The Troubles of Captain Boycott, Part II: The Campaign
Boycotting, sanctioned by the fear of violence, was a dreadfully effective weapon; T.H. Corfe describes how its widespread use made Parnell the “Uncrowned King of Ireland.”
The troubles of Captain Boycott began with the grain harvest in July and August 1880. His labourers took the opportunity to go on strike, demanding from 9s. to 15s. a week instead of the customary 7s. to 11s. The Captain, who never shirked hard work, laboured gallantly in the fields with his family and remaining servants for a day or two before giving in with a bad grace to the men’s demands.
At the same time came the tenants’ request for rent reductions of 5s. in the pound; this, they maintained, was what most good landlords in the district were giving. Boycott consulted Lord Erne, who would offer only 2s. as in the previous year; his lordship himself wrote his tenants a firm warning “that was read by those who could read, and read to those who could not by the bailiff” on September 1st.
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