Edward Nangle - Knowledge (XXG)

775:, an American author, drew unwelcome attention to the expenditure and income of the Achill Mission Colony and raised questions about the benefits of the organisation. The Halls drew up another report of the Mission in 1849, towards the end of the Great Famine, this time with a more benign approach. They paid tribute to the work of the mission staff during the crisis months of the famine, saying they were ‘indefatigable in their efforts to raise funds’ and ‘distributed with no sparing had to those who must otherwise have perished’. By 1853, the Halls were trying to avoid being drawn in to comment on the island and advised visitors to make their own judgment. By then Nangle had left Achill, and the previous allegations continued to surround the Achill Mission Colony. 288: 721:. In MacHale's own words, he planned to counteract "the mischievous speculators, who, more than twenty years ago, bought a farm in Achill and planted themselves there to drive a lucrative trade on English credulity". In the process of building the new monastery complex, MacHale's workmen were accused of stealing stones from Nangle's land. On Wednesday, 7 October 1851, constables arrested a man charged with theft in relation to a heap of stones. After the workmen continued to steal stones from Nangle's land, a court case proceeded. But Daniel Cruise, the judge, dismissed the court case on the grounds that "both sides were equally to blame". 235: 431: 617: 762: 42: 408:, he travelled around the island on horseback. Describing his initial encounter with the island, Nangle wrote: ‘The deep silence of desolation was unbroken, except by the monotonous rippling of the tide as it ebbed or flowed, or the wild scream of the curlew disturbed by some casual intruder on its privacy’. Apparently moved by what he perceived as the 1259: 478:

Four years after he took up residence on Achill, Edward Nangle wrote: ‘The Missionary Settlement has since grown into a village – the sides of a once barren mountain are now adorned with cultivated fields and gardens … and the stillness of desolation which once reigned is now broken by the hum of the

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In 1848, the Achill Mission produced a prospectus seeking to raise funds to purchase additional island land from Sir Richard O'Donnell. The document describes, from a Colony perspective, the sectarian unrest during the first decade of the Achill Mission as well as its activities in the early famine

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opposed Nangle and the Achill Mission Colony from the start. At the first Sunday school, a devout Catholic is reported to have stood near the gate with a rod threatening to beat each of the attending children. Additionally, one of the scripture readers was reportedly assaulted by two men, thrown to

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Edward Nangle is described as a 'tall, thin, pale man who spoke in gentle tones coming across as serious and intense'. Nangle's biographer Henry Seddal described his personality: ‘Mr. Nangle was doubtless at times headstrong in forming his opinions, stubborn in holding them and harsh in giving them

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In the early years of the Great Famine, Edward Nangle became the focus of allegations that he was a 'soul-buyer' who was using funds raised for famine relief to advance his Achill evangelisation efforts particularly through the decision to provide food for the children attending the Achill Mission

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professing that it was ‘strangely deficient in Church teaching’. The negative critique of the Gazette continued into another article reviewing Nangle's biography: ‘Everyone has their own idea of heroism, and practices hero-worship after their own fashion. We are free to confess that the late Rev

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In 1836, John MacHale again visited Achill. This time speaking to a large crowd outdoors he said: "I call upon you to make a solemn promise this day not to have anything to do with the Achill Mission people ... There is no place outside of Hell which more enrages the Almighty than the Protestant

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throws into shade the wonders of the steam press!’ As to the Halls’ references to the cost of the Mission's activities, Nangle replied: ‘as if the salvation of immortal souls for which Christ died, was not a worthy object for the expenditure of a smaller sum of the world’s wealth than is often

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In January 1847, controversy was triggered when the Achill Mission claimed that in the previous month the Mission 'gave employment to 4,458 labourers of which number 2,000 were Roman Catholics'. In July 1847, it was suggested that 5,000 out of Achill's total population of 7,000, were receiving

375:, the landlord of a thirty-thousand-acre estate. Hundreds of tenants were arriving at Farnham's home converting from Catholicism. He suffered a nervous breakdown and during his convalescence he underwent a conversion experience and decided to dedicate himself to Protestant evangelicalism. 525:, surrounded by fields reclaimed from the wet mountain slopes. In 1842, the colony accommodated fifty-six families comprising 365 individuals. Only eleven of these families (one-fifth of the total) were originally Protestant; the remaining forty-five families were originally Catholic. 681:

In 1837, MacHale made another visit, this time stirring up the populace against what he called "these venomous fanatics", referring to those involved with the Achill Mission Colony. Not long after his visit, a schoolmaster and scripture reader from the Mission Colony, were beaten on

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years. A significant development occurred in 1851 when the Achill Mission purchased a considerable amount of land from the Encumbered Estates Court and became the largest landlord on Achill Island. Shortly afterwards Nangle was transferred to the parish of Skreen, County Sligo.

737:. Arriving at the Colony, they conducted a brief overview of the mission, taking into account the finances expended and the practical results. However, they were not 'enamoured' by Nangle's strict approach to the entrants of the school, the mission and the orphanage. 697:

On 2 January 1839, Francis Reynolds, a coastguard officer who was denounced by name at Catholic services on several successive Sundays, died as a result of being hit on the head in a house in Keel. John and Bridget Lavelle were cleared of his murder at a trial in

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the ground and his clothes torn. Nangle was warned of a secret plan to attack the colony, kill those living there, burn the buildings and put an end to the Achill Mission. No attack took place but it is believed that the preparations made deterred the assailants.

557:, arrived at the island in the autumn of 1848 to find that there were over 2,000 children attending the mission schools. The same year, more than 3,000 were working for the mission, clearing land and building roads and walls. In November 1848, the barque 798:, one of the trustees of the Achill mission committee. The case started as a minor disagreement over the election of committee members, but it escalated into a major court case that dragged on for years, draining the resources of the Achill estate. 749:

wrote: ‘Be assured, sir, that religion is strong enough to overcome your miserable attempts to degrade it – that Christianity cannot be permanently tainted by coarseness, ignorance and bigotry of which you are representative. I have done my duty.’

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schools. Edward Nangle defended the school food programme arguing that, in addition to the religious programme offered, it was the most efficient way of offering famine relief and the food programme was expanded to meet demand from the islanders.

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school and the sound of the church-going bell.’ However, the early years of the Colony were marked by bitter confrontation between the Catholic authorities and the Achill Mission with competing schools at the centre of the conflict. An

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Edward Nangle returned to Achill briefly in 1879 writing ‘As I have now completed my 80th year, and am very infirm, I am unable to work for our dear people in Achill as I did for upwards of 40 years of my life.’ In 1881, he moved to

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editions of January and February 1847, Edward Nangle appeared to admit that the Colony employment figures he had given (4,458 in December 1846) were exaggerated when he commented that these were 'aggregate' numbers. Allegations of

647:, the Archbishop led a procession of thirteen priests. A succession of the priests addressed the crowd and denounced the colony, pronouncing a curse on all who dared associate themselves with the nearby Protestant settlement. 1070: 438:

On 23 December 1834, Nangle opened the Achill Mission's first school. Forty three children attended on the first day, and it was the first free school to open on the island. Within a couple of months there were schools in

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Although they were at the Colony for less than two hours on 22 June 1842, the Halls branded the Mission ‘a complete failure’ and targeted Nangle, labelling him as a man without any genuine sense of gentle, peace-loving,

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In September 1849, 400 children were confirmed at the Achill Mission. Only twenty-eight of these were children of Protestants - the remaining 372 were converts, the majority of children in the Achill Mission schools.

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stated that ‘few clergymen of the Church of Ireland were better known or more highly valued in his day, as he was a man of much intellectual power, a clear expositor of sound scripture, and a powerful writer’.

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and died on Sunday 9 September 1883, at the age of 84. He died at his home 23, Morehampton Road, Dublin with his second wife, Sarah by his side. Nangle is buried in Deansgrange Cemetery, Monkstown, in Dublin.

309:, Nangle decided to enter the ministry. In his biographer's words, he looked ‘forward to ordination as a means of securing an eligible social position’. It is believed that Nangle's decision to enter the 830: 547:’ - offering material benefits in return for religious conversion - were made against Edward Nangle in the famine years as food was provided to children in the Colony schools and conversions increased. 1611: 706:

who was aggressively hostile to the Mission. Nangle accused the Crown of holding a "mock" trial and as a direct consequence of these and other incidents, a new courthouse was built at Achill Sound.

231:, dedicated to Edward Nangle and erected by friends after his death, reads: "He devoted his life from the year 1834 to the welfare of the people of Achill among whom he lived for many years." 753:

In a response to the Halls' visit, Edward Nangle highlighted the significant fact that the visit had only lasted less than two hours: ‘Truly, sir, the rapidity with which you can require

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visited the Achill mission. The visit was part of an Irish tour which the couple had embarked on with the aim of producing a guide book of Ireland for tourists entitled,

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colony ... I shall not dirty my mouth with the names of some of the people who are sending their children to the colony school. I hope they will give up doing so."

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In the following three years, Nangle bought land on the island and negotiated a thirty-one-year leasing contract with Sir Richard O’Donnell, the landlord of the

1926: 824: 460: 271:. Nangle's mother died when he was only nine years old and shortly afterwards his father sent him to Cavan Royal School. It is supposed he studied alongside 1941: 1307: 1884: 1232: 1936: 713:

In 1851, Archbishop MacHale decided to buy 1,200 acres of island land from Sir Richard O’Donnell. Shortly afterward, the foundations were laid for a

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because he had reportedly "with a knife in his hand threatened to take the head of one of the children attending a school under patronage".

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In 1839, the Slievemore Hotel was built, and a year later hotels were built at Achill Sound and in Newport. By 1840, a traveller could leave

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This was a monthly Protestant newspaper and within two years, its circulation exceeded three thousand amounting to approximately a third of

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monastery, a school for the local children, a glebe house for two priests and a model farm to provide education in modern systems of

458:. It had been granted as a gift to the group by friends in London and York. On 31 July 1837, Nangle printed the first edition of the 1857: 1832: 1807: 1722: 1637: 1621: 1594: 1489: 1388: 1269: 1187: 1099: 1080: 938: 860: 605: 550: 412:

and temporal destitution he witnessed among the people living on the island, Nangle decided to establish the Achill Mission Colony.

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Immediately following Nangle's death, the opposing views of the members of the Protestant community in Ireland were evident. The

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in spring 1839. The two main witnesses in the case of Reynolds' murder were schooled in their evidence by a local Catholic

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Byrne, Patricia (2021). "God's Scourge on a Sinful Nation: The Great Famine from an Achill Mission Colony Perspective".

1584: 1956: 1405:"A Forgotten Part of Ireland by Joyce, P. J.: Tuam, Ireland, Tuam, Ireland Full-Linen - O'Gara and Wilson, Ltd. LLC" 1286: 608:. The service was attended by 500 people including one convert of 107 years of age who walked five miles to attend. 364:

expression.’ In the words of a close contemporary: ‘when animated, the most extraordinary fire lights up his eyes.’

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Byrne, Patricia (2021). "God's Scourge on a Sinful Nation: The Great Famine from an Achill Mission Perspective".

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estate, which comprised most of Achill. Edward Nangle, his wife Eliza and their three young daughters arrived in

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practical support from the mission, which had planted twenty-one tons of blight-free foreign potatoes. In the

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readers. The Nangles' friends, Dr Neason Adams and his wife Isabella, moved to the Colony in December 1835.

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on Friday, reach Achill Sound on Saturday, and worship in Saint Thomas's Church, Dugort, on Sunday morning.

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was published continuously each month from 1837 to 1868 when it merged with other Protestant publications.

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and a road network between numerous key locations on the island. A plaque hanging in St. Thomas Church,

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and through this, 'the Holy Spirit enlightened the young student and he experienced true conversion'.

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