Basking Shark Protocol

Basking Shark Protocol

Charles Cunningham Boycott: His Life on Achill Island

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Most people know the name Charles Cunningham Boycott because of the word it inspired – a term now used worldwide to describe peaceful protest through non-cooperation. But fewer know that long before he became the centre of a national storm during Ireland’s Land War, Boycott lived quietly – though not without controversy – on Achill Island.

He arrived on Achill in 1854, a 22-year-old Englishman fresh out of a short stint in the army. Newly married to his wife Anne, he settled at the western edge of Ireland’s largest offshore island, in the stunning surrounds of Keem Bay. It was here, among the windswept cliffs and roaring Atlantic seas, that Boycott leased 2,000 acres of land from Murray McGregor Blacker – a man who held property through the Achill Mission.

Boycott took on the life of a tenant farmer, but his role was more than just working the land. He was also responsible for managing local tenants and collecting rents – not an easy job in a time of deep divisions and hardship. Most of the local population were Irish-speaking and Catholic, and many viewed Boycott, with his ties to the Protestant mission and his strict management style, with suspicion or outright hostility.

Life on the island was far from easy. The weather was unforgiving, and poverty was widespread. Tensions between landlords and tenants ran high, and Boycott often found himself in the middle of it. These early experiences on Achill were a sign of things to come – they would shape the approach he later took as land agent in County Mayo, where he became a household name for all the wrong reasons.

After some years on Achill, tragedy struck when his house near Keem burned to the ground. Thankfully, no one was hurt, and Charles and Anne moved to Corrymore House, closer to the village of Dooagh. Then in 1872, the couple relocated to Lough Mask in Mayo, where Boycott took up a new post as land agent for Lord Erne’s estate. It was there, during a time of political and social unrest, that his name would become forever linked with a unique form of non-violent resistance.

Yet traces of his earlier life still remain on Achill. The ruins of his home at Keem Bay offer a quiet but powerful link to a man who would one day make headlines across the world.

Come walk with Achill Isle Walks on the Keem Loop Walk to hear more about Charles Boycott’s time on the island, and see the place where this little-known chapter of Irish history began.

Regards,

Gerard