Leading academics explore the causes and consequences of the Partition of Ireland in a series of authored talks, developed by Queen’s University Belfast with support from the BBC.
Leading academics explore the causes and consequences of the Partition of Ireland in a series of authored talks, developed by Queen’s University Belfast with support from the BBC.
Contributor:
Dr Marie Coleman
Talk title:
Partition and southern Irish Protestants
Talk Synopsis:
This talk looks at the decline of the Protestant population in southern Ireland between 1911-26. It makes use of church and official records and draws on the experiences of people living in different areas, including those who left and remained. It suggests that the ‘decline in the number and proportion of non-Catholics in the Irish Free State by 1926’ was a ‘significant demographic change in modern Irish history’ and details the different factors involved - and debate about their effect. It also explores how ‘adapting to life in the new state was not an easy or seamless process’ for many Protestants and notes how this ‘resilient minority’ has made a ‘valuable contribution to a century of life in independent Ireland.’
Short Biography:
Dr Marie Coleman is a Reader in Modern Irish History at Queen's University Belfast.
Further Reading:
Southern Irish Loyalism, 1912-1949 – Brian Hughes and Conor Morrissey (eds.) The IRA at War, 1916-1923 – Peter Hart The IRA and Its Enemies: Violence and Community in County Cork, 1916-1923 – Peter Hart The Irish Revolution, 1916-1923 – Marie Coleman County Longford and the Irish revolution, 1910-1923 – Marie Coleman