Loyalism in Ireland 1789–1829 (review)

Surprisingly, since it was responsible for one of the most influential and most enduring loyalist organizations in history—the Orange Order—Irish loyalism in the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries has largely been ignored by historians for whom republican radicalism has long exercised a more compelling fascination. Ireland in this respect mirrors the situation in the United Kingdom, but whereas the realization there that the concentration on left-wing and radical impulses epitomized by E. P. Thompson’s seminal work The Making of the English Working Class (Harmondsworth, UK, 1968) produced a partial history of popular politics that has encouraged a number of valuable recent enquiries into loyalism, the subject continues to be neglected in Ireland. As a result, scholars and students alike have been obliged until now to make do with Hereward Sr.’s dated account of Orangeism in Britain and Ireland, 1795–1836 (London, 1966) and a number of fundamentally flawed articles produced by scholars primarily interested is radicalism. Saliently, Allan Blackstock’s canvas is wider than that of Hereward Sr.; following the model that has evolved in Great Britain, he examines Irish loyalism as a “multi-faceted” (p.9) phenomenon during its formative phase from the commencement of the French Revolution to the admission of Catholics to sit in Parliament in 1829. Loyalism in Ireland, 1789–1829, is not without its limitations, but it is greatly advanced in concept and method when compared to other works in the field. Blackstock has effectively redefined the subject; although others may amplify the information he has uncovered, add new perspectives, and refine his conclusions, all will be indebted to the Herculean trawl he has made to identify the relevant primary source material in the main archives of Britain and Ireland and to his careful deployment of the information contained therein.

Irish loyalism did not, of course, emerge in the 1790s. It existed, as the author makes clear in a useful opening chapter, in various prior manifestations. Moreover, it was prompted by its own particular ideological concerns (with Catholicism, primarily) to develop a response to the twin challenges posed by the domestic demand of Catholics for the removal of the barriers that precluded their participation in the political process and the example of the French Revolution, which encouraged many middle-class Protestants to seek to restructure the political system. It was, to be sure, given added ideological vigor by the example of loyalists in Great Britain, but while Blackstock assuredly links Irish developments in 1792–93 to John Reeves’s influential Association for the Preservation of Liberty and Property against Levellers and Republicans, he is careful to emphasize Irish loyalism’s essentially indigenous character. The mounting insurgency of the United Irishmen-Defender alliance later in the decade hastened the mobilization and militarization of Irish loyalists, especially the Orange Order, founded in 1795, and the yeomanry, established a year later. Blackstock offers a new and telling perspective on these players (especially the role of the Grand Lodge of Ireland) and how they enabled the ascendancy of the Orange strand of loyalism. Indeed, following the trauma of the 1798 rebellion and the perception that Catholics sought to effect the extirpation of Protestant heretics, loyalists established an “exclusive” claim on loyalism by representing Catholics as “incorrigibly disloyal” (p. 111). Significantly, loyalists in the early-nineteenth century abandoned militarism in favor of a political strategy that was spearheaded by the Orange Order, which maintained an active program of parading and public display. Its efforts were insufficient to counter the campaign pursued by an invigorated Catholic interest (led by Daniel O’Connell’s innovative Catholic Association in the 1820s) that secured the concession of Catholic emancipation in 1829. Blackstock’s exploration of the resistance of the Orange Order and the Brunswick Clubs to Catholic efforts is a highlight of the book. It demonstrates the continuing vigor of loyalism when faced with a serious challenge, and although these groups did not prevail on...