The Cork Defence Union (CDU) was a landlord organisation established in

County Cork County Cork () is the largest and the southernmost Counties of Ireland, county of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, named after the city of Cork (city), Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster ...

in Ireland, in September 1885, to counter the

Plan of Campaign The Plan of Campaign was a strategy, stratagem adopted in Ireland between 1886 and 1891, co-ordinated by Irish politicians for the benefit of tenant farmers, against mainly absentee landlord, absentee and rack-rent landlords. It was launched to ...

devised by the

Irish National League The Irish National League (INL) was a nationalist political party in Ireland. It was founded on 17 October 1882 by Charles Stewart Parnell as the successor to the Irish National Land League after this was suppressed. Whereas the Land League ...

. It also opposed

Home Rule Home rule is the government of a colony, dependent country, or region by its own citizens. It is thus the power of a part (administrative division) of a state or an external dependent country to exercise such of the state's powers of governan ...

and was active into the early 20th century.

History

The CDU was established, during the period known as the

Land War The Land War () was a period of agrarian agitation in rural History of Ireland (1801–1923), Ireland (then wholly part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom) that began in 1879. It may refer specifically to the firs ...

, by a number of "leading landlords and farmers in the county". Formed to counter the

's '

', one of its stated purposes was to "unite together all friends of law and order of all classes in this county in a body for their mutual defence and protection". While it was a "landlord dominated organisation", its members (of which there were approximately 770 in 1886) also reportedly included merchants, farmers, shopkeepers, artisans and labourers. The CDU was organised under the presidency of

James Bernard, 4th Earl of Bandon James Francis Bernard, 4th Earl of Bandon, KP (12 September 1850 – 18 May 1924), was a British Deputy Lieutenant in Ireland and Irish representative peer. Bernard was a cousin of the Earl of Midleton, who was head of the southern Irish Union ...

and his assistant Hayes St Leger, 4th Viscount Doneraile to support those impacted by the National League's boycotting campaign. Similar to the Property Defence Association (formed in Dublin in 1880), and associated with

Arthur Smith-Barry, 1st Baron Barrymore Arthur Hugh Smith-Barry, 1st Baron Barrymore, (17 January 1843 – 22 February 1925), was an Anglo-Irish Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve tradition ...

, it was primarily a Unionist organisation. A parallel organisation, the Irish Defence Union, was headed by the Earl of Bandon and "based in London for lobbying and fund-raising purposes". The CDU was involved in providing labourers and machinery for boycotted farms and opposed the renewal of licences to publicans who were involved in boycotting. The CDU, which was also opposed to

, was reportedly described by the

Irish Parliamentary Party The Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP; commonly called the Irish Party or the Home Rule Party) was formed in 1874 by Isaac Butt, the leader of the Nationalist Party, replacing the Home Rule League, as official parliamentary party for Irish nati ...

politician William John Lane as the "Royal Cattle-Lifting and Outrage Manufacturing Association". While it remained in existence until 1918, the settlement of the " Irish Land Question" by 1909 had "made the Union redundant".

References

{{Reflist Unionism in Ireland Land reform in Ireland 1885 establishments in Ireland

History

See also

References