Charles Cunningham Boycott, from Norfolk, England, is the source of his name becoming a part of the English language. He was born on March 12, 1832.
In County Mayo, Ireland, the Tenants’ “Land League” in 1880 asked for Boycott, an estate agent, to reduce their rents because of a poor harvest and the resulting dire economic conditions. Boycott then responded by serving the tenants eviction notices , who countered by refusing to have any dealings with him. Charles Stewart Parnell, who was president of the National Land League and agrarian agitator, retaliated against Boycott by devising the technique of economic and social activism that came to be known as a “boycott.”