On 4 December 1851, Thomas Douglas Bateson, agent to the Templetown estate near Castleblayney, Co. Monaghan, was murdered as he returned on foot to Castleblayney after visiting the estate's model farm at Corratanty. The murder sent shock waves from Castleblayney to Westminster.

This book sets out to examine the murder in the context of landlord-tenant relations at a time of extraordinary socio-economic upheaval in the aftermath of the Great Famine.This work sets out to reappraise the motivation behind the murder in the broader context of the Irish land question. It questions whether the crime was part of a Ribbon conspiracy or simply a desperate measure taken by a desperate tenantry. It also elucidates the criminal procedure that led to the execution of three men and the acquittal of numerous.