The Honourable The Irish Society

The Honourable The Irish Society, known in full as the Society of the Governor and Assistants, London, of the New Plantation in Ulster, within the Realm of Ireland, is a consortium of livery companies of the City of London set up in 1613 to colonise County Londonderry during the Plantation of Ulster. It was incorporated by royal charter of James I and consists of "six and twenty honest and discreet citizens of London" nominated by the livery companies. In its first decades it rebuilt the city of Derry and town of Coleraine, and for centuries it owned property and fishing rights near both towns. Some of the society's profits were used to develop the economy and infrastructure of the area, while some was returned to the London investors, and some used for charitable work.

Arms of the Irish Society on a window in Coleraine Town Hall

The society remains in existence as a "relatively small grant-giving charitable body".[1] Its educational grants are funded by its remaining property, including the walls of Derry, a tourist attraction and heritage site, and fisheries on the River Bann.[1] It is based in London, with a "Representative" resident in Coleraine.[1] It remains closely linked with the City of London: its Governor is traditionally a former Lord Mayor of London, and members of the Court of Aldermen and Court of Common Council of the Corporation of London constitute members of the Court of the Honourable the Irish Society.

History
A section of Derry's Walls, together with the Guildhall. Both were constructed by the Irish Society

The Nine Years' War between Gaelic Irish chiefs and the Dublin Castle administration of the Kingdom of Ireland ended in Gaelic defeat 1603, and the Flight of the Earls in 1607 left northwest Ulster open to colonisation. In planning the plantation of Ulster, King James I set out to defend against a future attack from within or without. In his survey, he found that the town of Derry could become either a great asset as a control over the River Foyle and Lough Swilly, or it could become an inviting back door if the people of the area were against him. He pressured the guilds of the City of London to fund the resettlement of the area, including the building of a new walled city, and the result was the creation of the society. The Virginia Company of London had been created similarly in 1606 to colonise North America.

The city of Derry was renamed Londonderry in recognition of the London origin of the Irish Society.[2] County Coleraine was enlarged and renamed County Londonderry after its new county town. The rural area of the county was subdivided between the Great Twelve livery companies, while the towns and environs of Londonderry and Coleraine were retained by the Irish Society.[3] The society was sequestrated in 1630, fined for non-performance in 1635, and suppressed in 1637;[4] it was revived by Oliver Cromwell in 1650 and again after the Restoration by Londonderry's 1662 royal charter.[5] A dispute with the Bishop of Derry over fishing rights was appealed from the Irish House of Lords to the English House of Lords, in a controversial move later sanctioned by the Declaratory Act of 1719.[6] A private act of the Parliament of Ireland was also passed in 1704 to resolve the dispute.[6][7]

During the 17th and 18th centuries four of the twelve livery companies sold their estates, the Irish Society requiring in each case a bond of indemnity.[8] The leases to middlemen granted by the other companies expired at various times during the nineteenth century, after which the companies "enormously increased the rental".[8] Until the Municipal Corporations (Ireland) Act 1840, the society had influence on the municipal corporations of Derry and Coleraine, with right of appointment of some officials and right of veto over some classes of decision. The society also had some disputes with the corporations over ownership and development of property. Profits from the society's commercial endeavours were redistributed to the livery companies until a lawsuit brought by the Skinners' Company in 1832 claiming a greater share of this revenue.[9] The case was decided by the House of Lords in 1845, ruling that the society held its property in trust, not for the livery companies, but for "public purposes".[10] Since then, its profits have been used entirely for charitable ends.[10][11] The 1854 Royal Commission on the City of London recommended that the Irish Society be abolished and its property transferred to a new charitable trust, unconnected to the London Corporation, with trustees nominated by the Lord Chancellor of Ireland.[12]

While the companies' rural estates were sold to tenants under the Irish Land Acts after 1870, the Irish Society's urban property was exempt from the acts.[1] An 1889 House of Commons select committee report stated:[13]

From the evidence of these witnesses it appeared that there was no complaint as to the manner in which the Irish Society had performed its duties; and, with regard to the different City Companies, it was admitted that till recently they had acted with liberality. They had built churches and schools throughout their respective districts, and had subscribed with great liberality to the local charities. The complaint was that this liberality on the part of some of the Companies has greatly diminished, that some subscriptions have been entirely withdrawn, and others considerably diminished, and that some of the Livery Companies who had formerly given subscriptions to various local charities had sold their lands recently without making provision for the continuance of these subscriptions.

The Society financed the building of Derry's Guildhall. Work started in 1887 and it was opened in July 1890, having cost £19,000.[14] By the 21st century the Irish Society's property portfolio was "much reduced".[1]

References

Sources

Citations
  1. Montgomery, Edward (November–December 2009). "The Honourable The Irish Society: still in business". History Ireland. 17 (6).
  2. Lacey, Brian (1990). Siege city : the story of Derry and Londonderry. Belfast: Blackstaff Press. pp. 91, 93. ISBN 0-85640-443-8.
  3. Londonderry History. A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland. London: Samuel Lewis. 1837. Retrieved 24 July 2015.
  4. 1884 report, Appendix (A.) The London Companies' Estates in co. Derry, section 9
  5. 1884 report, Appendix (A.) The London Companies' Estates in co. Derry, section 10
  6. Hunter, R. J. (1972). "Reviewed Work: The Bishopric of Derry and the Irish Society of London, 1602-1705. Vol. 1: 1602-70 by T. W. Moody, J. G. Simms". Studia Hibernica. St. Patrick's College, Drumcondra (12): 174–176. JSTOR 20496009.
  7. 1899 narrative, pp.127–131
  8. 1884 report, Appendix (A.) The London Companies' Estates in co. Derry, section 12
  9. Skinners, Worshipful Company of (1839). The Skinners' Company Against the Honourable the Irish Society, the Corporation of London, and Others. Proceedings in ... Chancery, Upon the Hearing of the Cause in the Rolls Court, ... Commencing Feb. 9, 1838. William Tyler. Retrieved 24 July 2015.
  10. 1891 report, pp.ix–x
  11. 1899 narrative, pp.179–193
  12. 1854 report p.xxxiv
  13. 1889 report, p.iii
  14. "Guildhall Information". Derry City Council. Archived from the original on 8 April 2012. Retrieved 16 March 2012.
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