Carbally is a rural seaside community in south Co. Waterford (photo link) between Tramore and Dunmore East, where there was an active branch of the Ladies' Land League in 1881-82, until it was suppressed like the preceding Land League of Michael Davitt.
The government used anti-prostitution law to arrest and jail women involved in the Ladies' Land League.
The Carbally Community, along with descendants of the members, are erecting a memorial to the local Carbally Ladies' Land League.
Carbally Community Development Project
Background:
Herstory: Fanny Isabel Parnell (rte.ie)
GoFundMe appeal for LLL memorial in Carbally:
Fundraiser by Carbally Community Development Project : Carbally Ladies Land League Commemorative Plaque. (gofundme.com)
Memorial to Carbally Ladies' Land League:
This is an appeal for funds to erect a memorial to the Carbally Ladies’ Land League in south Co. Waterford. The manifesto and spirit of the Ladies’ Land League is best expressed in “Hold the Harvest”. This is a poem by one of their founders, Fanny Parnell, which begins:
The Land League was founded in 1879 during a savage eviction crisis while another major famine loomed. A women’s auxiliary movement in the USA raised funds from the refugees of the 1840’s and ’50’s, and saved the lives of the jeopardised population back home.
The women’s movement which averted famine was the precursor of the Ladies’ Land League formed in 1881 after the leaders and activists of the Men’s League were thrown in jail.
Branches of the Ladies’ Land League were set up all over the country, until they too were suppressed in 1882. One of their achievements was the provision of emergency housing for evicted people. In Carbally the elderly Morrissey couple of nearby Ballygarron were housed by the efforts of the local branch.
These campaigns can be understood as the beginnings of independent self-government. In the face of a hostile despotism, local representatives openly organised to implement policies for the improvement of their society.
The objectives of the League survived its suppression, and were achieved in the decades that followed.
The girls of Carbally came from humble backgrounds and, after their extraordinary achievements, went on to live ordinary lives. Many of their descendants still live there, in this beautiful coastal area of south Co. Waterford.
The local League and its individual members are long forgotten almost everywhere throughout the country. But Carbally is uniquely fortunate in having a written account of their own group, along with physical remains of the cabin in which they conducted their proceedings, where the memorial is to be located.
If you decide to contribute to this memorial you will be participating in a pioneering effort to preserve the memory of these representatives of the otherwise forgotten foot-soldiers of that time, who achieved so much in a brief period of the early 1880’s.
And please pass on this appeal to anyone who may be interested in correcting the historical record – and, indeed, to anyone else!
Click Memorial to see proposed plaque
Click Site View 1 to see memorial framing on a surviving wall of their meeting place
Click Site View 2 for another view
The government used anti-prostitution law to arrest and jail women involved in the Ladies' Land League.
The Carbally Community, along with descendants of the members, are erecting a memorial to the local Carbally Ladies' Land League.
Carbally Community Development Project
Background:
Herstory: Fanny Isabel Parnell (rte.ie)
... The Ladies’ Land League (LLL) was formed as an offshoot of Michael Davitt’s Land League (LL), which was founded in 1879 with the aim of reforming landholding in Ireland.
.. In January 1881, the Irish LLL was established under Anna [Parnell]'s leadership, giving Irish women their first opportunity to participate in a political movement.
It was a massive undertaking, and members endured police harassment. Fanny [Parnell] promoted awareness of the plight of the Irish poor through her writing.
... the Catholic archbishop of Dublin castigated the Ladies’ Land League for inducing women to 'forget the modesty of their sex and the high dignity of their womanhood.’ .
GoFundMe appeal for LLL memorial in Carbally:
Fundraiser by Carbally Community Development Project : Carbally Ladies Land League Commemorative Plaque. (gofundme.com)
Memorial to Carbally Ladies' Land League:
This is an appeal for funds to erect a memorial to the Carbally Ladies’ Land League in south Co. Waterford. The manifesto and spirit of the Ladies’ Land League is best expressed in “Hold the Harvest”. This is a poem by one of their founders, Fanny Parnell, which begins:
Now are ye men or are ye kine, ye tillers of the soil?
Would ye be free or evermore the rich man’s cattle toil?
The shadow on the dial hangs dark that points the fatal hour,
Now hold your own or branded slaves forever cringe and cower.
The Land League was founded in 1879 during a savage eviction crisis while another major famine loomed. A women’s auxiliary movement in the USA raised funds from the refugees of the 1840’s and ’50’s, and saved the lives of the jeopardised population back home.
The women’s movement which averted famine was the precursor of the Ladies’ Land League formed in 1881 after the leaders and activists of the Men’s League were thrown in jail.
Branches of the Ladies’ Land League were set up all over the country, until they too were suppressed in 1882. One of their achievements was the provision of emergency housing for evicted people. In Carbally the elderly Morrissey couple of nearby Ballygarron were housed by the efforts of the local branch.
These campaigns can be understood as the beginnings of independent self-government. In the face of a hostile despotism, local representatives openly organised to implement policies for the improvement of their society.
The objectives of the League survived its suppression, and were achieved in the decades that followed.
The girls of Carbally came from humble backgrounds and, after their extraordinary achievements, went on to live ordinary lives. Many of their descendants still live there, in this beautiful coastal area of south Co. Waterford.
The local League and its individual members are long forgotten almost everywhere throughout the country. But Carbally is uniquely fortunate in having a written account of their own group, along with physical remains of the cabin in which they conducted their proceedings, where the memorial is to be located.
If you decide to contribute to this memorial you will be participating in a pioneering effort to preserve the memory of these representatives of the otherwise forgotten foot-soldiers of that time, who achieved so much in a brief period of the early 1880’s.
And please pass on this appeal to anyone who may be interested in correcting the historical record – and, indeed, to anyone else!
Click Memorial to see proposed plaque
Click Site View 1 to see memorial framing on a surviving wall of their meeting place
Click Site View 2 for another view
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