Mayo Agent, Captain Charles Boycott, Was Sent to a Moral Coventry.

Captain Charles Boycott, the land agent for Lord Erne in County Mayo, became the unwilling namesake of a new form of peaceful protest — “boycotting” — during the Irish Land War in 1880.

In that year, when Boycott attempted to evict tenants who were unable to pay rent, the Irish Land League organized a nonviolent social and economic ostracism campaign against him. Locals refused to: • Work his land • Sell him goods or services • Deliver his mail • Speak with him socially

Boycott famously described his isolation in a letter to The Times of London, writing:

“People collect in crowds upon my farm and order off all my workmen. The shopkeepers have been warned to stop all supplies to my house.”

His plight caught public attention. The British government eventually sent 50 Orangemen, escorted by a thousand troops, to harvest his crops at great expense — estimated to be £10,000 to protect £500 worth of crops.

As a result of this high-profile standoff, “boycott” entered the English language as a verb — symbolizing organized shunning for political or social reasons.

Boycott eventually returned to England, his name immortalized as a byword for nonviolent resistance.