Samuel MacCurdy Greer

Who was Samuel MacCurdy Greer?

Samuel MacCurdy Greer, was an Irish politician.

He was the eldest son of the Rev. Thomas Greer, presbyterian minister of Dunboe, and Elizabeth Caldwell, daughter of Captain Adam Caldwell, R.N. He was born at Springvale, County Londonderry, in 1810, educated at the Belfast Academy and Glasgow University, and was called to the Irish Bar in 1833.

His life was devoted to constitutional agitation for such reforms in Irish land tenure as were necessary to make the union tolerable as a permanent arrangement. It was about 1848 that Greer first began to take an active part in political life, and although never a very prominent figure in public, his influence and popularity in his native county were very great. He was one of the originators of the tenant league, formed in 1850 by himself, Sir John Gray, proprietor of the 'Freeman's Journal,' Dr. M'Knight, editor of the 'Londonderry Standard,' Frederick Lucas, and John Francis Maguire. They demanded for the Irish tenant what have since been known as the three F's —fixity of tenure, fair rents, and free sale. Greer was one of the few Ulstermen of any weight or position—William Sharman Crawford was another—who adopted these principles.