Appendix (8.6.)
REPORT and CORRESPONDENCE respecting the riots at Kilkeel on the
9th February 1814.
From Brigade-Major Wallace to the Right Honourable the Chief Secretary. Sir,
Belfast, 6th March 1814. 1 had yesterday the honour of your letter of the 3
instant, with an enclosed extract of a report from Alexander Stewart, esq.,
respecting certain outrages committed lately in Kilkeel.
You express the surprise of the Lord Lieutenant that no communication had been
made by me to Government on this subject. I should not, most certainly, have
neglected so important a part of my duty had it been in my power to describe or
explain the circumstances that occurred there; but 1 can assure you, for the
information of his Excellency, that I was totally ignorant of the affair, except
from what appeared in the public prints; not a line was written by any person in
Mourne, and even yesterday I received a letter dated 4th instant from
Lieutenant-Colonel Mathews, captain of the 2 Mourne infantry and magistrate of
the county, residing within a mile and half of Kilkeel, in which letter there is
no mention nor allusion whatever to the riotous proceedings in Kilkeel. A short
time prior to that I was there, and heard nothing more than the prevalence of
party spirit that still subsisted.
I understand that the neighbouring magistrates have had several meetings on this
business, that they have taken much pains to investigate it, and have taken many
examinations against the rioters; and also, that the result would (by them) be
reported Government. With regard to the order for me to proceed forthwith to
Kilkeel to investigate in what degree the yeomanry had been concerned in this
shameftul conduct, I think it proper to represent for the consideration of his
Excellency that I had previously made arrangements with about 20 companies for
inspection this week; it was to commence on Wednesday the 9th; on the 12th or
13th was to return here; immediately after which I would proceed to Kilkeel to
fulfil the orders of his Excellency. If it be, however, his pleasure to
authorize me to omit that part of my duty for the more speedy performance of
another, I am ready to implicitly obey. You will do me a great favour to answer
this by return of post, which I will receive on Tuesday the 8th, when I shall
know how to act, and have time to dispatch the necessary notices to such persons
at Kilkeel as may best enable me to execute my orders.
I have, &c.
(signed) B,Wallace, M.B.
Extract of Letter from
Mr.Alexander Stewart, relative to the disturbance at Kilkeel.
Down, Feb. 1814.
The Protestant party, many of whom were of the yeomanry, not content after the
town of Kilkeel was cleared, and there was not any one to oppose or opposing
them, began to destroy the houses in the town, and continued wrecking them till
past ten that night, in the course of which they injured about 51 houses, of 47
belonged to Catholics, broke all the windows, forced open the doors and emptied
the beer and spirit casks in several Catholic public-houses. Shots were
repeatedly fired by the wrecking party, both in the street and into the houses,
and I believe there was one man slightly wounded. This is the whole of the
transaction, and you may suppose that the ill blood between the parties has not
been diminished thereby; indeed the district is in a lamentable state. Since the
business happened I have taken every pains, assisted by my friend Mr. Irwin Cony,
and now.by Mr. Thompson, not only to investigate the conduct of both parties,
but to impress on the minds of all that they shall have impartial justice, and
that those who come forward as evidences shall be protected; and we are in hopes
of bringing great numbers on both sides to trial. And I trust punishment. You do
me much honour in asking my opinion of the means most conducive to put an end to
those disturbances, and to the best of my judgment I give it fully and candidly.
At present, the only thing I think necessary is to have at least a company sent
as expeditiously as possible to Kilkeel. Nothing less will do to repress the
turbulent, protect the peaceable and enable the magistrates to act with vigour,
and you will oblige us all by sending the men as soon as possible.
We are now proceeding to hear the complaints of all the parties, but it is to be
hoped Government will send a person qualified to investigate the cause of these
disturbances, which are so disgraceful and dangerous; for peace cannot be
restores unless the evil is probed to the root, and in that case I much fear
those disturbances will be traced to too great license given to the yeomanry,
who are by no means in a good state, and to some persons residing in the
district being too much influenced by and giving too much encouragement to party
spirit. On this subject I feel much delicacy, and therefore wish Government to
make the inquiry.
From Brigade-Major Wallace to the Right Honourable the Chief Secretary, Relative
to Riot at Kilkeel.
Sir, Belfast, 21st March 1814.
Inconsequence of your letter of the 3”’ instant, conveying the commands of his
Excellency the Lord Lieutenant, I went to Kilkeel, where in the presence of
seven magistrates the outrages that had taken place in that town on the 9th
February were discussed and investigated.
That a most violent religious party spirit exists, and has manifested itself in
a manner disgraceful as dangerous to the public good, has been sufficiently
proved, and that much blame attaches to both parties; yet in respect of this
particular affray, it evidently appears that the Protestant party cannot be
charged as aggressors in the first instance; it must however be admitted that
when it had actually commenced they were not averse to engage in and continue
it. There is evidence to show that a riot was expected by certain persons, and
that a disposition to mischief was apparent from a mysterious mode of conduct on
the Catholic side, numbers of whom were seen assembled in the back yard of a
public-house in Kilkeel, when liquor was distributed by a man in the midst of
them; that they were shaking hands and conversing in Irish. It was also
established, that the Protestant party had no arms at first, but when the others
seemed to become most numerous, arms were sent for or brought by some who had
heard the riot; this gave their party the superiority, and the Catholics were
finally dispersed. I am sorry now to be compelled by truth to say, that soon
afterwards the conduct of the protestants became most wanton, mischievous and
unjustifiable; they attacked many houses of the Catholics in Kilkeel,
Which they damaged in some degree, but two in particular were most injured; they
fired into them several shots, the marks of which I saw; most providentially no
one was hurt in either, except the waiter, who was slightly wounded in the arm,
the shot passing through a horn cup in his hand; the furniture, Stc. was partly
destroyed, and casks of spirits and beer were left flowing. Several of the
yeomanry are no doubt guilty of these enormities; some of them have actually
given bail to appear at Down assizes, and the magistrates think that almost
every man implicated will do so also. Upward&of thirty examinations have been
sent to Dublin for information of Government, and more still are taking. Indeed,
I had the satisfaction to see several Catholics coming in to give bail and
submit to the laws. Prior to all, however, the house of McKibben, a Protestant,
was attacked by the Catholics and damaged; he fired a shot or two, by which, and
some assistance from his friends, they were driven off. This man’s house seems
to have been the earliest object of attack; voices were calling out to go there
and wreck it. It was assaulted about two years since, and one offender suffered
twelve months imprisonment; the Catholics beat and abused with sticks and stones
several persons in the fair (when their party was predominant), who had taken no
part in the original scuffle that caused the affray. I must here observe, that
much credit is due to some of the magistrates for their exertions on this
occasion; they have bestowed much time and patience in ascertaining the rioters
of both sides, and by a strict impartiality, to impress on the minds of all that
every protection in their power will be afforded to such as may require it, and
that the laws can never know distinction of party. The l Mourne is tess
implicated than the other two; some of them have been charged with firing on
certain Catholics on the following evening, 10th February, about seven o’clock,
within two miles of Kilkeel.. They have surrendered and are in gaol, their
offence is not being thought bailable. A fish carrier and another man were
slightly wounded, and one knocked down with a musket; this circumstance is more
atrocious, as it did not proceed from the passions being inflamed by immediate
riot; it does not appear there was any other cause than being Catholics. About
12 or 14 persons were observed on the road with arms. The magistrates seem to be
of the opinion that as the whole matter will shortly appear before the county,
the members of the yeomanry corps principally guilty will be fully ascertained,
and they think that the disgrace and expulsion of such will have a salutary
effect on the rest, and repress this shameful and illegal spirit. The Catholics
are anxious to get the yeomanry disarmed, as they then would be the strongest
party; they are nor altogether without arms, many pistols being (as I hear) in
their possession.
The magistrates I allude to are Mr. Waring, Mr. Stewart, Mr. Corry and Mr. N.
Thompson; they agree in the general report made by Alexander Stewart, esq., to
Government
(signed) B. Wallace M.B.
From Brigade Major Wallace to Sir
E.E. Littlehales, Baronet.
Sir, Trissing, Belfast, X° April 1814.
According to your letter of the 6th inst .relative to the trials
at Downpatrick, I have the honour to report the result, as far as has come
within my knowledge, for the information of his Excellency the Lord Lieutenant.
The following persons were tried on Thursday 3l March, viz.
tAlexanderNewall. Samuel Wilson.
*Samuel Floyd. Robert Wilson.
*William Houston. *Robefl Newall.
*James Baillic. tWilliam McCulloch. William McComb. William Annet.
*sergeant James Sheals. *Thomas McKee.
Note:- Those marked thus (*) were convicted. McComb, R. Wilson and Annet were
acquitted. These are all yeomen, Newall excepted; he was formerly one.
Pt April:- Sergeant Adam Boyd and John Boyd, yeomen, and William Beck,
sub-constable and yeoman, were tried for suffering Alexander Newall, prisoner,
to escape. Beck was convicted; the other two acquitted. William Cowan was
charged with rioting, but did not appear at trial; he is a yeoman also.
2nd April:- Robert Wilson, Alexander Wilson, Thomas Cummin, John Cummin, William
Sloan, Thomas Morrison, William McCully, James Gordon, tried for firing shots
Feb. 10, at seven o’clock, at certain persons on the high road: all acquitted,
but ordered to give security for seven years. These men are or were yeomen
lately.
I was not at Down assizes, not being summoned; and was besides confined to my
room for a week from a hurt I got from my horse at that period.
I propose to inspect at Kilkeel on 24tb inst. and should be anxious to receive
his Excellency’s pleasure before I leave Belfast on the 23”’.
(signed) B. Wallace, M.B.
from Sir E .B. Littlehales to Brigade Major Wallace.
Sir, Dublin Castle, April 1814.
In consideration of the several authenticated reports which have reached
Government, and of the precise information which transpired upon the recent
trial of the rioters at Kilkeel, whereby it appears that Captain Matthews, of
the Mourne yeomanry infantry, was present on the town of Kilkeel, at the
commencement of the riot there, in which many members of the Mourne corps were
actively engaged; but that Captain Matthews notwithstanding did not interfere,
nor take any steps to preserve the public peace, by exerting his authority
either in his capacity of a magistrate or as captain of the said company
ofMourne infantry; the Lord Lieutenant deems it proper to mark his displeasure
at Captain Matthews neglect of the exercise of his functions for the public
tranquility, by dismissing him from the yeomanry service.
I am accordingly commanded by his Excellency to desire that you will forthwith
notify to Captain Matthews this is his Excellency’s decision
I am, &c.
E. B. Littlehales.
Memorial of Lieutenant
Colonel Gustavus Matthews for a court of enquiry into his Conduct at Kilkeel.
To his Excellency Charles Viscount Lord Whitworth, Lord Lieutenant General
Governer of Ireland.
Humbly Sheweth,
That your memorialist was extremely agitated and mortified upon receiving from
Brigade- Major Wallace a copy of a letter of Sir Edward Littlehales, dated
Dublin Castle, 12 inst. stating that it was your Exellency’s desire your
memorialist should be dismissed from the yeomanry service, in consequence of
your Exellency’s disapprobation of his conduct upon the riots in Kilkeel, 9th
February last: your memorialist humbly requests that your Excellency will be
pleased to order him a court of inquiry, before which tribunal your memorialist
trusts that, upon a further investigation of all the particulars and facts
connected with, and respecting his conduct in those transactions, he will be
able to remove those unfavourable impressions which your Excellency at present
entertains against him.
All which is humbly submitted,
Gustavus Matthews, Lieut.-Col. Army.
50 Summer-hill, Dublin, 2l April 1814.
Solicitor General’s Report of transactions at Kilkeel as they appeared on the
Trial of the Rioters.
Dear Sir, 5 Ely Place, April 22, 1814.
My absence from Dublin has prevented my sooner replying to your letter of the
inst. in which you have communicated his Excellecy’s desire “that I should
convey to you, for his Excellency’s consideration, a summary of the information
which I obtained in my judicial capacity on the trial of offenders charged with
offences connected with disturbances which occurred in Kilkeel, in the month of
February last;”I have the honour of informing you, in pursuance of his
Excellency’s order, that at the last
assizes of Downpatrick, it appeared upon a trial before me, that on the 91h of
February last, at the fair of Kilkeel, two persons, one a Protestant and one a
Catholic, fought in the street, upon what appeared to be a sudden quarrel; that
they were joined immediately by several others, and the battle became general;
that the Catholic party, which was most numerous, drove the others out of the
fair, who took refuge in the house of one McKibbin, permanent sergeant of the
Moume infantry yeomanry corps, of which all these persons except one, were
members; that the Catholic party then attacked the house, broke the windows of
it, and proceeded to unroof it by taking the slates off, when the Protestants
within armed themselves, fired from the house, and sallied out upon those who
were outside; that being armed and reinforced they beat the Catholics out of the
fair, and after having done so attacked between 40 and 50 houses belonging to
Roman Catholic inhabitants of Kilkeel, who did not appear to have been on the
battle, fired into some, threw stones at others, threw the furniture and
property in several into the street and destroyed them, and did considerable
damage to all. It appeared that both parties manifested much wanton cruelty, and
several were wounded, though no one was killed. Eighteen persons, 10 Catholic
and 8 Protestants, have been found guilty of riots and assaults upon that
occasion, and are now in prison under their sentences. It further appeared, that
at the beginning of the riot Colonel Matthews, a magistrate of the county, who
commands the yeomanry corps already mentioned, was in the house on private
business as he swore, and near McKibbins house, and that seeing the tumultuous
state of the fair, he wished and offered, as he swore, to go into the town and
exert his influence to put down the riot, but that he was dissuaded by McKibbin
and one Shields, a sergeant in his corps (and one of those who was convicted),
and by one Walmesley,
A high constable, who all
represented to him that his life would be in danger if he should interfere, in
consequence of which he left the town without taking any step to quell the riot.
It further appeared, that on the following day the country people flocked into
Kilkeel in numbers to see what was called the wreck of Kilkeel; but no riot took
place; and that as some of those persons were returning home in the evening,
they were met by a party of 14 persons, armed with firelocks and bayonets, but
not in regimentals, who without provocation fired on them, and wounded two men;
eight persons were tried upon this charge, and were all acquitted. It further
appeared that a warrant was issued against Alexander Newall, not a yeoman, the
leader of the Protestant party in the riot of the 9th February, shortly after
the riots, and that he was apprehended by Walmesley the high constable, who gave
him the care of one Bush and a petty constable, and three yeomen of Colonel
Matthews’ corps, of which Bush also was a member; that they brought him and one
Hughes (a Catholic, who was apprehended for refusing to give evidence of the
transaction) to Col. Matthews house; that while Colonel Matthews was writing out
a mittimus for the prisoners, who were then locked up in his kitchen, Newell
made his escape, and on Colonel Matthews remonstrating with the constable and
yeomen, they laughed at him. That Newell was never afterward apprehended, though
public in the country, for which Walmesley, the high constable, assigned as a
reason that he was constantly armed; and that on the night before the assizes he
gave himself up to abide his trial. Bush the constable, and the three yeomen,
were indicted for permitting his escape, and the three yeomen were acquitted,
but Bush was found guilty and is now in prison under his sentence. This is a
summary of the only facts relating to the transaction at Kilkeel, which came to
my knowledge in my judicial capacity at the late assizes for Downpatrick; and I
have the honour to submit them to his Excellency’s consideration.
I have, &c.
(signed) Charles Bushe.
From Brigade Major
Wallace to Sir E. B. Littlehales, Baronet.
Sir, Belfast 28th April 1814.
I had the honour of your letter of 26th by yesterdays post, in reply I have to
inform you that I only returned home from Mourne on the night 0f26th instant,
and had not leisure to make the required report for the information of his
Excellency the Lord Lieutenant until the present date. The l Mourne infantry had
only four men implicated in the riot at Kilkeel on 9th February; two of them
have left the country, and did not appear at trial; the other two appeared, but
as the grand jury did not find bills against them there was of course, no
prosecution; they are, however, dismissed. No man of this corps was charged with
the assaults committed on the 10th February. There were eight men of the 2
Mourne charged with the riot of the 9th; three of these are confined in Down
gaol. Two fled from justice, one was acquitted, one was confined to his house by
a fever, and against the other there was no prosecution. Two of the 2nd Mourne
were also tried for firing on the 10th February, and were acquitted; those ten
have been all dismissed. Three men of the 3 corps were tried for the offence on
the 101h February; they were acquitted. Five yeomen only have been charged with
this offence, but some others were concerned in it, some of whom had formerly
been yeomen. There were none of the 3”’ Mourne charged with the riot of the 9th
Three of this company are dismissed. I have not been able to learn as yet that
any more yeomen were implicated; but if more should be discovered, I will
enforce the Lord Lieutenant’s commands. With regard to the discipline and
constitution and efficiency of the respective corps and attention of their
officers, I have to remark, that the l Mourne has always been well conducted.
Captain Chesney is diligent and attentive; he is acquainted with military
affairs, having served under the late Lord Cornwallis and Lord Moira, as an
American loyalist. Two of his sons have been promoted by those noblemen, one in
the Royal Artillery, the other in the East India service. His officers are as
attentive as the subaltern officers of the yeomanry are in general, and have
some little property. The 2’” corps would derive advantage from having a
genleman of some consideration and influence in the country at their head.
I would recommend Mr. Needham Thompson; his father is agent to Lord Kilmoray,
and is actually first captain of the 3”’ corps, but he is an old man; his son
acts at times as agent, and probably will become so; both corps are tenants of
Lord Kilmoray.
Cagtain Warner of the 2Od corps, resides in Dublin, and I had never seen him but
once, until the 24 inst. when he came from Dublin at the desire of Lieut.-Col.
Matthews who was then there. At present there is only one lieutenant, a young
man, well disposed and loyal. The second captain of the 3rd Mourne is a well
disposed man, not healthy, and has no military turn. The two lieutenants are
respectable; and were young Mr. Thompson first captain in lieu of his father,
the corps would be more effective. The three permanent sergeants are men of fair
character, two of them old soldiers; in fact the men of the three corps are all
Protestant and loyal. Unfortunately their conduct was too much influenced by
misguided zeal and loyalty. But I am of opinion they have now got a very
salutary lesson; and will in future manifest more moderation. I have always
thought those corps as prompt and fit to serve wherever called to, as any in the
county.
I have &c.
(signed) B. W. Wallace M.B.