The Proclamations of Ireland 1660-1820

The proclamation was a crucial instrument of government and administration in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries; it was also the most frequently encountered item of official print. Long published, promulgated and posted in the immediately recognisable broadside format, and subsequently printed in the Dublin Gazette, proclamations were normally issued by the Lord Lieutenant (or Lords Justices) and Privy Council. Since they engaged with virtually every aspect of government, they were an essential complement to the act of parliament in the governance and administration of the kingdom. On average, between ten and thirty proclamations were issued annually between 1660 and 1820, though the frequency with which they were issued, and the subjects they engaged with, depended on the political state of the kingdom. An exceptional number were issued during the 1660s, late 1680s, 1690s, and 1790s, in keeping with the then fraught condition of the country, but even the less obviously eventful reigns of George I and George II were not without remarkable incident. This edition, arranged in five volumes, presents the texts, or a detailed guide to the content of some 2,500 proclamations, and allied documents, issued in Ireland between 1660-1820.