This thesis examines, how a conservative British government introduced a scheme of
land purchase in Ireland in i903, which effectively abolished the landlord system on the
island. The work is focused on how this affected one region, County Galway, during the
period 1903-21. Divided into five parts, the thesis, in its introduction, outlines the
background to the ‘land question’ in Ireland and lists earlier attempts to solve it and their
shortcomings. It also looks at the current historiography covering the topic and discusses
the primary and secondary material available to a student undertaking a study of thi
