Limerick boycott

The Limerick boycott was an economic boycott waged against the small Jewish community in Limerick, Ireland, for over two years in the first decade of the twentieth century. It was accompanied by a number of assaults, stone throwing and intimidation, which caused many Jews to leave the city. It was instigated in 1904 by a Redemptorist priest, Father John Creagh. According to a report by the Royal Irish Constabulary, five Jewish families left Limerick "owing directly to the agitation" while another 26 families remained.

There were seven Jews living in Limerick City in 1790. Census returns record one Jew in Limerick in 1861. This doubled by 1871 and doubled again by 1881. Increases to 35, 90 and 130 are shown for 1888, 1892, and 1896 respectively. A small number of Lithuanian Jewish tradespeople, fleeing persecution in their homeland, began arriving in Limerick in 1878. They formed an accepted part of the city's retail trade, centred on Colooney St. The community established a synagogue and a cemetery in the 1880s. Easter Sunday of 1884 saw the first of what were to be a series of sporadic violent antisemitic attacks and protests. The wife of Lieb Siev and his child were injured by stones and her house damaged by an angry crowd for which the ringleaders were sentenced to hard labour for a month. In 1892 two families were beaten and a stoning took place on 24 November 1896.

In 1903, a reception was held in Limerick to mark the emigration of Bernard Wienronk (a Zionist) to South Africa. The former Mayor of Limerick John Daly was asked to preside. He proposed a toast on the night to "Israel A Nation". Many details about Limerick's Jewish families are recorded in the 1901 census that shows most were peddlers, though a few were described as drapery dealers and grocers.

In 1904 Father John Creagh, a Redemptorist, gave a sermon attacking Jews. He repeated many historical myths about Jews, including that of ritual murder, and said that the Jews had come to Limerick "to fasten themselves on us like leeches and to draw our blood".Dermot Keogh describes what happened after Creagh delivered his lecture calling for a boycott on 11 January 1904.

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