Charles Boycott

in Norfolk, where Boycott's father William Boycott was vicar, and where Charles Boycott is buried Charles Cunningham Boycott was born on 12 March 1832 to Reverend William Boycatt and his wife Georgiana. He grew up in the village of Burgh St Peter in Norfolk, England; Boycott was educated at a boarding school in Blackheath, London. He was interested in the military—and in 1848, entered the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, in hopes of serving in the Corps of Royal Sappers and Miners. Boycott's regiment transferred to Belfast shortly after his arrival. Six months later, it was sent to Newry before marching to Dublin, where it remained for a year. He was ill between August 1851 and February 1852 and sold his commission the following year, ==Life on Achill Island==

After receiving an inheritance, Boycott was persuaded by his friend, Murray McGregor Blacker, a local magistrate, to move to Achill Island, a large island off the coast of County Mayo. McGregor Blacker agreed to sublet of land belonging to the Irish Church Mission Society on Achill to Boycott, who moved there in 1854. Boycott was involved in a number of disputes while on Achill. Two years after his arrival, he was unsuccessfully sued for assault by Thomas Clarke, a local man. Clarke said that he had gone to Boycott's house because Boycott owed him money. He said that he had asked for repayment of the debt, and that Boycott had refused to pay him and told him to go away, which Clarke refused to do. Clarke alleged that Boycott approached him and said: "If you do not be off, I will make you." Clarke later withdrew his allegations, and said that Boycott did not actually owe him any money. Both Boycott and McGregor Blacker were involved in a protracted dispute with Mr Carr, the agent for the Achill Church Mission Estate, from whom McGregor Blacker leased the lands, and Mr O'Donnell, Carr's bailiff. The dispute began when Boycott and Carr supported different sets of candidates in elections for the Board of Guardians to the Church Mission Estate, and Boycott's candidates won. Carr was also the local receiver of wrecks, which meant that he was entitled to collect the salvage from all shipwrecks in the area, and guard it until it was sold in a public auction. The local receiver had a right to a percentage of the sale and to keep whatever did not sell. In 1860 Carr wrote a letter to the Official Receiver of Wrecks stating that Boycott and his men had illegally broken up a wreck and moved the salvage to Boycott's property. In response to this accusation, Boycott sued Carr for libel and claimed £500 in damages (). ==Life in Lough Mask before controversy==

area of County Mayo, showing the location of Lough Mask House. The house is southwest of Ballinrobe, and 6 km north of Cong; Claremorris is a further north-east of Ballinrobe.|A map of the area around Lough Mask In 1873, Boycott moved to Lough Mask House, owned by Lord Erne, four miles (6 km) from Ballinrobe in County Mayo. The 3rd Earl of Erne was a wealthy Ulster landowner who lived at Crom Castle, a country house near Newtownbutler in the south-east of County Fermanagh. He owned of land in Ireland, of which 31,389 were in County Fermanagh, 4,826 in County Donegal, 1,996 in County Sligo, and 2,184 in County Mayo. ==Lough Mask affair==

Historical background by Napoleon Sarony 1882 In the nineteenth century, agriculture was the biggest industry in Ireland. In 1876, the government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland commissioned a survey to find who owned the land in Ireland. The survey found that almost all land was the property of just 10,000 people, or 0.2 per cent of the population. In the 1870s, the Fenians tried to organise the tenant farmers in County Mayo to resist eviction. He asked the crowd, "What do you do with a tenant who bids for a farm from which his neighbour has been evicted?" This speech set out the Land League's powerful weapon of social ostracism, which was first used against Charles Boycott. On 14 October of that year, Boycott wrote a letter to The Times about his situation: According to Becker, "Personally he is protected, but no woman in Ballinrobe would dream of washing him a cravat or making him a loaf. All the people have to say is that they are sorry, but that they 'dare not. Saving the crops In Belfast in early November 1880, The Boycott Relief Fund was established to arrange an armed expedition to Lough Mask. William Edward Forster, Chief Secretary for Ireland, made it clear in a communication with the proprietor of the Dublin Daily Express that he would not allow an armed expedition of hundreds of men, as the committee was planning, and that 50 unarmed men would be sufficient to harvest the crops. He said that the government would consider it their duty to protect this group. A carriage had been hired for the family, but no driver could be found for it, and an army ambulance and driver had to be used. in Parnell's words, "one shilling for every turnip dug from Boycott's land". 'Boycotting' had strengthened the power of the peasants, and by the end of 1880 there were reports of boycotting from all over Ireland. The events at Lough Mask had also increased the power of the Land League, and the popularity of Parnell as a leader. In December 1880, the Bessborough Commission, headed by The 6th Earl of Bessborough, recommended major land reforms, including the three Fs. William Edward Forster argued that a Coercion Act—which would punish those who participated in events like those at Lough Mask, and would include the suspension of habeas corpus—should be introduced before any Land Act. The act set up the Irish Land Commission, a judicial body that would fix rents for a period of 15 years and guarantee fixity of tenure. The following is Redpath's account: Still in 1880, The Illustrated London News described how "To 'Boycott' has already become a verb active, signifying to 'ratten', to intimidate, to 'send to Coventry', and to 'taboo. In 1888, the word was included in the first volume of A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (later known as The Oxford English Dictionary). The word also entered the lexicon of languages other than English, such as Dutch, French, German, Italian, Polish and Russian. ==Later life==

After leaving Ireland, Boycott and his family visited the United States. His arrival in New York generated a great deal of media interest; the New York Tribune said that, "The arrival of Captain Boycott, who has involuntarily added a new word to the language, is an event of something like international interest." The purpose of the visit was to see friends in Virginia, including Murray McGregor Blacker, a friend from his time on Achill Island who had settled in the United States. He had a passion for horses and racing, and became secretary of the Bungay race committee. Boycott continued to spend holidays in Ireland, and according to Joyce Marlow, he left Ireland without bitterness. In early 1897, Boycott's health became very poor. In an attempt to improve his health, he and his wife went on a cruise to Malta. In Brindisi, he became seriously ill, and had to return to England. His health continued to deteriorate, and on 19 June 1897 he died at his home in Flixton, aged 65. His funeral and burial took place at the church at Burgh St Peter, conducted by his nephew Arthur St John Boycott, who was at Lough Mask during the first boycott. Charles Boycott's widow, Annie, was subsequently sued over the funeral expenses and other debts, and had to sell some assets. A number of London newspapers, including The Times, published obituaries. ==In popular culture==

Charles Boycott and the events that led to his name entering the English language have been the subject of several works of fiction. The first was Captain Boycott, a 1946 romantic novel by Phillip Rooney. This was the basis for the 1947 film Captain Boycott—directed by Frank Launder and starred Stewart Granger, Kathleen Ryan, Alastair Sim, and Cecil Parker as Charles Boycott. More recently the story was the subject of the 2012 novel Boycott, by Colin C. Murphy. ==Notes==