ANGLO-IRISH

'Anglo-Irish' was a term used historically to describe a privileged social class in Ireland, whose members were the descendants and successors of the Protestant Ascendancy^[1], mostly belonging to the Anglican Church of Ireland or to a lesser extent one of the English dissenting churches, such as the Methodist church. The term "Anglo-Irish" was not usually applied to Presbyterians, most of whom were of Scottish descent and were identified as Ulster-Scots or Ulstermen. Its usage continued in Victorian times, when it described a class composed mostly of Church of Ireland adherents who had adopted many English usages and customs while still acknowledging their Irish ancestry and background.
'Anglo-Irish' is also used to describe formal contacts, negotiations, and treaties between the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. Some examples of this usage are the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921, the Anglo-Irish Agreement of 1985, and the Anglo-Irish Summits (as meetings between the British and Irish prime ministers are usually called).
In the United States people who identify with the Ulster-Scots are sometimes called Scots-Irish, or Scotch-Irish while people whose ancestry can be traced to the Anglo-Irish refer to themselves only as Irish.

Contents

Anglo-Irish social class

Anglo-Irish peers

See also

Further reading

Notes

Anglo-Irish social class

The "Anglo-Irish" landed elite replaced the Old English and Gaelic Irish Catholic aristocracies in the course of the 17th century as the ruling class in Ireland. At this time, they were usually called the "New English" to distinguish them from the Catholic "Old English," who were descendants of medieval Hiberno-Norman settlers. Under the Penal Laws that were in force between the 17th and 19th centuries, Roman Catholics in Ireland were barred from public office, military service, membership in the Irish Parliament, and from entering professions such as law and medicine. The lands of the old Catholic elite were largely confiscated in the Plantations of Ireland and their rights to inherit landed property were severely restricted. Those who converted to Protestantism were usually able to keep or regain their lost property.
The term "Anglo-Irish" was often applied to the anglicised Protestants who therefore made up the Irish professional and landed classes. A number of them became famous as poets or writers, including Jonathan Swift, George Berkeley, Oliver Goldsmith, Laurence Sterne, Bram Stoker, Oscar Wilde, W.B. Yeats, Cecil Day Lewis and Bernard Shaw. Some, such as Edmund Burke, played an important role in British politics, while others, such as William Rowan Hamilton, G.G. Stokes, and Ernest Walton, were distinguished scientists. The Anglo-Irish were also represented among the senior officers of the British Army by men such as Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington (1769–1852), Field Marshal Lord Roberts, first honorary Colonel of the Irish Guards regiment, who spent most of his career in India, and Field Marshal Lord Gough who served under Wellington in the Peninsular War before rising to prominence by commanding the British army fighting the first Opium War in China. Field Marshal Lord Montgomery's family came from County Donegal, although he was born in London and his father was the Anglican Bishop of Tasmania.
The Anglo-Irish social class were often of Irish or mixed Irish-British ancestry and usually identified themselves as Irish despite adopting many English customs. The more successful among them often spent their careers in Great Britain or in some part of the British Empire. In this sense, "Anglo-Irish" identified a social class. Playwright Brendan Behan, a staunch Irish Republican, famously defined an Anglo-Irishman as "a Protestant with a horse."
The term is no longer commonly used in this way since southern Irish Protestants, or Protestants of the Republic of Ireland as a group, despite retaining a certain distinctive identity, have been keen to stress their Irishness and loyalty to the Irish state.

Anglo-Irish peers

After the Flight of the Earls in 1607 and the Plantations of Ireland, the peerage of Ireland was composed mostly of Protestant families of British origin. One leading Anglo-Irish peer described his experience as one of the 'Anglo-Irish' as being regarded as Irish in England, English in Ireland and not accepted fully as belonging to either. However, such divisions are no longer as prevalent in Ireland, where Anglo-Irish peers have played a prominent role in modern Irish affairs.
Among the most prominent Anglo-Irish peers are:

★ Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork - Lord High Treasurer of Ireland, father of scientist Robert Boyle

★ James Campbell, 1st Baron Glenavy - first speaker of the Irish Senate (1922)

★ Henry Conyngham, Earl of Mount Charles - owner of the Slane Castle rock venue and candidate for Fine Gael in recent Irish general elections

★ Edward Carson, 1st Baron Carson

★ Benjamin Guinness, 3rd Earl of Iveagh - head of the Guinness family, who sat in the Irish Senate (1973-1977) (of Gaelic Irish descent)

★ Valerie, Lady Goulding - founder of the Rehabilitation Institute and close associate of former Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Charles Haughey

★ Edward Pakenham, 6th Earl of Longford - Impresario at the Gate Theatre in Dublin in the 1950s

★ Frank Pakenham, 7th Earl of Longford (who succeeded his brother (above) in the Earldom) - British Labour Cabinet minister, biographer and friend of Eamon de Valera

★ William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse - astronomer and builder of the then largest telescope in the world

★ Edward Plunkett, 18th Baron Dunsany - author

★ James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde - 17th century statesman, served as Lord Deputy of Ireland on two occasions and commanded Royalist forces in Ireland in the Irish Confederate Wars -negotiating with the Irish Confederates on behalf of Charles I.

★ Murrough O'Brien, 1st Earl of Inchiquin, 6th Baron Inchiquin (1618-1674) (of Gaelic Irish descent) - a Parliamentary commander in the Irish Confederate Wars 1644-48 and then changed sides to become one of the leaders of the Royalist troops in Ireland in the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland 1649-53 during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms

★ Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington - Irish-born British general who fought many successful campaigns and defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo. He later became a British Prime Minister.
The Duke of Wellington is reputed to have denied being Irish by stating that "being born in a stable does not make one a horse."^[2]
A number of Anglo-Irish peers have been appointed by Presidents of Ireland to serve on their advisory Council of State. Some were also considered possible candidates for presidents of Ireland, including:

★ Valerie, Lady Goulding

★ Michael Morris, 3rd Baron Killanin

★ Edward Gibson, 1st Baron Ashbourne (a renowned Gaelic scholar)

See also

★ Irish community in Britain

★ Church of Ireland

★ Irish topics

★ UK topics

★ Hiberno-Norman

★ Hiberno-English

★ Old English (Ireland)

★ Scots-Irish

★ The Reform Movement

★ Unionism

★ West Briton

★ Baron Baltimore

★ Derry

Further reading

★ Peter Berresford Ellis, ''Erin's Blood Royal: The Gaelic Noble Dynasties of Ireland'' ISBN 0-09-478600-3

Notes

1. ''The Anglo-Irish'', Fidelma Maguire, University College Cork
2. Quoted, for instance, in Neillands, Robin, ''Wellington and Napoleon: Clash of Arms'', Barnes & Noble Books, 2002, p. 32.