The action we know as a boycott traces its origin to an English land agent named Charles Boycott. During the Land War of 1879 – 1881, when he refused to lower tenant farmers’ rents during a particularly poor harvest. This resulted in many being evicted from their farms. In response, the public refused to support those landlords, for whom Boycott was an agent.
Eventually, Boycott himself was socially ostracized and completely isolated by businesses and by the townspeople. His workers quit and even the postman refused to deliver his mail. His surname has since then been adopted to mean a form of protest by the public, typically involving refusal to purchase goods or services from a person or company.