Horace Curzon Plunkett
Encyclopedia
Sir Horace Curzon Plunkett PC, KCVO
, FRS
, DL
, JP
(24 October 1854 – 26 March 1932), was an Anglo-Irish
unionist, an agricultural reformer, dedicated idealist and pioneer of agricultural co-operation, politician, Member of Parliament
(MP) and author.
He was a member of the Congested Districts Board, Ireland, 1891–1918; Founder of Recess Committee and Irish Agricultural Organisational Society (IAOS); Vice-President of the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction (DATI) for Ireland from Oct. 1899 to May 1907; MP. for South Dublin
(1892–1900) in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
; Chairman of the Irish Convention
, 1917-18. An adherent of Home Rule
, he founded 1914 (-1922) the Irish Dominion League to keep Ireland united, and in 1922 he became a member of the new Irish Free State
Senate, Seanad Éireann
.
, County Meath
, Ireland
, and the Honourable Anne Constance Dutton (d. 1858) (daughter of 2nd Baron Sherborne
). He was of Protestant Irish unionist background, educated at Eton College
and University College, Oxford
of which college he became honorary fellow in 1909. His older brother was John Plunkett, 17th Baron of Dunsany and his cousin Count George Noble Plunkett
, father of Joseph Mary Plunkett
.
Threatened by lung trouble in 1879, he sought health in ranching for ten years (1879–1889) in Wyoming
's Bighorn Mountains, United States
, where, together with a substantial fortune, he acquired experience that proved invaluable in the work of agricultural education, improvement and development, to which he devoted himself on his return to Ireland on the death of his father in 1889.
Never marrying, his tremendous energy poured into politics, sociology, public administration and economics. As visible testimony to his endeavours, he left the Irish co-operative movement and what is now known as the Republic of Ireland's Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.
. The experience only hardened his conviction that the one remedy for social and economic ill was co-operative self-help. Around him he saw a troubled economy, racked with dissension, denuded by emigration, impoverished in its countryside and economically stagnant in its towns. He immediately took a leading part in developing agricultural co-operation, of which he had learned from isolated American farmers, and also took account of Scandinavian co-operation models and the invention of the steam-powered cream separator. Working with a few colleagues, including two members of the clergy, and advocating the value of self-reliance, he set his ideas into practise first amongst dairy farmers in the south, establishing Ireland’s first co-operative at Doneraile
, County Cork
and opening the first creamery in Dromcollogher, County Limerick
. That Cork also fostered an earlier pioneer of the co-operative movement in the name of William Thompson
, deserves mentioning.
In the setting up of creameries the co-operative movement experienced its greatest success. Plunkett got farmers to join together and establish these in order to process and market their own butter, milk and cheese to standards suitable for the British market, rather than producing unhygienic poor quality output in their homes, for local traders. This enabled farmers to deal directly with companies established by themselves, who could guarantee fair prices without middlemen absorbing the profits. He believed that the industrial revolution needed to be redressed by an agricultural revolution through co-operation and promulgated his ideals under the slogan "Better farming, better business, better living" (President Theodore Roosevelt
adopted the slogan for his conservation and country life policy).
(AE), Plunkett made a good working team, writing widely on economic and cultural development and the role of labour. As early as 1894, when his campaign reached a stage too big to be directed by a few individuals, Plunkett founded the Irish Agricultural Organisation Society (IAOS), which rapidly became the powerhouse of co-operation, with 33 affiliated dairy co-operative societies and co-operative banks
, introducing co-operation among Irish farmers by proving the benefits obtainable through more economical and efficient management, publishing the following year its journal The Irish Homestead
, to disperse information on farming generally. Four years later there were 243 affiliated societies. Within a decade 800 societies were in existence, with a trade turnover of three million pounds sterling.
Plunkett’s task was frustrating. He was a pioneer of the concept of systematic rural development, who, in spite of his role in Irish affairs being often overlooked, influenced many international reformers, and can be credited as one of the few who had a long-term vision for the development of rural Ireland. He was apt to remind audiences that even if full peasant proprietorship was achieved and Home Rule implemented, rural underdevelopment would still have to be faced. But class conflict between farmers and shopkeepers intervened to frustrate much of what he aimed to do.
he was elected as Irish Unionist Alliance Member of Parliament
(MP) for South County Dublin. Continuing, however, his policy of conciliation, Plunkett suggested in August 1895 that a few prominent persons of various political opinions both nationalist and unionist should meet to discuss and frame a scheme of practical legislation in pursuing national development and to make recommendations on the Agriculture and Industries (Ireland) Bill of 1897. The outcome of this proposal was the formation of the Recess Committee with Plunkett as chairman, which included men of such divergent views as the Earl of Mayo
, John Redmond
, The O'Conor Don
and Thomas Sinclair.
In July 1896, the Recess Committee issued a report, of which Plunkett was the author, containing valuable accounts of the systems of state aid to agriculture and of technical instruction in foreign countries. This report, and the growing influence of Plunkett, who became a member of the Irish Privy Council in 1897, led to the passing of an Act in 1899 which established a Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction (DATI) for Ireland, of which the Chief Secretary for Ireland
was to be president ex officio. Plunkett was appointed vice-president, a position of de facto leadership which gave him control of the department's operations. He guided the policy and administration of the department in its first seven critical years.
The DATI worked :
By 1914 the Department had 138 instructors travelling the country, informing farmers of new methods in agriculture, horticulture and poultry keeping.
The turn of the century was a high water-mark in Plunket’s achievements. The IAOS was flourishing and vigorous. In 1903 there were 370 dairy societies, 201 co-operative banks and 146 agricultural societies under the auspices of thee IAOS, and by 1914 there were over 1,000 societies and nearly 90,000 members.
But hard-line Unionists considered him too conciliatory and cost him his seat at the general election In October 1900
by putting up a candidate to split the unionist vote.
It had been intended that the vice-president should be responsible for the department in the House of Commons, but an extensively signed memorial, supported by the Agricultural Council, prayed that he might not be removed from office, and at the government's request he continued to direct the policy of the department without a seat in parliament. He was created Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order
in 1903.
to power in 1906, Plunkett was requested by James Bryce
, the new chief secretary, to remain at the head of the department he had created.
But John Redmond
, leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party
turned against him for suggesting that anything but Home Rule might be the answer to Ireland’s problems. And other mainstream nationalists, led by John Dillon
, rejected economic development, whether Plunkett’s agricultural co-operatives, William O'Brien
’s tenant land purchase or D. D. Sheehan
’s housing of rural labourers, in advance of "national development".
Ultimately the DATI ceased to work harmoniously with the IAOS, wrecking Plunkett’s highest hopes. A determined effort was therefore made by the Nationalists to drive from office the man who by his immense efforts had probably done more than any one else of his generation to benefit the ordinary Irish people; and in moving a resolution in the House of Commons with this object in 1907, a Nationalist declared that his party took their stand on the principle that the industrial revival could only go hand in hand with the national movement.
The government gave way, and although re-elected president of the IAOS in the summer of 1907, Sir Horace Plunkett retired from office in the DATI. Since the year 1900 a grant of about £4,000 had been made annually by the Department of Agriculture to the Irish Agricultural Organisation Society but the new vice-president, T. W. Russell, who had been himself previously a member of the Unionist administration, withdrew in 1907 this modest support of an association with which Plunkett was so closely identified, and of which he continued to be the guiding spirit. Nonetheless, many were inspired by his vision and established creamery cooperatives around the country, such as the Lee Strand Co-operative, still thriving in 2007, and which was established by Denis O'Donnell
in 1920 in Tralee.
, to no avail.
During the World War I
years, the co-operatives were severely hit as farmers avoided their high standards, supplying inferior produce directly to Britain, her food shortages a boom period for Irish agriculture. Much of Plunkett’s time was spent as an unofficial envoy between Britain and the United States, and after the 1916 Rising
, he spent his energy seeking clemency for the leaders. From July 1917 to May 1918, he chaired the Irish Convention
which sought to find agreement on the implementation of the suspended Third Home Rule Act 1914. He may have lost an historic deal in January 1918 by diverting the debate to one on land purchase. In the years 1914-1922, he worked to keep Ireland united within the British Commonwealth
, founding the Irish Dominion League
and a weekly journal the Irish Statesman to advance that aim, for which he was denounced by republicans. In the event, most republicans accepted dominion status when the Irish Free State
was established in 1921-22.
, he accepted membership in 1922 of the new Irish Free State
Senate, Seanad Éireann
. His work on co-operation took him abroad frequently, and when he was in the United States during the Irish Civil War
in 1923, his grand house Kilteragh, in Foxrock
, Co. Dublin was one of over 300 country houses targetted by the IRA and burned down during the Civil War, the fire taking with it many of the records of the wider Plunkett family, which he had gathered to prepare a work on the subject.
, Surrey
, England
, where on the 21 December 1918, he had agreed to found the Plunkett Foundation (launched in 1919 with 5000 pounds sterling) and continued to promote and spread his gospel of agricultural co-operatives and rural sociology, with the slogan "Better Farming, Better Business, Better Living". The Foundation continues its work today.
In 1924, Plunkett presided over a conference in London on agricultural co-operation in the British Commonwealth, and in 1925 visited South Africa
to help the movement there.
Horace Plunkett died at Weybridge on 26 March 1932.
Horace Plunkett was also close to the neighbouring Killeen
Plunketts and he features in the famous account of aristocratic country life by the then Countess Fingall, Daisy, "Seventy Years Young".
Abroad, Plunkett remained in touch with friends in the USA, including Colonel House, Theodore Roosevelt and Charles McCarthy.
Horace Plunkett, who kept a diary from at least 1881, did not marry and left no children.
Royal Victorian Order
The Royal Victorian Order is a dynastic order of knighthood and a house order of chivalry recognising distinguished personal service to the order's Sovereign, the reigning monarch of the Commonwealth realms, any members of her family, or any of her viceroys...
, FRS
Royal Society
The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...
, DL
Deputy Lieutenant
In the United Kingdom, a Deputy Lieutenant is one of several deputies to the Lord Lieutenant of a lieutenancy area; an English ceremonial county, Welsh preserved county, Scottish lieutenancy area, or Northern Irish county borough or county....
, JP
Justice of the Peace
A justice of the peace is a puisne judicial officer elected or appointed by means of a commission to keep the peace. Depending on the jurisdiction, they might dispense summary justice or merely deal with local administrative applications in common law jurisdictions...
(24 October 1854 – 26 March 1932), was an Anglo-Irish
Anglo-Irish
Anglo-Irish was a term used primarily in the 19th and early 20th centuries to identify a privileged social class in Ireland, whose members were the descendants and successors of the Protestant Ascendancy, mostly belonging to the Church of Ireland, which was the established church of Ireland until...
unionist, an agricultural reformer, dedicated idealist and pioneer of agricultural co-operation, politician, Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
(MP) and author.
He was a member of the Congested Districts Board, Ireland, 1891–1918; Founder of Recess Committee and Irish Agricultural Organisational Society (IAOS); Vice-President of the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction (DATI) for Ireland from Oct. 1899 to May 1907; MP. for South Dublin
South Dublin (UK Parliament constituency)
South Dublin was a county constituency in Ireland from 1885 to 1922. It elected one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, using the first past the post voting system....
(1892–1900) in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name of the United Kingdom during the period when what is now the Republic of Ireland formed a part of it....
; Chairman of the Irish Convention
Irish Convention
The Irish Convention was an assembly which sat in Dublin, Ireland from July 1917 until March 1918 to address the Irish Question and other constitutional problems relating to an early enactment of self-government for Ireland, to debate its wider future, discuss and come to an understanding on...
, 1917-18. An adherent of Home Rule
Irish Home Rule Movement
The Irish Home Rule Movement articulated a longstanding Irish desire for the repeal of the Act of Union of 1800 by a demand for self-government within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The movement drew upon a legacy of patriotic thought that dated back at least to the late 17th...
, he founded 1914 (-1922) the Irish Dominion League to keep Ireland united, and in 1922 he became a member of the new Irish Free State
Irish Free State
The Irish Free State was the state established as a Dominion on 6 December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty, signed by the British government and Irish representatives exactly twelve months beforehand...
Senate, Seanad Éireann
Seanad Éireann
Seanad Éireann is the upper house of the Oireachtas , which also comprises the President of Ireland and Dáil Éireann . It is commonly called the Seanad or Senate and its members Senators or Seanadóirí . Unlike Dáil Éireann, it is not directly elected but consists of a mixture of members chosen by...
.
Family and background
Plunkett was the third son of Admiral Edward Plunkett, 16th Baron of Dunsany, of Dunsany Castle, Dunsany, near DunshaughlinDunshaughlin
-History:It is named after Saint Seachnall, who established a church there in the 5th century.Máel Seachlainn was ancestor to the principal family of Brega, Ó Maoilsheachlainn, is descended...
, County Meath
County Meath
County Meath is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Mid-East Region and is also located in the province of Leinster. It is named after the ancient Kingdom of Mide . Meath County Council is the local authority for the county...
, Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, and the Honourable Anne Constance Dutton (d. 1858) (daughter of 2nd Baron Sherborne
Baron Sherborne
Lord Sherborne, Baron of Sherborne, in the County of Gloucester, was a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1784 for James Dutton, who had earlier represented Gloucestershire in Parliament. He was the son of James Dutton by Anne Dutton, daughter of Sir Ralph Dutton, 1st Baronet...
). He was of Protestant Irish unionist background, educated at Eton College
Eton College
Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....
and University College, Oxford
University College, Oxford
.University College , is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. As of 2009 the college had an estimated financial endowment of £110m...
of which college he became honorary fellow in 1909. His older brother was John Plunkett, 17th Baron of Dunsany and his cousin Count George Noble Plunkett
George Noble Plunkett
George Noble Plunkett or Count Plunkett was a biographer and Irish nationalist, and father of Joseph Mary Plunkett, one of the leaders of the Easter Rising of 1916....
, father of Joseph Mary Plunkett
Joseph Mary Plunkett
Joseph Mary Plunkett was an Irish nationalist, poet, journalist, and a leader of the 1916 Easter Rising.-Background:...
.
Threatened by lung trouble in 1879, he sought health in ranching for ten years (1879–1889) in Wyoming
Wyoming
Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...
's Bighorn Mountains, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, where, together with a substantial fortune, he acquired experience that proved invaluable in the work of agricultural education, improvement and development, to which he devoted himself on his return to Ireland on the death of his father in 1889.
Never marrying, his tremendous energy poured into politics, sociology, public administration and economics. As visible testimony to his endeavours, he left the Irish co-operative movement and what is now known as the Republic of Ireland's Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.
Pioneering co-operation
At first, Plunkett resolved to hold himself aloof from party politics, and he set himself to bring together men of all political views for the promotion of the material prosperity of the Irish people. In 1891 he was appointed to the Congested Districts Board and learned at first-hand of the wretched conditions of the rural population west of the River ShannonRiver Shannon
The River Shannon is the longest river in Ireland at . It divides the west of Ireland from the east and south . County Clare, being west of the Shannon but part of the province of Munster, is the major exception...
. The experience only hardened his conviction that the one remedy for social and economic ill was co-operative self-help. Around him he saw a troubled economy, racked with dissension, denuded by emigration, impoverished in its countryside and economically stagnant in its towns. He immediately took a leading part in developing agricultural co-operation, of which he had learned from isolated American farmers, and also took account of Scandinavian co-operation models and the invention of the steam-powered cream separator. Working with a few colleagues, including two members of the clergy, and advocating the value of self-reliance, he set his ideas into practise first amongst dairy farmers in the south, establishing Ireland’s first co-operative at Doneraile
Doneraile
Doneraile is a town in County Cork, Province of Munster, Ireland. It is located on the R581 regional road 8 km east of the N20 road which runs from Limerick to Cork. It is about 12 km north of Mallow town...
, County Cork
County Cork
County Cork is a county in Ireland. It is located in the South-West Region and is also part of the province of Munster. It is named after the city of Cork . Cork County Council is the local authority for the county...
and opening the first creamery in Dromcollogher, County Limerick
County Limerick
It is thought that humans had established themselves in the Lough Gur area of the county as early as 3000 BC, while megalithic remains found at Duntryleague date back further to 3500 BC...
. That Cork also fostered an earlier pioneer of the co-operative movement in the name of William Thompson
William Thompson (philosopher)
William Thompson was an Irish political and philosophical writer and social reformer, developing from utilitarianism into an early critic of capitalist exploitation whose ideas influenced the Cooperative, Trade Union and Chartist movements as well as Karl Marx...
, deserves mentioning.
In the setting up of creameries the co-operative movement experienced its greatest success. Plunkett got farmers to join together and establish these in order to process and market their own butter, milk and cheese to standards suitable for the British market, rather than producing unhygienic poor quality output in their homes, for local traders. This enabled farmers to deal directly with companies established by themselves, who could guarantee fair prices without middlemen absorbing the profits. He believed that the industrial revolution needed to be redressed by an agricultural revolution through co-operation and promulgated his ideals under the slogan "Better farming, better business, better living" (President Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...
adopted the slogan for his conservation and country life policy).
Success and opposition
Expressed public opinion, initially lukewarm, grew hostile as the movement developed and shopkeepers, butter-buyers and sections of the press led a campaign of virulent opposition. Co-operatives and Plunkett were denounced as ruining the dairy industry. But the movement caught hold and with his colleague George William RussellGeorge William Russell
George William Russell who wrote under the pseudonym Æ , was an Irish nationalist, writer, editor, critic, poet, and painter. He was also a mystical writer, and centre of a group of followers of theosophy in Dublin, for many years.-Organisor:Russell was born in Lurgan, County Armagh...
(AE), Plunkett made a good working team, writing widely on economic and cultural development and the role of labour. As early as 1894, when his campaign reached a stage too big to be directed by a few individuals, Plunkett founded the Irish Agricultural Organisation Society (IAOS), which rapidly became the powerhouse of co-operation, with 33 affiliated dairy co-operative societies and co-operative banks
Cooperative banking
Cooperative banking is retail and commercial banking organized on a cooperative basis. Cooperative banking institutions take deposits and lend money in most parts of the world....
, introducing co-operation among Irish farmers by proving the benefits obtainable through more economical and efficient management, publishing the following year its journal The Irish Homestead
Irish Homestead
The Irish Homestead was the weekly publication of the Irish Agricultural Organisation Society . It was founded in 1895 by Horace Plunkett....
, to disperse information on farming generally. Four years later there were 243 affiliated societies. Within a decade 800 societies were in existence, with a trade turnover of three million pounds sterling.
Plunkett’s task was frustrating. He was a pioneer of the concept of systematic rural development, who, in spite of his role in Irish affairs being often overlooked, influenced many international reformers, and can be credited as one of the few who had a long-term vision for the development of rural Ireland. He was apt to remind audiences that even if full peasant proprietorship was achieved and Home Rule implemented, rural underdevelopment would still have to be faced. But class conflict between farmers and shopkeepers intervened to frustrate much of what he aimed to do.
Expanding co-operation
Already in 1892 he had felt compelled to abandon his non-political attitude, and at the general election in July 1892United Kingdom general election, 1892
The 1892 United Kingdom general election was held from 4 July to 26 July 1892. It saw the Conservatives, led by Lord Salisbury, win the greatest number of seats, but not enough for an overall majority as William Ewart Gladstone's Liberals won many more seats than in the 1886 general election...
he was elected as Irish Unionist Alliance Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
(MP) for South County Dublin. Continuing, however, his policy of conciliation, Plunkett suggested in August 1895 that a few prominent persons of various political opinions both nationalist and unionist should meet to discuss and frame a scheme of practical legislation in pursuing national development and to make recommendations on the Agriculture and Industries (Ireland) Bill of 1897. The outcome of this proposal was the formation of the Recess Committee with Plunkett as chairman, which included men of such divergent views as the Earl of Mayo
Earl of Mayo
Earl of the County of Mayo, usually known simply as Earl of Mayo, is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1785 for John Bourke, 1st Viscount Mayo, for many years First Commissioner of Revenue in Ireland...
, John Redmond
John Redmond
John Edward Redmond was an Irish nationalist politician, barrister, MP in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party from 1900 to 1918...
, The O'Conor Don
Denis O'Conor
He was MP for Roscommon from 1831 to 1847. He became a Junior Lord of the Treasury in Lord John Russell's government but died the next year.- References :...
and Thomas Sinclair.
In July 1896, the Recess Committee issued a report, of which Plunkett was the author, containing valuable accounts of the systems of state aid to agriculture and of technical instruction in foreign countries. This report, and the growing influence of Plunkett, who became a member of the Irish Privy Council in 1897, led to the passing of an Act in 1899 which established a Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction (DATI) for Ireland, of which the Chief Secretary for Ireland
Chief Secretary for Ireland
The Chief Secretary for Ireland was a key political office in the British administration in Ireland. Nominally subordinate to the Lord Lieutenant, from the late 18th century until the end of British rule he was effectively the government minister with responsibility for governing Ireland; usually...
was to be president ex officio. Plunkett was appointed vice-president, a position of de facto leadership which gave him control of the department's operations. He guided the policy and administration of the department in its first seven critical years.
The DATI worked :
- To improve the quality of crops and livestock
- To deal with animal and plant disease
- To encourage fishing and planting of forests
- To collect statistics on many aspects of Irish life.
By 1914 the Department had 138 instructors travelling the country, informing farmers of new methods in agriculture, horticulture and poultry keeping.
The turn of the century was a high water-mark in Plunket’s achievements. The IAOS was flourishing and vigorous. In 1903 there were 370 dairy societies, 201 co-operative banks and 146 agricultural societies under the auspices of thee IAOS, and by 1914 there were over 1,000 societies and nearly 90,000 members.
But hard-line Unionists considered him too conciliatory and cost him his seat at the general election In October 1900
United Kingdom general election, 1900
-Seats summary:-See also:*MPs elected in the United Kingdom general election, 1900*The Parliamentary Franchise in the United Kingdom 1885-1918-External links:***-References:*F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832-1987**...
by putting up a candidate to split the unionist vote.
It had been intended that the vice-president should be responsible for the department in the House of Commons, but an extensively signed memorial, supported by the Agricultural Council, prayed that he might not be removed from office, and at the government's request he continued to direct the policy of the department without a seat in parliament. He was created Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order
Royal Victorian Order
The Royal Victorian Order is a dynastic order of knighthood and a house order of chivalry recognising distinguished personal service to the order's Sovereign, the reigning monarch of the Commonwealth realms, any members of her family, or any of her viceroys...
in 1903.
Efforts obstructed
He pressed ahead with agricultural co-operation, its future seemingly assured. But the next years told otherwise. Having sat in the House of Commons as a Unionist, Plunkett had incurred the hostility of the Nationalist party, whose resentment had been further excited by the bold statement of certain controversial truths in his book, Ireland in the New Century (1904), in which he described the economic condition and needs of the country and the nature of the agricultural improvement schemes he had inaugurated, stating that the Irish cause was more a question of economics than of politics, and for making comments on the power of the Catholic priesthood. On the accession of the Liberal PartyLiberal Party (UK)
The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...
to power in 1906, Plunkett was requested by James Bryce
James Bryce, 1st Viscount Bryce
James Bryce, 1st Viscount Bryce OM, GCVO, PC, FRS, FBA was a British academic, jurist, historian and Liberal politician.-Background and education:...
, the new chief secretary, to remain at the head of the department he had created.
But John Redmond
John Redmond
John Edward Redmond was an Irish nationalist politician, barrister, MP in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party from 1900 to 1918...
, leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party
Irish Parliamentary Party
The Irish Parliamentary Party was formed in 1882 by Charles Stewart Parnell, the leader of the Nationalist Party, replacing the Home Rule League, as official parliamentary party for Irish nationalist Members of Parliament elected to the House of Commons at...
turned against him for suggesting that anything but Home Rule might be the answer to Ireland’s problems. And other mainstream nationalists, led by John Dillon
John Dillon
John Dillon was an Irish land reform agitator from Dublin, an Irish Home Rule activist, a nationalist politician, a Member of Parliament for over 35 years, and the last leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party....
, rejected economic development, whether Plunkett’s agricultural co-operatives, William O'Brien
William O'Brien
William O'Brien was an Irish nationalist, journalist, agrarian agitator, social revolutionary, politician, party leader, newspaper publisher, author and Member of Parliament in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland...
’s tenant land purchase or D. D. Sheehan
D. D. Sheehan
Daniel Desmond Sheehan, usually known as D. D. Sheehan was an Irish nationalist, politician, labour leader, journalist, barrister and author...
’s housing of rural labourers, in advance of "national development".
Ultimately the DATI ceased to work harmoniously with the IAOS, wrecking Plunkett’s highest hopes. A determined effort was therefore made by the Nationalists to drive from office the man who by his immense efforts had probably done more than any one else of his generation to benefit the ordinary Irish people; and in moving a resolution in the House of Commons with this object in 1907, a Nationalist declared that his party took their stand on the principle that the industrial revival could only go hand in hand with the national movement.
The government gave way, and although re-elected president of the IAOS in the summer of 1907, Sir Horace Plunkett retired from office in the DATI. Since the year 1900 a grant of about £4,000 had been made annually by the Department of Agriculture to the Irish Agricultural Organisation Society but the new vice-president, T. W. Russell, who had been himself previously a member of the Unionist administration, withdrew in 1907 this modest support of an association with which Plunkett was so closely identified, and of which he continued to be the guiding spirit. Nonetheless, many were inspired by his vision and established creamery cooperatives around the country, such as the Lee Strand Co-operative, still thriving in 2007, and which was established by Denis O'Donnell
Denis O'Donnell
Denis O'Donnell was a well-known entrepreneur in County Kerry, Ireland, in the early 1900s.-Background:He was born in Tubrid, Ardfert, County Kerry, to Patrick O'Donnell of Tubridmore, and Bridget of Lerrig...
in 1920 in Tralee.
Political re-orientation
In the following year, 1908, public appreciation of his service was marked by the purchase and gift to himself of 84 Merrion Square, Dublin, which became the headquarters of the agricultural co-operative movement's Irish Agricultural Organization Society (IAOS), the industry body for farmer co-operatives, under the name The Plunkett House. The Irish Homestead frequently drew attention to the status of women in rural Ireland, which lead to the formation of the United Irishwomen organisation in 1910, to improve their domestic economy, welfare and education. Having previously focused his attention pragmatically on economic factors, Plunkett’s political attitude began to change. The failure of the Irish Council Bill in 1908 made him realise the critical importance of self-government and by 1912 he was a convinced Home Ruler. He spent the first half of 1914 in negotiations that would prevent partition and the exclusion of UlsterUlster
Ulster is one of the four provinces of Ireland, located in the north of the island. In ancient Ireland, it was one of the fifths ruled by a "king of over-kings" . Following the Norman invasion of Ireland, the ancient kingdoms were shired into a number of counties for administrative and judicial...
, to no avail.
During the World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
years, the co-operatives were severely hit as farmers avoided their high standards, supplying inferior produce directly to Britain, her food shortages a boom period for Irish agriculture. Much of Plunkett’s time was spent as an unofficial envoy between Britain and the United States, and after the 1916 Rising
Easter Rising
The Easter Rising was an insurrection staged in Ireland during Easter Week, 1916. The Rising was mounted by Irish republicans with the aims of ending British rule in Ireland and establishing the Irish Republic at a time when the British Empire was heavily engaged in the First World War...
, he spent his energy seeking clemency for the leaders. From July 1917 to May 1918, he chaired the Irish Convention
Irish Convention
The Irish Convention was an assembly which sat in Dublin, Ireland from July 1917 until March 1918 to address the Irish Question and other constitutional problems relating to an early enactment of self-government for Ireland, to debate its wider future, discuss and come to an understanding on...
which sought to find agreement on the implementation of the suspended Third Home Rule Act 1914. He may have lost an historic deal in January 1918 by diverting the debate to one on land purchase. In the years 1914-1922, he worked to keep Ireland united within the British Commonwealth
Commonwealth of Nations
The Commonwealth of Nations, normally referred to as the Commonwealth and formerly known as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of fifty-four independent member states...
, founding the Irish Dominion League
Irish Dominion League
The Irish Dominion League was an Irish political party in 1919–21 which advocated Dominion status for Ireland within the British Empire, and opposed partition of Ireland into separate southern and northern jurisdictions...
and a weekly journal the Irish Statesman to advance that aim, for which he was denounced by republicans. In the event, most republicans accepted dominion status when the Irish Free State
Irish Free State
The Irish Free State was the state established as a Dominion on 6 December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty, signed by the British government and Irish representatives exactly twelve months beforehand...
was established in 1921-22.
Recognition abroad
In the troubled years preceding 1922, the co-operative movement suffered much injury at the hands of British government forces, the creameries alleged to be centres of sedition. Factories were wrecked or burned, stocks destroyed, trade interrupted. Plunkett’s protests went unheeded, demands for compensation rejected. After the Anglo-Irish TreatyAnglo-Irish Treaty
The Anglo-Irish Treaty , officially called the Articles of Agreement for a Treaty Between Great Britain and Ireland, was a treaty between the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and representatives of the secessionist Irish Republic that concluded the Irish War of...
, he accepted membership in 1922 of the new Irish Free State
Irish Free State
The Irish Free State was the state established as a Dominion on 6 December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty, signed by the British government and Irish representatives exactly twelve months beforehand...
Senate, Seanad Éireann
Seanad Éireann
Seanad Éireann is the upper house of the Oireachtas , which also comprises the President of Ireland and Dáil Éireann . It is commonly called the Seanad or Senate and its members Senators or Seanadóirí . Unlike Dáil Éireann, it is not directly elected but consists of a mixture of members chosen by...
. His work on co-operation took him abroad frequently, and when he was in the United States during the Irish Civil War
Irish Civil War
The Irish Civil War was a conflict that accompanied the establishment of the Irish Free State as an entity independent from the United Kingdom within the British Empire....
in 1923, his grand house Kilteragh, in Foxrock
Foxrock
Foxrock is a suburb of Dublin, Ireland. It is in Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County, in the postal district of Dublin 18 and in the parish of Foxrock.-History:...
, Co. Dublin was one of over 300 country houses targetted by the IRA and burned down during the Civil War, the fire taking with it many of the records of the wider Plunkett family, which he had gathered to prepare a work on the subject.
Departure from Ireland
The blow was bitter. "The healthiest house in the world" he wrote, "and the meeting place of a splendid body of Irishmen and friends of Ireland destroyed". It was the end. He moved to WeybridgeWeybridge
Weybridge is a town in the Elmbridge district of Surrey in South East England. It is bounded to the north by the River Thames at the mouth of the River Wey, from which it gets its name...
, Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, where on the 21 December 1918, he had agreed to found the Plunkett Foundation (launched in 1919 with 5000 pounds sterling) and continued to promote and spread his gospel of agricultural co-operatives and rural sociology, with the slogan "Better Farming, Better Business, Better Living". The Foundation continues its work today.
In 1924, Plunkett presided over a conference in London on agricultural co-operation in the British Commonwealth, and in 1925 visited South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
to help the movement there.
Horace Plunkett died at Weybridge on 26 March 1932.
Personal life
While most of Horace Plunkett's efforts were devoted to his causes, he was also active in Dublin circles, and with family matters. He assisted for many years in the running of the Dunsany estate, and was for many years close to his nephew, the writer Lord Dunsany, who later donated a building in Dublin to the co-operative movement.Horace Plunkett was also close to the neighbouring Killeen
Killeen Castle, Dunsany
Killeen Castle , located in Dunsany, near Killeen, County Meath, Ireland, is the current construction on a site occupied by a castle since around 1180. The current building, in the process of renovation as a luxury hotel, is a restoration of a largely 19th century construction, burnt out in 1981...
Plunketts and he features in the famous account of aristocratic country life by the then Countess Fingall, Daisy, "Seventy Years Young".
Abroad, Plunkett remained in touch with friends in the USA, including Colonel House, Theodore Roosevelt and Charles McCarthy.
Horace Plunkett, who kept a diary from at least 1881, did not marry and left no children.
Writings
- Ireland in the New Century (1904), Sir Horace Plunkett
- Noblesse Oblige: An Irish Rendering (1908), Sir Horace Plunkett
- The Rural Life Problem of the United States, (1910), Sir Horace Plunkett
- as well as numerous pamphlets
Related Bibliography
- Seventy Years Young, Memoires of Elizabeth, Countess of FingalFingalFingal is a county in Ireland. It is one of three smaller counties into which County Dublin was divided in 1994. With its county seat located in Swords, it has a population of 239,992 according to the 2006 census...
l, by Elizabeth Burke Plunkett, Lady Fingall. First published by Collins of London in 1937; 1991 edition published by The Lilliput Press, Dublin 7, Ireland [ISBN 0 946640 74 2]. This Elizabeth, was a Burke from Moycullen in County Galway, who married the 11th Earl of Fingall, and should not be confused with Elizabeth O'Donnell, 1st Countess of FingalElizabeth O'Donnell, 1st Countess of FingalElizabeth O'Donnell was the 1st Countess of Fingal. She was the daughter of Prince Rory O'Donnell, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell, and Lady Bridget FitzGerald, daughter of Henry FitzGerald, 12th Earl of Kildare. After her father's death in 1608, her mother married Nicholas Barnewall, 1st Viscount...
l.
External links
- Irish Co-operative Organisation Society http://www.icos.ie/content/content.asp?section_id=307&action=details&term_id=585