TITHE DEFAULTER SCHEDULES

1831

When increasing numbers of tithe payers refused to pay tithes during the years 1830 and 1831, in particular, many Church of Ireland clergymen found themselves in difficult financial circumstances. The government of the day set up what was called Clergy Relief Fund 1831. One consequence of this Act was that the Government then had the job of collecting the arrears of tithes in each parish rather than the clergymen.

The tithe defaulter, as a result of this Act of 1832, became not a debtor of the Church of Ireland clergyman but a debtor of the State. The State spent some £27, 000 in recovering a mere £12, 000. There were outstanding arrears of £1, 000,000.

If the clergyman wished to seek assistance under the terms of the Act, he had to swear an affidavit setting out the methods he had employed in attempting to recover the arrears of tithe for 1831. To accompany the affidavit he had to write out a Schedule, setting out the ‘Names, Descriptions, and Places of Abode of the Persons, Occupiers of Land’ within his Parish, as well as how much tithe was due from each tithe payer and how much each tithe payer was in arrears. The affidavits and the schedules then had to be sent to Dublin Castle for a decision as to whether relief would be granted or not under the terms of the Act which set up the Clergy Relief Fund.

There are 1,061 pages of names of tithe defaulters. These 1,061 pages of names cover 232 Parishes and list 29,027 names. This is a unique record of people living in Ireland, and of their address and occupations (sometimes ommited) at the time that the various Schedules were compiled, namely in June, July and august, 1832.

Tipperary…9,346

Kilkenny...10,263

Waterford...1,838

Louth……….965

Limerick…....851

Meath………..36

Laois……….360

Offaly………..23

Carlow……..437

Kerry………...20

Cork………2115

Wexford…..2719