What is it about?
Within Scotland, a tradition of organising and representing Irish identity had been shaped in Glasgow before 1848. However, in the aftermath of that dramatic year of revolutions in Europe and attempted insurrection in Ireland, there was a real sense that Irish elites were turning their attentions towards the assertion of a more public presence in late Victorian Scotland. As this paper will demonstrate, they responded to both a sense of grievance and a sense of the opportunities available. In doing so, individuals such as bookseller James Walsh organised, publicly debated and helped to decide the nature of Irish identity in Glasgow (and Scotland) in the 1850s and 60s. There is good evidence that he played a leading part in making a clandestine organisation (referred to as 'Ribbonmen') the basis for efforts to create an effective and enduring organisation to represent Irish interests. In short, the 1850s and early 60s saw the beginnings of a particular political identity that would be available to Irish-Scots and that would be the basis for later Irish Home Rule campaigns in 19thC Scotland.
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Why is it important?
The presence of Irish men and women in nineteenth-century Glasgow, and in the rest of Scotland, is now generally well-known among historians and the public. The debates about the nature and shape of 'Irish' activities, particularly those who were not necessarily involved in church affairs or the later labour movement, are perhaps less well-known. This article tries to bring to the surface the collective activity of the Irish in Mid-Victorian Glasgow, showing not only the complexity of their views of the world but also shows how a new way of being Irish emerged in the particular environment of a booming, confident Glasgow. In short, being Irish in Glasgow did not always mean being straightforwardly either 'Catholic' or 'Irish nationalist' or 'radical' - and this is important to understand for those times and for the present.
Perspectives
As a researcher in migration and identity for the past twenty years, it has always being my goal to show the links between Scotland and the wider world. This article on Irish migrants shows not only how complex identities were in the past but how complex they remain in the modern world. These migrants were affected by their experience of Scotland and Scotland arguably was affected in turn.
Dr. Terence McBride
Open University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Ribbonmen and radicals: the cultivation of Irishness and the promotion of active citizenship in mid-Victorian Glasgow, Irish Studies Review, November 2014, Taylor & Francis,
DOI: 10.1080/09670882.2014.980531.
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