The Honourable The Irish Society

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Arms of the Irish Society on a window in Coleraine Town Hall

James I. In its first decades the society rebuilt the city of Derry and town of Coleraine
, and for centuries it owned property and fishing rights near both towns. Some of the society's profits were used to develop the economy and infrastructure of the area, while some was returned to the London investors, and some used for charitable work.

The society remains in existence as a "relatively small grant-giving charitable body",[2] registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales for "the promotion of any exclusively charitable purposes for the benefit of the community of the County of Londonderry and neighbouring areas".[2][3] In 2020 it had six employees and disbursed £580,000 in grants.[3] Much of its funding derives from its remaining property, including the walls of Derry, a tourist attraction and heritage site, and fisheries on the River Bann.[2]

The society is based in the City of London, with a "Representative" resident in Coleraine.[2] Its legal constitution is as a Court of "honest and discreet citizens of London" chaired by a Governor. The Governor is traditionally a former Lord Mayor of London, and the City's Court of Common Council elects the Court of the Irish Society, whose size was reduced in 2013 from "six and twenty" to 15.[4]

History

A section of Derry's Walls, together with the Guildhall. Both were constructed by the Irish Society

The

Virginia Company of London
had been created similarly in 1606 to colonise North America.

The city of Derry was renamed Londonderry in recognition of the London origin of the Irish Society.

private act of the Parliament of Ireland was also passed in 1704 to resolve the dispute.[9][10]

During the 17th and 18th centuries four of the twelve livery companies sold their estates, the Irish Society requiring in each case a bond of indemnity.

trust, not for the livery companies, but for "public purposes".[13][14] Since then, its profits have been used entirely for charitable ends.[13][15] The 1854 Royal Commission on the City of London recommended that the Irish Society be abolished and its property transferred to a new charitable trust, unconnected to the London Corporation, with trustees nominated by the Lord Chancellor of Ireland.[16]

While the companies' rural estates were sold to tenants under the

Irish Land Acts after 1870, the Irish Society's urban property was exempt from the acts.[2] An 1889 House of Commons select committee report stated:[17]

From the evidence of these witnesses it appeared that there was no complaint as to the manner in which the Irish Society had performed its duties; and, with regard to the different City Companies, it was admitted that till recently they had acted with liberality. They had built churches and schools throughout their respective districts and had subscribed with great liberality to the local charities. The complaint was that this liberality on the part of some of the Companies has greatly diminished, that some subscriptions have been entirely withdrawn, and others considerably diminished and that some of the Livery Companies who had formerly given subscriptions to various local charities had sold their lands recently without making provision for the continuance of these subscriptions.

The Irish Society financed the building of Derry's Guildhall; work started in 1887 and it was opened in July 1890, having cost £19,000.[18] In 1923 the society sold most of its remaining property in Derry city to the Government of Northern Ireland for £500,000.[19] By the 21st century its property portfolio was "much reduced".[2]

Notes

  1. ^ In full, the "Society of the Governor and Assistants, London, of the New Plantation in Ulster, within the Realm of Ireland".

References

Sources

Citations

  1. ^ Clarke & Finnelly 1847 p.432
  2. ^ a b c d e f Montgomery, Edward (November–December 2009). "The Honourable The Irish Society: still in business". History Ireland. 17 (6).
  3. ^ a b "The Honourable The Irish Society — Charity 1150776". Register of Charities. Charity Commission for England and Wales. Archived from the original on 24 April 2021. Retrieved 24 April 2021.
  4. ^ "The History of The Irish Society". The Honourable The Irish Society. Retrieved 24 April 2021.
  5. ISBN 0-85640-443-8
    .
  6. ^ Londonderry History. London: Samuel Lewis. 1837. Retrieved 24 July 2015. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  7. ^ 1884 report, Appendix (A.) The London Companies' Estates in co. Derry, section 9
  8. ^ 1884 report, Appendix (A.) The London Companies' Estates in co. Derry, section 10
  9. ^
    JSTOR 20496009
    .
  10. ^ 1899 narrative, pp.127–131
  11. ^ a b 1884 report, Appendix (A.) The London Companies' Estates in co. Derry, section 12
  12. ^ Skinners, Worshipful Company of (1839). The Skinners' Company Against the Honourable the Irish Society, the Corporation of London, and Others. Proceedings in ... Chancery, Upon the Hearing of the Cause in the Rolls Court, ... Commencing Feb. 9, 1838. William Tyler. Retrieved 24 July 2015.
  13. ^ a b 1891 report, pp.ix–x
  14. ^ Clarke & Fineally 1847 p.490
  15. ^ 1899 narrative, pp.179–193
  16. ^ 1854 report p.xxxiv
  17. ^ 1889 report, p.iii
  18. ^ "Guildhall Information". Derry City Council. Archived from the original on 8 April 2012. Retrieved 16 March 2012.
  19. ^ "The Sale of Derry". The Irish Times. 22 May 1923. p. 5. Retrieved 19 October 2020.

External links

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