Ralahine

Ralahine. In Co. Clare in 1831 the landlord John Scott Vandeleur set up the Ralahine Agricultural and Manufacturing Co‐operative Association with 52 tenants and their dependants. Though partly concerned to mitigate local agrarian unrest, Vandaleur was also influenced by having met, in Dublin, Robert Owen, the leader of British cooperatism, socialist factory owner, and founder of several utopian communities. The estate was handed over to a commune, which was governed by a committee of nine, elected half‐yearly. The estate and property was to belong to Vandeleur ‘until the Society accumulates sufficient funds to pay for them; they then become the joint property of the Society’. The experiment ran successfully for two years, but since these coincided with better than average harvests opinion on its long‐term viability remains divided. In 1834 Vandeleur bankrupted himself gambling. His creditors refused to recognize the rights of the commune and the estate was sold off to pay his debts.

Peter Collins