Fr. Thomas Phelan

Last week found in Danny Dowling’s voluminous files, was the following article, which was published in the Wexford People in 1907. This article highlights an agreement reached in Glenmore concerning the prohibition of intoxicating drink at “threshings, harvestings and hay making.”

The Workmen’s Compensaton Act 1906

The article provides that farmers were now liable for injuries to employees under the recently enacted Employers’ Liability Act (1906).  We believe that the correct 1906 Act was the Workmen’s Compensation Act. Previously, in 1880 injured employees were given the right to seek their medical costs due to work related injuries. Although injured employees were given the right to sue their employer for their medical bills the burden of the case remained on the employee. The Workmen’s Compensation Act 1897 replaced the 1880 Act and allowed employees to merely show that they were injured on the job. However, the 1897 Act only covered blue collar, industrial workers. The 1897 Act was replaced and the categories of protected workers was expanded under the Workmen’s Compensation Act 1906. The 1906 Act made insurance mandatory on employers, thus introducing a social insurance scheme. The 1906 Act went into effect on 1 July 1907 and included agricultural workers as well as domestic servants for the first time.

Notwithstanding the legislation and the Wexford People article, while attempting to locate other articles regarding the Glenmore Threshing Agreement, we found an article in the New Ross Standard that squarely placed the Glenmore Threshing Agreement at the feet of Father Thomas Phelan, P.P. of Glenmore. Excerpts from the New Ross Standard are below.

The Wexford People Article

A NEW MOVEMENT IN GLENMORE. SPLENDIDLY INITIATED. We have just heard of the successful initiation on last Sunday, in the important parish of Glenmore, beautifully situated on the banks of our own dear Barrow, of a movement combining the farmers and labourers of the parish in their own interest, in doing away with the custom of giving intoxicating drink at threshings, harvestings and hay-making.

That the movement gives good hopes for success is evident from the fact that on the invitation of the clergy over eighty farmers came forward and signed the following resolution:—”We promise and agree that for the future we shall not give nor accept any kind of intoxicating drink at hay-making, harvesting, and threshings, and that we shall not allow our sons or servants to help at any place where intoxicating drink will be distributed.”

The signing of this resolution by the farmers of a parish is indeed a very healthy sign that they realise the dangers attending their work when drink is distributed, and the increased risk of accidents to workmen, for which they are now liable. Abuses were many in the past. Frequently it was our sad duty to report during each autumn accidents resulting in temporary or permanent injury to workmen, the loss of valuable lives, the consuming by fire of haggards of corn and hay, and the destruction of valuable machinery.

Under the Employers Liability Act every farmer is now liable in law for every accident to his workmen whilst in his employment, and we are not at all surprised to find that the intelligent farmers of Glenmore, under the guidance of their priests, have given the new condition of things full and earnest consideration, and have set themselves to reduce the danger and risks. For the benefit of employers generally it will be useful to point out that if a workman is killed as the result of an accident in his employment the employer is liable for three years’ wages, which Parliament has decided must be not less than £l5O nor more than £300; but if the accident result in temporary or permanent disablement then the employer is legally bound to pay his workman half wages for the whole time of his disablement. These are the main outlines of the recent Act of Parliament. and farmers who wish to study their position should procure a copy of the Act, or, better still, obtain guidance by some barrister. (Wexford People, Sat. 24 Aug. 1907, p. 5)

The New Ross Standard Article

“Mission at Glenmore”—On Sunday evening two priests of the Redemptorist Order, Father Burke and Father M’Hugh, closed a fortnight’s mission in Glenmore. “It was a grand and glorious success from the opening to the close. Old parishioners who have been blessed by many a mission proclaim this to be the most successful of all. It was favoured with delightful weather, an important factor in country missions…Today many parishes might envy the peace and happiness which reign supreme in Glenmore.”

“The temperance movement, initiated a few months previously by the priests of the parish for the abolition of the abominable custom of giving out drink on the occasions of threshings, was steeped home and completed by the invincible eloquence of the missionaries. No true son of St. Patrick, no Irishman possessing a spark of Christianity or love of fatherland, could withstand Father Burke’s seething denunciations of this ruinous custom. Every householder of the parish, no matter what his occupation or social standing has signed, without one single exception, a pledge drawn up Father Phelan, P.P.”

The pledge simply state that “neither to give nor to accept any intoxicating drinks on the occasions of threshings or hay-making, and not to allow either their sons or servants to help in any place where such drink is given.”  “The farmers of Glenmore have led the way. May all Ireland follow.” 

It also was reported that upwards of seven hundred solemnly pledged themselves to total abstinence for five years. Is Ireland “at last realizing the real bond of slavery?” (New Ross Standard, Fri. 4 Oct. 1907, p. 6)

Was It Honoured?

It is not known if the agreement was honoured, or if it was honoured how long it lasted. Older local farmers have indicated that a barrel of beer was provided at the conclusion of threshings, hay making and harvests for the workers as well as for guests at weddings and funerals. Father Thomas Phelan was instrumental in the renovation of St. James in 1910. See our previous blog post of 2 May 2020 regarding the renovation of St. James and where it was noted that the chapel bell was split in half during the 1907 missions.

Please send any additional information or corrections to glenmore.history@gmail.com.

Dr. Kathleen Moore Walsh