IRISH SLAVES

The first Irish slaves were sent to a settlement on the Amazon River in South America in the year 1612. It is known that after the Nine Years War in 1609, some of the defeated Irish were sent, initially to Sweden. A couple of years later some may have been sent to South America. Toirealach Mag Fhionnghaile, one of our leaders in the war could have been among those sent away. After the Nine Years War, which saw an end to the long and great ‘Gaelic Period’, the English were left with many hundreds if not thousands of Irish soldiers and rebels and did not know what to do with them. The Proclamation of 1625 ordered that Irish political prisoners be transported overseas and sold as slaves and labourers to English planters in the West Indies. By the year 1629 we have records that a large group of Irish men and women were sent to Guiana. Records show the widespread practice of selling Irish as slaves in Antigua and Montserrat in the year 1632. The practice was so common that by the year 1637, according to a census carried out, 67% of the population of Montserrat were Irish slaves!

A steady flow of ‘rebels’, ‘vagabonds’, ‘troublemakers’ and ‘prisoners of war’ were sent to various Carribean islands over the next few decades. In the 1650’s, under the leadership of Oliver Cromwell, the supply of Irish slaves increased dramatically. Under his tyrannical rule, not just Irish soldiers, rebels etc were ‘transported’ but many innocent farm workers, labourers, women and children. They were illegally taken from their land and their families and sent to strange lands far from home. It is thought that many McGinleys were sent to Achill and Burrishoole in Co Mayo under the order of Oliver Cromwell in the early 1600’s. During the early 1650’s, Oliver Cromwell may have sent some McGinleys not just to Mayo but to the Carribean.

The ship 'Katherine' often made voyages across the Atlantic carrying Irish slaves. As early as 1729 an insurrection aboard the ship was started by the crew. They felt that they were not getting their fair share of the slave trade profits. They mutinied and threw the captain into the sea. This was just one of many disturbances on board these slave ships when often the Irish would start a revolt. The steady flow of Irish slaves to the Carribean islands slowed down after the Cromwellian period, but still continued. Many were sent again after the 1798 Rebellion in Ireland. At the beginning of the 1800’s, this vile ‘trade’ started to disappear. The vast majority of slaves were sent directly to the Carribean island but some were sent to America instead. In both cases the intention was to be a slave to an English settler. The English Government operated this sickening business for nearly two hundred years. One of the earliest McGinleys in America, Bryan McGinley arrived in Philadelphia as a slave in the year 1745. The descendants of the estimated 80,000 Irish slaves are mostly to be found in America today. Some arrived directly from Ireland, Bryan McGinley did, while many more arrived or escaped from the Carribean islands. A very large percentage of these people died at an early age through the hard life that they were forced to endure. So many ships in this period left English and Irish ports with Irish cargo for what the English politely termed ‘resettlement’. The period from 1735 until 1746 seemed to be a particularly ‘busy’ time. A lot of the very earliest McGinleys in America, especially pre 1800, would have been sent as slaves.

IRISH SLAVES IN AMERICA

It is a fact that many Irish went to America before the 1800's as 'indentured servants' or slaves. This trade was widespread, though almost forgotten or ignored today. It was very profitable too!. Ships left America bound for Ireland in the early 1700's delivering flaxseed for the Irish linen industry. These ships often took aboard Irish slave cargoe on their return journeys. It would have been unprofitable for them to return with empty ships. The human traffic in Irish slaves in the 1700's augmented, to a large degree, the profits of the American and English merchants. By 1770, many years before the Great Hunger in Ireland, the Irish population was already substantial in New York and this is put down to the large numbers of early Irish slaves/indentured servants. Records show a large number of cargo ships docking at New York carrying Irish servants between the years 1728 and 1732. The vast majority were forced to work in the textile and clothing industry.

AUSTRALIA

It is a clear fact that the early Irish ‘settlers’ in Australia were taken there as slaves or ‘bonded workers’, as well as some petty criminals. During the Irish Rebellion of 1798 and afterwards, many Irish rebels were sent to Australia. The vast majority of these rebels were settled in New South Wales between the years 1797 and 1806. Very few of their names survive but it is unlikely that many were McGinleys as the 1798 Rebellion did not affect Co Donegal, at least not to the same extent as most of the rest of the country. We do however have a record of a Hugh Maginnely from Donegal convicted during this time, as a member of the United Irishmen, an illegal organisation (according to the English) . We do not know what happened to him but he may well have been transported to Australia which was the preferred option and location for those deemed dangerous or undesirable by the English Government.

There are however, some good records available that clearly show McGinley deportations to Australia before the 'Famine' period. The name of Daniel Magenley is recorded in the year of 1819, and would seem to be the first of our clan in Australia. By 1822 he is recorded as Daniel McGinley working on a farm of another ex prisoner from Ireland. The name of John McGinley is recorded as an Irish prisoner sent to Australia in 1829 (New South Wales and Tazmania, Australia Convicts Musters 1806-1849). The following are listed as convicts, John McGinley 1837, Edward McGinley 1840, John McGinley 1844 and James Maginally 1845 (Australian Convict Transportation Registers, 1791-1868). Two early female convicts were Susan McGuinley 1842 and Mary McGinley 1848 (New South Wales and Tasmania, Australia Convicts Musters 1806-1849). Hugh McGinlay was given a 'Certificate of Freedom' in 1831 (New South Wales Convicts Tickets & Certificates Index 1831).

It should be clearly noted that the term 'criminal' in these cases is very much incorrect. Although they were found quilty of stealing (usually food), it was for the purpose of feeding their starving kin, and clearly the punishment of sending them to the other side of the world, either to a prison camp or as servants was totally unjustified in a democratic civilised world.

Rebel remnants of the 1798 and 1803 Irish Rebellions were transported to New South Wales, Australia between the years 1797 and 1806. Known as 'rebel transporters' ships, some of them included 'The Britanica 1 (1797), 'Friendship (1800), 'Anna aka Luz St Anna' (1801), 'Atlas' (1802), Atlas 11 (1802), 'Hercules' (1802), 'Rolla' (1803), 'Minerva' (1806) and 'Tellicherry' (1806). These are the recorded ones, no doubt there were others. Today in Australia, at the start of the twenty first century, the Irish and their descendants are the second largest ethnic group making up 10% of the current population of the country.