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Ulster Protestants

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Ulster Protestants
Total population
Total ambiguous
(900,000–1,000,000)
Regions with significant populations
Northern Ireland827,500[1](Self-identified)
(Northern Irish Protestants)
Republic of Ireland201,400[2](Self-identified)
(Irish Anglicans)
(Irish Presbyterians)
(Irish Methodists)
(Other Irish Protestants)
Languages
Ulster English,Ulster Scots,Ulster Irish
Religion
Protestantism
(mostlyPresbyterianism,Anglicanism,Pentecostalism,andMethodism)
Related ethnic groups
Ulster Scots,Anglo-Irish people,Irish people,Scottish people,English people,Scotch-Irish Americans,Scotch-Irish Canadians

Ulster Protestantsare anethnoreligious group[3][4][5][6][7]in theIrish provinceofUlster,where they make up about 43.5% of the population. Most UlsterProtestantsare descendants of settlers who arrived fromBritainin the early 17th centuryUlster Plantation.This was the settlement of theGaelic,Catholicprovince of Ulster byScotsandEnglishspeaking Protestants, mostly from theScottish LowlandsandNorthern England.[8]Many more Scottish Protestantmigrantsarrived in Ulster in the late 17th century. Those who came from Scotland were mostlyPresbyterians,while those from England were mostlyAnglicans(seeChurch of Ireland). There is also a smallMethodistcommunity and theMethodist Church in Irelanddates toJohn Wesley'svisit to Ulster in 1752.[9]Although most Ulster Protestants descend from Lowland Scottish people (some of whose descendants consider themselvesUlster Scots), many descend fromEnglish,and to a lesser extent, fromIrish,WelshandHuguenots.[10][11]

Since the 17th century,sectarianand political divisions between Ulster Protestants andIrish Catholicshave played a major role in thehistory of Ulster,and ofIrelandas a whole. It has led to bouts of violence and political upheaval, notably in theIrish Confederate Wars,theCromwellian conquest of Ireland,theWilliamite War,theArmagh disturbances,Irish Rebellion of 1798,theIrish revolutionary period,andthe Troubles.Today, the vast majority of Ulster Protestants live inNorthern Ireland,which wascreated in 1921to have an Ulster Protestant majority, and in the east ofCounty Donegal.Politically, most areunionists,who have an Ulster British identity and want Northern Ireland to remain part of theUnited Kingdom.

History[edit]

Further information:Protestantism in Ireland
Changes in distribution of Irish Protestants, 1861–2011

The Ulster Protestant community emerged during thePlantation of Ulster.This was the colonisation of Ulster with loyal English-speaking Protestants from Great Britain under the reign ofKing James.Those involved in planning the plantation saw it as a means of controlling, anglicising,[12]and "civilising" Ulster.[13]The province was almost whollyGaelic,Catholic and rural, and had been the region most resistant to English control. The plantation was also meant to sever Gaelic Ulster's links with the GaelicHighlandsof Scotland.[14]

Most of the land colonised was confiscated from the native Irish. Begun privately in 1606, the plantation became government-sponsored in 1609, with much land for settlement being allocated to the Livery Companies of theCity of London.By 1622 there was a total settler population of about 19,000,[15]and by the 1630s it is estimated there were up to 50,000.[16]

The native Irish reaction to the plantation was generally hostile,[17]as Irish Catholics lost their land and became marginalized.[18]In 1641 there wasan uprising by Irish Catholicsin Ulster who wanted an end to anti-Catholic discrimination, greater Irish self-governance, and to undo the plantations. Some rebels attacked, expelled or massacred Protestant settlers during the rebellion, most notably thePortadown massacre.Some settlers massacred Catholics in kind. It is estimated that up to 12,000 Ulster Protestants were killed or died of illness after being driven from their homes.[19]The rebellion had a lasting psychological impact on the Ulster Protestant community and they commemorated its anniversary for two centuries.[20]In thewar that followed,a ScottishCovenanterarmy invaded and re-captured eastern Ulster from the rebels, while aProtestant settler armyheld northwestern Ulster. These Protestant armies retreated from central Ulster after theIrish Confederatevictoryat Benburb.Following theCromwellian conquest of Ireland(1649–52), Catholicism was repressed andmost Catholic-owned land was confiscated.

Another influx of an estimated 20,000 Scottish Protestants, mainly to the coastalcountiesofAntrim,DownandLondonderry,was a result of theseven ill yearsof famines in Scotland in the 1690s.[21]This migration decisively changed the population of Ulster, giving it a Protestant majority.[16]WhilePresbyteriansof Scottish descent and origin had already become the majority of Ulster Protestants by the 1660s, when Protestants still made up only a third of the population, they had become an absolute majority in the province by the 1720s.[22]

There were tensions between the two main groups of Ulster Protestants; Scottish Protestant migrants to Ulster were mostly Presbyterian[23]and English Protestants mostly Anglican. ThePenal Lawsdiscriminated against both Catholics and Presbyterians, in an attempt to force them to accept thestate religion,the AnglicanChurch of Ireland.Repression of Presbyterians by Anglicans intensified after theGlorious Revolution,especially after theTest Actof 1703, and was one reason for heavy onward emigration toBritish Americaby Ulster Presbyterians during the 18th century; emigration was particularly heavy to theThirteen Colonies,where they became known as theScotch-Irishor Scots-Irish.[24]Between 1717 and 1775, an estimated 200,000 migrated to what became theUnited States.[25]Some Presbyterians also returned to Scotland during this period, where the PresbyterianChurch of Scotlandwas the state religion. These Penal Laws are partly what led Ulster Presbyterians to become founders and members of theUnited Irishmen,arepublicanmovement which launched theIrish Rebellion of 1798.Repression of Presbyterians largely ended after the rebellion, with the relaxation of the Penal Laws.[26]

TheKingdom of Irelandbecame part of theUnited Kingdomin 1801. AsBelfastbecame industrialised in the 19th century, it attracted yet more Protestant immigrants from Scotland.[27]After thepartition of Irelandin 1920, the newgovernment of Northern Irelandlaunched a campaign to entice Irish unionists/Protestants from theIrish Free Stateto relocate toNorthern Ireland,with inducements of state jobs and housing, and large numbers accepted.[28]

Present day[edit]

Percentage ofProtestantsin each electoral division inUlster,based on census figures from 2001 (UK) and 2006 (ROI).
0-10% dark green, 10-30% mid-green,
30-50% light green, 50-70% light orange,
70-90% mid-orange, 90-100% dark orange.

The vast majority of Ulster Protestants live in Northern Ireland, which is part of theUnited Kingdom.Most tend to support theUnionwithGreat Britain,[29]and are referred to as unionists.Unionismis an ideology that (in Ulster) has been divided by some into two camps;Ulster British,who are attached to the United Kingdom and identify primarily as British; andUlster loyalists,whose politics are primarily ethnic, prioritising their Ulster Protestantism above their British identity.[30][31][32]The Loyal Orders, which include theOrange Order,Royal Black InstitutionandApprentice Boys of Derry,are exclusively Protestantfraternal organisationswhich originated in Ulster and still have most of their membership there.

At the time of thepartition of Irelandabout 70,000 Ulster Protestants lived in the three counties of Ulster that are now in theRepublic of Ireland,Cavan,Monaghan,andDonegal,although their numbers have significantly declined in the intervening century. They now make up around a fifth of the Republic's Protestant population.[33]Unlike Protestants in the rest of the Republic, some retain a strong sense of Britishness, and a small number have difficulty identifying with the independent Irish state.[34][35][36]Ulster Protestants also share common religious, political and social ties with some protestants in counties that border Ulster, particularlyCounty Leitrimthat hosts a number ofOrange Halls.[37]Sir Jim Kilfedder,Ulster Unionist MP, andGordon Wilsonwere both Leitrim Protestants.

Ulster Protestants are also found in diaspora communities, particularly inScotland,England,and in some other areas of Ireland such asDublin.

Most Ulster Protestants speakUlster English,and some on the north-east coast and in East Donegal speak with theUlster Scots dialects.[38][39][40]A very small number have also learned theIrish languageas a second language.[41][42]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^"Census 2021 main statistics for Northern Ireland (phase 1)".Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency.7 September 2022.Retrieved2 October2022.
  2. ^"8. Religion"(PDF).Central Statistics Office.Retrieved30 October2018.
  3. ^Hunt, Stephen (13 May 2016)."Chapter 7: Christians and Gays in Northern Ireland".Contemporary Christianity and LGBT Sexualities.ISBN9781317160922.Retrieved15 May2017.
  4. ^Byrne, Sean (2000).Social Conflicts and Collective Identities.p. 94.ISBN9780742500518.Retrieved15 May2017.
  5. ^It's never too late for 'us' to meet 'them': prior intergroup friendships moderate the impact of later intergroup friendships in educational settings.Medical Sciences Division, University of Oxford. Archived fromthe originalon 6 May 2017.Retrieved15 May2017.
  6. ^Ó Lúing, Seán (1953).Art Ó Griofa.Dublin: Sairséal agus Dill. p. 217.
  7. ^NI Curriculum,Teachers' Notes,p. 54
  8. ^"'Sheep stealers from the north of England': the Riding Clans in Ulster by Robert Bell ".History Ireland.24 January 2013.
  9. ^"The Methodist Church in Ireland: History".Retrieved31 March2019.
  10. ^"Ulster blood, English heart – I am what I am".nuzhound.Archived fromthe originalon 27 July 2017.Retrieved29 November2014.
  11. ^"The Huguenots in Lisburn".Culture Northern Ireland.2 May 2006. Archived fromthe originalon 5 December 2014.Retrieved27 November2014.
  12. ^According to the Lord Deputy Chichester, the plantation would 'separate the Irish by themselves...[so they would], in heart in tongue and every way else become English', Padraig Lenihan, Consolidating Conquest, Ireland, 1603–1727, p43
  13. ^Jonathan Bardon (2011).The Plantation of Ulster.Gill & Macmillan. p. 214.ISBN978-0-7171-4738-0.To King James the Plantation of Ulster would be a civilising enterprise which would 'establish the true religion of Christ among men...almost lost in superstition'. In short, he intended his grandiose scheme would bring the enlightenment of the Reformation to one of the most remote and benighted provinces in his kingdom. Yet some of the most determined planters were, in fact, Catholics.
  14. ^Ellis, Steven (2014).The Making of the British Isles: The State of Britain and Ireland, 1450-1660.Routledge. p. 296.
  15. ^Canny,Making Ireland British,p. 211
  16. ^ab"From Catastrophe to Baby Boom – Population Change in Early Modern Ireland 1641-1741".The Irish Story.
  17. ^The Plantation of Ulster: Reaction of the natives.BBC History.
  18. ^Bartlett, Thomas.Ireland: A History.Cambridge University Press, 2010. p.104
  19. ^"The Plantation of Ulster: 1641 rebellion".BBC History.
  20. ^Lenihan, Pádraig.Battle of the Boyne.Tempus, 2003.ISBN0-7524-2597-8pp. 257–258
  21. ^K. J. Cullen,Famine in Scotland: The “Ill Years” of the 1690s(Edinburgh University Press, 2010),ISBN0748638873,pp. 178-9.
  22. ^Karen Cullen,Famine in Scotland: The 'Ill Years' of the 1690s,pp. 176-179
  23. ^Edmund Curtis, p. 198.
  24. ^"The Irish at Home and Abroad: Scots-Irish in Colonial America / Magazine / Irish Ancestors / The Irish Times".irishtimes.Archived fromthe originalon 8 April 2014.Retrieved20 February2020.
  25. ^Fischer, David Hackett,Albion's Seed: Four British Folkways in AmericaOxford University Press, USA (14 March 1989), p. 606;Parke S. Rouse, Jr.,The Great Wagon Road,Dietz Press, 2004, p. 32, and Leyburn, James G.,The Scotch-Irish: A Social History,Univ of NC Press, 1962, p. 180.
  26. ^James Connolly."James Connolly: July the 12th (1913)".marxists.org.
  27. ^"The Scots in Victorian and Edwardian Belfast".euppublishing.
  28. ^"Protestant population decline".The Irish Times.22 September 2014.
  29. ^Byrne, Kevin; O'Malley, Eoin (2013)."The Two Types of Ulster Unionism: Testing an Ethnic Explanation for the Unionist/Loyalist Divide"(PDF).Irish Political Studies.28(1): 130–139.doi:10.1080/07907184.2012.732573.S2CID49524032.Retrieved28 September2022.
  30. ^Smithey, Lee A. (22 August 2011).Unionists, Loyalists, and Conflict Transformation in Northern Ireland.ISBN9780199875382.
  31. ^"People - Political Science - Trinity College Dublin"(PDF).tcd.ie.
  32. ^White, Andrew (2007)."Is contemporary Ulster unionism in crisis? Changes in unionist identity during the Northern Ireland Peace Process".Irish Journal of Sociology.16(1): 118–135.doi:10.1177/079160350701600107.S2CID157581193.
  33. ^Darach MacDonald (18 May 2012)."Frontier Post".darachmac.blogspot.dk.
  34. ^"Archived copy".Archived fromthe originalon 2 April 2015.Retrieved23 March2015.{{cite web}}:CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  35. ^"Living behind the Emerald".Independent.ie.
  36. ^"Orange County, Irish-style..."Independent.ie.
  37. ^"Leitrim Lodge takes part in Orange Order March".Leitrim Observer– via leitrimobserver.ie.
  38. ^Gregg R.J. (1972) "The Scotch-Irish Dialect Boundaries in Ulster" in Wakelin M. F.,Patterns in the Folk Speech of The British Isles,London
  39. ^C. Macafee (2001) "Lowland Sources of Ulster Scots" in J.M. Kirk & D.P. Ó Baoill,Languages Links: The Languages of Scotland and Ireland,Cló Ollscoil na Banríona, Belfast, p121
  40. ^J. Harris (1985)Phonological Variation and Change: Studies in Hiberno English,Cambridge, p15
  41. ^Ervine, Linda (9 November 2015)."Linda Ervine: I realised Irish belonged to me - a Protestant - and I fell in love with it".The Irish News.
  42. ^Geoghegan, Peter."Protestants go for Gaelic in Northern Ireland".aljazeera.

External links[edit]

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