Three Fs in the context of "Tenant Right League"

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⭐ Core Definition: Three Fs

Free sale, fixity of tenure, and fair rent, also known as the Three Fs, were a set of demands first issued by the Tenant Right League during their campaign for land reform in Ireland starting in the 1850s. They were:

  • Free sale—meaning a tenant could sell the interest in their holding to an incoming tenant without landlord interference;
  • Fixity of tenure—meaning that a tenant could not be evicted if the rent was paid;
  • Fair rent—meaning rent control: for the first time in the United Kingdom, fair rent would be decided by land courts, not by the landlords.

Many historians contend that their absence contributed significantly to the Great Irish Famine (1846–49), as it enabled the mass eviction of starving tenants. The Three Fs were advocated by several political movements, notably the Independent Irish Party (1852–1858) and later the Irish Parliamentary Party during the Land War (from 1878). The British Government conceded to these demands through a series of Irish Land Acts enacted from the 1870s onward, with nearly full implementation in the Land Law (Ireland) Act 1881.

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Three Fs in the context of Charles Boycott

Charles Cunningham Boycott (12 March 1832 – 19 June 1897) was an English land agent whose ostracism by his local community in Ireland gave the English language the term boycott. He had served in the British Army 39th Foot, which brought him to Ireland. After retiring from the army, Boycott worked as a land agent for Lord Erne, a landowner in the Lough Mask area of County Mayo.

In 1880, as part of its campaign for the Three Fs (fair rent, fixity of tenure, and free sale) and specifically in resistance to proposed evictions on the estate, local activists of the Irish National Land League encouraged Boycott's employees (including the seasonal workers required to harvest the crops on Lord Erne's estate) to withdraw their labour, and began a campaign of isolation against Boycott in the local community. This campaign included shops in nearby Ballinrobe refusing to serve him, and the withdrawal of services. Some were threatened with violence to ensure compliance.

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