The Press

Bodyke Stone

The presence of the local and international press at Bodyke ensured widespread coverage of the evictions, coverage which was considered biased by many. Henry Norman, a reporter with the radical 'Pall Mall Gazette', reported, photographed and sketched extensively throughout the proceedings. Other liberal newspapers reported the evictions in great detail, to the acute embarrassment of the Conservative government whose Land Bill reached the Commons in June 1887. Balfour, the Chief Secretary, expressed the wish that evictions be restrained during that month.

Below is a four-page letter where Colonel O'Callaghan's son, George,
objects to unfair reporting of the evictions.

Twenty six people, twenty two of them females, were charged with assaulting and obstructing the forces of the law and tried in Ennis court on June 18th. Some were freed, or given bail, others given hard labour of up to 3 months. Colonel O'Callaghan lost heavily as he had to pay the cost of the sub-sheriff, bailiffs and emergencymen. The evictions also caused an unbreachable rift between the landlord and his tenants which ultimately led to the dissolution of the O'Callaghan Estate.

The image is of the Bodyke Stone Plaque which was erected in Bodyke to commemorate the centenary of the evictions.