Dr Brendan Scott, representing Cumann Seanchais Bhreifne; Sean O Suilleabhain, who launched the book; Monsignor Liam Kelly, author and his brother Frankie Kelly who spoke during the book launch.

A window on the past

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The launch by Monsignor Liam Kelly of his book entitled ‘The First Fatality of the Land War, Philip Meehan 1845-1880’ earlier this month attracted much attention. The book was published by Cumann Seanchais Bhreifne and the official launch was presided over by historian Seán Ó Suilleabháin.

The book tells the story of the shooting of Philip Meehan, a tenant farmer from the townland of Corraleehanbeg on the Cavan/Leitrim border. He was shot by Henry B Acheson, a young landlord from Croghan in County Roscommon, on June 14, 1880.

The Land War was a period of agrarian agitation in rural Ireland. The agitation was led by the Irish National Land League and its successors, the Irish National League and the United Irish League, and aimed to secure fair rent, free sale, and fixity of tenure for tenant farmers and ultimately peasant proprietorship of the land they worked.

The land question in Ireland was ultimately defused by a series of Irish Land Acts, beginning in 1870 with rent reform, establishing the Land Commission in 1881, and providing for judicial reviews to certify fair rents.

Mons Kelly's book is available in Cavan Genealogy, as well as in shops in Ballinamore and Carrick-on-Shannon.

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