The Whiteboys were a secret Irish agrarian organisation who protested against exploitative landlords and their methods, such as rack-renting and evictions. Their name derives from the white smocks that they wore. Over time, Whiteboyism became a general term for rural violence connected to secret societies.

Landlords in Ireland during the 18th century were overwhelmingly British, and tended to be extremely harsh towards their tenants. Absentee landlordism, extortionate rents and illegal evictions were common and allowed by the British government. The Whiteboys organised in opposition to many individual landlords in defence of tenants rights. Their first bout of activity was from 1761-1763, in the Munster counties of Limerick, Cork, Tipperary and Waterford. While they started with non-violent protests, such as the leveling of ditches that closed off common grazing land, they soon became more forceful. Threatening letters were also sent to debt collectors, landlords, and occupants of land gained from eviction, demanding that they give up their farms. These threats escalated to shows of force (firing guns and marching outside of army barracks) and attacking prisoners and setting them free.

In response, the British government dispatched 50 soldiers and 40 militiamen against the Whiteboys. The groups clashed violently on occasion, leading to arrests and executions of the Whiteboys. Whiteboy informants were arrested and bounties of £200 were placed upon the leaders’ heads by a citizens’ council.

Agrarian struggles in Ireland continued for centuries, during the 1798 rebellion and the land war of the late 19th and early 20th century. Finally in the late 1800s, following a protracted agrarian struggle led in part by James Stuart Parnell, a series of land acts were passed which aimed to improve tenant’s rights, and required the government to assist any tenants who wished to buy their own land from their landlord.

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