Stopping the Hunt

You have heard of many favorite tactics employed in Irish history from popular forms of protest, to ‘boycotting’, to Parnell’s ‘obstructionism’ in the House of Commons in the 1880s. But another favoured tactic of the Land War era centered on preventing the sport of hunting in Ireland by means of ‘Stopping the Hunt’. It was adopted all across the country and targeted the landed class who engaged in this type of sport. They too were the people that the Land League was in daily conflict with. Here the Nation newspaper reported in November 1881 about how the Land League in King’s County had prevented the Hunt:

A telegram from the Birr correspondent of the Freeman on Thursday week says—

Foxhunting was practically suspended today in the King's County, when Lord Huntingdon's bounds were stopped at Sopwell Hall, near Shinrone, the residence of Captain Trench. Scarcely had the meet moved from the house this morning when several hundred men assembled and stopped the hounds and huntsmen. The crowd did not directly interfere with Lord Huntingdon, but his followers were made special objects of attack. In a short time the crowd increased to thousands, and completely surrounded the hounds and fielder. Seeing the manner in which they were hemmed in, his lordship decided on drawing off the hounds and abandoning the sport. Subsequently the cavalcade took refuge in the village of Shinrone, and when the crowd dispersed they quietly went homewards.

It was to be a scene enacted in other parts of the country on a regular basis and a favoured tactic of those agitating for land reform over the course of the next forty years.

For more information search the pages of the Irish Newspaper Archive (www.irishnewsarchive.com )