reforms in the poor law and local government, improved the public health system, and encouraged the development of agriculture and higher education. He was promoted to the rank of Major-General in 1858 and was knighted in 1860. He had an extraordinary knowledge of Ireland and was convinced of the importance of collecting and analysing statistical and other information. Larcom played a major part in the suppression of the Fenian Uprising in 1867. He retired in 1868 and was made a baronet.

The Ribbonmen

The Ribbon Society was a Catholic secret society that was active in rural Ireland for several decades in the nineteenth century. Its members, who were organised in lodges, wore green ribbons in their button-holes. Their chief objective was to protect the interests of tenant farmers and rural labourers. Ribbonmen were involved in violent attacks on landlords and they also resisted paying tithes to the Church of Ireland. They took part in numerous clashes with Orangemen in northern Ireland.

Like the 'Whiteboys' in earlier times, 'Ribbonmen' was a loose term applied generally to individuals in rural areas who were charged with carrying firearms or administering illegal oaths. From 1825 onwards many men alleged to be Ribbonmen were transported to Australia. According to George Rude in Protest and punishment (1978), '340 or so Whiteboys, Ribbonmen and other land-warriors arrived [in Van Diemen's Land] on a score of ships between 1840 and 1853'. In the 1850s Irish newspapers continued to describe in graphic terms the activities of Ribbonmen, but by the 1860s they had been superseded in Irish demonology by the Fenians.

Access and use

Conditions Governing Access:
Available for Access.
Conditions Governing Use:
Many of the records digitised as part of the AJCP are still in copyright. Readers wishing to publish or reproduce documents should seek permission, in the first instance, from the owner of the original material.
Preferred citation:

Acknowledgement of use of this material should refer to the location of the original material and to the Australian Joint Copying Project.

Items from this collection should include references to the location of the original material and to the AJCP nla.obj number, which serves as the online identifier for the digital copy.

Example: M Series: Journal of Capt. James Cook, 18 February 1770, British Library Add. MS 27885 (AJCP ref: http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-1234)

Location of this collection:
Parkes Place
Canberra ACT 2600, Australia
Contact: