The tenant farmer had two major outgoings that he had to generate income to meet – rent and taxes. These were a constant dark cloud looming over them. Six months rent had to be paid to the landowner on two fixed dates each year.
There were two forms of tax, both of which were calculated per acre of his holding – cess and tithes. Some landlords had (or took on) the responsibility to collect all three forms of payment – rent, cess and tithes – and to pass on the latter two to the relevant body.
Cess
The cess (rates) was levied by the county and was to be spent on roads and other public works, such as prisons and dispensary doctors.
The cess charges were set annually by the county grand jury, which also determined how the money collected was spent. The grand jury members were overwhelmingly composed of the large landowners. So the richest and most powerful men in the country collected all the money required for public works and then spent that money exactly as they pleased – without contributing a single penny themselves. The burden fell entirely on their tenant farmers. It was a system ripe for corruption – and it was highly corrupt!
Tithes
Tithes were set by and payable to the established (Anglican) church at parish level. Most of the Poyntzpass area was in the Parish of Ballymore, whose parish church is in Tandragee.
Tithes in particular were a source of festering resentment, especially among Catholics and dissenting Protestants; why should they be forced to support a fat-cat hierarchy in the established church, with which they had nothing in common, and got nothing from?
The upper echelons of the established Church were often very out of touch with the privations experienced by such tenants. In contrast, the landlords and their agents could be more understanding. Writing to Col Close in January 1835, his agent William Blacker says:
“My dear Maxwell, I have just received yours of this morning desiring me to go on in regard to the tenantry…viz. calling upon those which are parishioners of Ballymore for the tithe due at November 1834 and the arrears as per agreement with the Dean and calling upon the tenants of Killeavey parish for the year’s tithe due at same time and in failure of payment to proceed by ejectments against both one and the other.
“Whatever my private opinions may be as to the prudence of your adopting this resolution, you may rely upon a faithful discharge of my duty…but before doing so I…represent to you in the strongest manner that as Dean Carter is only asking the tenants on other estates for payment of the tithe due at 1833 and by his refusing to answer my letter begging such additional time to be allowed for the collection as would enable me to do the same, he shows that he is determined not to accede to my request and you are thereby left the alternation of either advancing the amount due to him for a short time or continuing to appear to your tenantry in the unpleasant light of having taken part against them by making them pay to 1834 when he is only asking 1833.
“I say I think it my duty strongly to urge you to advance whatever part of the year 1834 I may be unable to collect before 1 January next…Perhaps this may do away some part of the opposition and the matter may blow over without engendering any unpleasant feeling of a lasting nature which…would…destroy the comfort of your residence at Drumbanagher.
“…Dean Carter has refused to grant the Presbyterian clergymen any exemption…heretofore enjoyed…they paid down the amount on the counter…and went away saying they might thank Colonel Close…and would not have had to pay now but for him.
“…I do not venture to dispute the correctness of the information [you] have received as to what has been done on other estates but…my opinion is there is not any one estate in the parish in which either landlord or agent has either forced or attempted to force obedience…except your own. Having said this much I repeat again I shall follow your orders most implicitly. Perhaps I may be able to succeed but I look on the matter in so serious a point of view that I must beg of you to keep this letter and the others I have written safe.
“…I have desired them [Killeavy tenants] to be warned to pay on Tuesday week and shall state your determination to enforce the payment if I find it necessary. I know if the combination is not very strong, they will be afraid to oppose you. It is not easy to calculate the strength until it breaks out, but several have paid and refuse to take any receipt along with the rent saying they were afraid to let it be known they had paid.”
To paraphrase Blacker:
“Times are hard for the tenants, yet the Church is utterly unsympathetic. They’re even changing the unwritten rules. If we insist on our tenants paying, it’s Maxwell Close who looks like an uncaring bastard, not the Dean! That’s what the Presbyterian clergy already feel, and we don’t want them inciting their congregations against you. No other landlords in the area have done what you’re contemplating. Feelings are running very high, and if you insist, especially if we eject any tenants, we could have a full-scale rent strike on our hands. You’re the boss, I’ll do whatever you say, but please think very carefully! My advice is to pay the Church’s demands in full, up front, out of the estate’s funds and then let’s see what we can recoup from the tenants later.”
Around this time, the Count de Salis of Tandragee was a tireless and very public opponent of the very principle of tithes.
The payment of tithes was finally abolished in 1863.