1798 Glossary of Terms

ERIN GO BRAGH: Ireland Forever (Variations: go Brah; go Brauch)

FREE-QUARTERS: The troops were forcibly billeted upon the populace in an effort to quiet the country and recover arms. Flogging, house burningand torture often accompanied free-quarters.

TRIANGLES: A triangular wooden scaffold to which the victim was tied and flogged.

PITCH-CAPPING: Boiling pitch was placed on the victim's head, gunpowder was added and set alight.

PICKETING: The victim left hanging while standing on sharp pointed stakes.

PIKE: The weapon of the United Irishmen. Secretly forged by blacksmiths, pike-heads were fixed to 9ft wooden handles. They cost on average 1 shilling each. Generally a spear-like weapon with a hook on one side for cutting through the bridle and reins of the cavalry. The "Kildare Pike" had an axe-like blade on the opposite side

YEOMANRY: Est. 1796 Initially a part-time, locally raised force designed to assist with the policing of the country. Open to Catholics and Protestants, the Yeomanry served in the locality in which it was raised. Voluntary.

MILITIA: Est. 1793 Unlike the Yeomanry, the militia was compulsory, and regiments were barred from serving in their home counties. Designed to police local districts and for national defence in lieu of regular troops needed abroad in the war against France.

FENCIBLES: Sent to Ireland between 1794-95 Scottish and English regiments sent to Ireland as a kind of militia force, when regular troops were withdrawn. Recruited within the British Isles only.