Select Documents XLIII: A Secret Return of the Volunteers of Ireland in 1784

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Select Documents XLIII: A Secret Return of the Volunteers of Ireland in 1784Author(s): James KellySource: Irish Historical Studies, Vol. 26, No. 103 (May, 1989), pp. 268-292Published by: Irish Historical Studies Publications LtdStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/30008600 .

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Irish Historical Studies, xxvi, no. 103 (May 1989)

Select documents XLIII: A secret return of the Volunteers

of Ireland in 1784

INTRODUCTION

Though the Volunteers had an enormous impact on Irish politics in the years between their formation in the mid 1770s and their dissolution in 1793,

there has been comparatively little historical investigation of this phenomenon.1 One important and problematical matter in need of resolution is the size of the Volunteer force. Contemporary estimates abound, but they are often more valuable for the insight they give into contemporary thinking on Volunteering than reliable guides to the number of Volunteers in Ireland at any given time. In the absence of registers or other schedules of the hundreds of corps that constituted the Volunteers, it is improbable that we shall ever be able to provide absolute answers to the question of just how numerous they were. We are not wholly bereft of documentation, however, and by combining the more trustworthy of contemporary calculations and such lists as exist it is possible to throw much light on the rise and decline of Volunteering in the 1770s and 1780s. One of the most important and most detailed of these lists is the 'secret' and little known 'Return of the Volunteers with private observations' which was compiled in the early winter of 1784-5 as Dublin Castle readied itself for an attempt to replace this independent and highly politicised paramilitary body with a compliant and non-political militia.

By 1784 when the 'secret' return presented here was compiled, the Volunteers were virtually a decade old. Founded in the mid-1770s to compensate for the reduction in the Irish army establishment caused by the redeployment of troops during the American War of Independence, they proceeded to enrol at a steady rather than a rapid pace in the early years. Estimated at 12,000 in the spring of 1779, the Volunteers were then numerous enough to cope with all but the most serious infractions of public order. They were not numerous enough to

^he most important recent works are P.D.H. Smyth, The Volunteer movement in Ulster: background and development, 1745-84' (unpublished Ph.D thesis, Queen's Univer- sity of Belfast, 1974); idem, 'The Volunteers and parliament, 1779-84' in Thomas Bartlett and D.W. Hayton (eds), Penal era and golden age: essays in Irish history, 1690-1800 (Belfast, 1979), pp 113-36, and Padraig 6 Snodaigh's series of county studies which are listed in T.W. Moody and W.E. Vaughan (eds), A new history of Ireland, iv: the eighteenth century (Oxford, 1986), pp 765-6.

268



Kelly — Secret return of the Volunteers in 1784 269

combat a French or a Spanish invasion, however, and rumours of this prompted a dramatic increase in the number and size of Volunteer corps throughout the country in 1779. It is not possible to establish the precise rate of recruitment in 1779, but it was unquestionably spectacular for it was confidently claimed in September that the Volunteers numbered 40,000, and their numbers were still rising.2 Dublin Castle regarded this acceleration in Volunteer member- ship with alarm, but it possessed neither the will nor the political skill necessary to bring it under control. Indeed, it was the Patriot opposition, guided in parliament by such respectable figures as Lord Charlemont, Henry Grattan and Barry Yelverton and in Dublin by radicals like James Napper Tandy, that took advantage of the increase in Volunteer numbers by securing the Volunteers' support for their campaigns for free trade in 1779 and legislative independence in 1780-82.3

The Volunteers' contribution to the success of the Patriots' agitation for free trade and legislative independence was enormous. They provided the Patriots with a countrywide organisation and a powerful paramilitary arm that no government, and certainly not one engaged in a traumatic and costly war three thou- sand miles from home, could afford to antagonise. Despite this, it is difficult to procure accurate information on the size of the Volunteers when they were at their peak between mid-1779 and mid-1782. According to one source, they were 65,769 strong in the spring of 1782 when the meeting of the Ulster Volunteers at Dungannon gave the flagging campaign for legislative independence a much needed boost (see Table 1). A few months later, even this figure was surpassed, for in mid-1782 the total strength of the Volunteers was computed by one sympathiser at a staggering 100,000.4 There is, one suspects, more than a tincture of wishful thinking in these calculations, which contain none of the firm detail provided in the 'secret return' compiled in 1784. But even if we allow a massive margin of error of (say) fifty per cent, the Volunteers were still a formidable force. Indeed, as long as the British government continued at war with the American colonists, there did not seem to be any cause which, properly agitated, they could not pursue to a successful conclusion.

In fact, the future for the Volunteers was not nearly as rosy as the past. A number of factors in 1782-3 deprived them of both the political impetus and the respectability they had cultivated so successfully between 1775 and 1782, and sowed seeds of division and decline within their previously unified ranks. There were few obvious signs of decline in 1782; but the differences that arose over renunciation; the eagerness of London to restore to the crown 'the sole exercise of the sword' which made it attempt to replace the Volunteers with a compliant fencible force; the hostility of Dublin Castle and of conser-

2Smyth, The Volunteers and parliament' , pp 114, n. 3, 116. 3See M.R. O'Connell, Irish politics and social conflict in the age of the American

Revolution (Philadelphia, 1965), passim; R.B. McDowell, Ireland in the age of im- perialism and revolution, 1760-1801 (Oxford, 1979), chs 5 and 6.

4'Abstract of the effective men in the Volunteer corps ...' in Military memoranda (N.L.I., MS 743). As indicated in Table 1, the actual figure given in MS 743 puts the Volunteers' strength in mid-1782 at 88,827, but the compiler also claimed that the 22 corps not included raised the total to 100,000. The abstract is published in Thomas MacNevin, The history of the Volunteers of 1782 (4th ed., Dublin, 1846), pp 220-22.



270 Irish Historical Studies

Table 1: The Volunteers in 1782

Feb.-Apr, mid-1782 Ulster 26,900 34,152 Connacht 7,568 14,336 Munster 14,041 18,056 Leinster 17,260 22,283

Total 65,769 88,827

Source: N.L.L, MS 743.

vative protestants generally; and the prospect of an imminent conclusion of peace with the Americans — all took a heavy toll on Volunteering throughout the country in late 1782 and in 1783.5 Those protestants who disliked the con- frontational stance taken by some corps on renunciation were the first to leave. But their numbers were soon swollen by thousands of other civic-minded citizens who were weary of the constant round of drills and reviews, and who took advantage of the conclusion of hostilities in February 1783 to pack away their uniforms. It is not clear just how many Volunteers there were in the summer of 1783 because we do not have returns such as are available for 1782 and 1784. What is clear is that there were more than enough active corps to en- courage middle-class radicals, who had become the dominant force in the movement by mid-1783, to press ahead with their plan to use the countrywide Volunteer network to advance the cause of parliamentary reform. Indeed, unlike the campaigns for free trade, legislative independence and renunciation, the agitation for parliamentary reform in 1783 and early 1784 was led and or- chestrated by Volunteers. The impetus came initially from middle-class presbyterian corps in Ulster, but they were capably supported by Volunteer corps in Connacht, Munster and Leinster who echoed the Ulster call that they should convene in a grand national convention to decide on a plan of reform^

The agitation for parliamentary reform represented a turning point in the history of the Volunteers. It was the first campaign that was led by middle-class members, whose primary object was to broaden the representative system to reflect their aspirations, rather than by moderate Patriots, who were careful not to trespass upon or to infringe parliament's legislative authority. One conse- quence of this was that the political stance taken by the Volunteers in 1783 was more radical than previously. Dublin Castle and Downing Street regarded this and the widespread support for reform nationally with anxiety. They were determined to frustrate parliamentary reform at all costs, because it would ex- acerbate the task of managing the Irish House of Commons. They also wanted to put an end to the apparently interminable succession of demands emanating

5For renunciation, see P. J. Jupp, 'Earl Temple's viceroyalty and the question of renunciation, 1782-3' in I.H.S., xvii, no. 68 (Sept. 1971), pp 499-520; for the fencibles, see Memo, 22 June 1782 (P.R.O., H.O. 100/2, f.149) and Gerard O'Brien, Anglo-Irish politics in the age of Grattan and Pitt (Dublin, 1987), pp 147-8.

6For reform, see James Kelly, 'The Irish parliamentary reform movement: the administration and popular politics, 1783-85' (unpublished M.A. thesis. University Col- lege, Dublin, 1981), chs 2 and 3.




from Ireland, and to get the Volunteers out of politics because they perceived that they posed a direct challenge to the authority of parliament. Consequently, when Volunteer delegates assembled in grand national convention in Dublin in November to draft a plan of reform for presentation to the House of Com- mons, they played upon the fears of M.P.s that the primacy of parliament was under threat, and rallied opposition to the reform bill presented by Henry Flood on behalf of the convention on 29 November. As is well known, both the commons and the lords decisively repudiated the measure. Parliament could not do otherwise, the attorney-general, Barry Yelverton, informed M.P.s, if it was to survive as a functioning assembly. We sit not here to register the edicts of another assembly, or to receive propositions at the point of the bayonet. . . . Our self-preservation as a parliament depends on the vote we shall now give. This is the spot to make our stand, here we must draw our line; for we have retired step by step as they [the Volunteers] have advanced. We are now on a precipice and to recede one step more plunges us into inevitable ruin.7

Though it was not obvious at the time, the decisive rejection of the Volunteer reform bill in November 1783 signalled the beginning of die end of the Volunteers as a force in Irish political life. The chief secretary Thomas Pelham's claim in October that 'every man...wishes to see them disbanded but does not dare own it' was patently inaccurate, but Dublin Castle certainly did, and the rebuff of 29 November marked the end of the 'hands-off approach that it had pursued since the fencible debacle* The duke of Rutland and Thomas Orde, who took over at Dublin Castle in February 1784 and who ordered the compilation of the 'secret return' presented below, were to prove far less accommodating than their predecessors.

Though the comprehensive rejection by the Irish parliament of reform in November 1783 was a serious setback for both the Volunteers and for the parliamentary reform movement, it did not result in the cessation of the agitation for reform. Led by their commander-in-chief, Lord Charlemont, the Volunteers embarked on a petitioning drive in the winter and spring of 1783-4 in the belief that if they adhered strictly to established political procedures they would meet with a more favourable hearing. This did not prove to be the case. Though twenty-two counties and eleven towns presented petitions in support, the opposition of Dublin Castle and of a majority of M.P.s was stronger and the second reform bill was decisively rejected at the end of March. Two rebuffs in the space of four months was not what the Volunteers were used to when they engaged in political agitation, but with the political initiative firmly in the possession of the Castle, they were no longer the force in domestic politics they had been, and there was little they could do to stem the continuous decline in numbers as more and more corps disbanded and thousands of individual members opted for a quieter life.9

1The parliamentary register, or history of the proceedings and debates of the house of commons of Ireland, 1781-97(11 vols, Dublin, 1782-1801), ii, 226; see also Fitzgib- bon to Temple, 31 Oct. 1783 (B.L., Buckingham papers, Add. MS 40179, ff 96-7).

8[Pelham] to Portland, 24 Oct. (B.L., Pelham papers. Add. MS 33100, f. 374); Northington to Fox, 31 Dec. (B.L., Fox papers, Add. MS 47567, ff 77-8); see also Northington to Portland, 17 Dec. 1783 (B.L., Northington letterbook, Add. MS 38716, f. 239).

9Kelly, 'Parliamentary reform' , pp 107-32.




If the rejection of the second reform bill in March 1784 disheartened many long-serving Volunteers, there was a body of radicals in Dublin city that was determined that the issue should not die. Led by Napper Tandy and John Binns, two of the most outspoken members on the common council of Dublin Cor- poration, they exploited the high level of dissatisfaction in the city at the refusal of the Irish parliament to sanction reform and protective duties by initiating a non-consumption agreement in April and by launching a drive for radical reform in June. Tandy's aim was to forge a popular alliance of the protestant, catholic and presbyterian middle classes to create a mass popular movement favourable to reform.10 It was an ambitious and, ultimately, an unrealisable goal, but it did transform the domestic political agenda as journeymen and apprentices set about enforcing non-consumption, and Tandy, Binns and others schemed to secure the election of delegates for a reform congress which was scheduled to meet in October. Inevitably, the Volunteers were afforded a pro- minent place in Tandy's thinking. He was acutely aware of the importance of their contributions to the campaigns for free trade and legislative independence, and he was eager to recreate the mood that had forced concession to these demands. For this to happen, the Volunteers needed to reanimate public enthusiasm and to recruit new members, and Tandy's corps, the Liberty Volunteers, pointed the way forward in the early summer by recruiting catholics and lower- class protestants. It is not clear just how many new recruits middle-class corps enrolled. But reports, almost certainly exaggerated, that as many as 20,000 manufacturers, artisans and tradesmen, catholic as well as protestant, joined the Volunteers in the space of two months filled Dublin Castle with apprehen- sion and accentuated the cleavage, already manifest, between the 'old' and 'new' Volunteers.11 This was a distinction which had been made by Henry Grattan during the commons' debate on reform in November 1783, when he contrasted the respectability of the 'old' aristocratic-led corps of 1778-82 with the increasingly middle-class-led 'new' corps that pressed for parliamentary reform. It was not a wholly justifiable claim, but it had great propaganda value, and as the 'respectable' elite of society continued to withdraw and middle-class regiments continued to recruit, it became more sustainable. The Castle press certainly regarded it as a useful tool, and it ceaselessly highlighted the danger of permitting the 'new' Volunteers, whom they compared to the 'Goths' and characterised as 'plebians and the dregs of society' , to influence public affairs.12 The realisation that a considerable percentage of the 'new' Volunteers was catholic intensified these fears, and Dublin Castle used this to the max- imum to excite disquiet in Volunteer ranks. It was not an unduly difficult exercise, for the accession of catholics into the ranks of the Dublin Volunteer Corps, to give but one example, did cause some protestant officers of long standing to secede and to approve resolutions opposed to popular recruitment.13

!0Ibid., pp 160-79. llFor Volunteer recruitment, see Dublin Evening Post, 1, 11, 13 May; Volunteer

Journal (Dublin), 3 May; Belfast Mercury, 4 May; Rutland to Sydney, 18 May 1784 (P.R.O.I., Index to departmental letters and papers, 1760-89, f.266).

12See Volunteer Evening Post, May-June, passim. 13Rutland to Sydney, 8 May (The manuscripts of the duke of Rutland (H.M.C., 4

vols, London, 1888-1905), hi, 93-4); Rutland to Sydney, 19, 24 May (P.R.O., H.O. 100/13, ff 73-4, 79-82); Cooke to Eden, 14 May 1784 (Sneyd papers, P.R.O.N.I., T.3229/2/3).




The realisation that the Volunteers were recruiting once again was a cause of enormous anxiety at Dublin Castle in the spring of 1784. The authorities were no longer prepared to countenance the existence of rival sources of authority in the kingdom, and the duke of Rutland, who was particularly perturbed, resolv- ed to effect their abolition as soon as practicable. 'The circumstances of this country' , he informed Lord Sydney in May, 'its connection with England and the existence of any order and good government in it, will not admit of a body of troops independent of and unconnected with the state to be any longer tolerated' . The final decision as to whether the Volunteers would be abolished lay with the cabinet in London, and it displayed no eagerness to sanction such a potentially controversial undertaking. Indeed, conditions were not conducive to such a radical demarche, which was more likely to bolster the falling popularity of the Volunteers than to restore public order. Furthermore, though there was no let up in the Castle's propaganda campaign against the Volunteers, the crisis mood, so evident in late May, eased when it became clear in June that the recruitment of catholics and lower-class protestants was not proceeding as rapidly as originally reported. Indeed, as the turn out for the 1784 summer reviews reveals, the Volunteers had palpably failed to recapture the energy and enthusiasm that had proved so decisive in 1779 and again in 1782. Estimates of attendances are notoriously unreliable, but Castle sources claimed that only 950 attended the Dublin review in Phoenix Park (a marked decline on the 1783 figure of 2,400), while the attendance at Cork was equally disappointing because the people of 'rank and fortune' , who had done so much to make Volunteering respectable between 1778 and 1782, simply did not turn up.14

Though the rapid fall off in interest in Volunteering revealed by the 1784 reviews, by the poor turn out for the annual celebrations in honour of William of Orange on 4 November and by reports from every part of the country that 'the spirit of Volunteering [is] quite in decay' seemed to indicate that the Volunteers would simply fade away if left alone, the duke of Rutland was not prepared to trust to fate.15 Both he and Thomas Orde had been taken aback by the extent of the disorder in Dublin in the summer of 1784. And their anxiety was perpetuated in the early winter by a flood of reports that small parties of catholic Volunteers were drilling in places as far apart as the Liber- ties of Dublin and Carrickmacross, County Monaghan, and that other groups aimed to raise an insurrection.16 Wholly convinced that the dissolution of the Volunteers was a precondition for long-term stability, the Castle ordered a secret investigation to establish their true strength and, particularly, the level of catholic infiltration. The document which resulted, the 'Secret return of the Volunteers of Ireland' (presented here), could not be made ready instantly but,

14Rutland to Sydney, 2 June (P.R.O., H.O. 100/13, f.97); Fitzgibbon to Pelham, 5 June (B.L., Pelham papers. Add. MS 33101, ff 97-8); Broderick to Midleton, 4 June [1784] (Brodrick letterbook, N.L.I, microfilm pos. 4295; the original is in the possession of the town clerk, Midleton, Co. Cork).

15Thomas Percy, bishop of Dromore to — , 4 Nov. (N.L.I., Bolton papers, MS 16350/54-5); see also George Tandy to Napper Tandy, 2 Nov. (P.R.O., Chatham papers, 30/8/330, ff 258-9); Orde to Pitt, 6 Nov. 1784 (N.L.I., Bolton papers, MS 16358, ff 61-4).

16Orde to Pitt, 6 Nov. (N.L.I., Bolton papers, MS 16358, ff 61-7); Plunkett to Hamilton, 6 Nov. (MS 16350/56); Extract of a letter from Colonel Dawson, 1 Nov. 1784 (P.R.O., Chatham papers, 30/8/330, ff 302-5).




unwilling to waste time, Rutland advised his prime minister, William Pitt, on 14 November that it was not possible 'to lay the foundation of necessary control and order whilst an armed force unconnected with or independent of the state and existing for the avowed purpose of intimidating the legislature is permitted to endure' . Determined to put an end to this intolerable state of affairs once and for all, he urged the replacement of the Volunteers with a protestant militia subordinate to the Castle and the enactment of regulations 'rendering it high treason for bodies of men to assemble as Volunteers with arms, uniforms, accoutrements, etc., without a legal commission from government' .17 This was the most definite proposal made to date for the abolition of the Volunteers, and both Rutland and Orde manifested their determination by deeming it their 'favourite project' and by presenting returns which highlighted the growing catholic presence in the Volunteers. The surviving correspondence is suggestive rather than explicit on this point, but it appears that Orde sent Pitt extracts from the 'Secret return of the Volunteers of Ireland' rather than the complete document.18 This was sharp practice, because the 'Secret return' revealed that few corps were active and that the institution of Volunteering was in irrevers- ible decline. Indeed, when the comments appended to the digest of information in the document are considered, it is difficult to avoid surmising that the 18,469 accounted for in the return is an overestimate. Whatever the precise figure, and the 1784 returns are the most detailed inventory we have, it was not enough to persuade Pitt to permit Dublin Castle to establish an exclusively protestant militia in place of the increasingly Roman Catholic Volunteers.

Both Rutland and Orde were exaggerating the danger posed by the Volunteers, as Pitt was well aware, and he was not prepared to allow their enthusiasm to be rid of them to interfere with his larger plan to join the two kingdoms in a commercially based union. Thus when the matter was presented to the cabinet for decision on 10 January, it was decided that the timing was not right and that more attention should be devoted to establishing a militia than to 'disbanding the Volunteers' .19 This was a clear signal to the Irish administration to do nothing in the short term, but Rutland was not easily dissuad- ed. He determined 'to enquire from the leading and intelligent gentlemen in each county who are friends to government the number of the Volunteers, their present temper ..., how they are likely...to feel from an attack so direct and personal to their existence' .20 The answers were obviously to his liking, for on 11 February the administration introduced a bill requesting leave 'that 120,000 be granted for clothing the militia in this kingdom' . This was a direct challenge to the Volunteers and their supporters, who forcefully repudiated the charge that they were nothing but 'the dregs of the people ... sons of sedi- tion ... vile incendiaries [that] blast and dishonour the Volunteer name' . They

17Rutland to Sydney, 7 Oct. 1784 (Rutland MSS, hi, 141); Rutland to Pitt, 14 Nov. (ibid., pp 147-8).

l8Rudand to Sydney, 22 Nov. (Rutland MSS, iii, 150); Orde to Pitt, 16 Dec. 178 [4] (P.R.O., Chatham papers, 30/8/329, ff 280-81).

l9Cabinet minute, 10 Jan. (N.L.I., Sydney papers, MS 52/P/4); Pitt to Rutland, 11 Jan. 1785, in Philip Stanhope, Lord Mahon (ed.), Correspondence between William Pitt and Charles, duke of Rutland, 1781-87 (London, 1890), pp 75-82.

20 20Memo of the duke of Rudand, 14 Jan 1785 (Rutland MSS, iii, 164).




were not strong enough to outvote the administration, however, and the Castle secured sanction for the ^20,000 they requested.21

With the money necessary to accoutre a protestant militia at their disposal, it seemed but a matter of time before Dublin Castle abolished the Volunteers. In fact, the administration proceeded no further. It had delivered a warning shot of unmistakable directness, and Lord Charlemont, the ever cautious com- manding officer of the Volunteers, did not need a reminder. His object was to keep the Volunteers in being at all costs, and he calculated that the only way to ensure their survival was to get them out of politics. It was for this reason that he instructed the Volunteers late in February to 'be quiet at the approaching assizes' and, in March, to exercise 'the utmost spirit of modera- tion' at reviews. Indeed, there seemed no lengths to which Charlemont would not go to avoid bringing the Volunteers into conflict with the Castle. In June and July 1785, when Patriot fiiry was aroused by the perception that Pitt was embarked on an insidious attempt to undermine the Irish parliament's legislative independence, he vetoed all suggestions that the Volunteers should rally to the defence of 'the constitution of 1782' .22 The Volunteers survived the Rutland administration and lasted into the 1790s because they avoided political involvement, but their numbers continued to fall away. By 1786, however, even Dublin Castle regarded Volunteering as a harmless activity, and the duke of Rutland, considered by some of his closest advisers to be an intemperate opponent of the Volunteers, responded to a suggestion in that year that they should be abolished with the recommendation that they be allowed the old soldier's privilege of simply fading away.23

The MS 'Return of the Volunteers of Ireland' presented here exists in at least two copies: National Library of Ireland, Bolton papers, MS 15891/3 and National Museum of Ireland MS 22A-1938. They are virtually identical, and comprise fourteen leaves of undated, gilt-edged folio paper roughly sewn together. Because both MSS were written up in an unbound state, the pagination and layout is erratic, and the reader is obliged to turn the MS on alternate pages to read it. Both MSS are endorsed 'secret' , and both are copies. Despite an exhaustive search, I have not been able to trace the original and it seems fair to conclude that it has been lost.

As a documentary source for the history of the Volunteers, the 'Return of the Volunteers of Ireland' is invaluable because it provides a uniquely detailed picture of the Volunteers in virtually all of Ireland. The 'Return' is not complete: Counties Mayo, Fermanagh and Monaghan are not included and the returns for Down and Louth are partial; but, these omissions excepted, it provides an unmatched insight into the size of individual corps and the religious com- position of the Volunteers throughout the country at a crucial point in their

2lParL reg. Ire., iv, 222-38; Rudand to Sydney, 15 Feb. 1785 (P.R.O., H.O. 100/16, ff 171-3).

22Charlemont to Stewart, 27 Nov. 1784 (P.R.O.N.I., Stewart papers, D3167/1/9); Charlemont to Maxwell, 22 Feb., Charlemont to Haliday, 14 Mar. 1785 (The manuscripts ... of James, first earl of Charlemont (H.M.C., rep. 12, app. 10, London, 1891), pp 17-19.

^ ppÔ'Brien, Anglo-Irish politics, p. 152; Charlemont to Rood, 2 Aug. 1787 fTthomas] R[odd] (ed.), Original letters to Henry Flood (London, 1820), p. 171); Lord Palmerston to Lady Palmerston, 18 Sept. 1788, in Brian Connell (ed.), Portrait of a whig peer (London, 1957), pp 268-9.




history. It is to be regretted that there are no returns for County Monaghan because there was active catholic recruitment there late in 1784, but this gap is compensated for by the information the MS contains on Volunteers in regions that are usually overlooked in both official and popular sources. Each county or group of counties is considered under four headings: name, commander, size and remarks. The 'remarks' column contains some of the most important and valuable information on Volunteering available in 1784. At times, the syn- tax is not all that it might be, but no attempt has been made to correct it; the 'Return' is presented with the original spelling and capitalisation and a minimum of editorial standardisation.

James Kelly Department of History, St Patrick' s College, Drumcondra




DOCUMENT

Return of the Volunteers of Ireland 1784

District Names of Corps By whom Reputed Remarks commanded strength

Antrim Edendaiarie Troop Rt Honble John 29 of Dragoons O'Neil Belfast Troop Captn Burden 26 The strength of Belfast Battalion Lord Donegall 400 these Corps was

Artillery attached to 18 taken from their Belfast Battalion - last review 4 six Pounders retume.

1st Royal Regiment Rt Honble John 600 In some of these O'Neil Battns there are

Artillery attached to 18 some Companys it 2 six Pounders from the County Ulster Regiment 2 Colonel Rowley 800 of Down viz1 1 Batt" in the Belfast

Artillery attached to 18 Batf* 1 in the it 2 six Pounders Ulster Reg1 & 2

| Union Regiment 2 Colonel Sharman 300 ™ ̂ Union

Battn Regiment.

Artillery attached to 18 it 2 6 Pds Belfast Volunteer Captn Browne 50 Company Artillery attached to 18 it 2 Six Pounders Reform Battalion Colonel Dal way 150 Glorious Memory Colonel Jones 488 The two last of Battn t these Corps were Bill of Rights Battn Colonel Leslie 190 lately raised as

Coleraine Battn Major Lyle 200 êre ^0 the

L, . < <• L, . t*. ^ Camckfergus Camckfergus Captain Rice 50

Royals in favour Royals of Government. Lame Royals Lord Antrim 50

Ballymena Fuzileers Captn Bell 50 Antrim- 50 There are not Six Mile 50 more than six or Independents seven Roman

Catholicks in any Total 3573 of these corps.





Donegall, Londonderry Light Captn William 20 The Raphoe Bat- Derry 8c Horse MacLintock talion has a corn- Tyrone Londonderry Ar- Captn James 24 pany of 50

tillery 2 Brass Atkinson Roman Catholicks 3 pounders under the direc-

Strabane Artillery 2 Capm James 22 ^n T?f the Revd

Brass 3 Pounders Ross ^/"T^V' u- ^ ^ ,. ^,^ ,,« ^r, Mulhnhall & this Dungiven Battalion Col" Carey M.P. 200

Corps has lately Glendennel Battn of Coln 235 provided Tents. Newtown Limavady McCausland Strabane Battn Coln James 384 It is supposed

Stewart M.P. there are a

Raphoe Batt" Col" A. Mont- 517 number of Roman

gomery M.P. Catholicks

Tyrone Batt" Col" Honb,e Mr 294 ™8st *e u

Mr. Hervey at

Hervey Private of each

4th Ulster Regiment Col" Rob1 384 ^^ Cumber Hamilton Maclintock

Londonderry Batt" Col" Andrew 474 There are no new — Donegal and Ferguson corps lately Ardshaw Royals established in this

district whatever number of Recruits may be added to the old corps.

Total 2554

There was at Ballyshannon a Company of Vol- unteers or two under the command of Cap1" Major. The strength not known. But it is reported that this corps is discon- tinued.





Armagh One Troop of Cap^1 Bond(21) These Corps were Cavalry originally suppos- Northem Battalion Colonel ed to amount alto-

Brownlow gether t0 about

1 Company of Ar- Cap* Thomas 500 V'000 men' But

tillery attached to it Masan they never ^ ^

2 six Pounders [ime were able to

^ «. ,,, , hnng into the Southern Battalion Sir Walter Field anything ICompyofar- Synott like that number, tillery attached to it Capt" Jackson and at the ^

General Review they could only assemble about 500.

No Roman Catho- licks were ever admitted into the Corps of this County — neither have there been any new corps lately established.

It is generally allowed that the spirit of Volun- teering have been long on the Decline in many of the northern counties particularly in this. And that the late Belfast Resolutions in favour of Roman Catholicks have contributed to its almost total

Total 500 extinction.





Louth & Newry Cavalry 30 It is supposed that Down Newry Infantry Mr Bristow 60 there are some

Dundalk Artillery Mr Maxwell 20 ^Tther u5:orp uS ̂ *!? 2 3 Pound- Neighbourhood of

„ ,rt Newry, but their Another Corps of 60 names and num. Foot at Newry bers could not Newry Invalids - Well be ascer- Dundalk light Earl of Clan- 60 tained. Infantry brassell — prin-

cipally Roman lt 1S positively Catholicks asserted ̂ a

^ „ . , ,, ^ , .^ new corps pnn- Ballymaskenlan Mr Reed 40

cipally Roman CorPs Catholicks is now

raising at Car- rickmacross, their numbers to consist of 200 and that the command has been offered to Lord Clanbrassell.

Another corps of Roman Catholicks is likewise said to be lately raised at a small town call-

Total 270 ed Shercock.

Cavan Cavan Infantry Mr R Maxwell 70 There have been Belturbet D0 Mr Saunderson 46 n0 new Volunteer

Ballyhays D0 Mr Newburgh 60 corps raised in ^ , ,, ~ ., . - , ^ this District these Coothill Do Mr Meade 50 two or ^^ years Astifield D0 Mr Thos 60 past. And even

Clements M.P. these corps have Killeshandra D0 Cap^ Young 60 not been assembl-

Ballyconnel D0 Mr Geo Mont- 80 ed either separate gomery M.P. or in a Body

Ballyborough D0 Mr Stewart T?^ ™nth

m.p. too of My1783-

Swanlingbar D0 Mr Ennery 40 Reports say that they have put up their arms & will not turn out any

Total 566 more.





Roscom- Barrony Cohort Coln Kelly 80 These corps were mon and (Catholick) all Protestants Leitrim French park Coln French 24 when first raised,

Rangers but are now

Strokes Town D° Col" Mahon 20 ^ with

^0- T . . „ , ^^ licks, particularly Leitrim Rangers Col" 35 the following Cunnmghame Corps ^ Mock_

Barrony Costello L1 Coln Costello 66 îll Corps, Leit- Dragns rim Rangers and Athlone Rangers said to be 30 Strokestown

disembodied Corps. Some of Mockhill Corps Captain Crofton 56 these corps have Carrick Light Col" St George 68 not been assembl-

Infantry ed this year, but

Royal Boyle Col" Lord 80 j" ^ neighbour-

Kingston hood of Carrick

^ , „„ „ ^^ and Boyle, the Roscommon Col" Waller 30

Sligo Review Forresters

keeps up the Castle Rea Rangers Col" French 40 Spirit notwith- Ballintuber Rangers Col" Wells 36 standing the Royal Mr Talbot's Batt" Col" Talbot 100 Boyle Protestants

Athleague Rangers Col" Kelly 40 ^^ reftls^d the Barrony Co- Union Athlone Capt" Ardescaife 36 hort Catholicks to CorPs pass through the

town of Boyle Total 741 with Arms.

Galway Rawford Cavalry Colonel Dennis 7 The number of Daly these corps are

Galway Artillery 18 inserted as they

Galway Battalion Colonel Martin 59 appeared at the last Review —

Loughrea & Clan- Capt" S. Blake 14 and are infinitely ncarde Artillery smaller than when Loughrea & Clan- Colonel 22 originally ricarde Batt" Donellan established. Headford Corps Colonel St 42

George The men

^ho ^ t *- ^ ^ i i ^ ^ compose these Castle McGarrat Colonel Browne 21

corpVare partly CorPs Protestants & Eyrecourt Corps Colonel Eyre 16 Roman Catholicks.

Coote Bellview Corps Colonel 22

Laurence




District j Names of Corps By whom Reputed Remarks commanded strength

I Galway Tuam Corps Colonel Kirwin 25 contd.] Portumna-Clanric- Colonel Peter 24

arde Guards D'Arcy Kilcriest Infantry Colonel William 20

Pearce

Total 290 j

Longford County Longford Newcomen 20 There is every and Horse Esq reason to believe Westmeath A Corps of Cavalry Lt Col Nesbitt 36 these corps are

A Corps of Do Smith Esq' 14 ^

muc dh

over-

A Corps of D0 Lord Belvidere 50 certain ̂ hat' the A corps of Ar- Newcomen 24 same men are tillery 4 Six Esqr returned in dif- Pounders ferent corps. A corps of D0 4 Harman 30 L, „ . . ,. Six Pounders Esq ê Spmt of

Volunteering is L, * <* , L, , ^ . ^ ^ very much abated County Longford Col" Earl of 50 in ^ and Infantry Granard

many of these Scotch Quarter In- Lt McClonghy 20 corps have not fantry been assembled Granard Union Colonel Nugent 50 these fifteen Brigade (Catholicks) months. At pre- Buff Corps Capt" D. Kerr 56 sent they make no

Edgerstown Corps Sir William 100 other appearance Newcomen ^J? ^P™1 ^ *r * . ^ or Fife which

Longford Corps Nesbitt 56 beats regularly Esq' (Colonel) every night in the

Old Castle Corps Coln O'Reilly 60 town 0f Longford (Catholicks) who are paid by

Drumerce Corps Colonel Smith 50 Lord Granard.

Bally mahon Do. Colonel Harman 100

Mullingar D0 Colonel Lord 100 Belvidere

Lord Longford D0 Colonel Lord 60 Longford

Roman Brigade Colonel Dillon 150 (Catholicks)

Granard Infantry Colonel Earl of ; 30 Granard

Moat Corps Colonel Clibbum 50 Waterstown D0 ' Colonel Temple 30

Total 1136





Kings A Corps of Light Colonel 20 Some of these County Dragoons 0'Moore Corps are mixed

Tullamore Cavalry Mr Bury 20 of both Protest-

Ferbane Light Colonel Arm- 26 f1"8 and

C^0" Troop strong Xl^\ Pîcularly a ^ * a ~>a the Artillery and A Corps of Ar- 24 Birr c tillery

F

Birr Corps Gen1 Sir Wm 160 T^ these Corps Parsons are not numerous,

Mountain Rangers Colonel Byron 120 the sPirit of Vo1- ~ ^ ^ ,, . ^^ unteermg subsists

Kilbeggan Corps Captain Goddard 20 pretty nluch

Ballyboy & Colonel Drout 20 amongst them still Frankford Corps which is to be at- Edenderry Corps Colonel Lucas 20 tributed to the

Idleness and want of Industry which prevails amongst the People in this part of the

Total 430 Country.

Meath Skreen Horse and Colonel Baron 80 The strength of Foot Dillon some of these Trim Horse and Lord Momington — corPS cannot well Foot be ascertained but

Man of War Corps Captain Baker 40 ^ altogetber ̂ Lt Horse made ** P™c,Pal

strength of the Drogheda Artillery Mr Chamney 24 review j t sum. 2 *« I- mer at Drogheda Infantry Mr Lyons 70 Bellewstown. Drumlock Corps Mr Trotter 40

Dunboyne Infantry Colonel Lowther 30

Baltrosiney D0 Colonel O'Reilly 30

Carlingstown D0 Colonel 30 Meredyth

Clonbreny D0 Colonel Wade 30 Navan Corps Captain Preston —

Kells D0 (laid aside their —

arms) Sloane D0 Captain Fisher 30

Athboy D0 -

Swords D0 —

A Corps mostly Lord Killeen 180 Papists

Total 584





Dublin Union Horse Captain 16 From the strictest Cornwall enquiry there does

Rathdown Horse Sir Allen 16 not appear to be Johnstone any corps existing

Dublin Volunteers Duke of Leinster 96 at Present in the r ,, , ^ ^ . -^ county or city of

Merchants Corps Colonel 76 Dublin but those Kirkpatrick which appeared

Dublin Independents Colonel Smith 112 under Arms on Builders Corps Colonel Reed 52 the 4th of Irish Brigade Lord Delvin 70 November.

Legion Colonel 60 The Lawyers and Molineaux Attorneys Corps,

Coolock Volunteers Cap1 McCormick 88 which were very

Liberty Rangers Sir Edward 88 ^W of Newenham ^^ and ^

Goldsmiths Corps Colonel Flood 112 fantry from Call- bridge, Leixlip, Rathfamham &c & Mr Gardiner's light Horse, composed of Gentle- nien of great property have all laid by their Arms and declin- ed appearing on the late 4th November. The Irish Brigade which some time ago amounted to

i about 400 composed of persons of all Religions (but mostly Papists) is now reduced to about 80, and it was with the utmost difficulty (tho' the greatest exertions were made) that any of the Dublin corps could muster the numbers as they stood on the 4th

Total 786 of November.





Kildare Independent Sir Skeffington 30 The present and Wicklow Forresters Smyth strength of these Wicklow Wicklow Forresters Colonel Hays 25 corps cannot so

Rathdown Lord 35 wdl be ascer-

Carabineers Powerscourt Ifined' as

Kthey _ , „ ^c have not been as- Another Corps of Earl of 25 sembled for a Cavry Aldborough considerable time. A corps of Infantry Sir James Tynte 50 Naas Infantry Colonel Bourke 50

^^J^ Îhe Athy Independents Colonel Weldon 40

countyTf Kildare.

The Principal one is the Naas Corps, which is commanded by the Honble John Bourke a zealous friend of

Total 255 Government.

Queens Ossory Light Horse Mr Luke Flood 30 The four last of County Ossory Blues Cav^ Mr Edwd Flood 30 these Corps have

Portarlington Captain Gore 20 ^ assembled

Cavalry these two years.

w «• , t t j ^ , n* And the laSt 0f Mountmelhck In- Lord Carlow 96 ajj is totaj]y fantry disbanded. Maryborough D0 Pierce Moore 38

ESqr The officers of

Port Arlington D° Mr LeGrand 40 ^ Mountmillick

e ,rt Infantry have also

Rathdowney D0 Mr Jos. Palmer 30 all T? ned _ D0 D0 Mr Prior 30 and indeed they Stradbally Corps Captain Cosbie 40 are all declining Grainge Corps Buchan Bagnall 60 very fast.

Manoeth Corps Mr Henry Flood 60 The greatest part Ballynakill Corps Mr Fred. 30 of these corps are

Trench composed of Pro- Donore & Abeleix Lord de Vescie 30 testants - some

Ballyroon Corps Lord Carlow 40 ™ ^xed K&

one u J r (the Maryborough

Infantry) is totally made up of

Total 574 Catholicks —





Carlow Tullow Horse Colonel Wheland 30 These Corps of and Kilkenny Horse Captain Helsham 60 the County of Kilkenny Dumen Horse and Colonel Ridge 60 Carlow ™

P0ot estimated as to strength, as this

Kilkenny Artillery Colonel Butler 22 appears always

Carlow Association Colonel Wm 130 upon paper. They Burton have never been

Grainge & Colonel Bagwall 120 able to bring into Dunbeeky Union the Field near Balin Temple For- Colonel Butler 80 that number. resters These Corps have Borris Rangers Col. Cavanagh 120 full as many

(Catholicks) Roman Catholicks Kilkenny Rangers Colonel Butler 150 as Protestants in

Kilkenny Volunteers Colonel Thos 150 them & one Corps Butler (Mr Cavanaghs) is

Kilkenny In- Colonel Lord 200 cf^\ "™V™*

dependents Clifden ?f Catholicks; he

^ , ^ , ,, a^ himself is one. Castle Coomber Major Laniere 40 Rangers Several Corps Callan Union Colonel George 40 formerly belong-

Agar m% t0 the County of Kilkenny not named here because they are now incorporated in the Kilkenny Independents. The Castle Comber Rangers have likewise joined

Total 1202 them.

No new Corps have been lately raised in this Neighbourhood & each of these above mentioned have decreased very much.





[Carlow Upwards of 60 of and the Kilkenny Kilkenny Rangers com- contd.] manded by Mr

Butler are cloath- ed and paid by him, also several of the Kilkenny Volunteers in the same manner.

Wexford A Corps of Horse Colonel Phair 30 These Corps are

Coolrange Horse Captain Gething 20 all very much on

Wells Horse Captain Doyne 20 the decline-

Ross Horse Captain Drake 20 Valentia Legion Lord Valentia 40 Wexford Infantry Colonel Jacob Another Corps of Captain Hatten D0

Enniscorthy Sir Vesey Col- Rangers clough 250

Rathsey Infantry Captain Richards —

Tighmore D0 Captain Hose Ross D0 Colonel Elliot 80

Total 560

Waterford Waterford Union Captain 16 These Corps have Congreve not been lately

Lismore Blues Captain 20 assembled, are

Cavalry Musgrave supposed to be

Curraghmore Earl of Tyrone 36 ^ much on the

Rangers decline-

Waterford In- Capt" Comm1 200 dependents Allcock Tallow Independents Capt" Comm* 50

Bowles

Dungarvon R Honblc John Volunteers Beresford 40

Cappoqin Colonel Kean 30 Volunteers

Total 392





Tipperary Tipperary Light Sir Comwallis 40 Most of these Dragoons Maude Corps have not Clanwilliam Earl of Clan- 26 assembled for Union d0 william some time past Munster Corps Mr T ,aP Judkin 20 and *? Volunteer-

of do mg Spirit in the

Clogher Union d0 Mr O'Callaghan 26 veTmucHn the

Templemore Colonel Craven 25 decline. Light d0

[ Sleverdagh Light d0 Colonel 25 Hamilton Lane

Lora Rangers d0 Colonel 25 Mathews

Tipperary Artillery Sir Comwallis 16 (2 pieces of Maude cannon) Cashell d0 (2 four Mr Pennefether 12 Prs) Tipperary Light In- Sir Comwallis 16 fantry Maude Clonmel In- Mr Moore 70 dependents j Fethard's In- Mr Barton 50 dependents Caher Union Honbie Mr 30

Butler Cashell Volunteers Mr Penefether 60 Carrick Union Earl of Tyrone 40 Ormond Union Colonel Prittie 90 Ormond In- dependents Colonel Toler 100 Barrisham Colonel Stoney 30 Volunteers

Nenagh Volunteers Colonel Holmes 50 Thurles Union Colonel 50

; Mathews

Newport Volunteers .Lord Jocelyn 30

Total 831




District Names of Corps By whom commanded

Reputed strength

Remarks

Limerick Limerick Cavalry

County of Limerick Horse

Coonagh Rangers d0 Small County Union d0 Conello d0

County Limerick Royal d0 True Blue d0 Kilfinnan d0 Riddlestown Hussars

Roy1 Glyn Ar* 4. 6 Prs 2. 1 Pr

Loyal Limerick Volr Infantry Limerick In- dependents Castle Connel Rangers Rathkele Volunteers German Fuzr (Col- ony of the Palatinate) County of Limerick Volr Fencibles Kilfinnan Foot

Adair Volunteers

Col. Perry (Speaker's Son) Col. Croker

Col. Lord Muskerry Colonel Grady

Colonel Odell

Colonel Massey Colonel Monsell

Captain Coote Col. Blen- nerhassett Col. Fitzgerald

Col. Thos Smith M.P. Col. Smith Prendergast Col. Burke

Col. Leake Col. D'Arcy

Col. Walter

Col. Silver Oliver Col. Sir Richd Quinn

Total

25

30

25

20

30

20 20 12 20

30

90

80

70

50 45

40

30

20

657

It is certain, that none of these Corps would be able to turn out the numbers set before them in the list — and it is probable they will every day decrease as they seem at present very much tired of it.

There is a great Proportion of Catholicks in most of these Corps.





Clare County of Clare Colonel 30 The last 6 corps and Horse Fitzgerald were reviewed at Kerry 5 Mile Bridge Colonel 20 Killamey on the

Independent Horse McNamara 16 August by Sir

Ennis Volunteers Colonel Blood 70 Barry D™? and

t u- • c -i c 1 * an mustered about Inchiquin Fuzileers Earl of 30 3^ ^^w

Inchiquin officers etc Kilrush Union Colonel 40

Vandaleur The Gunsborough Gunsboro* Vols & Colonel Gunn 30 ^1™!ee?illd Woodford Rangers

Woodford Rangers ~ ** , ^ , , », , m have attended at Dromore Volunteers Colonel Mahony 50 former annual Killamey Horse Colonel Cronin 40 reviews but are

(Catholicks) now dispersing. Killarney Infantry Colonel Galway 36 „ t , „ , J J

(dox Colonel Herbert m , ,T * „. ~ ^ ™ had a Corps con- Tralee Volunteers Sir Barry Denny 80

sisting of about Kerry Legion Collector 60 100 men which

Blennerhassett are now reduced. Lown Rangers Collr Row 40 . „ _

Blennerhassett A safet ?"* ., . « ,,. ^^ was formed at

Miltown Fuzileers Major Godfrey 30 Dingle but has never appeared at a review & are now in a manner

Total 556 extinct.

Corke Bandon Light Colonel Stawell 30 A great number Cavalry of the men in Middleton Horse Mr Edward 40 these corps are

Roche Roman Catholicks

Youghall Horse Mr G. Ball 20 ~

V^ u ^

whole thev are Island Cavalry Mr Wallis 30 muchy on ^

Colthurst decline. Tho' Middleton Light Lord 20 several of these Dragoons Kingsborough Corps are not Black Poole Horse Colonel Harding 20 regularly Muskerry Blue Lt Colonel Warren 20 disembodied, yet Dragoons actually they are

Dunillon Rangers Honbie Chas 30 so as êy "ever

Do percival appear under

Kilworth Light D0 Earl of 25 armS'

Mountcashell





[Corke Imokilly Blue Colonel Robert 20 The Spirit of contd.l Horse Uniache Fitz- Volunteering is

gerald declining very Glenmire Union D0 Col Mannix 20 much all over this

Cork Cavalry Colonel 20 County> ̂ en Chetwynd ainon«*

^ ~ , t „ ^ ^ most zealous Cork Artillery Captam Hore 16 Patriots Two 4 P:rs

Imokilly Blue d0 Mr R1 Fitzgerald 35 No new corps Two 4 P:rs have b^11 em-

True Blue of Cork, Earl of Shannon 100 bodied in this

Infantry County since the vear 1779 exceot

Corke Boyne D0 Colonel Bagwell 100 ^ youghall Carberry In- Capt Beecher 30 Horse who were dependents rather a defection Aughrim of Corke Colonel 80 from the Midleton

Longfield Horse last year Royal Newberry Colonel Newman 50 on account of ad- Musketeers mitting Roman

Cork Union Captain Hickman 100 Catholicks, that Corps being en-

Culloden Volunteers Colonel 80 ^ composed of of Cork Bousfield Catholicks. Ross Carberry Colonel 30 Volunteers Hungerford Passage Union Major Parker 90 Bandon In- Colonel Barnard 20 dependents Bandon Boyne Major Lamb 30 Mallow Boyne Sir Jas Cotter 70 Mallow In- Mr Longfield 30 dependents Doneraile Corps Lord Doneraile 40 Duhallow Colonel 30 Volunteers Chinnery Youghall True Mr Robert 50 Blues Uniacke

Youghall Rangers Mr Mead 50 Hobson

Youghall Union Mr Thos Green 60 Cove Union Mr John Col- 30

thurst Kinsale Volunteers Colonel Kearney 50 Charleville Colonel Coote 30 Volunteers

i





[Corke Hanover Society Colonel 50 contd. ] Clonekiity Hungerford

Kanturk Volunteers Earl of Egmont 25 Blackwater Rangers Colonel 25

Aldworth

Blarney Rangers Colonel Jeffreys 100 Newmarket Rangers Colonel 25

Aldworth

Carringlass Captain Peard 25 Volunteers Castle Martyr Captain Hallaran 30 Society Inchigela Volunteers Captain Masters 30

Muskerry Captain Butler 30 Volunteers

Benty Volunteers Colonel 30 Hamilton White

Kinnelea & Kerreck Coleftel Roberts 90 Union Mallow Cavalry Sir John 30

Colthurst

Dunmanway Corps The Rev*1 Mr 20 Evans

Total 2006

Total of Cavalry Total of Infantry

2,009 16,462

18,469!

Artillery 1 Pounders 3 Pounders 4 Pounders 6 Pounders

2 8 8

28

Total pieces of Cannon 48

N.B.: The Artillery men are included in the numbers of the Infantry. There are no returns from the counties of Monaghan, Fermanagh and Mayo — but in the latter they are said to be almost entirely abandoned — There may also be a few wanting in the counties of Louth 8c Downe — But upon the whole making allowances for the exaggerated numbers of many, if not most of the Counties and the Arts which are practised to swell the returns (such as returning the same men in different Corps etc.). It is imagined that this state of the numbers would be found at least to equal and most probably to exceed the greatest that could possibly be produced.

The evident decline of the Volunteers as appears by the annexed remarks will every day prove more and more just and wellfounded.

lThe district totals actually add up to 18,463. This appears to have been due to a misreading of the King's County figure (above, p. 283) as 436 and not 430.



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