18th–19th – Century History

Protestant Dissent and Controversy in Ireland 1660-1714, Evangelical Protestantism in Ulster Society 1740-1890, Catholicism in Ulster 1603-1983: An Interpretative History, Catholicism in a Protestant Kingdom: A Study of the Irish Ancien Régime.

Protestant Dissent and Controversy in Ireland 1660-1714, Phil Kilroy (Cork University Press, £27.50) Evangelical Protestantism in Ulster Society 1740-1890, David Hempton and Myrtle Hill (Routledge, £40) Catholicism in Ulster 1603-1983: An Interpretative History, Oliver P. Rafferty (Gill and Macmillan, £12.99) Catholicism in a Protestant Kingdom: A Study of the Irish Ancien Régime, C.D.A. Leighton (Gill … Read more

The Irish Diaspora

The Irish Diaspora: A Primer, Donald Harman Akenson (Meany & Co., Toronto; Institute of Irish Studies, Belfast, £22.50) ‘The Irish Diaspora’ L.M Cullen in Europeans on the Move: Studies on European Migration 1500-1800 Nicholas Canny (ed.) (Clarendon Press, £35) Oceans of Consolation: Personal Accounts of Irish Migration to Australia, David Fitzpatrick (Cork University Press, £37.50) … Read more

The Illustrated London News: the work of Aloysius

Speaking in the Houses of Parliament in 1886 T.P. O’Connor, one of Parnell’s closest associates, forecast what Ireland would look like under Home Rule. He described ‘a nation of small farmers—one vast universal petite bourgeoisie’. In support of his characterisation he goes on to exhort his listeners to Go to the Royal Academy and look … Read more

The Men of No Popery: the Origins of the Orange Order

We’ll fight to the last in the honest old cause, And guard our religion, our freedom and laws. We’ll fight for our country, our king and his crown, And make all the traitors and croppies lie down. As the television documentaries, radio programmes and newspaper features marking the bicentennary of the French revolution rolled on … Read more

Maynooth: a Catholic Seminary in a Protestant state

The foundation of St Patrick’s College, Maynooth, in 1795 represented a revolution in the history of Irish Catholicism. The penal era was drawing to a close, but the French Revolution and the loss of the continental colleges threatened the supply of priests to Ireland; of 478 seminary places in Europe before the revolution, ninety per … Read more