there lived a terrible bad man named oliver cromwell
While England had seized and enclosed parcels of land in Ireland dating as far back as the 13th century, it wasn’t until the Cromwellian conquest beginning in 1649 that land enclosure in Ireland really began in earnest. With Cromwell and his soldiers forcing as many of the Irish people as possible to the rocky, less fertile land west of the Shannon. Those who resisted were either killed or taken prisoner and transported to England’s colonies in Australia or the Americas.
Between the death toll and kidnappings this was the first time in which Ireland’s population was cut in half, the second being An Gorta Mór.
The Cromwellian Conquest was also the birth of landlordism in Ireland.
Cromwell’s colonisers realised they had no labourers to work the land for them. So they allowed some of the native Irish to come back to their homes in exchange for rent and labour.
The Moonlighters were the first that put hope into the nation
In the 19th century land enclosure was reaching its height and, evictions were mounting and fooding and housing shortages were common.
In light of these circumstances the Moonlighters were formed by Bob Finn (the first Captain Moonlight), Batt O’Leary and Justin McCarthy.
Though this group was originally formed in Castleisland, Co. Kerry it spread to many parts of the country.
The Moonlighters were a secret society dedicated to opposing English Rule, to preventing land enclosure (or “grabbing” as they called it), to protecting tenants and enforcing boycotts.
They would do this through use of Moonlight Raids in which they would tear down fences, sabotage farm machinery, injure, kill or steal livestock, and assaulting or killing Grabbers (those who tried to enclose common land) and Landlords.
The Moonlighters would also raise money through various means to help provide for families during boycotts and rent strikes as well as fighting to prevent evictions and sometimes to reclaim stolen homes.
They would generally perform these Moonlight Raids while masked and disguised. And they would often leave warning notes or taunts signed off by Captain Moonlight.
The National moonlight boy
Composed by the Cork Poet Con O’Mahony whose repertoire had a distinctly revolutionary bent. The song romanticises the Moonlighter movement and the poet plainly sees the punishment of Moonlighters as unjust. The titular character has been sentenced to transportation, though the song does not clarify which of England’s colonies he’s being sent to.
This is very interesting considering that the legacy of the Moonlighters did make it to Australia in the form of Andrew George Scott, a masked outlaw and gang leader who often made speeches on prison reform under the name Captain Moonlite.
Scott (who was also presumed gay) was originally from Ireland. Though he chose to move to Australia of his own free will he was still very plainly honouring the Moonlighter legacy begun by Bob Finn.