§ 3. The Partition
1. What events led to the partition of Ireland?
In 1885 most Irish were able to vote for the first time, and eighty six MPs from Ireland were elected to Parliament. Their leader Charles Parnell, a Protestant Irish MP, demanded fuller rights for the Irish people, in particular the right to self-government. Most Liberals supported Parnell, but the Tories did not, and Ireland did not gain the right to self-government, or ‘home rule’, until thirty years later. Before the beginning of the First World War the British government had agreed to home rule for Ireland. It was afraid, however, that the Protestants in the north would start a civil war in Ulster if home rule was introduced. For this reason, when war began in 1914, the government delayed the introduction of home rule, and called on Irishmen to join the army. Many thousands did, encouraged by their MPs, who hoped that this show of loyalty would help Ireland win self-government when the war ended.
There was another group of Irishmen, however, who did not see why they should die for the British, who had treated Ireland so badly. They did not only want home rule, but full independence. At Easter 1916, these republicans rebelled in Dublin. They knew they could not win, but they hoped their rising would persuade other Irishmen to join the republican movement. The ‘Easter Rising’ was quickly put down, and most Irish disapproved of it. But the British executed all the leaders, which was a serious mistake. The public was shocked, not only in Ireland, but also in London. Irish Americans were also angry, just at the moment when America had joined Britain in the war against Germany.
In the 1918 elections the republicans won in almost even area except Ulster. Instead of joining the British parliament, however, they met in their own new parliament, the Dail in Dublin, and announced that Ireland was now a republic. Irishmen joined the republic's army, and guerrilla fighting against the British began. As a result the British government decided to make peace.
The Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921 led to civil war between the Irish themselves. By this treaty the new ‘Irish Free State’ accepted continued British use of certain ports, the sovereignty of the British Crown, and most important of all, the loss of Northern Ireland, which remained under British control. The pro-Treaty forces won, and the republicans, who insisted that all Ireland including Northern Ireland, should be an independent state, were defeated.
Eventually the island was partitioned. In 1922 the greater part became an independent state, and in 1949 a republic outside the Commonwealth. Its laws, on divorce and other matters, reflect the influence of the Catholic Church. Its Protestant population soon fell by half. The six northern counties remained within the United Kingdom, with seats in the UK parliament, but had their own parliament, prime minister and government responsible for internal affairs.
2. What were the immediate effects of the partition?
In the politics of Northern Ireland the main factor has always been the hostility between Protestants and Catholics. On appropriate dates each year both groups commemorate past confrontations with great processions. Although some people do not like these sectarian demonstrations, the only political parties which win seats at elections are based on the two communities.
It was quite impossible to separate completely Catholics from Protestants. Whole Catholic communities were left behind - like islands in a Protestant sea. They became a minority, a large minority, since about a third of Ulster is Catholic. Few of these Catholics wanted to move to the south. They were getting better jobs and more money in the north. Yet they were not satisfied.
Ever since partition Protestants have been getting the best jobs and the best houses. Some bosses have even refused to employ Catholics. As for the voting system, it has always been completely unjust. In Londonderry Catholics outnumber Protestants two to one, but the city council has always been run by Protestants.
Northern Ireland sent twelve representatives to the Parliament in Westminster, but unlike Scotland and Wales, it also had a parliament of its own, called ‘Stormont’. Stormont had the right to deal with all home affairs without interference from Westminster. But ever since it was founded in 1922, it was controlled by one party, the Ulster Unionists, who were all Protestants. The Unionists had complete control of the police, the Royal Ulster Constabulary. This disturbed, angered and sometimes frightened the Catholics.
Every election for the Northern Irish government at Stormont, from 1921 onwards, was about Ulster's future - whether it should remain part of the United Kingdom, the Protestant position, or become part of the Irish Republic, as many Catholics wanted. The consequence was that the Protestants, as the majority, kept the Catholics completely out of government.
Questions:
1. When did the partition happen?
2. How did the partition change the political situation in the country?
3. What's Stormont? When was it assembled?
4. Were Catholics represented in Stormont?
5 Was the co-existence of Catholics and Protestants peaceful? Why?
Additional Reading Famous Irish Writers and Poets
Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) is the greatest satirist in the history of British literature, author of the immortal work Gulliver’s Travels. Jonathan Swift was born in Dublin in 1667. Swift's father died a few months before the birth of his son, and the boy saw
but little of his mother. Swift's school and college life were passed at Kilkenny School and Trinity College, Dublin. He wrote The Drapier's Letters, pamphlets in defence of the Irish people, and another pamphlet A Modest Proposal - in defence of Irish children.
Thomas Moore (1779-1852), an Irish poet who sang his native land in the same way as Robert Burns sang Scotland. He came from a well-to-do Irish family. Thomas Moore was born in Dublin. He studied at Dublin University and then studied law in London. He published his first verses as Poems by Thomas Little in 1801, then his romantic stories in verse Lalla-Rookh (1817). Thomas Moore was George Byron's friend and after Byron's death he wrote the first biography of this great English poet, Letters and Journals of Lord Byron, with Notices of His Life (1830).
Oscar Wilde (1856-1900) was the son of a well-known Irish doctor and scientist. His mother was a poetess. Oscar Wilde began his education at Trinity College in Dublin and graduated from Oxford in 1878. He wrote poems, fairy tales (The Selfish Giant, the Happy Prince, The Nightingale and the Rose, The Star-Child), plays (Lady Windermere's Fan, A Woman of no Importance, The Importance of Being Earnest, An Ideal Husband), critical essays and the novel The Picture of Dorian Gray. Oscar Wilde died in Paris and is buried there.