Archive of the Month01 Sep 18

Pamphlet Series ‘S’ – Pamphlets Concerning Catholic Relief and Related Issues Including the National Education Bill, c. 1822–1861

By Susan Hood

Among the treasured collections of the RCB Library are several bound series of 19th–century pamphlets, many categorised under broad subject headings including education, finance, legal, synodical, the Irish Church Act, revision (of liturgical matters) as well as a number of miscellaneous topics.

Additionally, thanks to the generosity of supporters to our Conservation Fund, the Library has been enabled to have repaired, conserved and bound for the first time a small collection of miscellaneous pamphlets, circulars and other notices concerning Catholic Relief and related issues including the National Education Bill, c. 1822–1861, that may be of particular interest to historians of that period as well as the general public.

Some of these are rare items, which were probably printed in relatively small quantities, and not readily available in other Irish libraries. Their provenance as a stand–alone collection would appear to have been connected with the Archbishop of Armagh, as some items are addressed simply ‘To His Grace the Lord Primate’ either at ‘The Palace, Armagh’ or in London, between 1822 and 1861. The dates match almost exactly the episcopacy of the Most Revd Lord John George de la Poer Beresford (1773–1862) who served as Archbishop of Armagh between 1822 and his death in 1862, and so we may assume that he was the principal recipient.

Indeed in one instance (being item 18: the petition of the archbishop and clergy of the diocese of Armagh concerning national education, dated 1836) the copy has been annotated with amendments in red ink – perhaps in Beresford’s hand, or at his direction. Similar copies were likely circulated to his episcopal colleagues as the Emancipation debate and related issues unfolded during this period.

The original arrangement of this formerly unbound collection is revealed by a typescript list see this link which indicates how the materials were first arranged when transferred to the RCB Library (probably in the 1950s) as ‘Pamphlet Series S’. Two of the items on this list were subsequently transferred to the Library’s manuscript collection (item 1 as Ms 351 and item 12 and Ms 206).

Of particular interest may be the handwritten laws of the Society for the Protection and Support of Roman Catholic Priests Who are Anxious to Leave the Communion of the Church of Rome, which are annexed to the printed notice containing the prospectus and laws as submitted by its committee to His Grace the Lord Primate of All Ireland’, 7 November 1836.

A previous Archive of the Month presented ‘A list of Persons who renounced the errors of Romanism in St Audoen’s Church [Dublin] and who afterwards subscribed the roll of converts’, 1827–47, relative to the Reformed Romanist Priests’ Protection Society (founded in the 1840s under the auspices of the Earl of Roden) may be connected with this earlier Society and of further interest. What is significant here is that the pamphlet in question includes the laws of the Society in 1836.

Turning to the ‘Pamphlet Series S’ collection as a whole, for the purposes of re–binding the collection in 2018, a simple chronological sequence has been initiated, with four undated items appearing at the end, followed finally by the earlier RCB Library typescript list. The sequence is as follows:–

1. Printed resolutions unanimously adopted at a meeting of the Catholics of the city and parish of Armagh …held in the Catholic schoolhouse of Armagh’, chaired by Henry Campbell PP, concerning the ‘depressed condition of the Catholic people’. Printed by James Pooler, Printer, Armagh, 3 October 1824.  

2. Pastoral Address of the R.C. Archbishops and Bishops to the Clergy and Laity of Their Communion Throughout Ireland. Richard Coyne, Dublin, 1826.

3. Extract of a Letter to a Roman Catholic Who Accused the Writer of Illiberality and Prejudice. Annotated ‘Letter from a Protestant who was accused of illiberality to a R. Catholic, post–marked August 1826.

4. Subscriptions For the Relief of Conformed Roman Catholic Clergymen Received by Messrs. Drummond, Bankers, Charing Cross. Includes list of the committee, 11 July 1827.

5. A Copy of the Preface to a Work on the Apocalypse, published by Rivingtons in 1828, and dedicated (by permission) to the Lord Bishop of Salisbury, by the Revd Geo. Croly. [1828].

6. A Letter to King George the Fourth [being an uncut offprint of the circulated letter against the Duke of Wellington’s policy on Catholic Relief]. Printed by J. King, College Hill, London, 1828.

7. Another printed letter ‘To the King’s Most Excellent Majesty’ from the Brunswick Club of Ireland [1828].

8. 1828 Reprint of: An Account of the Establishment of the Commissioners For the Relief of Poor Converts From the Church of Rome, 1717–1718.

9. Report of the Speech by Mr Sergeant Lefroy at the Second General Meeting of the Brunswick Constitutional Club of Ireland Held in the Rotunda on Thursday 19th February 1829. Printed by order of the Brunswick Constitutional Club of Ireland by J.O. Bonsall, 20 Grafton Street, 1829.

10. Speech of the Right Honorable William Saurin Delivered at the Rotunda on Thursday 19th February 1829 Being the Second General Meeting of the Brunswick Constitutional Club of Ireland. Printed by order of the club by George Walker, Dublin, 1829. [Bears postmark 24 March 1829].

11. An Answer to the Rev. Dr Inman’s Speech on Roman Catholic Emancipation by the Rev. W.H. Neale. Printed by G. Moxton, Queen Street, Portsea, February 1829. [Bears postmark 21 March 1829].

12. Speech of Charles Lord Tenterden, Lord Chief Justice of England Against the Second Reading of the Roman Catholic Relief Bill in the House of Lords, April 4, 1829. Printed [with handwritten annotation ‘at the desire of the Bishop of Salisbury’] by J. Hatchard and Son, London, 1829.

13. G. S. Faber on the Catholic Question, printed broadsheet with handwritten annotations, addressed to ‘His Grace The Lord Archbishop of Armagh, London, and postmarked 16 April 1829. Signed and dated in print by ‘George Stanley Faber, Long Newton Rectory, Feb. 16, 1829’.

14. Securities Without Protection or Hints to Protestants, Upon an Outline of an Intended Bill For the Removal of Roman Catholic Disabilities. By a Layman. New Edition. Printed by W. Marchant, Ingham Court, Fenchurch Street, London, 1829.

15. Reasons and Authorities, and Facts Afforded by the History of the Irish Society, Respecting the Duty of Employing the Irish Language as a More General Medium for Conveying Scriptural Instruction to the Native Peasantry of Ireland by Henry Jos. Monck Mason, Secretary to the Irish Society. Printed by M. Goodwin, 29 Denmark Street, Dublin,1829.

16. Printed proceedings of the meeting of the Protestant Colonization Society of Ireland, chaired by Colonel Conolly, held at the Society’s Apartments, 15 Dame–street [Dublin] on Friday, the 18th Day of December 1829. [Postmarked 21 December 1829 and addressed to ‘His Grace, the Lord Archbishop of Armagh, Palace, Armagh’]



17. Modern Popery Unmasked. A Letter Addressed to the Protestants of Great Britain and Ireland, More Particularly the Protestant Yeomanry … . By a Protestant. Printed by C.F. Cock, 12 Fleet Street, London, 1835.

18. Petition of the Archbishop and Undersigned Clergy of the Diocese of Armagh [concerning national education, 1836]. As this is a printed preview copy, signatories are not recorded, but the item has been annotated with amendments in red ink – perhaps in Archbishop Beresford’s hand, or at his direction).

19. Printed notice containing the prospectus and laws of the Society for the Protection and Support of Roman Catholic Priests Who are Anxious to Leave the Communion of the Church of Rome, with handwritten ‘Laws of the Society’ submitted by its committee to His Grace the Lord Primate of All Ireland’, 7 November 1836.

20. Appeal to British Christians for Raising a Special Fund for the Spiritual Exigencies of Ireland, containing list of committee members and details of subscribers. [1847].

21. ‘Church Defence Fund Against Romanism’. Printed circular with handwritten annotation ‘Private’, 1853.

22. Third Annual Statement of the Society For Protecting the Rights of Conscience in Ireland. Printed by Richard D. Webb, Great Brunswick Street, Dublin, 1854. [The President of this Society was the Archbishop of Dublin].

23. Occasional paper no. 17 of the Society For Protecting the Rights of Conscience in Ireland and its Belgravia Auxiliary Association, laying before the public extracts from the correspondence of a local clergyman at ‘Derrygimla Parsonage, Clifden, 30 September 1861.

Undated Items:
1. Broadsheet entitled ‘Please to Stop and Read! Simple Questions to Rational Men’
concerning the Mass and transubstantiation.

2. A Form For the Admission of Members of the Church of Rome into the Communion of the Church of England, composed by Archbishop Tenison, by order of Queen Anne, 1714 (19th–century reprint).

3. Respectful Petition to the House of Lords, from the Clergymen of the Diocese of Derry [Concerning endowment of the College of Maynooth].

4. Broadsheet entitled ‘A Form of Receiving Converts From the Church of Rome’.

Further information about the Library’s Conservation Fund which enabled this project is available at this link where donations are always welcome.