Byrne's Dictionary of Irish Local History (30 page)

Incorporated Society for Promoting English Protestant Schools in Ireland
.
See
charter schools.

incumbent
. A clergymen such as a rector or vicar who possessed an ecclesiastical benefice but not a curate who was merely an assistant to the incumbent.

indenture
. (Med. L.,
indentare
, to give a serrated edge) 1: An indented document used to record a contract or lease between at least two parties. The contract was written out in duplicate form on a sheet of vellum and cut in two so that in disputes the fitting of the two halves proved them authentic. In a lease the landlord's portion was known as the part, that of the tenant, the counter-part. A tripartite indenture involved at least three parties. Indentures were used to record transactions of some importance. A short-term lease was not worth the bother and was recorded on a straight edged
poll
2: A sealed agreement binding an apprentice to a master.

Independents
. Independents (later known as Congregationalists) formed a minor puritan non-conformist sect which became influential during the Commonwealth (1649–1660) under the Independent Oliver Cromwell. They insisted on the autonomy of each congregation and repudiated a nationally-organised church in favour of loose affiliation. They first appeared in Ireland in the 1640s and included
adventurers
as well as Cromwellian soldiers among their number. About 30 Independent congregations were formed but this number dwindled to a mere handful by the close of the seventeenth century. The Independents enjoyed a revival during the nineteenth century – by 1836 there were 28 functioning congregations – but very few could trace their lineage back to the seventeenth century and the survival of the sect owed much to the missionary efforts of English communities. (Kilroy,
Protestant
, pp. 60–81; Greaves,
God's other children
, pp. 22– 25.)

indult
. A dispensation, usually of a temporary nature, granted in the Catholic church.

industrial schools
. The concept of schools that would educate impoverished, abandoned or delinquent children in the habits of industry, regularity, self-denial and self-reliance was borrowed from an English model and introduced to Ireland in 1869. Industrial schools received convicted children under the age of 12 while convicts aged between 12–16 were dispatched to reformatories. By 1900 there were 70 such schools with a capacity for over 8,000 children operating in Ireland, entirely under religious control yet financed by the state. A degree of supervisory responsibility was accepted by the state in 1908 when the schools became subject to the annual visits of an inspector of reformatories and industrial schools. Industrial schools were abolished in England in 1933 but retained in Ireland until the 1970s when they were slated as ‘Dickensian' by the Kennedy Report (Reformatory and Industrial Schools System Report, 1970) which also recommended their closure. (Barnes,
Irish industrial schools
.)

industry, house of
. The earliest workhouse in Ireland opened in Dublin in 1706 to receive vagrants. It was funded by a local house tax, a transport levy and voluntary contributions but it was not a success and a parliamentary committee censured the institution for mismanagement and neglect. Closure, however, was ruled out lest the public be inconvenienced by the sudden release of the most miserable and helpless. Financed by a coal tax, the Cork workhouse opened in 1748. In 1772 (11 & 12 Geo. III, c. 30) parliament legislated for the establishment of a poor relief committee in every county and city of a county empowered to badge beggars and construct workhouses or houses of industry. The act proposed a nationwide system of workhouses but, in the event, funding (by subscription and church collections) proved inadequate and only about six (including Cork, Limerick and Waterford) were actually erected. Houses of industry were intended to provide accommodation and work for beggars, vagrants and the needy. Admission was not necessarily voluntary for most inmates were committed there by the courts. Funded by parliamentary grant, the Dublin house of industry was by far the largest, housing up to 5,000 at one point. Here able-bodied men prepared
oakum
for caulking wooden ships, chipped and rasped logwood for dye production and beat hemp for the rope-making industry. Women spun, combed and carded textiles. Some houses of industry received
grand jury
subventions but the Belfast poorhouse (founded 1774) was funded entirely from local subscriptions. Belfast inmates engaged in weaving, cotton-spinning and horticulture. Houses of Industry that survived until the passing of the 1838 Poor Law Act were absorbed into the
poor law
system.
See
badging. (Strain,
Belfast
, pp. 169–180; Widdess,
The Richmond
, pp. 7–30.)

infangenetheof
. (OE,
fang
, to lay hold of, seize) The right to seize and prosecute a thief within the jurisdiction of a manor and to confiscate the chattels of a felon or to share in the profits arising from the forfeiture after hanging.
See
outfangtheof.

infield
.
See
rundale.

infirmary
. By 5 Geo. III, c. 20 (1765), amended 7 Geo. III, c. 8 (1767), parliament legislated for the erection of county infirmaries to be funded by public moneys and private subscriptions. By 1800 there were 26 small and poorly-run infirmaries in the country.

information
. A formal accusation of a crime made by a prosecuting officer as distinct from an indictment presented by a grand jury.

Inland Navigation, Directors General of
. In 1730 the Irish parliament appointed commissioners of navigation to encourage the development of canals and improve river navigation with the particular intention of increasing tillage and ensuring a cheap and dependable supply of food and fuel for the capital city. Funding for canal-building was secured largely from private subscribers and was supplemented by grants of public money. Enthusiasm for improving the navigability of rivers or building canals outstripped the available capital and many projects were under-financed and remained incomplete. Few justified the expense incurred. The commercial success of the Newry Canal (1731–42) – constructed to facilitate the transport of coal from Tyrone to Carlingford and onwards to Dublin – derived from the growth of the linen trade. In 1751 the commissioners of navigation were subsumed into the Corporation for Promoting and Carrying out an Inland Navigation or the Board of Inland Navigation and granted £7,000 per annum. Between 1778 and 1812 almost £2 million was spent on the Grand and Royal canal systems which linked the east, west and south of the country but neither was a commercial success. At the last session of the Irish parliament before the passage of the Act of Union, £500,000 was earmarked for the promotion of canal building. Salaried commissioners known as the Directors General of Inland Navigation were appointed by the lord lieutenant to assess all applications for grants and to supervise the progress of grant-aided work. Later they were given control of the Shannon navigation and the Tyrone, Newry and Royal Canals. The directors served as a board to develop and regulate fisheries and during the famine of 1822 they maintained roads constructed under the public works relief scheme in the west of Ireland. Subsequently this body was absorbed into the
Board of Works
.

Innisfallen, Annals of
. One of the earliest surviving Irish annals and the most significant collection pertaining to Munster, the
Annals of Innisfallen
detail events down to 1326. Almost 40 scribes worked on the manuscript which is associated with monasteries at Emly, Toomgraney, Lismore, Killaloe and Innisfallen. The original is held in the Bodleian Library, Oxford (MS Rawlinson 503). (Best and McNeill,
The annals
; MacAirt,
The annals.)

innocence, decree of
. A decree issued to those who proved in the first
court of claims
(1663) that they were innocent of complicity in the 1641 rebellion. As innocents they were entitled to resume their former estates without having to pass new letters
patent
.

inns of court
. Inns of court provided a convenient meeting-place for barristers to dine, discuss legal affairs and exchange gossip. Members could also lease chambers or offices there. In England they functioned as hostels where apprentice lawyers were accommodated and fed. In time the inns assumed a role in the education of apprentices through lecture sessions known as ‘readings' which were presented by able barristers. The inns regulated admission to practise and until the late nineteenth century residence at an English inn of court was required for admission to practise in Ireland.
See
King's Inns.

inquisition
. Despite its forbidding resonance, an inquisition was simply an inquiry, the means by which
chancery
and the
exchequer
acquired knowledge about landownership. It was a local inquiry initiated by a request from the
surveyor-general
to the
escheator
to summon a jury of those most likely to be in a position to testify to the ownership of a particular parcel of land and motivated by the need to ensure that the crown was not defrauded of revenue associated with the
feudal incidents
. The inquisition was also an instrument used to establish the extent and valuation of crown lands that were available to be granted as a reward to a loyal or favoured subject. The most extensive inquisition conducted in Ireland was the
Civil Survey
(1654–56) which sought to ascertain the amount of land available to reward
adventurers
and soldiers for their role in the suppression of the 1641 rebellion.

inquisition ad quod damnum
. 1: An inquisition conducted by the
escheator
to determine whether the crown's interest was prejudiced by the grant of a particular piece of land to a religious house (alienation to mortmain) 2: A writ sued out as a precursor to the granting of liberties by the crown to ascertain whether such a grant might be disadvantageous or injurious to others.

inquisition on attainder
. An inquisition which compiled an inventory of the property and chattels of an attainted individual so they could be taken into crown hands. (Griffith,
Calendar
.)

inquisition
post-mortem
. An inquisition
post-mortem
was activated by a writ of
diem clausit extremitum
to the
escheator
on the death of a tenant-in-chief (one who held land directly from the crown) to ensure that the crown was not defrauded of the feudal incidents of
wardship, relief, escheat
and
marriage
. The escheator summoned a local jury to inquire of what lands the deceased was seised, by what
tenure
they were held and to ascertain the name and age of the heir. If the heir was a minor he became the king's ward and the rents of his estate were received by the crown. Usually the wardship was auctioned to the highest bidder subject to some restrictions such as the requirement that Catholic minors be educated to Protestantism at Trinity College. Inquisitions
post-mortem
contain a brief description of the land, its appurtenances and its value. They are an excellent source for determining descent, property and tenure for in many instances they contain transcripts of deeds, wills and other legal instruments. The format of the inquisition
post-mortem
was later adopted for the compilation of the
manorial survey
which recorded the rents and services owed to the manor. The original medieval Irish inquisitions have not survived but inquisitions concerning landowners who also held land in England may be found in
Calendar of inquisitions post-mortem, Henry III – Richard II
(16 vols, London, 1904–74).
Inquisitionum in officio rotulorum cancellariae Hiberniae asservatorum repertorium
(2 vols, Dublin, 1827–9) contains printed repertories of later chancery inquisitions for Leinster and Ulster. (Griffith,
Calendar.)

inspeximus
. (L., we have inspected) An
inspeximus
or exemplification is a certified copy in charter form that confirms that an earlier document or charter has been inspected and delivers a recital of the original.

inst
. An abbreviation for instant, the term refers to the current month as in the twenty-fourth
inst
., the twenty-fourth of this month.

inter Anglicos
. Because of a dispute over primacy in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, part of the diocese of Armagh – largely Co. Louth – was presided over by an
archdeacon
and the English half of the cathedral chapter and was served by Anglo-Norman clergy. It was therefore known as the
ecclesia inter Anglicos.
(Watt, ‘Ecclesia', pp. 46–64.)

inter Hibernicos
. That part of the diocese of Armagh – largely Co. Armagh – administered by the
dean
of Armagh cathedral and half of the cathedral chapter and served by native Irish clergy.

interregnum
. The period between the death of Charles I in 1649 and the restoration of the monarchy in 1660.

investiture
. The act of creating tenure by investing the tenant in his
fief
. It followed the rituals of
fealty
and
homage
. The lord invested the tenant by handing him an object such as a rod which symbolised his fief. Once invested the tenant had now acquired tenure.

inventory, probate
. A list of a deceased person's possessions (but not realty) which accompanies a will. It was compiled by an
appraiser
. Probate inventories are highly valued by local and family historians for what they reveal about the social and economic life of the testator. (Berry,
Register.)

Invincibles
. A splinter group of the IRB with close
Land League
and Fenian connections, the secret revolutionary Irish National Invincibles was formed in 1881 to attack high-ranking government officials. Early targets included the chief secretary, William Edward Forster, and Superintendent John Mahon of the
Dublin Metropolitan Police
. In an action almost universally condemned, members of the Invincibles assassinated the new chief secretary for Ireland, Lord Frederick Cavendish, and his under-secretary, T. H. Burke, in Phoenix Park on 6 May 1882, the day they arrived in Ireland to take up office. In January 1883, 17 Invincibles were arrested, five of whom (Brady, Curley, Kelly, Fagan and Caffrey) were subsequently executed. Following the executions the organisation collapsed in Ireland. (O'Broin, ‘The Invincibles', pp. 113–125.)