Who killed the Franks family?

Agrarian violence in pre-Famine Cork

Denis A. Cronin

This study examines the violent world of north Cork during the Rockite disturbances of the early 1820s. Agrarian gangs attempted to regulate rural society, threatening or attacking those who ignored their decrees. Taking the killing of a Protestant family in 1823 as a case study, the author explores the tensions and pressures that led to this agrarian violence and relates how the authorities tried to bring the killers to justice and restore order in the countryside.

Denis Cronin is a native of Cork who lives and works in Dublin. He has contributed essays to several local history collections and this is his second contribution to the Maynooth pamphlet series.