Captain Charles Cunningham Boycott (
March 12,
1832—
June 19,
1897) was a
British land agent whose ostracism by his local community in
Ireland as part of a campaign for workers' rights in
1880 gave the
English language the
verb to boycott, meaning "to ostracise". Charles Boycott was born in
Norfolk in 1832. After service in the
British Army 39th Foot, he came to Ireland to work as a land agent for Lord Erne (
John Crichton, 3rd Earl Erne), the local 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) to protect
tenants from
exploitation, the
Irish Land League under
Michael Davitt withdrew the local labour required to save the harvest on Lord Erne's estate. When Boycott tried to undermine the campaign, the League launched a campaign of isolation against him in the local community. Neighbours would not talk to him. Shops would not serve him. In church, people would not talk to him or sit near him.
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