Birthright - book

Birthright The True Story That Inspired Kidnapped, by A. Roger Ekirch (W.W.Norton and Co., N.Y., 2010)

A.Roger Ekirch is a Professor of History at Virginia Tech University. He is described on the dust jacket by someone as “one of America’s most imaginative historians.”

I have no doubt this is a true story. However the phrase “imaginative historian” bothers me a bit. I should think it is almost an oxymoron. Anyway, this is the story of a youth in eighteenth century Ireland/England who was born into royalty to a father who abandoned him to life on the streets of Dublin when he was still a child, apparently because the father’s wife, his stepmother, didn’t like him and insisted on it. The boy, however, never gave up claiming to be the son of this wealthy landowner, a fact that created trouble for his uncle who saw him as the only person standing between him and inheriting his brother’s vast wealth. So the uncle, about as vile and greedy a creature that you could ever imagine, arranged to have the boy kidnapped and sent to America as an indentured laborer.

After spending almost fourteen years in America and finally satisfying his indenture he manages to return to Dublin and challenges his uncle’s right to the inheritance. This sets off one of the most important, famous, and sensational trials that ever occurred in London and Dublin. Both Ireland and England were involved because his father had been given tracts of land in both countries, the proceeds from which were huge by the standards of the time. As the boy had but few means and his uncle had fortunes the latter managed to have the trial was dragged on almost endlessly. The bulk of the book deals with the various trials and all the people who testified as to authenticity of his parenthood and so on. I do not wish to give away the ending of this remarkable story, but it was not the story itself that I found of the most interest.

This is said to be the story that inspired the novel, Kidnapped, by Robert Louis Stevenson, as well as a few others. I must confess somewhat shamefacedly that I have never read Kidnapped, or if I did it was so long ago I cannot remember anything about it. What I found the most fascinating reading Birthright was the social organization and culture of 18th century England and Ireland. What a bizarre and dysfunctional system it was. When the English conquered Ireland various people were awarded large tracts of land, these in turn were broken up into smaller sections and essentially rented to peasants and farmers which produced income for the nobles who held them, the medieval system that had not yet given away to industrialization. Hence there was an upper class that was incredibly wealthy and the various landholdings were passed down within families. But with the system of primogeniture not everyone could inherit and the precise relationships of one person to another were often of critical importance. Thus there was frequently conflict between brothers, fathers and sons, uncles and nephews, even mothers and children. And given there were not only lots of legitimate children, but also lots of bastards that sometimes became of importance, the situations could sometimes become complicated and chaotic. In some cases the son that inherited the land and titles did try to provide for his brothers and others, but in many cases he did not. Greed was perhaps even more rampant then than now. The problems of inheritance that we encounter from time to time are remnants of this system, but are by no means as common as they were then.

In this particular case, the evil uncle attempted to have the son declared a bastard so he would be ineligible for any inheritance. Failing that he attempted to have him killed. He thought he had solved the problem when he had him kidnapped and sent to America. But he returned, challenged his uncle, and brought about a virtually unprecedented legal case, helped along considerably by his uncle’s terrible reputation and lack of friends. It is hard for us to imagine now just how unpleasant, unfair, and unjust life was in England and Ireland in those days, reading Dickens helps, of course. It was not unusual for parents to leave children to exist on their own, beggars were common, hangings were a public recreation, crime was rampant, and the upper classes were protected by laws so discriminatory they could rarely be challenged or defeated in court. Birthright tells a story that was most unusual at the time and reading it offers a glimpse into the terrible world of 18th century life. The book was obviously well researched, is well written, easy to read, and interesting. I can’t help wondering how much is truly history and how much might be imagination. Perhaps it doesn’t matter if, as some have claimed, “there is no fundamental distinction between fiction and history” (Roland Barthes, Hayden White).