Border identities in Galway and Derry

Abstract

The introduction of the Third Home Rule Bill in 1912 to the House of Commons created further tension between the unionist and nationalist communities in Ireland. This tension was described that year by the Times journalist William Flauvelle Monypenny as more than a political dispute; instead, during the nineteenth century, the country had split into “Two Irelands”. Monypenny described two communities which existed separately and with completely different histories. This was particularly evident in the press at the time. This article examines the growing alienation of religious minorities in Galway and Derry in 1912, through a close reading of the unionist Galway Express and nationalist Derry Journal newspapers respectively. These provincial newspapers represented a minority community or opinion within their wider geographical area, at odds with the political and cultural background of the majority of the local population. Over the year, articles in these papers illustrated the growing unease of these minority border communities as more extreme opinions began to take hold in the Home Rule debate.

Keywords::

• newspapers
• provincial press
• Home Rule
• alienation
• religious minorities
• nationalism
• unionism

Notes

^1.Beaumont, “An Irish Perspective on Empire,” 192.

^2.Monypenny, The Two Nations, 2.

^3. Ibid.

^4. Ibid., 12.

^5. Ibid., 20.

^6.Anderson, Imagined Communities, 46–8.

^7.Legg, Newspapers and Nationalism, 175.

^8.MacLaughlin, Reimagining the Nation-state, 208.

^9. Ibid.

^10.Monypenny, The Two Nations, 12.

^11.Legg, Newspapers and Nationalism, 132.

^12. Here “alienation” refers to a feeling of social isolation and/or estrangement, in this case the result of a group or individual not sharing a common history, culture or nationalism with that of another nation. See Seeman, “On the Meaning of Alienation,” 783–91.

^13.Mitchel, Newspaper Press Directory, 344–5.

^14.Legg, Newspapers and Nationalism, 195.

^15.North, Waterloo Directory of Irish Newspapers and Periodicals, 220.

^16.Monypenny, The Two Nations, 13.

^17. “St. Patrick's Day Demonstration,” The Galway Express, March 23, 1912, emphasis added.

^18. Ibid.

^19. “Items of Interest Local and General,” The Galway Express, July 27, 1912.

^20. 1911 Census of Ireland, www.census.nationalarchives.ie/reels/nai003940499/.

^21.Maume, The Long Gestation, 18.

^22. The Ranch War was a period of agrarian unrest from 1904 to 1909 on a par with the Land War of the nineteenth century as tenant and landless farmers protested against the slow pace of land transfer. MPs such as William O'Brien and Laurence Ginnell supported the movement in the House of Commons while the United Irish League in conjunction with local groups organised the campaign of cattle drives, intimidation and boycotts. The Ranch War was significantly quelled by the Birrell Act of 1909 which allowed compulsory purchase, although pockets of unrest remained for some years afterwards, as detailed in Campbell's book Land and Revolution.

^23.Campbell, Land and Revolution, 90.

^24. The Galway Assizes was a court held periodically in Galway, but each county would have had them. They dealt with the most serious crimes and were seen by the unionist press – and perhaps the nationalist press too – as a test or report on the state of the country in terms of unrest and lawlessness.

^25. “Galway Assizes,” The Galway Express, March 23, 1912.

^26. Ibid.

^27. “Terrorism in County Clare,” Ulster Gazette, March 9, 1912.

^28. “Fair Play for Unionism,” The Galway Express, April 13, 1912.

^29. “Parliament in Profile,” The Carlow Sentinel, March 9, 1912. Plural voting was not fully eliminated in Britain until the Representation of the People Act of 1948.

^30.MacLaughlin, Reimagining the Nation-state, 20.

^31. “Irish-Imperial Interests,” The Derry Journal, September 11, 1912; “Proposed New Irish League,” The Galway Express, September 14, 1912.

^32. “The Wish of the World is with Her,” The Derry Journal, May 3, 1912.

^33. “Self-government under Test,” The Derry Journal, June 3, 1912.

^34. “Home Rule Cause in Australia,” The Derry Journal, March 20, 1912.

^35.Palmer, “Henry Bournes Higgins,” 30–7.

^36. Masthead of the Ulster Guardian, January 6, 1912.

^37. “The Bondage of the Brethren,” The Derry Journal, June 17, 1912.

^38. “Great Britain and Irish Home Rule,” The Derry Journal, March 27, 1912.

^39.Ulster Gazette, January 20, 1912.

^40. Ibid.

^41. “The Finality of Home Rule,” The Galway Express, May 18, 1912.

^42. Ibid.

^43. “Imperial Orange Council,” The Carlow Sentinel, July 20, 1912.

^44. “Labour Member and Drilling in Ulster,” The Ulster Gazette, April 6, 1912.

^45. “We may laugh at the Portadown parade, but as this thing is going on quite openly we would be foolish not to do a bit of drilling on our side.” The Leader, April 13, 1912.

^46. “The Goose-steppers in Action,” The Derry Journal, July 29, 1912.

^47. “Yesterday's Proceedings,” The Derry Journal, July 24, 1912.

^48. “Political Notes,” The Galway Express, August 3, 1912.

^49. “Lisburn Catholics Attacked,” The Derry Journal, July 8, 1912.

^50. “Great Unionist Meeting in Galway,” The Galway Express, June 1, 1912.