History of Ireland, Scotland and Wales. An Osher Lifelong Learning at UNM Continuing Education class.

1. The Creation of the United Kingdom
The Union Flag
• Acts of Union for Wales,
1535/1546
• Act of Union for Scotland,
1707
– Jacobite revolts, 1715 and 1745
– Act of Proscription, 1746
(repealed in 1782)
– Heritable Jurisdictions Act, 1747
• Act of Union for Ireland, 1800
– Continuation of penal laws
– Coercion Acts, 1803

2. The Creation of the United
Kingdom
• English as the primary language
– Society for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge
(SPCK) in Wales, 1699
– Scottish Society for the… (SSPCK), 1708
– National schools versus hedge schools in Ireland
(~549 hedge schools existed in 1731)
• Ordinance Survey mapping
– 1791 in Scotland; 1801 in Ireland; 1805 in Wales
• Anglicization of landlord class
– Native law abolished; native poets without patrons
• Anglicization of Church hierarchy
• Service in British army
• Emigration

3. Scotland and England
Drawing of crofters’ cottages, Uig, Isle of Skye, from Our Journey to the
Hebrides, by Joseph and Elizabeth Robins Pennell, 1890.
• Scotland
– Clearances, 1770-1850
– 70,000 emigrated 1760-1803
– 22,000 emigrated to Nova
Scotia, 1815-1838
• Land tenure reform
– Crofters and cottars
– Highland Land Law Reform
Association, 1880
– Crofter’s Party, 1885
– Crofters’ Holding Act, 1886
• Gave Scottish crofters fixed
rental tenure and fees
– Congested Districts Board, 1897
• Made land available to crofters
and cottars

4. Scotland and England
Plaque commemorating two of the leaders of the 1820 insurrection,
Stirling, Scotland.
• Political reform
– United Scotsmen, 1790s
– Provisional Government of
Scotland declared in 1820
when weavers went on strike
– Voter enfranchisement seen
as a means to address the
needs of the working class
• Reform Act of 1832
– From 4,239 voters to
65,000 (1 in 126 to 1 in
8)
– But Scottish politics still not
taken seriously
• Education Act of 1872
• Establishment of Secretary of
State for Scotland, 1885

5. Wales and England
Photograph of the military camp of Llanfair Talhaearn, c. 1886, the
People’s Collection Wales, Denbighshire Record Office.
• Wales
– 60,000 emigrated 1850-1870
• Land tenure reform
– Welsh National Land League,
1880s
– “The Tithe War,” 1887
• Industry
– Mining of lead, copper, coal
– Ironworks
– Cotton mills, potteries
– Railroad industry, 1850s onward
– Percentage of agricultural workers
in 1750 ~90%
– Percentage of agricultural workers
in 1850 ~30%
– Population 500,000 in 1750;
1,163,000 in 1850

6. Wales and England
Portrait of J.E. Lloyd (founder of Cymru Fydd and Welsh historian), by
Ivor William, at the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth, Wales.
• Political reform
– Gwyneddigion, 1770
– Voter enfranchisement
• Reform Act of 1832
– From 1 in 8 adult male voters to
1 in 5
– Liberation Society formed in
1840s
• Aimed for more parliamentary
reform and end of state support
for the Church of Wales
– Cymru Fydd (The Wales To Be),
1885
• Pushed for a legislative assembly
• By 1892, Welsh MPs called for
disestablishment of the church,
education reforms, land tenure
reform, and self-government

7. Ireland and England
Portrait of Daniel O’Connell, by Bernard Mulrenin, 1836,
National Portrait Gallery, London.
• Political reform
– Daniel O’Connell, 1775-1847
(“the liberator”)
– The Catholic Association, 1823
– O’Connell ran for MP of County
Clare in 1828
– The Catholic Emancipation Act,
1829
• Allowed Catholics to run for office
and admitted Catholic MPs to
Parliament
• Also raised property qualifications
to vote from £2 to £10
– Young Ireland, 1842
• The Irish Confederation, 1846

8. Cultural revival
• Wales
– Honourable Society of the Cymmrodorion, 1751
– Eisteddfodau (sing. Eisteddfod), 1789-present
– University of Wales, National Library, National Museum (founded
1885-1907)
• Scotland
– James MacPherson, Works of Ossian, son of Fingal, 1760s
– Gaelic Society of London, 1777; Highland Society of Scotland,
1784
– Celtic Studies program founded at University of Edinburgh, 1882
• The antiquarian movement
– Aneurin Owen, d. 1851, Ancient Laws and Institutes of Wales
– Dr. William Price, d. 1893
– Robert Burns, d. 1796

9. Robert Burns, “The Answer”
Portrait of Robert Burns, by Alexander Nasmyth, 1787, Scottish
National Portrait Gallery.
• Ev'n then a wish (I mind
its power)
• A wish, that to my latest
hour
• Shall strongly heave my
breast;
• That I for poor auld
Scotland's sake
• Some useful plan, or
book could make,
• Or sing a sang at least.

10. Robert Burns, “Bruce’s March to
Bannockburn”
• Scots, wha hae wi’ Wallace bled,
• Scots, wham Bruce has aften led,
• Welcome to your gory bed,
• Or to Victorie!
• Now’s the day, and now’s the
hour;
• See the front o’ battle lour;
• See approach proud Edward’s
power—
• Chains and Slaverie!
• Wha will be a traitor knave?
• Wha can fill a coward’s grave?
• Wha sae base as be a slave?
• Let him turn and flee!
• Wha, for Scotland’s king and law,
• Freedom’s sword will strongly
draw,
• Free-man stand, or free-man fa’,
• Let him follow me!
• By oppression’s woes and pains,
By your sons in servile chains,
• We will drain our dearest veins,
• But they shall be free!
• Lay the proud usurpers low!
• Tyrants fall in every foe!
• Liberty’s in every blow!—
• Let us do or die!

11. Cultural revival
Portrait of Thomas Davis, c. 1840
• Ireland
– Royal Irish Academy, 1785
– Young Ireland, 1842
• Established by Thomas Davis
(1814-1845), a Protestant
• Published a weekly journal,
The Nation
• After Davis’ death formed a
militant group, the Irish
Confederation
– Catholic University of Dublin,
1855
– The Gaelic League, 1893

12. The creation of the United Kingdom
• An Gorta Mor (the Great Hunger), 1845-1849
– By mid-1700s, average peasant ate 7-11 pounds of
potatoes/day
– Added to dairy products, a potato diet fairly healthy
– By 1800, population of Ireland ~5 million
– Napoleonic wars in Europe led to pressure for Irish
lands to produce more wheat, less grazing for cows
– Wet weather hit North America and England in 1845-
1846
– Root rot set in, Phytophthera infestans

13. A populous village, Gweedore, County Donegal. The
Lawrence Collection, National Library of Ireland.

14. A starving family, Carraroe, County Galway.
The Lawrence Collection, National Library of Ireland.

15. Eviction. The Lawrence Collection,
National Library of Ireland.

16. Eviction. The Lawrence Collection,
National Library of Ireland.

17. The homeless. Left—“Bridget O’Donnell and children.”
Right— “Scalp at Caeuermoe.”
Both from The Illustrated London News, 1849.

18. The homeless. Left— “Scalpeen of Tim Downs at
Dunmore.” Right— “Scalp of Brian Conner, near Kilrush
Union-House.” Both from The Illustrated London News,
1849.

19. The creation of the United Kingdom
• The government’s response
– Sir Robert Peel, Prime Minister 1841-1846
• Government scientists recommended burning the fields
• Corn meal imported from the US
• Works-programs enacted for those who had lost their houses
and lands due to the rot
• Corn Laws (high tariffs on importing European crops),
repealed 1846
– Lord John Russell, Prime Minister 1846-1852
• Poor Law Amendment Act, 1847
– Outdoor relief given to those with their own houses and LESS
THAN ¼ acre of land
• Works projects did not promote economic development in Ireland
• Cost of paying for famine relief put on landlords, who evicted
tenants to pay lower tax rates
– 300,000 evictions from 1846-1866, ~2 million people

20. The creation of the United Kingdom
• Emigration
– Many Irish moved to Liverpool and Glasgow, looking
for industrial jobs
– 1 to 2 million emigrated 1845-1850
• 25% of population lost in 5 years due to death and
emigration
• Loss of language worst in those areas depopulated by the
famine and emigration
– Coffin ships
• 20% of passengers died during the voyages
• 1815-1852: 3,466,211 emigrated from the
United Kingdom (1 million to British North
America; 2 million to US; 300,000 to Australia)

21. “The Embarkation, Waterloo Docks, Liverpool.” From The
Illustrated London News, 1850.

22. “Scene between decks.”
From The Illustrated London News, 1850.

23. Ireland and England
Photo of William Ewart Gladstone, by London Stereoscopic Company,
c. 1890.
• Irish Republican Brotherhood,
1858
– “Fenians”
• William Ewart Gladstone, 1809-
1898;
– Prime minister four times from
1868-1898
– Disestablishment of the Church of
Ireland, 1869
– Irish Land Act, 1870
• Gave all Irish tenants same rights as
Anglo-Irish tenants in Ulster
– Home Rule

24. Ireland and England
Photo of Charles Stewart Parnell, by Matthew Brady and Levin Corbin
Handy, c. 1875, Library of Congress.
• Charles Stewart Parnell, 1846-
1891
– MP for Meath, 1875-1891
• The Land League, 1879
– Nationalization of Irish lands
• The Irish Land Act, 1881
– Set fixed rental tenure and fees
• Lord Ashbourne’s Land Act of
1885
– Provided £5 million to help tenants
buy land
• Gladstone’s Home Rule Act, 1886
• Gladstone’s Second Home Rule
Act, 1893
• Irish Land Act, 1909
– Forced landlords to sell lands

25. Irish Land League poster, c. 1881