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The Ribbon Men of Tipperary.

The Ribbon Men in Tipperary; Where They Came From, Where They Went And Why They Are Less Spoken About in Irish History.

The Ribbon Men were part of the wider movement known as Ribbonism, a Catholic secret-society tradition that grew in Ireland during the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. They did not begin in Tipperary alone. Their roots are usually traced to the Defender movement of the 1790s, especially in Ulster, where Catholic communities organised for protection in a time of sectarian tension and political unrest. Over time, Ribbonism spread beyond the north and became associated with rural grievances, tenant rights, resistance to tithes, opposition to evictions, and hostility towards landlords, agents, informers, and process servers. Historians describe Ribbonism as both a secret society and a form of community defence, though government officials often used the name loosely for many kinds of rural disorder.

**Meeting depicted of Ribbonmen in 1851, found in W. Steuart Trench’s 1868 book *“Realities of Irish Life”*.**

In Tipperary, the Ribbon Men entered a county already well known for agrarian conflict. Long before them there had been Whiteboys, and later there were Rockites, Terry Alts, Caravats, Shanavests, and other local factions. Tipperary’s land system, poverty, insecurity of tenure, tithes, evictions, competition for farms, and resentment of middlemen created the conditions in which secret societies could take hold. From the 1760s onwards the county was heavily involved in these rural movements, under different names and with changing motives.

Their activities in Tipperary were usually not open political rebellion in the modern sense. They worked in secret and at night. They used oaths, passwords, threatening letters, armed visits to houses, raids for firearms, attacks on property, intimidation of tenants, latter who took land from evicted families, and warnings to employers or landlords. Some actions were violent and sometimes deadly. Others were intended to frighten rather than kill. A National Archives record from 1828, for example, refers to Ballingarry Glebe, (NR), near Borrisokane and the forwarding of new oaths sworn by entrants into the “Ribband System.” This is important because it places Ribbon organisation, not just vague agrarian unrest, in north Tipperary.

The evidence suggests that Ribbon and Ribbon-like activity was strongest in north and mid Tipperary. The Ormond districts, especially around Borrisokane and Nenagh, appear repeatedly in studies of threatening notices and rural intimidation.
Daniel Grace’s study of threatening notices in pre-Famine Tipperary found that land was the dominant issue behind such threats, and that the northern baronies of Upper and Lower Ormond produced a particularly high concentration of notices. Other places connected with this wider pattern include Thurles, Roscrea and Ikerrin, Templemore, Borrisoleigh, Cashel, Golden, Bansha, Tipperary town, Killenaule, Mullinahone, Carrick-on-Suir, Cahir, and Clonmel. Some of these places were centres of actual incidents; others were police, court, or administrative centres where cases were reported, tried, or investigated.

Where did they go? In one sense, they did not simply go anywhere. Ribbonism changed shape. Some members emigrated, especially to Britain and America, bringing forms of Irish Catholic fraternal organisation with them. Scholarship on Ribbon societies shows that the tradition did not remain purely rural or purely Irish; it also appeared among Irish migrant communities in Britain and later influenced Catholic fraternal organisations such as the Ancient Order of Hibernians.
In Ireland itself, the Ribbon Men faded as new movements took the stage. The Young Irelanders, the Fenians, the Land League, the Irish Parliamentary movement, and later revolutionary nationalism, latter which gave people different languages and structures for protest. The old secret agrarian oath-bound society became less central.

There are several reasons why the Ribbon Men are less spoken about today.
First, they were secretive. They did not leave behind manifestos, membership lists, or proud public records in the way later political organisations did. Much of what we know comes from police reports, court records, hostile newspapers, informers, and government correspondence. These sources are useful, but they are also biased and often confused.

Second, the term “Ribbonman” was sometimes used too broadly. Officials could blame almost any unsolved agrarian crime on Ribbonism. This makes it difficult to separate genuine Ribbon organisation from Faction Fights, local feuds, Whiteboy activity, Rockite activity, or ordinary crime. Historians therefore handle the term carefully.

Third, their story is morally uncomfortable. They were not simply heroes or villains. They defended poor Catholic tenants in a harsh land system, but they also used intimidation and violence. That complexity does not fit easily into the cleaner patriotic story often told about later Irish nationalism.

Finally, Tipperary’s later history overshadowed them. The Famine, the Land War, the War of Independence, Soloheadbeg, and the Civil War became larger parts of public memory. Compared with those events, the Ribbon Men belong to a darker, earlier, more secretive world of oath-bound rural resistance.

Yet they matter. To understand Tipperary in the nineteenth century, we must remember not only the famous leaders and public movements, but also the hidden networks of ordinary people who acted from fear, anger, loyalty, and desperation. The Ribbon Men were part of that hidden history.

Sioux Indian Chiefs Suspects In Thurles Murder

Rachel Willoughby, PRO St. Mary’s Graveyard Project, Thurles, reports.

New possible evidence uncovered in 177 year old murder investigation.

A single shot Percussion Pocket Pistol recently uncovered on the grounds of St Mary’s Churchyard, Thurles, Co. Tipperary, may have been the weapon used to shoot dead the opulent landholder, land agent, brewer and tanner, Charles O’Keeffe, (latter husband of Alicia O’Keeffe) in 1838.

This Percussion Pocket Pistol, possibly of French origin, is of the type then used for self-defence, during the percussion gun period 1800 to 1850. The then popular cheap pistol, whose real manufacturers today are not known, was discovered above ground under a pile of large stones. The stones, latter which were once part of a 17th century boundary wall, had collapsed sometime back during the 1940’s and from the positioning of this find and the pistols present condition; same is believed to have been at sometime concealed within the actual collapsed stone wall.

Project worker Mr Michael Kenehan examines the Pocket Percussion Cap Pistol found in Thurles, Graveyard.

Mr Charles O’Keeffe (1775 – 1838) a Roman Catholic, was shot dead at close range by a male assassin, then believed to have been dressed in women’s clothing, on October 23rd 1838, just a short distance from St Mary’s Church front gates, close to his then tannery business premises. A ball fired from an assassin’s percussion cap pistol, entered Mr O’Keeffe left shoulder, wounding him to the extent that he died a short time later.

It is understood that Mr. O’Keeffe had greatly irritated local peasantry by ejecting tenants for non-payment of rent from lands which he either owned or was the acting agent, e.g. the Maher Estate, (today Thurles Golf Club) and lands held at Rossmult, Drumbane, Co. Tipperary, initially mortgaged for £1000 to Thomas and James Lenigan, on December 22nd 1821).

Within 25 yards from where the pistol was recently located, on the south side of St Mary’s graveyard, lies today the grave of the same Mr Charles O’Keeffe. His weather worn raised flat gravestone bears his Coat of Arms and the inscription; “Sacred to the repose of Charles O’Keeffe Esq., his life, distinguished by Justice and Truth, was devoted to the virtues of Parent, Citizen and Man, his death 23rd October 1838 deprived the poor of a friend; society of a benefactor.”

Certainly on the day of the shooting, the crack of the percussion cap pistol would have drawn the immediate attention of the then residents on St. Mary’s Avenue. The assassin or assassins had only two exits of escape, which would have taken them either westward, unto a busy Main Street (today named Cathedral Street) or alternatively through St. Mary’s Church grounds eastwards unto a little populated Lime Kiln Lane (today known as Ikerrin Road). In using the latter means of escape did the assassin hide the single shot percussion cap pistol in a cavity in the 12ft, interior 17th century stone wall which then surrounded the graveyard? Why would such a weapon from this period be present, hidden in a graveyard wall?

Regrettably percussion pistols don’t talk and it is doubtful that we will ever uncover the real truth.

Who was responsible for the death of Charles O’Keeffe on October 23rd 1838?

The murder rate in Tipperary during this period was almost three times the national average. Secret Irish agrarian organisations / societies such as “Whiteboys”, (Irish: Buachaillí Bána) were common here in Tipperary in the 18th and through most of the 19th century. Local grievances relating to land eviction often saw “Whiteboys” threaten, beat and assassinate Landlords’ land agents. Lesser agrarian grievances were dealt with, by “Whiteboys”, through the sending of threatening letters, the severing of animals hamstring tendons where livestock were known to be the property of Landlords or the levelling of ditches that often closed off common grazing land. Male members of the “Whiteboys” were known to dress with women’s outer garments over their clothing; their faces blackened with burnt cork, in an effort to conceal their true identity.

While numerous surnames were associated with O’Keeffe’s murder, mostly based on named persons who had quietly left the Tipperary area bound for America and elsewhere immediately following his death, his assassin or assassins were never brought to justice. Remarkable credible evidence however emerges some 17 years later, from America in 1855.

A sub-tribe of the American Sioux Indian Nation, the Brule (French meaning ‘burnt’ or “Burnt Thighs Nation,”) tribe, then residing in South Dakota, went on the warpath. Prior to the arrival of new European settlers they had mostly led a peaceful existence, but now following a breakdown of relations between both, they soon became involved in ever frequent skirmishes. In 1855, in response to a Brule robbery which ended in the deaths of three white male settlers, a cavalry officer in the U.S. Army General William Selby Harney (August 22nd, 1800 – May 9th, 1889), known to the native Brule tribe as “White Whiskers Harney,” had led a reprisal expeditionary force against the tribe, killing 85 of their warriors and taking many more captive.

Brule braves aware that they were no match for future expeditionary armed forces and following a ‘pow wow’, now pressed for peace. A peace summit was arranged between both sides to air existing grievances. Though not part of any negotiating team, among those present at these peace talks was an Irish-born priest, Fr. Joseph Trecy.

While the conference was in progress, Fr. Trecy heard a voice calling to him from amongst the Brule ranks; “Brathair, an bhfuil Gaeilge agat?” (Translation -“Brother, can you speak Irish?”). Looking into the assembled Brule delegation, which were fully decked out in war-paint and deerskin clothing, Fr. Trecy, who had left Ireland in 1835 at the age of 11, recalled enough Irish to answer the Indians question, and when the call was once again repeated he replied, “Ta, cuid de” (Translation – “Yes, some.”).

A Brule Indian Chief now stepped out from amongst the Indian delegation and shook the priest’s hand. He soon learned that the Irish-speaking Brule Indian Chief was actually a Tipperary man who, along with one other companion, was wanted in the 1838 killing of an Irish landlord in Co. Tipperary. These two men had fled from Ireland disembarking at New York, but had been tracked by authorities all the way to Missouri. In an effort to elude their possible captors, they had moved quickly north west to South Dakota and befriended Brule warriors, learned their language and had taken Squaws (Female Indian Woman) as their wives from among their newly adopted tribe. These Irishmen were reported by Fr Trecy to be in need of ‘Spiritual Nourishment’ and before long Fr. Trecy had baptised and married a further 40 Indian families, into the Roman Catholic faith.

Perhaps it was the ‘Seal of the Confessional’, who knows for certain, but Fr. Trecy refused to disclose the identities of the men from Tipperary or the name of the man they had killed. Because of his discretion these Tipperary fugitives were able to escape prosecution and continue on with their lives in their new country of adoption.

Around this period there were three recorded cases of the killing of landlords in Co. Tipperary. In two instances men were tried and hanged for these crimes, although a persistent rumour at the time suggested that others involved might have escaped. However in the case of the shooting of Charles O’Keefe in Thurles, while arrests were made, no suspects were ever charged.

It is therefore credible, by the process of elimination, that the “Brule Indian Chiefs”, now members of the American Sioux Nation from Co. Tipperary, were the same men who shot Charles O’Keefe on October 23th 1838.

John Carden Tipperary – Stalker Or A Victim Of Love?

Carden’s Wild Domain.

“And the turtle dove sits cooing there, upon the tall oak trees.
The thrush and blackbird warbles loud, their notes come through the breeze.
The cuckoo’s notes are heard to sound along those flowery vales
And echo all the woodland around Carden’s Wild Domain.”

Extract from Lyrics by Rev. Timothy Corcoran (1857-1928)

Very recent public discussions on the “Stalking” of a named RTE1 newsreader; the subsequent arrest of a suspect and the later treatment of the female victim herself by at least one gutter press photographer, leads me to pen this particular article.

John Rutter Carden

John Rutter Carden was born on February 5th 1811 in Oxford, the eldest son of parents John Carden and his wife Ann Rutter. His parents took up residence in Barnane Castle outside Templemore, Co Tipperary in or about the year 1815. In 1822, when John was just 11 years old, his father died. John’s mother Ann then continued to run the large Estate at Barnane until John himself came of age some ten years later.

The once grand Yew Tree Terrace Walk and Barnane Castle, Templemore, Tipperary – Circa 1865.

On inheriting a somewhat run-down Estate, John Rutter Carden set about demanding that tenants on his lands should now pay rent. Under his mother’s management these Irish tenants had paid little or no rent in the past and would now greatly resent being requested to do so under their new landlord, into the future. The inevitable result of this action was that John Carden then began proceedings to evict up to 100 families from their homes on his estate. Because of these evictions Carden’s tenants tried repeatedly to kill him. However all attempts failed, earning him the nickname ‘The Woodcock Carden’ (Scolopax rusticola), because as any lover of gun sports will confirm, Woodcock, when startled, fly with great speed in an erratic and twisting movement, making them difficult to kill while airborne.

Ireland around this period was beginning to be seen as a hostile place (e.g. The Doneraile Conspiracy) in which to live and as a consequence absentee landlords were very common, with some visiting their property only once or twice in a lifetime, and often never at all. These rents acquired in Ireland were then mostly only spent in England, with an estimated £6,000,000 being remitted and spent outside of Ireland in 1842. John, contrary to still locally held beliefs, possibly was not the worst of the Landlord classes then operating in Ireland; he would go on to invest in his locality and even build a local non denominational school for his tenants, offering them free education. He improved the then existing housing stock on his estate and eventually his employee’s and tenants would learn to look on him with a certain respect and admiration, despite he having participated in a couple of them being hanged for an attempt on his life.

Miss Eleanor Louisa Arbuthnot

Miss Eleanor Arbuthnot (1833 – 1894) was the youngest daughter of thirteen children born to George Arbuthnot (1772 – 1843) of Elderslie, Surrey, England and his wife formally Eliza Fraser (1791 – 1834). Her mother died when she was just one year old and by the age of ten her father was also deceased. In 1852, Eleanor and her sister Laura (born 1830), latter three years her senior, were residing with their sister Jane, (Born 1816) who had married (1846) the Hon. Viscount George Gough, latter who lived at Rathronan House, two miles from Clonmel, near to Fethard Co.Tipperary.

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