Charles Boycott

Captain Charles Cunningham Boycott (March 12, 1832 – June 19, 1897) was a British land agent whose ostracism by his local community in Ireland as part of a campaign for agrarian tenants' rights in 1880 gave the English language the verb to boycott, meaning "to ostracise". Boycott's service in the British Army 39th Foot brought him to Ireland, where he later worked as a land agent for Lord Erne (John Crichton, 3rd Earl Erne), the local landowner in the Lough Mask area of County Mayo.

In 1880, as part of its campaign for the "Three Fs" (fair rent, fixity of tenure and free sale) to protect tenants from exploitation, the Irish Land League under Charles Stewart Parnell and Michael Davitt withdrew the local labour required to save the harvest on Lord Erne's estate. When Boycott tried to undermine the campaign, the League launched a campaign of isolation against him in the local community. Neighbours would not talk to him. Shops would not serve him. Local labourers refused to tend his house, and the postman refused to deliver his mail.

The campaign against Boycott became a cause célèbre in the British press, with newspapers sending correspondents to the West of Ireland to highlight what they viewed as the victimisation of a servant of a peer of the realm by Irish nationalists. Fifty Orangemen from County Cavan and County Monaghan travelled to Lord Erne's estate to save the harvest, while a regiment of troops and over 1,000 men of the Royal Irish Constabulary were deployed to protect the harvesters. The entire episode was estimated to have cost the British government and others over £10,000 (R. F Foster, Modern Ireland) to harvest approximately £350 worth of potatoes, according to Captain Boycott's estimate of the harvest value.

Boycott left Ireland on December 1 of the same year. He died in 1897, aged 65.

Early life and family

Charles Cunningham Boycott (formerly Boycatt) was born on March 12, 1832 to Georgiana and the Reverend William Boycatt. He grew up in the village of Burgh St Peter in Norfolk, England. The Boycatt/Boycott family had been settled in Norfolk for almost one hundred and fifty years. His family was originally of Huguenot origin, and had fled from France in 1685 when Louis XIV revoked civil and religious liberties to French protestants. For reasons unknown, the family changed the spelling of its name in 1841 from Boycatt to Boycott. Charles was educated in Blackheath boarding school. From an early age, he expressed an interest in entering the military and in 1848, he entered the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich with the intention of entering the Corps of Royal Sappers and Miners. Boycott was discharged from the academy in 1849 after failing a periodic exam. In 1850, a commission was bought for him for the sum of £450 in the 39th Foot regiment.

Shortly after Boycott joining the 39th Foot, the regiment, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Wright C.B., sailed to Belfast, in what is now Northern Ireland. After six months in Belfast, the regiment spent some time in Newry, and then marched to Dublin, where they spent a year. In Dublin, Boycott met Anne Dunne; they married in St Paul's Church, Arran Quay, Dublin in 1852. During his period in the 39th Foot, Boycott was ill for seven continuous months between August 1851 and February 1852. Due in part to his illness, he decided to sell his commission in 1853.

After leaving the military, Boycott decided to settle in Ireland. He took a lease on a farm in County Tipperary, where he acted as a landlord in a very small way.

Life on Achill Island

After receiving an inheritance, Boycott was persuaded by his friend, Murray McGregor Blacker, a local magistrate, to move to Achill Island, an island off the coast of County Mayo. McGregor Blacker agreed to sub-let to Boycott two thousand acres of land belonging to the Irish Church Mission Society on Achill. He said that his initial life on Achill was difficult, and that it was only after "a long struggle against adverse circumstances" that he became prosperous. After receiving another inheritance, and due to his success in farming the land in Achill, he built a large house near Dooagh.

Boycott was involved in a number of disputes during his time on Achill. Two years after Boycott arrived in Achill, he was unsuccessfully sued for assault by Thomas Clarke, a local man. Clarke said that he had gone to Boycott's house because Boycott owed him money. He said that he had asked for repayment of the debt, and that Boycott had refused to pay him and told him to go away, which Clarke refused to do. Clarke alleged that Boycott approached him and said: "If you do not be off, I will make you". Clarke later withdrew his allegations, and said that Boycott did not actually owe him any money.

In his time in Lough Mask before the controversy began, Boycott had become unpopular with the tenants. He had become a magistrate and was an Englishman, which may have contributed to his unpopularity. Joyce Marlow said that his unpopularity was more due to his personal temperament. While Boycott himself maintained that he was on good terms with his tenants, they said that he had laid down many petty restrictions, such as not allowing gates to be left open, not allowing hens to trespass on his property, etc. and that he fined anyone who transgressed these restrictions. He also had withdrawn privileges such as collecting wood from the estate from his tenants.

Lord Erne

Lord Erne, the third Earl of Erne, lived in Crom Castle in County Fermanagh. He was a wealthy landowner, and owned of land in Ireland, of which, 31,389 were in County Fermanagh, 4,826 in County Donegal, 1,996 in County Sligo, and 2,184 in County Mayo. Lord Erne also owned properties in Dublin. Of the owned by Lord Erne in County Mayo, Boycott acted as agent for 1,500.

Landlords generally divided their estates into smaller farms which were let to tenant farmers. Tenant farmers were generally on one-year leases, and could be evicted by landlords even if they paid their rents. Some of the tenants were large farmers who farmed over , but the majority were much smaller, on average between 15 and . Many of the small farmers worked as labourers on the larger farms. The poorest sector of agricultural workers were the landless labourers, who worked on the land of other farmers. Farmers were a very politically important group, they had more votes than any other sector of society.

Michael Davitt was the son of a small tenant farmer in County Mayo who became a journalist and joined the Irish Republican Brotherhood. He was given a fifteen year sentence for gun-running. Charles Stewart Parnell, then Member of Parliament for Meath and member of the Home Rule League, arranged to have Davitt released on probation. When Davitt returned to County Mayo, he was impressed by the Fenians' attempts to organise farmers. He thought that the "land question" was the best way to get the support of the farmers for Irish independence. Parnell replied: This speech set out the Land League's powerful weapon of social ostracism which was first applied to Charles Boycott.

Boycott brought to public attention

Before October 1880, Boycott's situation was little known outside County Mayo. On October 14, 1880, Boycott wrote a letter to The Times about his situation:

After this letter being published, Bernard Becker, special correspondent of the Daily News traveled to Ireland to cover Boycott's situation. On October 24, he wrote a dispatch from Westport with an interview with Boycott. He said in his report that Boycott had £500 worth of crops that would rot if help could not be found to harvest them. Becker's report was reprinted in the Belfast News-Letter and the Dublin Daily Express. On October 29, the Dublin Daily Express published a letter proposing a fund to finance a party of men to go to County Mayo to save Boycott's crops.

Boycott himself said that he did not want such a large number of Ulstermen, as he had saved the grain harvest himself, and that only ten or fifteen labourers were needed to save the root crops. Boycott was afraid that a large number of Ulstermen would lead to sectarian violence. While the local Land League leaders said that there would be no trouble from them if the aim was simply to harvest the crops, more extreme sections of the local society did threaten violence against the expedition and the troops.

While there were a number of hostile protests on the expedition's route through County Mayo, there was no violence, and the crops were harvested without incident. There were rumours amongst the Ulstermen that an attack was being planned on the farm; however, no such attack occurred.

In popular culture

Boycott's story was portrayed in the 1947 film Captain Boycott. Boycott was portrayed by Cecil Parker.

References

Notes

Category:English language Category:Land reform in Ireland Category:Civil disobedience Category:39th Regiment of Foot officers Category:1832 births Category:1897 deaths Category:Boycotts Category:19th century in Ireland Category:People from South Norfolk (district)