Maynooth Grant

English parliamentary subsidy of 1795 to finance a Catholic seminary in Maynooth, County Kildare, some 12 miles from Dublin. The grant was introduced by Pitt the younger both to mollify Catholics and avoid priests having to go to seminaries France which Britain was at war with. The grant aroused much opposition, and was not increased from 1813 until 1845, when Sir Robert Peel was forced to rely on Whig support to push through an increase. Although he was successful, the tactic exacerbated the splits in the Tory party and led to Gladstone's resignation from the board of trade.