This book brings together new research on loyalism in the 26 counties that would become the Irish Free State. It covers a range of topics and experiences, including the Third Home Rule crisis in 1912, the revolutionary period, partition, independence and Irish participation in the British armed and colonial service up to the declaration of the Republic in 1949. The essays gathered here examine who southern Irish loyalists were, what loyalism meant to them, how they expressed their loyalism, their responses to Irish independence and their experiences afterwards.

The collection offers fresh insights and new perspectives on the Irish Revolution and the early years of southern independence, based on original archival research. It addresses issues of particular historiographical and political interest during the ongoing 'Decade of Centenaries', including revolutionary violence, sectarianism, political allegiance and identity and the Irish border, but, rather than ceasing its coverage in 1922 or 1923, this book - like the lives with which it is concerned - continues into the first decades of southern Irish independence.

List of contributors: Frank Barry, Elaine Callinan, Jonathan Cherry, Seamus Cullen, Ian d'Alton, Sean Gannon, Katherine Magee, Alan McCarthy, Pat McCarthy, Daniel Purcell, Joseph Quinn, Brian M. Walker, Fionnuala Walsh, Donald Wood

About the Author
Brian Hughes is a lecturer in the Department of History, Mary Immaculate College, Limerick. Conor Morrissey is Lecturer in Irish/British History at King's College London.

Reviews

'The chapters in this volume provide a variety of insights into the southern Irish loyalist experience in the early years of the new state... In addition to being of interest to scholars of Irish Unionism and Protestantism, this book will be of use to those interested in local politics, social upheaval during the revolution, and Irish service in the military and imperial civil service.'

Nicola K. Morris, Journal of British Studies

'This is a carefully conceived volume which succeeds in its intent to explore the many faces of loyalism within twenty-six counties Irish society in the period. It has done a lot of service to expanding the historical record on political allegiance between 1912 and 1949.'
Ida Milne, A Church of Ireland Journal



Book Information
ISBN 9781800854796
Author Brian Hughes
Format Paperback
Page Count 368
Imprint Liverpool University Press
Publisher Liverpool University Press