Murder most foul
In a series of articles, Aengus O'Snodaigh marks the 200th
anniversary of the judicial murder of United Irish leader William
Orr.
More sympathy for the United Irish cause was created by a single
act of brutality than by all the other repressive measures the
English colonial masters carried out in Ireland in what became
known as The Year of the Lost Opportunity: 1797. The judicial
conspiracy and `public' hanging of United Irishman William Orr on
14 October 1797 became a rallying cry for Irish people until the
risings the following year.
Ireland in 1797 was under military siege. Ulster was under
martial law and much of the rest of the country was feeling the
brunt of English military repression as the authorities tried to
force the hand of the United Irish leadership; `rise up now and
we'll crush you, or we'll crush you anyway'.
What frightened England most was not the United Irishmen's
connections with the French revolutionary government or the
failed landings in Bantry Bay in December 1796; it was the degree
to which the United Irish had penetrated the military structures
thus threatening their ability to take action in the event of a
rising. Militia regiments, yeomanry companies and regular army
soldiers were all found to have adopted the United Irish oath.
With the full backing of England's direct rulers in Ireland,
General Gerard Lake set about terrorising a suspect populace.
Ulster was first proclaimed - placed under martial law - on 3
March. Within ten days, 5,462 guns, a sizeable portion of the
United Irish armoury, was captured. To ensure the loyalty of the
Yeomanry and Militia forces Orange Order members were encouraged
to enlist into them, prejudices and all.
A stricter martial law was announced on 17 May and this was
further augmented on 25 June, which was the final day on which
those who had sworn the United Irish oath could come forward to
receive a pardon, take an oath of allegiance and give
recognisances for future behaviour.
But, even before this date the excesses and barbarity of the
English forces against the United Irishmen, or those merely
suspected, meant fewer were willing to come forward than on other
occasions when England tried the same tactic.
People coming forward to take the oath of loyalty were being
arrested anyway, and those who surrendered arms were subject to
the same uncontrolled wanton brutality as those who had not. The
blatant bias of the courts in favour of the military drove many
to seek protection in the United Irish oath, for they were
persecuted whether they had taken it or not. The poorer Catholics
suffered most in Lake's campaign of terror and they flocked into
the republican movement, making the sought-after alliance between
the United Irishmen and the Defence a reality.
Hell bent on breaking the United Irish leadership the English
were already plotting and scheming. Through the use of secret
service agents and informers, the bribing, intimidating or
terrorising of others they formulated evidence. In what has been
described by the historian Dr Richard Madden as ``judicial murder''
the authorities conspired to do away with one William Orr, a
popular United Irish leader in Country Antrim.
A Presbyterian, one-time member of the Masonic Order and a member
of a prosperous farming family in Farranshane in County Antrim,
William Orr at the time of his arrest was a member of the Head
Northern Committee of the United Irishmen and a regular
contributor to its newspaper the Northern Star. Along with his
two brothers James and Stewart, William organised the spread of
republican ideals amongst his farm workers and neighbours who
swore the united Irish oath.
It as through his befriending of Samuel Turner of Newry at the
Head Northern Committee that Orr came to the attention of the
English. Turner was a turncoat who had accepted a bribe to reveal
the inner workings of the movement. Unwittingly Orr, when
revealing the secrets of the United Irish structure to his
confrere was hastening his capture. Turner's role in Orr's arrest
and the large amounts of blood money he received did not emerge
till years later.
Next week: Orr's arrest and trial
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