Sin,Sheep and Scotsmen John George Adair and the Derryveagh evictions,1861 Sin, Sheep and Scotsmen John George Adair and the Derryveagh evictions,1861 W. E.Vaughan Appletree Press and The Ulster Society for Irish Historical Studies First published and printed in 1983 by The Appletree Press Ltd 7 James Street South Belfast BT2 8DL in association with The Ulster Society for Irish Historical Studies © W. E. Vaughan, 1983 Cover photograph: Co. Fermanagh ~-,~k¢~ eviction scene, c. 1880 (Lawrence collection, Ub National Library of Ireland). All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Vaughan, W. E. Sin, Sheep and Scotsmen.--(Explorations in Irish history, ISSN 0263-2799; 2) 1. Eviction--Derryveagh (Ireland)-- History--19th century I. Title II. Series 33.5’4 HD1511.I73 ISBN 0-86281-108-2 for M. Acknowledgements I wish to acknowledge the generous financial assistance given towards the publication of this book by the Grace Lawless Lee Fund, Trinity College, Dublin, and by the Ulster Society for Irish Historical Studies. I wish to thank the custodians of those record repositories mentioned in the references at pp 69-75 for permission to refer to documents in their possession. I also wish to thank Dr T. W. Moody for reading a draft of this work; Dr Brian Walker for asking me to contribute to Explora- tions in Irish History; John Cornforth for giving me information about Adair’s career in the U.S.A.; and Rory Bland of Rath House, Ballybrittas, for showing me the graves of Adair and Edward Shepherd Mead. 20 December 1982 W. E. Vaughan 26 Trinity College Dublin 2 Contents Acknowledgements 6 List of illustrations 9 1 The evictions 11 2 Background 14 3 Derryveagh and the land question 22 4 Post-famine clearances 26 5 Agrarian crime 28 6 Murray’s murderers are not detected 35 7 Who murdered Murray? 39 8 The effects of the evictions 44 9 Adair as a land speculator 50 10 The management of Adair’s estates 60 11 Conclusion 62 References 69 Appendix: Adair’s transactions inlanded property in Ireland, 1852-85 77 List of lllustrations Adair’s estate in County Donegal 1861 (map by Mrs Mary Davies, based on a map in S.P.O., R.P. 1861/7273) 10 John George Adair 1823-85 (Cornelia Adair, My diary, August 30 to November 5, 1874 (privately printed, 1918; photograph Library of Congress) 13 William Steuart Trench on a domiciliary visit (Realities of Irish life, p. 177; photograph Trin. Coll., Dublin) 18 Glenveagh Castle, County Donegal, c. 1900 (photograph in a private collection) 56 Rathdaire (formerly Bellegrove) County Leix, 1982 (photograph Pieterse-Davison International Ltd) 59 Rathdaire church, 1982 (photograph Pieterse-Davison Interna- tional Ltd) 66 Glenveagh Castle, County Donegal, c. 1900 (engraved letterhead in a private collection) 68