A History of Ireland, 18001922

Description

In this study, Ireland’s status as a theatre of disorder from 1800 to 1922 is investigated and re-assessed.

There is no lack of sensationalism in the period of Irish history 1800–1922. Large dramas played themselves out in small places. The last subsistence crisis of Europe would be enough to justify this judgement, but there is more: endemic levels of violence, the formation of the first state police force in the history of Britain, republican militancy, tithe and land wars, socialist protest, armed insurrection, war and civil war pockmark the era. The history of Ireland, particularly in its relationship to the imperial power of Britain, has been fraught to say the least. The so-called ‘Pax Britannica’ never became a genuine ‘Pax Hibernia’.

However, such an account needs to be balanced against other stories that emerge from the period. Ireland had its own ‘Victorian’ era and a more benign revolution in social mores, technology, communication and transport. Many features of twentieth-century political and social practice were then established: a system of public health, factory inspection, primary education, ordnance survey mapping, civic improvement and census taking. Sporting, musical and cultural traditions knew an intense phase of development. Moreover, Irish leaders and many of the middle-classes adapted to the Union’s constitutional arrangements and successfully exploited it to their advantage. In 1922, both north and south Ireland did inherit a certain institutional stability from the Union era.

Both of these stories need to be told together to reflect the recent scholarship on all areas of modern Irish history. This book is a historiographical synthesis, providing readers with an understanding of the nature of current arguments and debates about a past that is neither dead nor, in many ways, even past.

Introduction; Forging the Union; Dawn of a New Century; Catholic Mobilisation; The Achievement of Emancipation; Ireland under Whig Government; The Campaign for Repealing the Union; The Age of Peel; Explaining the Famine; Response to Famine; Post-Famine Ireland; Mid-Victorian Ireland; Gladstone’s First Mission; Parnell and the Land League; The Irish Liberals: A Union of Hearts?; Constructive Unionism 1886–1906; Celtic Renaissance; The Story of Irish Socialism; The Home Rule Crisis; World War and Insurrection; The Rise of Sinn Féin; The Anglo–Irish War; North and South Settlements; Conclusion; Chronology; Notes; Bibliography; Glossary; Questions; Index

Subjects

• Books
• Littérature
• Historic novels
• HISTORY
• General officer
• History of Europe
• Great Britain
• General
• Europe

Informations

• Published by: Anthem Press
• Published: 01 February 2014
• Reads: 1
• EAN13: 9781783080397
• Language: English
• Document size: 1 MB

Exrait

A HISTORY OF IRELAND, 1800–1922

Anthem Perspectives in History

Titles in the Anthem Perspectives in History series combine a thematic overview with analyses of key areas, topics or personalities in history. The series is targeted at highachieving A Level, International Baccalaureate and Advanced Placement pupils, firstyear undergraduates and an intellectually curious audience.

Series Editors Helen Pike – Director of Studies at the Royal Grammar School, Guildford, UK Suzanne Mackenzie – Teacher of History at St Paul’s School, London, UK

Other Titles in the Series Britain in India, 1858–1947 Lionel Knight

Disraeli and the Art of Victorian Politics Ian St John

Gladstone and the Logic of Victorian Politics Ian St John

King John: An Underrated King Graham E. Seel

A HISTORY OF IRELAND, 1800–1922

THEATRES OF DISORDER?

Hilary Larkin

Anthem Press An imprint of Wimbledon Publishing Company www.anthempress.com

This edition first published in UK and USA 2014 by ANTHEM PRESS 75–76 Blackfriars Road, London SE1 8HA, UK or PO Box 9779, London SW19 7ZG, UK and 244 Madison Ave #116, New York, NY 10016, USA

Copyright © Hilary Larkin 2014

The author asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

Cover image:The Irish Girl(1860) by Ford Madox Brown, courtesy of the Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Fund

All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

British Library CataloguinginPublication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data Larkin, Hilary. A history of Ireland, 1800–1922 : theatres of disorder? / Hilary Larkin. pages cm. – (Anthem perspectives in history) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 9781783080366 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Ireland–History–19th century. 2. Ireland–History–1901–1910. 3. Ireland– History–1910–1921. I. Title. DA950.L37 2013 941.708–dc23 2013044577

ISBN13: 978 1 78308 036 6 (Pbk) ISBN10: 1 78308 036 1 (Pbk)

This title is also available as an ebook.

Out of Ireland have we come. Great hatred, little room, Maimed us at the start. I carry from my mother’s womb A fanatic heart. —William Butler Yeats, Remorse for Intemperate Speech(1933)

Preface List of Abbreviations

Introduction

1. Forging the Union

C

2. Dawn of a New Century

3. Catholic Mobilisations

O

N

T

E

4. The Achievement of Emancipation

5. Ireland under Whig Government

6. The Campaign for Repealing Union

7. The Age of Peel

8. Explaining the Famine

9. Response to Famine

10. PostFamine Ireland

11. MidVictorian Ireland

12. Gladstone’s First Mission

13. Parnell and the Land League

N

14. The Irish Liberals: A Union of Hearts?

15. Constructive Unionism, 1886–1906

T

S

ix xi

1 9 19 27 37 49 63 75 87 95 107 119 133 147 157 169

viii

A HISTORY OF IRELAND, 1800–1922

16. Celtic Renaissance

17. The Story of Irish Socialism

18. The Home Rule Crisis

19. World War and Insurrection

20. The Rise of Sinn Féin

21. The Anglo–Irish War

22. North and South Settlements

23. Conclusion

Chronology Notes Bibliography Glossary Questions Index

179 191 201 211 227 237 247 259

262 265 299 313 316 320

P

R

E

FA

C

E

I approached writing about nineteenth and early twentiethcentury Irish history with more than a slight sense of trepidation. Previously, I had researched the rather more manageable and less emotive topic of European influences on Ireland during the Enlightenment. But there is nothing that is not compelling about the history of this period and a desultory interest, in due course, became a fascination. I should like to thank those who have encouraged the project: Suzanne Mackenzie, Thomas Bartlett, Alvin Jackson, Aisling Byrne and Anna Rose O’Dwyer. A longterm debt of gratitude is overdue to all my former teachers in Irish history in University College Dublin: Ronan Fanning, Michael Laffan and Tadhg Ó hAnracháin, who communicated such a passion for the subject, a passion even earlier communicated by an inspirational teacher, Maura Farrell. My senior students at St Paul’s School, London have been an excellent sounding board for my ideas about British and Irish interactions and their questions and interests have helped to clarify my own. Latterly, I should like to thank Paul Kelton, who provided me with a research position at the University of Kansas; this has enabled me to complete this project transatlantically, making use of their library, the National Library of Ireland and the British Library. The University of Kansas indeed has inherited the 25,000 item collection of Irish books which once belonged to no less a person than P. S. O’Hegarty, whose name will appear in these pages. This has been an invaluable resource. I should add also that Renata Rua at the Irish Cultural Center here in Kansas City Missouri has been a great support in helping me chase up final references. Great thanks are due to Tej Sood, Rob Reddick, Janka Romero, Meredith Ramey and the whole editorial team at Anthem Press. Family and friends have been good enough to express their interest and their support; they have put me up and put up with me on numerous research visits to England and Ireland. I dedicate this book to my parents, John and Patricia, whose only substantial disagreements were, happily enough, about Irish history and politics.

x

A HISTORY OF IRELAND, 1800–1922

The subtitle comes from Thomas Bartlett’s description of Irish history as a theatre of disorder. To what extent this is the best summation of this period will be the question behind this book. I have chosen Ford Madox Brown’s Irish Girlfor the cover. This hauntingly lovely picture depicting a young but worldly wise girl, complete with red paisley shawl, is currently housed in the Yale Centre for British Art. Completed in 1860, it reminds us that the feminine representation of Ireland not only had a long trajectory in Irish poetry and prose but that it was central to British conceptions about the Irish. The Celtic other was deemed to be feminine, wild, uncontrollable, beyond the reach of Anglicisation and alluringly romantic. Few pictures better hint at the troubled nature of being Irish and the role that perceptions would play in shaping interactions and conflicts.