Archive of the Month01 Sep 21

Polling District of Naul, Copy of the Register: A glimpse of the political situation in a rural town in the mid–1890s.

By Bryan Whelan

As the RCB Library continues its extensive project to have an online catalogue record of every print item in its collection, staff continually find unique items that can help augment our understanding of local history as well as the history of the Church of Ireland. One of these items is the focus for this month’s Archive of the Month, a copy of the register of the polling district of Naul, dated to 1893. It is a unique item that gives a glimpse of the political situation in a rural town in Co. Dublin at the end of the 19th century.

Such an item can be invaluable in compiling the local history of an area, as well as giving a fascinating insight into the lives and ideologies of one’s family history. While census data of course gives a wealth of information with regards to one’s personal life, one can only make assumptions on the voting intentions of one’s ancestors. This item gives a firm indication of how people intended to vote in elections in the 1890s in Ireland: a tumultuous time for unionism in Ireland.

The use of electoral rolls was enthusiastically embraced by many organisations throughout Ireland and none more so than the City of Dublin Unionist Registration Association (U.R.A.) Working together with other Dublin Unionist organisations operating in the early 1890s (particularly the Dublin Conservative Workingmen’s Club), there was an attempt to capitalise on the huge amount of work – using registrations lists – in the South County Dublin and St Stephen’s Green divisions in 1891. The primary focus in the early 1890s was to exploit the split in the Parnellites at this time, and there was seemingly considerable enthusiasm for the position of Unionism in Dublin during this period, at least in certain areas. However, the election results in 1892 proved dispiriting to many Unionist organisations in areas of Ireland such as Dublin, but there was an awareness that electoral rolls were the best way to approach forthcoming elections, particularly by identifying specific areas that might be on the cusp of voting Unionist.

It is reasonable to assume that this electoral register was being used by the U.R.A. with regards to the general election that was held from 13–29 July, 1895. The end of the document notes the name of Ulick Ralph Burke, Clerk of the Peace for the County of Dublin, and is ‘dated this 31st Day of December, 1893’ while the first page of the document notes the date 1 January, 1895. North County Dublin, a recent electoral district created some ten years previous, would end up re–electing John Joseph Clancy, of the Irish National League, with 4,520 votes (66.5% of the vote). The Irish Unionist candidate, Daniel Wilson, ended up with 2,280 votes (33.5% of the vote). This is a marked contrast with the result in Dublin County South, where the Irish Unionist candidate, Horace Plunkett was elected.

The Committee of the City of Dublin branch of the U.R.A. at this time was composed of many prominent members of Dublin society at the time, and many of the members had strong links to the Church of Ireland. Indeed, Richard Henry Archibald M’Comas is listed as a churchwarden in Christ Church, Taney. The 1911 Census shows M’Comas, Justice of the Peace, as living in 61 Pembroke Road, with two daughters, and three servants. Col. Hon. Hercules Rowley, listed as a Vice–President, features numerous times in the Irish Ecclesiastical Gazette – the forerunner to the Church of Ireland Gazette – as playing an active role in the Church Ireland, particularly with regards to Whitechurch parish. The Gazette also mentions the Colonel as bringing a motion to the Synod of the Diocese of Meath on 17 October 1876 on a theological matter. It is interesting to note the listing of Edward Hamilton Woods, from Milverton Hall, Skerries as one of the Vice–Presidents of the U.R.A. The general election of 1892, immediately preceding that of 1895, featured Edward Hamilton Woods as the Irish Unionist candidate. This election, similar to that of 1895, saw John Joseph Clancy being re–elected, with Woods amounting some 1,638 votes, or 19.7% of votes.

What is particularly striking about this document is that it shows the difficulty that faced the Unionist position in the mid–1890s in areas like Naul. Only 20 of the 511 names listed have ticks beside them. By 1905, the Church of Ireland Gazette, in writing about Sir William J. Goulding, then Chairman of the Dublin Unionist Registration Association, noted that there was ‘much discouragement and difficulty’ with regards to the ‘efficiency of the Unionist organisation in the city and county of Dublin’.

It could be assumed that voting intentions during this period of late 19th century Ireland, and especially the period of the Troubles would be based strictly on sectarian lines. But in relating patterns were more complex, and individual families much more nuanced than generally supposed. This can be seen in one particular family listed therein. Two names with ticks shown in the Register, Anthony Strong Hussey and Henry James Hussey are shown in the 1901 Census as Roman Catholics and living in a substantial house, comprising of the Hussey family and some nine servants. Mr Hussey is listed as ‘land owner & Justice of Peace’.

It is also striking to note that of the 20 names listed as potential Unionist voters, many were not resident in the Naul district, and indeed some are listed as residing in England, specifically Brighton, Cambridge, and Woolwich.

An interesting entry is that of Revd Eugene Power, listed on the register with a tick beside his name. While there are Eugene Powers listed in the 1901 and 1911 censuses, none are listed as clergy, and indeed there is no entry for a Eugene Power in the clerical succession lists held in the RCB Library. The closest match in these lists is the entry for a Revd Edward Rose Power (1816–1904), a Limerick man who was Curate of Clonmethan from 1891–8. The 1901 Census lists a retired clergyman of the ‘Irish Church’ as residing in Naul. When the Revd Power died on 20 January 1904, he was buried in Naul Cemetery.

The inclusion of this item into the collection of the Library demonstrates its contemporary significance when donated to the original library from which the RCB Library evolved. The Ardfeenish Library created by Rosamond Stephen in 1918 (also known as Leabharlann an Chomhluadair, or ‘Library of the Guild/Society’), was primarily devoted to print material, and was not an archival repository at this point. Inclusion of this item in its collections, presumably by Rosamond herself, whom we know was a personal friend of Horace Plunkett and many other significant political figures indicates an interest in political times, demonstrating how a library function straddled print and archival materials but also the nuanced story of Church of Ireland identity at this time. While it is an important print item, its uniqueness lies in its use by the Unionist Registration Association to give us a greater understanding of local politics during the 1890s. Given the unique annotations on the document, it has now been assigned a manuscript reference, as RCB Library MS 1112, and is integrated in the Library’s extensive archival holdings.

For a detailed list of the material that the Library holds with regards to Rosamond Stephen, see here.

The papers of the Irish Guild of the Church are deposited in the RCB Library as MS 131. You can see the complete list of manuscript collections for the RCB Library here.

You can read more about the founder of the Library, Rosamond Stephen, through the following link: https://www.ireland.anglican.org/about/rcb-library/history

This article made extensive use of digitisation of the censuses of Ireland of 1901 and 1911 which are freely available here. Another invaluable source was the digitisation of the Church of Ireland Gazette, which is freely available and can be accessed through the following link: https://esearch.informa.ie/rcb/