Mitchell Henry was well liked among his tenants. He was a fair landlord that encouraged new farming methods on his own land to try to test possible advancements for other farmers in the region and suspended payment of rent when the crop yield was low. As an MP for Galway, Henry was a key advocate for Home Rule, a founder of the Home Rule Party and was known for publicly campaigning for the welfare of all tenants. While Henry had many supporters, his beliefs were still divisive. Many fellow landlords continued to raise rents and evict tenants while at the opposite end of the spectrum, the Land League took a radical approach that Henry at times felt incited violent acts, acts which he felt were foreign to Irish nature. Falling between these two ideals often made Henry unpopular, but he nonetheless continued to fight for his views in Parliament and practice his own beliefs in Kylemore, which he held up as what was possible.
“I consider it is the duty of a landlord to share in the unavoidable losses arising from bad years, for which none of us are to blame, and I will therefore allow each of my agricultural tenants the remission of the whole of the present half years rent…I trust that this arrangement will tide us over our difficulties, and I confidently rely on your preventing the accumulation of arrears, which are simply destructive to the happiness and well-being of all concerned”
Galway Vindicator, 10 September 1879, p3