{"id":678,"date":"2011-03-16T14:04:50","date_gmt":"2011-03-16T14:04:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/54.229.91.100\/libraryandarts\/library\/ehistory\/?p=678"},"modified":"2024-06-17T15:27:44","modified_gmt":"2024-06-17T14:27:44","slug":"the-rathangan-ladies-land-league-and-the-police","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/the-rathangan-ladies-land-league-and-the-police\/","title":{"rendered":"The Rathangan Ladies Land League and the Police (Kildare Observer, 1882)"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Kildare Observer, January 7, 1882<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

THE RATHANGAN LADIES\u2019 LAND LEAGUE <\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

AND THE POLICE.<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

By order of the executive the ladies of Rathangan held a meeting on Sunday last. The members present were \u2013 Mrs. J Murphy, president; Mrs. J.J. Morrin, vice-president; Miss Kelly, treasurer; Miss Dunne and Miss O\u2019Shaughnessy, secretaries; members of the committee \u2013 Mrs. Flynn, Miss McCabe, Miss Jacob, Miss M.S. Byrne, Miss M. Byrne and Miss Alicia Flood. Unavoidable circumstances prevented the meeting from taking place at the usual meeting room. The meeting was an open air one; it was held on the road. Before going to the place of the meeting some of the committee members were met by Constable Doyle, who warned them against holding a meeting and said it would be illegal, and that he had the authority to stop it.
\nNot deeming himself sufficiently powerful, he went away, but returned almost immediately with Sub-Constable Doyle; the latter was directed to take down the names of the ladies present.
\nConstable \u2013 I\u2019ll have to do my duty, although it is a very painful one. I\u2019ll have to disperse you if you meet.
\nMiss Dunne \u2013 You shall require an Act of Parliament before you succeed in doing that.
\nMiss Kelly \u2013 And I may ask you when did Parliament sit?
\nMiss O\u2019Shaughnessy \u2013 It must have been last night.
\nThe Constable gave another warning as the ladies proceeded down the road. When they arrived at a considerable distance they stood. There was only one drawback \u2013 there was no chair for the president. \u201cThe stand still\u201d attracted the notice of the police and the police were seen to advance once more. When they got as far as the meeting, Miss Kelly was engaged in telling them of a letter from her cousin, Mr. Patrick Murphy, now a \u201csuspect\u201d in Naas prison.
\nMiss Dunne \u2013 And I have to read you an address to the women of Ireland. Here the Constable caught hold of Miss Dunne, turned her round, saying \u2013 \u201cYou go home now.\u201d He then addressed the other ladies telling them, \u201cI\u2019ll disperse you by force.\u201d
\nMrs. Murphy \u2013 I am astonished at you, constable, to treat any lady after such a manner. Indeed, I would not expect that you would treat any lady so roughly.
\nConstable \u2013 I did not treat her roughly.
\nMiss Dunne returning \u2013 I have to announce \u00a37 12s. 9d. collected in the boxes for the prisoners during the month of December. Constable \u2013 I tell you to go home. I ask you to go home ladies.
\nMrs. Flynn \u2013 `Tis a fine day and we intend to take advantage of the sunshine. Mrs. Murphy \u2013 Yes, we intend to have a walk today.
\nThe ladies then started for the walk, accompanied by the constable and sub-constable. They soon fell back and returned to the town. In their absence the following resolution was proposed by Miss O\u2019Shaughnessy, and passed unanimously:-
\n\u201cThat we condemn the arbitrary action of the authorities in attempting to prevent our ordinary meeting specially convened for the purpose of collecting funds for our imprisoned brethren, and we call to our sister leaguers to attend on Sunday to hold a meeting for this charitable cause. Proposed by Miss Kelly and seconded by Miss Jacob. \u201cThat we heartily congratulate Miss Reynolds for he courage in going to jail sooner than give bail.\u201d The constable and sub-constable paid another visit to the ladies.
\nConstable \u2013 Now do not annoy me but go home.
\nMiss O\u2019Shaughnessy \u2013 It would be a pity to do anything that would displease you.
\nConstable \u2013 But I have the authority to disperse you.
\nMiss Dunne \u2013 Yes, you have Colonel Hillier\u2019s proclamation.
\nMiss O\u2019Shaughnessy \u2013 That is only a police proclamation.
\nConstable \u2013 The Government declares all Land League meetings illegal.
\nMiss Dunne \u2013 Oh, the Government is like Foster\u2019s conscience. It is elastic and can stretch a long way.
\nConstable (shaking his head) \u2013 Oh you \u2013
\nMiss O\u2019Shaughnessy \u2013 You had no right to treat Miss Dunne after the fashion you did.
\nConstable \u2013 I did not treat her badly. I know I\u2019ll be in the newspaper, and I am sure it will loose nothing by the telling. (Turning to the sub-constable) \u2013 I hope you have all the names down? The police then retired amidst a storm of cheers and exclamations of derision. The ladies then finished their business, and all are determined to carry out the orders of the Executive, and hold their meetings as usual.
\nThe ladies then walked up the town, and cheer after cheer was given for the Ladies Land League, and an occasional cry of \u201cDown with Buckshot.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An article from The Kildare Observer, January 7, 1882 detailing an exchange<\/em><\/strong> between ladies Land League members of Rathangan and the police. Re-typed by Aisling Dermody<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[118,119],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-678","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-people","category-places"],"blocksy_meta":[],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Kildare Local Studies","author_link":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/author\/localstudies\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/678","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=678"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/678\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}