(2) The United Irishmen, rebellions & Act of

Union, 1790s-1801

1) Ireland in the 18th century

2) America (1776), Volunteers & Patriot movement
3) The United Irishmen & French Revolution
4) The Act of Union, 1800-1801
 1) Ireland in the 18th century

• 1692, all-Protestant parliament in IRL (Dublin)

• However, do ENG interests necessarily represent Irish

Protestant interests?

• Penal Laws of 1695-1709 to stifle Catholics:

• -Catholic landownership very restricted (1750: only 5-
10% own land)
-Catholics seen as a security threat
-freedom to practice Catholicism is curtailed
-No franchise for Catholics, 1728
-Catholics barred from local government & Trinity
-no right to practice at the bar
• Aim is to create an Anglican state:
-Church of Ireland (Anglican) ruling élite,
-Church of Ireland is Established Church.

• Dissenters (Presbyterians, Baptists…) also

discriminated:
-sacramental test to Church of Ireland (to work for
state)

• Protestant anniversaries (Battle of the Boyne etc) remind

of lurking Catholic threat:
-foreign Catholic threat (Wild Geese),
-security paramount,
-building more barracks.
• Structure of power in IRL before Act of Union (1800)

• ENG viceroy is head of government

• Civil servants are Protestants

• Parliament House (College Street, Dublin):

-2 chambers, Lords & Commons

• Declaratory Act, 1720:

-Westminster can legislate for IRL,
-IRL’s autonomy limited,
-ENG domination, but ENG necessary for Protestant
IRL’s security.
• Anglicans plans to convert IRL

• Hidden underground Catholic network

• Catholics excluded from public life, but still

overwhelming population:
-present in poetry,
-remembrance of history & military feats.

• Development of Catholic merchant middle class

• Agrarian unrest (tensions between landlords & tenants):

-secret peasant societies, “Whiteboys”
• Anglicans repress Dissenters too

• Penal Law affect Dissenters, but less than Catholics:

-can vote,
-cannot hold public office (1704),
-marriages not recognised by Anglicans.

• Many Presbyterians emigrate to America (about 150,000

between 1680s-1830s)

• Anglicans distrust Dissenters, but calculate they will side

with them against Catholics
 2) America (1776), Volunteers & Patriot movement

• Events in America in 1776 connect with IRL:

-trade restrictions,
-political authority (Westminster domination),
-sovereignty…

• Catholics delighted with GB’s troubles in America, but

Americans more like Protestants

• 1779: Volunteer movement (Protestant) develops in

Ulster (against possible French invasion); patriots:
-loyal to GB, but demand more autonomy for IRL,
-Catholic relief.
• 1770s: relaxation of Penal Laws

• Legislative independence in 1782:

-Declaratory Act of 1720 repealed,
-Henry Grattan,
-loyal to British crown.

• Yet, viceroy still ENG and not accountable to Irish parliament:

-Protestants know ultimately security depends on GB.

• Conservative clique of Protestant grandees wary of Irish

patriot movement

• Roman Catholic Relief Act, 1793:

-some anti-Catholic laws repealed,
-Catholics still not allowed to sit in Irish parliament.
• 1791: 4.4 million inhabitants in IRL

• Available resources in country are issue between Catholics

and Protestants

• Increase of sectarianism:
-Whiteboys (Cath.),
-Peep O’Day Boys (Prot.), Ulster,
-Orange Order, 1795 (founded in Ulster), to maintain
Protestant ascendancy, Battle of the Diamond.

• Volunteer movement leaves behind a politicised people

• Many Catholics and Presbyterians against Anglican

ascendancy

• Ulster Presbyterians and Catholics influenced by French

Revolution (1789)
 3) The United Irishmen & French Revolution

• Late 18th century: many political clubs in IRL

• French Revolution, 1789:

-storming & destruction of the bastille,
-”Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité”.

• Society of the United Irishmen (1791-1804):

-William Drennan, Belfast, Presbyterian,
-Wolfe Tone, Dublin, Anglican,
-Northern Star.
• Belfast is hub of radicalism

• Catholics & Presbyterians are discriminated

• Catholics to be included in United Irishmen

• French Revolution injects secular dimension

• Many United Irishmen meet in Paris:

-idea of egalitarianism,
-Tone to secure support (Hoche & Bonaparte).
• GB afraid of French threat & “French disease”

• Some relief offered to Catholics

• United Irishmen suppressed in 1794:

-movement now underground/conspiratorial.

• Centre of United Irishmen shifts to Dublin

• Catholics now see Revolutionary France as an ally to

overthrow Protestant Ascendancy

• Sectarian tensions increasing

• 1798 rebellion in IRL

• General Gerard Lake violently suppresses rebellions:

-welcomed by zealous loyalists (Protestants),
-fanning the flames for further violence.

• Planned rising of United Irishmen in Dublin, 1798 (Lord

Edward Fitzgerald) prevented:
-in Paris with Thomas Paine,
-fatally wounded during arrest, 1798.

• Hill of Tara (Meath), rebels massacred

• Ferocious fighting in Wexford (southeast):
-Vinegar Hill defeat (rebel

• Two sectarian massacres by United Irishmen:

-Scullabogue (Protestant prisoners burnt to death),
-Wexford (70 prisoners killed with pikes).

• For Protestants, 1798 killings reflect events of 1641:

-yet, major sectarian conflict in Ulster with United
Irishmen (Presbyterians),
-Battle of Ballynahinch.
• French landings in Ireland:
-failed landing at Bantry Bay, Cork (General Hoche),
1796.
• Successful French landing at Killala Bay, Mayo (General
Humbert), 1798:
-good campaign of small French force & Irish
peasants,
-victory at Castlebar, “The Races of Castlebar”.

• Defeat of the Franco-Irish force at Ballinamuck

(Longford):
-ENG army led by Lord Cornwallis.

• French unimpressed Irish people does not rebel

• French treated as POWs

• Irish prisoners massacred

• French intervention leaves deep impression on Irish

folklore:
-Bliain na bhFrancach (year of the French).

• Second French expedition intercepted near Lough Swilly

(Donegal):
-Wolfe Tone sentenced to death, commits suicide.
“Oh, the French are in the Bay
They’ll be here without delay
And the Orange will decay
Says the Sean Bhean Bhocht”
(traditional Irish ballad, 1790s)
• 1798 has important consequences.

• For the Irish:

-tradition of republican separatism (physical force),
-Wolfe Tone regarded as father of Irish republicanism.

• For the British:

-Protestant Ascendancy failed in IRL in 1798,
-violent repression (cause),
-neglect (cause)
-idea of union between GB and IRL.
 4) The Act of Union, 1800-1801

• Act of Union, 1800:

-United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
-no more parliament in Dublin
-Westminster Parliament
-British government

• Security/strategic considerations

• IRL now more controlled by GB

• Irish Protestants fearing loss of ascendancy

• Protestants in minority in IRL, but majority in UK

• Two attempts needed to pass act in parliament:
-defeat in 1799,
-success in 1800 (bribery to reach majority),
-Catholics told emancipation would soon follow,
-King George III against Catholic emancipation.

• United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, 1 January

1801:
-Union Flag.

• Robert Emmet’s rebellion in 1803:

-no support from France (disillusioned),
-messy rebellion,
-Chief Justice Lord Kilwarden killed,
-Emmet executed.