Irish History: An Introduction by rosie maynard

Irish History An Introduction

6 Aims: • To develop a knowledge of the different groups of emigrants from Ireland. • To understand how religion shaped the Irish Diaspora. • To consider the best way to approach the Irish Diaspora.

The Lost Tribes of Ireland Diversity, Identity and loss among the Irish Diaspora

An Introduction to the Irish Diaspora Ireland today has a population of just over five million, although it is estimated that there are seventy million people throughout the globe who can claim Irish ancestry. Irish emigration is often associated with the Great Irish Famine of the 1840s; however emigration has been a major factor of Irish life from the eighteenth to the twentieth century. In recent years there has been a growing awareness of the diversity of the Irish overseas and their different experiences. This chapter will look at the diverse character of the Irish diaspora, showing how various groups of Irish emigrants had been previously lost or ignored and how, by looking at the diaspora as a whole, we can recover these ‘lost tribes of Ireland’.

Left and Right: Emigration from Ireland is often attributed to the Great Irish Famine.

Chapter 6

The Lost Tribes of Ireland

Did you know? In 1890, two in five Irish born were living abroad.

Below: Map of Ireland showing the four provinces.

During the eighteenth century the first significant waves of emigration from Ireland occurred. The majority of these people were Presbyterians and descendants of Scottish emigrants who had settled in Ulster during the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. Economic factors as well as religious disabilities, which Presbyterians suffered in Ireland at the hands of the Anglican establishment, lay behind the emigration, as well as greater opportunities in the American colonies. From this time onwards, emigration from Ireland increased considerably, especially during the harsh conditions of the famine years. Although initially the majority of emigrants were Presbyterian, since the 1830s the vast bulk of these emigrants have been Catholics. Among the Irish diaspora, until recently, religious divisions were very important for their communities and their different senses of identity. It was not simply that the Irish brought these denominational divisions with them. In the mainstream societies in all the host countries â&#x20AC;&#x201C; America, Canada, Australia, Great Britain and New Zealand â&#x20AC;&#x201C; religious divisions remained significant throughout the nineteenth and much of the twentieth centuries. This meant that religion continued to differentiate the Irish abroad and to have a great influence on the nature of the Irish identity which groups held.

Irish History: An Introduction

6.1

IRISH EMIGRATION TO AMERICA

Above: Chester Alan Arthur, American President in the nineteenth century whose father was born in Ulster.

Key Statistic: In the eighteenth century it is estimated that 250,000 people went to the American colonies from Ulster.

Of all the Irish emigrants to arrive in America over the last three centuries, a majority were Catholic. However, the majority of people in America who currently define themselves as Irish or partly Irish are not Catholic, as had been very widely assumed, but in fact Protestant. The Protestants had immigrated to the colonies in the eighteenth century, earlier than the Catholics and due primarily to a multiplier factor, there are more people in America today from a Protestant background than a Catholic one. From all the different Irish strands in America, who still hold a strong sense of identity with Ireland, their Irishness often involves a concern for Irish culture, as in the form of music, dance or drama. Social conditions in the colonies and the early years of the republic influenced changes in religion. Catholics became Protestant and many Presbyterians eventually joined the Baptist Church, which was better organised for frontier conditions than the other main Protestant denominations. As a consequence of this, the majority of the descendants of these emigrants today are Baptists. In addition there were other Irish Protestants, who did not have Scottish ancestry and were Episcopalian rather than Presbyterian. Significant numbers of Protestants, both Presbyterian and Episcopalian, continued to emigrate to the America from Ireland throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Chapter 6

The Lost Tribes of Ireland

Irish Protestants in America In the case of many Protestants from Ireland, their families had been settled in Ireland for only a few generations. Nonetheless, they called themselves, and were called by others, Irish. You may also find references to some of them as Scotch Irish. The term Irish was used generally to describe the Protestants, especially from the mid eighteenth century, but the term Scotch Irish was sometimes used by contemporaries for the Scottish, Presbyterian colonists from Ulster. There has been very little research on Irish Protestants and their descendants from the mid nineteenth century onwards reflecting the fact that they became part of American society in general. Below: Londonderry was one of the first settlements of the Irish Protestants.

These Irish Protestants do not appear to have retained a heightened interest in Ireland, or formed a distinct political or ethnic community, although in many instances they have maintained their own localised communities. Recently effort has been made to further identify these Protestants with an Irish background. Variously called Irish Protestant, Scots Irish or Scotch Irish, this identity still retains, for millions of people, an acknowledgement of their roots in Ireland, as indicated by all those from this background who continue to return Ireland as their country of origin in the census returns.

Irish History: An Introduction

Key Statistic: In the 1970s, 83% of the Irish Protestants in America were at least fourth generation while only 41% of Catholics had such early origins.

Irish Catholics in America After the Great Irish Famine, the term Irish in America largely refers to the newer Catholic Irish emigrants. Due to the massive influx of these Catholic emigrants, during and after the 1840s famine, Irishness became associated with Catholicism. Irish identity in America became closely linked to members of the Catholic Irish community, who were known as Irish Americans, to the exclusion of the Protestant Irish. There are various reasons for this change however it was largely because the earlier Protestant emigrants had become integrated substantially into American society and so did not retain a strong Irish identity. It was also in part because religion remained a key identifying and dividing factor in American society.

Right: America was largely Protestant until the 1940s. This meant that Americans in general were less tolerant to the newer Catholic emigrants during and after the great famine. Between 1845 and 1860, the number of Catholics in America tripled from approximately one million to three million. These Irish Catholic emigrants developed a strong Irish nationalist and identity. They had sought to escape the harsh conditions in Ireland but continued to experience tough circumstances, although were able to access greater opportunities, in America.

Chapter 6

The Lost Tribes of Ireland

Census return and statistics The 1980 census return showed that approximately forty million Americans claimed to have Irish ancestry. The general assumption in America and Ireland in the 1970s, was that the Irish Americans, with their Catholic and predominantly nationalist background, represented the Irish diaspora in America. There was some acknowledgment of the role of the Irish Protestants in the eighteenth century, but their descendants were not regarded as an especially numerous or distinct group. However, a study by the National Opinion Research centre in the 1970s revealed that of Americans who said their primary ethnic group was Irish, 56 per cent were Protestant. The National Survey of Religious Identification, based on a random survey of 113000 Americans confirmed that a majority of people who acknowledged an Irish background were, contrary to general assumption, Protestant.

Above: Of four million Americans to claim Irish ancestry about 56% were Protestant.

The census material indicated that those with an Irish Protestant background were mostly located in the south and in the countryside, while those with an Irish Catholic background were found mainly in the north-east, north central and in the cities. Protestants with an Irish background were more likely to be working class than Catholics. Figures from the 1980s and early 1990s show that Protestants of Irish descent experienced significantly lower levels of educational standards, family incomes and high prestige jobs than Catholics of Irish ancestry.

Irish History: An Introduction

The disparity in such standards has been attributed primarily to the different geographical locations of the two communities, with Catholics enjoying greater prosperity in the north and urban areas than Protestants in the less prosperous south and rural areas.

6.1

Irish Emigration to America

Questions 1.

Explain why there has been so little research into the Irish Protestants in America since the mid nineteeth century.

2. Outline the general differences between Protestant and Catholic emigration to America. 3. Using the information in this section create a timeline outlining Irish Emigartion to America.

Further Reading

Irish Migration to North America, 1800-1920 (Pearson, 2000) by Donald Akenson. Making the Irish American: History, and Heritage of the Irish in the United States (New York University Press, 2006) by David Doyle. Born Fighting: how the Scots-Irish Shaped America (Broadway Books, 2004) by James Webb.

Chapter 6

6.2

The Lost Tribes of Ireland

IRISH EMIGRATION TO AUSTRALIA

Among the Irish emigrants to Australia it is clear that Catholics were the largest section, but Protestant numbers were still significant. It is estimated that Protestants made up about 20 per cent of total Irish immigration. In recent times, there have been important changes in public perceptions of Irish identity in Australia. Various centres of Irish studies and history have been established, and there has been an effort to promote a more inclusive sense of Irishness among descendants of all Irish emigrants. Cultural and less restrictive concepts of Irish identity have emerged and the identification of the Catholic Church with the Catholic Irish community has diminished. Above: An Orange Order march.

Irish Protestants in Australia

Key Statistic: By the early twenty first century it was estimated that up to a third of the Australian population had some Irish ancestry.

Among the Protestant Irish immigrants, Anglicans were the single major element: many came from Ulster but also from other parts of Ireland. Irish Protestants became integrated into mainstream Australian politics and community. Some Ulster societies were formed in the twentieth century, and the Orange Order had a role in some places, but it is probably fair to say that these organisations had a limited part in maintaining a sense of Irish or Ulster connections.

Irish History: An Introduction

Irish Catholics in Australia In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries an important, political and religious sense of Irish identity emerged in Australia, which did not include Irish Protestants. Home rule for Ireland won enthusiastic supporters among the Catholic Irish; a strong Irish Catholic religious community developed, partly in response to the dominant Protestant culture and society in Australia. From the 1920s onwards this Irish Catholic community was identified with the Labour party in Australia.

6.2 Irish Emigration to Austraila

Research Task

Conduct research into the Orange Order and Ireland home rule. Definitions for both of these terms can be found in the key words and terms section at the end of the chapter.

Further Reading

The Irish In Australia (Ulster Historical Foundation, 1986) and New History of Ireland (Oxford University Press, 1996) by Patrick J. Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Farrell. Oceans of Consolation: Personal Accounts of Irish Migration to Australia (Cornell University Press, 1994) by David Fitzpatrick.

Chapter 6

6.3

The Lost Tribes of Ireland

IRISH EMIGRATION TO CANADA The situation of the Irish diaspora in Canada was very different from that in other countries. Both Catholics and Protestants had been roughly equal in numbers in their emigration to Canada and no one group dominated or monopolised Irish identity. During the nineteenth century these Irish emigrants usually continued to belong to their respective religious communities, within which Irish identity remained important. Both the Catholic and Protestant Irish communities retained a sense of Irish identity in their own manner.

Below: The Dublin law courts in the eigtheenth century.

By the last quarter of the twentieth century, however, denominational divisions mattered little in Canada. It has been claimed that the Irish became so well integrated into Canadian society that they are now â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;invisible as an ethnic group.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; (Wilson, 1989: 21.) Nonetheless, within the descendants of these Irish emigrants there remains an interest in Ireland which is concerned with both family links and an appreciation of Irish culture.

Irish History: An Introduction

Religion Key Statistic: It has been established that approximately 55 % of Irish settlers in Canada were Protestant.

Below: St Stephenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Green in the eigtheenth century.

Among the Protestants, more were from an Anglican than a Presbyterian background and while a majority came from Ulster, significant numbers also arrived from the rest of Ireland. One way in which this Irish connection was experienced for many Protestants was through the Orange Order. Orangeism, which was a distinctly Irish creation, was brought to Canada in the early nineteenth century and spread not only among Irish Protestants but also the wider community as a movement for Loyalism and Protestantism. The organization continued to grow until the end of the first world war, since which time it has declined until by the 1970s it ceased to be of much importance. For Irish Catholics, their sense of Irish identity was encouraged by organisations such as the Christian Brothers in the separate Catholic schooling system and the Ancient Order of Hibernians.

Chapter 6

The Lost Tribes of Ireland

Census Material In the 1871 census, people of Irish origin made up 24.3 per cent of the Canadian population, but by 1961 the figure stood at only 9.6 per cent (Akenson, 1985). In 1991 approximately 3.8 million Canadians claimed full or partial Irish ancestry (James, 2003: 152). There was a strong tendency for Irish settlers to congregate about members of their own faith. For example, Irish Protestants were strongly based around Ontario, while Irish Catholics were very numerous in Newfoundland. Compared to Australia and America, strident public claims for a singular religious or nationalist sense of an Irish identity were rarely made in Canada (Wilson, 1989: 2021).

6.3 Irish Emigration to Canada Questions 1. Outline how Irish emigration to Canada was different to other Irish emigration.

2. Outline the reasons for this difference using figures from the census material where appropriate.

Further Reading

Irish Emigration and Canadian Settlement: Patterns, Links &Letters (Univeristy of Toronto Press, 1980) and The Sash Canada Wore: a Historical Geography of the Orange Order (Univeristy of Toronto Press, 1990) by Cecil Houston and William Smyth.

Irish History: An Introduction

6.4

IRISH EMIGRATION TO GREAT BRITAIN

Above: Anti-immigration march in Great Britain.

Until the 1970s the Irish born population was the largest immigrant group in Great Britain. Irish emigration to Great Britain has been very extensive over the last two centuries and is second only to America as a destination for Irish emigrants. There have been two major periods of Irish emigration from Ireland to Great Britain, although there has been a constant movement throughout the two centuries. The first of these important periods ran from the 1840s until the 1860s. By 1861 the Irish-born section of the population in Great Britain stood at just over 800000. During the second important wave of Irish immigration, from the 1930s until the 1960s the number of Irish immigrants rose substantially. By 1971 the total of Irish born stood at about 952000. (Delaney, 2004: 1413.)

Chapter 6

The Lost Tribes of Ireland

Irish Protestants in Great Britain Key Statistic: Almost one third of the Irish population in Great Britain lived in London.

Below: Liverpool was a popular destination for Irish Protestant emigrants.

It has been argued that about 25 per cent of Irish emigrants to Great Britain in the twentieth century have been Protestant. Many of these Protestants integrated easily into mainstream British society, given the absence of religious barriers for them. In Scotland, of course, there have been important concentrations of Irish Protestants, particularly from Ulster. In England there have also been some areas, such as Liverpool, which especially attracted Protestant Irish born emigrants, and organisations such as the Orange Order played a role in maintaining a sense of solidarity among them. By the last decades of the twentieth century, however, there was little evidence of any distinct community sense among these Protestant Irish and their descendants.

Irish Catholics in Great Britain Among Catholic emigrants in England and Wales there was a greater tendency to create separate communities, thanks to their larger numbers and the impact of religious division in society. Irish identity was an important part of community sense in a number of areas, although rarely in the overt political sense seen in America. By the end of the twentieth century, only a few of these communities had survived, even in areas which continued to have substantial numbers of people with an Irish ethnic background.

Irish History: An Introduction

2001 Census The 2001 census recorded a figure of 753338 for the number of people in Great Britain born in Ireland. The bulk of these emigrants were Catholic but a significant minority were Protestant, from both north and south of Ireland. The greater number of these emigrants came to England and Wales rather than Scotland, although Irish emigrants and their descendants currently make up a greater proportion of the population in Scotland than in England and Wales. Above: The Irish Republican Army (IRA).

Did you know? In 2001, in nearly half of the Irish households in Great Britain, Irish people shared with partners or children who were British.

In 2001, for the first time, the census gave people the option to register Irish as their ethnic identity. The outcome of this, despite the massive Irish immigration over two centuries, was that the number of people who chose to declare this identity was much lower than had been expected. Out of a population of over fifty seven million, only 691000 (just over 1 per cent), of whom nearly three quarters were born in Ireland, recorded an Irish ethnic background (Focus on Ethnicity and Religion, 2006: 26-8). Various explanations have been given for the low numbers to record an Irish ethnic identity, such as peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s failure to understand the question or an unwillingness to declare an Irish identity on official British forms (Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Keefe, 2006: 180). However it is important to consider that the real reason may lie in the high degree of integration of Irish born people and their descendants into general British society, and a consequent decline in Irish identity.

Chapter 6

The Lost Tribes of Ireland

Irish Identity in Great Britain

Below: Devastation in Manchester caused by Irish republican bombing.

By the end of the twentieth century, people with an Irish background were fully involved and successful at all levels of society in Great Britain, especially in the British political system. The decision to include Irish as an ethnic identity came as a result of lobbying from various groups which believed that the Irish were a discriminated, marginalised minority. No doubt some Irish groups still faced particular problems, but this picture of marginalisation and deprivation did not fit in with the experience of the vast majority of people with Irish links, many of whom saw themselves as belonging to mainstream society rather than a minority group. The decision to include Irish as an ethnic category probably played a part in why some people with Irish roots decided not to declare themselves in this category. Another factor which affected the Irish born and their descendants in their approach to the 2001 census was the impact of Irish republican bombing in Great Britain over the previous thirty years. In the late 1960s about 20 per cent of Protestants in Northern Ireland (most of whom were also unionists and carried British passports) saw themselves as Irish. Over the next two decades, however, as a reaction to Irish republican violence, this sense of Irish identity among unionists fell dramatically. It is very likely that the same happened in Great Britain with many people with an Irish background, chosing to identify with Great Britain rather than Ireland.

Irish History: An Introduction

Did you know? Tony Blairâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mother was born in her grandmotherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hardware shop in Donegal, Ireland.

While the number of those from an Irish background who decided to acclaim an Irish identity in the 2001 census was low, this is not to say that the many others, who did not register, felt no affinity with Ireland or had lost all their Irish identity. Since the 1994 peace process in Northern Ireland, discussed in chapter two, it is likely that more people in Great Britain will feel keener to acclaim an Irish identity, although not necessarily on their census returns as part of an ethnic minority. Changes in understanding of the many components which have made up British society and identity may allow for a greater acceptance of the Irish role, as part of, or alongside British identity.

6.4 Irish Emigration to Great Britain

The creation of the

Questions

1. Outline three reasons why a large section of the Irish in Britain did not chose to

acknowledge their Irish identity in the 2001 census.

Compare the experiences of the Catholic and Protestant emigrants in Great Britain.

Further Reading

Diaspora: the Irish in Britain (Thomson Gale, 2004) by Edna Delaney. The Great Famine and Beyond: Irish Migrants in Britain in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Century (Irish Acedemic Press, 2000) by Roger Swift.

Chapter 6

The Lost Tribes of Ireland

6.5 CONCLUSION

Below: Ireland today.

Irish diaspora involved a long time period, in which the famine exodus only played a small part. Irish emigrants came from all parts of Ireland and from a wide range of backgrounds; this can be clearly seen in the diversity of Irish identity held by the different groups abroad. In the past the Irish diaspora was often viewed as very largely a single religious and political entity with a special Irish identity. This widespread perception of what the Irish diaspora and identity had come to mean reflected the experiences of many of the Irish abroad. However, while this view related to reality in many places, it encouraged a narrow, limited understanding of the Irish abroad to emerge, as conforming to a largely Catholic, nationalist stereotype with a heightened sense of Irish identity. This concept of the Irish diaspora often meant the loss of groups such as Irish Protestants in America, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, Catholics in New Zealand, and, if applied today, all those non-affirming Irish in Great Britain. Under this limited approach, the numbers who make up the Irish diaspora would be a lot less than the seventy million which are understood to belong to it, perhaps even less than half.

Irish History: An Introduction

Above: The Ireland Funds logo.

Including all of these â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;lost tribesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; in the study of the Irish diaspora has important implications for what we mean by Irish identity, as revealed by the wide spectrum of Irish people abroad. Irish identity has been expressed by these people in a whole range of ways. Obviously it involves the Irish American or Irish Australian who sees or used to see this Irish identity in a strong Catholic and nationalist light. However it also involves the Canadian Irish Protestant for whom it means none of these things, but who sees or used to see Irish identity through a Protestant and British standpoint. Thanks in large part to a decline in denominational division in the Christian world, the successful integration of most Irish emigrants into their new countries, and a concern for the peace process in Northern Ireland, there is a considerable reduction in religious and political links to identity. The strong support in many countries for the Ireland Funds is one example of new nonpartisan identification with Ireland among the members of the Irish diaspora. At present, the new, broader, more inclusive sense of the Irish diaspora, which acknowledges diversity, can be seen in some of the academic on the diaspora, you can find some examples of these texts in the Further Reading sections. Among many members of the diaspora there is a new awareness of the larger, more diverse picture, and also an effort to create a more inclusive identity.

Chapter 6

The Lost Tribes of Ireland

The Irish diaspora should include all those abroad who were born in Ireland, and their descendants, regardless of background, politics or religion. In this case, it is possible to talk of an Irish diaspora of seventy million. Irish identity among this diaspora has undergone and continues to undergo great change. There is now a widespread attempt to see the identity of the diaspora as a whole in cultural, non-denominational and non-political ways which have the potential to embrace all, not just a section, of the Irish diaspora. For many, in all countries, Irish identity has meant primarily attachments of family or sentiment, which is just as valid as any other form of identity with Ireland.

6.5 Recomended Further Reading Time and Change (Collins, 1987) by James Callaghan.

Essays in Scotch Irish History (Routledge, 1969) by Rodney Green.

The Encyclopedia of Ireland (Macmillan, 2003) by J.K. James The Irish Diaspora (Pearson, 2000) by Kerby Miller. The making of Modern Irish History (Routledge, 1996) by Alan Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;day Irish Historical Statistics: Population 1821-1971 (Royal Irish Acadamy, 1978) by William Vaughan and Andre Fitzpatrick.

Irish History: An Introduction

New Zealand Analysis Task There was substantial movement of the Irish to New Zealand. Approximately 10 per cent of all emigrants to New Zealand in the nineteenth century were Irish. The situation of these emigrants was different from that of those in other countries The experience of the Irish in New Zealand has been explored by Patrick O’Farrell and Donald Akenson. Read the following passages about the authors and their texts and answer the review questions at the end of the section.

O’Farrell

Above: Patrick O’Farrell.

Patrick O’Farrell, who had been brought up in New Zealand, published an article entitled ‘How Irish was New Zealand?’ (O’Farrell, 1995) He questioned whether we can talk at all of an Irish presence in New Zealand, because from the mid nineteenth century Irish emigrants had integrated successfully into New Zealand society. He dismissed Ulster and Anglo Irish Protestant emigrants as ‘invisible’ in any history of Irish influence in New Zealand. As regards Irish Catholic emigrants, he stated: ‘to speak of the New Zealand Irish is misleading’. His explanation for this was that, apart from some political upheavals in 1921, these Irish Catholic emigrants had blended well into local society; they did not have the solidarity and separate identity of the Irish Catholics in Australia or America.

Chapter 12

The Lost Tribes of Ireland

New Zealand Analysis Task O’Farrell attributed the high level of integration to the lower proportion of Irish emigrants in a much smaller total population in New Zealand, compared to Australia, as well as to the influence of French clergy in the New Zealand Catholic church. O’Farrell’s article not only drew attention to the particular experience of Irish emigrants to New Zealand, but also illustrated an approach to the Irish diaspora, which saw it only in terms of a strongly articulated and separate Irish identity.

Akenson

Above: Donald Akenson. .

Donald Akenson, in his study of Irish emigrants to New Zealand (Akenson, 1989), looked at all immigrants from Ireland, whatever their religion or background. He observed that between one fifth and one quarter of the entire Irish ethnic group was Protestant, mainly but not exclusively from Ulster, and including Presbyterians and Anglicans. Akenson noted how both Catholic and Protestant emigrants groups became reasonably quickly and successfully involved in New Zealand society. The Protestant Irish were more easily integrated into the Protestant majority in New Zealand than the Catholic Irish who retained a collective identity largely through their separate Catholic schooling system, but the latter also blended into the larger society. Whatever the degree or speed of integration, however, Akenson regarded both groups as part of the Irish diaspora and he urged further study of the special contribution of Irish emigrants to New Zealand.

Irish History: An Introduction

New Zealand Analysis Task

Review Questions 1.

How did the situation of New Zealand immigrants vary from Irish emigrants in other countries?

2a. b. c.

How do Akenson’s and O’Farell’s approaches to the diaspora in New Zealand differ? Which historian do you think has the best approach to the diaspora? How can these arguments be applied to Irish emigration to America, Australia and Great Britain?

3a. Do you think that O’Farell’s background gives his approach more authority than Akenson’s? b. ‘To speak of the New Zealand Irish is misleading.’ Explain the logic behind O’Farell’s reasoning.

Chapter 6

The Lost Tribes of Ireland

Ancient Order of Hibernians: An Irish Catholic organisation founded in 1836. Its purpose was to protect Catholic churches and to assist Irish Catholic immigrants who faced discrimination. Anglicanism: The Catholic faith as expressed through the Church of England. It can be considered as reformed Catholicism or a mixture of both Protestant and Catholic faiths. Baptism: An independent branch of Protestantism. Baptists believe that the bible is the literal word of God. They are one of the largest protestant groups found throughout the world.

KEY WORDS AND TERMS Catholicism: Christians who follow the beliefs of the Roman Catholic Church. Unlike Protestants, Catholics do not base their belief entirely around the bible and follow guidance from the Pope, who is seen as the head of the Catholic Church. Christian Brothers: A worldwide religious community within the Catholic Church. Diaspora: The emigration of a group of people to a variety of places. Denominational: Relating to or according to the ways of a particular religion.

Emigration: The movement of a group of people away from their own country to permanently settle in another. Emigrant describes a person who has moved away from their home country. (See Immigration.) Episcopalian: A type of protestant who is a member of a church the Anglican Church. Exodus: Large departure of people. Great Irish Famine: Between 1845 and 1852 a potato disease caused crops in Ireland to be spoiled. This caused starvation and emigration as families were unable to eat or gain money from the crops which were their livelihood.

Irish History: An Introduction

Home Rule: The home rule act in Ireland allowed Ireland to self-govern. (Also known as The Government of Ireland Act 1914.)

Irish Republican Bombing: The Irish Republican Army (IRA) bombed Great Britain in an attempt to achieve its aim of a united Ireland.

Immigration: A group of people coming to permanently settle in a new country. Immigrant describes a person who has settled in a new country. (See Emigration.)

Loyalism: Loyalists are strongly Unionist supporting the Union of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Ireland Funds: A global fundraising network dedicated to â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;supporting programs of peace and reconciliation, arts and culture, education and community development in Irelandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. Irish Americans: Term specifically referring to the Irish Catholic emigrants America.

Nationalist: Refers to a person who supports political independence for a country. Non-partisan: Not biased towards any particular political group, especially politically. Orange Order: A Protestant organisation founded in Northern Ireland. The orange order is a political group that supports Loyalism. (Also known as the orange institution.)

Presbyterian: Branch of reformed Protestantism formed in the United Kingdom as a result of the Protestant reformation in the sixteenth century. Protestants: A demonimation of the Church of England comprising Baptists, Anglicans and Prebystarian. Scotch Irish: Term used in the eighteenth century to define the Scottish, Presbyterian colonists from Ulster in America. Unionist: A person in favour of the union of Great Britain with Northern Ireland. (See Nationalist.) Ulster: A former province in the north of Ireland.

In Irish History: An Introduction Sinn Fein The Peace Process Home Rule Irish War of Independence The Great Irish Famine The Irish Diaspora This study guide contains aims, review questions, Key words and Terms and Further Reading.