The Whiteboys: Ireland's Secret Peasant Rebellion of the 1760s

The History of Ireland: Rebellion, Empire, and Independence — Fexingo History · May 28, 2026 · 5m · transcript

For decades, scholars portrayed the Whiteboys as a primitive rural riot. In fact, they were an elaborate secret society with oaths, codes, and a campaign of direct action that terrified landlords across Munster and Leinster. This episode explores the origins of the Whiteboy movement in County Tipperary around 1761, their network of nocturnal raids—leveling fences, maiming cattle, and delivering threatening letters signed by the mythical 'Captain Right'—and the brutal state repression that followed under the Whiteboy Act of 1765. We also examine the social and economic context…