Scotland & Ireland: Union, Clearances, Famine, Home Rule Era

Posted on Mar 31, 2025 in History

Scotland After the Act of Union

  • Restrictions on the Highland lifestyle (lifted in 1782).
  • Scottish Enlightenment: Adam Smith, David Hume, William Cullen, William Robertson.
  • Expansion of trade, banking, and industry.
  • The Industrial Revolution (James Watt, a Scot); shipbuilding.
  • Development of refrigerated ships: beef from overseas became cheaper than Scottish beef, leading to rural depopulation.

Yet the population grew from 1 million (1700) to 1.5 million (1800) and then to 4.5 million (1900).

Highland Clearances & Modern Scottish Politics

  • No longer leaders of extended kinship groups, chiefs began to maximize the output of their land.
  • Possession of land by Highlanders and Islanders became tenancy (and tenants could be expelled).
  • Out with the population, in with sheep, beginning around 1785 (the Highland Clearances).
  • The Duchess of Sutherland alone dispossessed 15,000 Highlanders over a ten-year period.
  • 1934: Creation of the Scottish National Party.
  • Improvement of the economic situation in the 1970s: oil fields discovered.
  • 1979/1997: Devolution referendums.
  • 1999: Re-establishment of the Scottish Parliament.
  • Formal recognition for the Scots language (but little done on its behalf).

Ireland Before the Act of Union (1801)

Celtic and Early Christian Ireland

  • Romans: Commercial relations existed, but Ireland was not conquered.
  • Introduction of Christianity:
    • St. Patrick (arrived c. 432).
    • Importance of monasticism.
    • 6th–9th centuries: Considered a Golden Age.
  • 7th century: Approximately 150 independent territories or kingdoms (túathas).
  • 9th century: 5 provinces ruled by local kings.
  • Vikings: Established settlements including Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Waterford. Defeated by King Brian Boru (King of Munster) at the Battle of Clontarf (1014).

The Great Famine (1845-1849)

  • Caused by the failure of the potato crop due to blight.
  • Paradoxical situation: Ireland was exporting large quantities of corn and grain while its population starved.
  • The British state imported food to be sold in Ireland at a loss (but not given away freely).
  • The British state set in place a programme of public works, giving jobs to approximately 728,000 men, but would not subsidize agricultural improvements directly.
  • In June 1848, a roads inspector in County Galway counted 140 unburied corpses along his route.
  • Approximately 800,000 starvation-related deaths.
  • Population dropped from at least 8,400,000 (1844) to 6,600,000 (1851).
  • Further population loss due to mass emigration and changes in marriage and fertility patterns (fewer women marrying; those who married did so at older ages and had fewer children).

Decline of the Irish Language

The decline of Irish accelerated in the 19th century (tracked by the birth period of speakers). By 1921, the population was half of what it had been before the Famine.

Post-Famine Irish Politics

  • Deep resentment towards British rule intensified.
  • 1858: The Fenian Society founded, later evolving into the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB), which influenced the Irish Republican Army (IRA, founded 1919); led to incursions into British North America (Canada).
  • 1867: Fenian Rising (in Ireland and England).
  • 1869: Disestablishment of the Church of Ireland (no longer the state church).

The Irish Home Rule Movement

  • The Land League (founded 1879): Pushed for land reform using tactics like boycotts.
  • 1881–1901: Acts passed to reform the Irish Land system, leading to judicial determination of fair rents.
  • Alliance formed with the Home Rule Party (founded 1870), which often held the balance of power as power brokers in the British House of Commons.
  • Home Rule Bills:
    • 1886: First Home Rule Bill (defeated in the Commons).
    • 1893: Second Home Rule Bill (passed Commons, defeated in the Lords).
  • 1910 election: The Home Rule Party won 84 seats, again holding the balance of power.
  • 1912: Third Home Rule Bill introduced, leading to the creation of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) by Sir Edward Carson to oppose it.
  • The Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) remained opposed to any form of British rule in the whole of Ireland, seeking full independence.
  • The Third Home Rule Bill was passed but suspended, intended to come into effect in September 1914 (postponed due to the outbreak of World War I).