The British Government pours troops into Ireland…

The British Government pours troops into Ireland in response to Carrickshock, fearing a repeat of the 1798 uprising with tithe defaulters cast as potential rebels and Daniel O’Connell’s Repeal Movement feared as its Trojan Horse.

Taking stock of the continuing resistance, it compiles a list of 242 homicides, 1,179 robberies, 401 burglaries, 568 burnings, 280 cases of cattle-maiming, 161 assaults, 203 riots, and 723 attacks on property directly attributed to tithe-enforcement in 1831, but continues its policy of enforcing payment.

The “war” comes to a head in 1835 with the Rathcormac massacre, County Cork, when military and police kill seventeen and wound some thiorty more in an attempt to collect a tithe of fofty shillings from a widow.

The British Government is alarmed by several aspects of this massacre: by the fact that the order to fire had been given by a clergyman, by the pittance involved in relation to the bloodshed, and by the fact that the people had withstood several volleys and at least one charge by the troops without breaking.

Finding the task of collection and the associated outrages an increasing strain, collections are suspended.

A Tithes Commutation Act will be introduced in 1839, which will reduce the amount payable by about a quarter and make the remainder payable to landlords who will in turn, pass payment onto the clergy.

Tithes will thus be effectively added to a tenant's rent payment.

This partial relief and elimination of confrontational manner of collection ends the uprising, but Catholics will still be required to pay towards the upkeep of the Church of Ireland until its final disestablishment in 1869.