Britain and Ireland, 1837 - 1901 - The Origin of the Harp - transform form human form into harp - national symbol of Ire- land - Feminised perception of Ireland - misplaced - Alternative notions of what it means to be British and sometimes a rejection. - Is it a colony? - Engels - England's f i rst (internal) colony acquired through force, occupation, involving exploitation and suppression of its people. - Act of Union 1800 - abolishes Irish separate Parliament, 100 MPs after sitting in West- minster. - Anglo-Irish elite - Protestant - Origins in French Revolution and failed rebellion against British rule - 1798 - Wolfe tone - Society of United Irishmen. Demand political reform, Catholic eman- cipation. Crushed by British troops - leave 30,000 dead. - French send troops, get lost on the way, arrive at County - too late. - Incorporation of Wales in 1836 - Not accompanied by all Irish - 80% are Roman Catholics, banned from owning property, buying land, sitting in parliament, can't teach, only own a few horses. - Protestant ascendancy - 90% owned by 5,000 Protestant families. - 1829 - Catholic emancipation - Irish have memory of not being equal or partners in the union before the period. - In some respects, controlled like a colony, racial inferior, cheap food for mainland (one way relationship), Church of Ireland is Anglican until Gladstone in 1869. - Viceroy - English aristocrat who rules Ireland. Irish famine (1845-59) - Essential to political, economic, psychological life - Act of Union - 5 million, up to 8.2 million - Only Belfast is industrialised, the majority is agricultural - Only farm potatoes - 1846 9/10 crops died. - 1 million people died form starvation or disease - 1 and half million emigrated. - 'Cof f i n ships' - 6,00 migrants in america in 1846 - 16% of them die on route. - 6 million people leave Ireland during famine - seeking land, work, opportunities. - Settlement of permanent Irish communities, States, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and British mainland. - Thomas Malfus - population automatically corrects itself. - Irish perceives response to famine is neglectful, compounded by government inef f i cient, unyielding commitment to free trade - Famine or hunger? - 1842 - Irish seen romantically in Britain, afterwards not so. - Nicol - An Irish Immigrant Arriving at Liverpool - settlement in already crowded industrial towns created resentment in urbanised areas, London, Manchester, Liverpool - How can restrict immigration when Act of Union says they're equal. - Liverpool shipped them back to Dublin - Creates hostility - British rule in Ireland becomes justif i ed by depicting Irish as dif ferent to the British - seems as wild, savage, barbaric. Primitive - require f irm and of civilisation and government (racially dif f erent)
- Racial ideas before - 1839 (Carlisle) - "uncivilised drives out Saxon native" sees them as evil - Unemployment issues, forcing down wages as willing to work for so little. -