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Contemporary southern unionism

Published in Issue 3 (May/June 2016), Letters, Volume 24

Sir,—I am an International Peace Studies student at Trinity College Dublin, researching contemporary southern unionism. My research to date suggests that unionism is not extinct but has evolved over the past century into (a) ‘cultural unionism’, those who believe that there is a social union between the peoples of the British Isles, are somewhat fond of British culture and/or have British, or Northern Irish, heritage; (b) ‘partitionism’, those who believe that Northern Ireland should remain a separate state from the Republic; (c) ‘neo-unionism’, those who believe that their particular region, or the entire Republic, should rejoin the UK in a political union. I have decided to carry out a survey of people, aged 18+, residing in the Republic, to get their views on certain political and cultural issues, including their sense of identity. If any History Ireland readers would like to take part in the survey they can log on to https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/southernunionism. This is open to everyone, not just those who may be potentially unionist, with all respondents remaining anonymous. Unionism had a strong presence across Ireland in the early twentieth century, and it would be interesting to hear the views of their descendants a century later.—Yours etc.,

SAMUEL BECTON
Trinity College, Dublin
becktons@tcd.ie

On this Day

April 25

1922 Commandant O’Neill, 3rd Cork Brigade IRA, was shot dead at the home of a Protestant family in Bandon, Co. Cork. In a series of unattributed reprisals, thirteen Protestant civilians were shot dead in the surrounding area over the following four days.
1920 RIC Sergeant Cornelius Crean, brother of the explorer Tom Crean, was killed by the IRA in an ambush near Upton, Co. Cork.
1870 Daniel Maclise (64), history and portrait painter who worked for most of his life in London, died.
1719 The life and strange adventures of Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe was published.
1819 Vere Foster, philanthropist and educationist, born in Copenhagen, where his Irish-born father was British minister.
1987 Lord Justice Gibson and his wife were killed by an IRA bomb as they crossed the border south of Newry, Co. Down.
1917 Ella Fitzgerald, jazz singer, born in Newport News, Virginia.
1922 Commandant O’Neill of the third Cork Brigade IRA was shot dead at the home of a Protestant family in Bandon, Co. Cork. In a series of unattributed reprisals, thirteen Protestant civilians were shot dead in the surrounding area between 26 and 29 April.
1915 During the First World War, Allied troops landed on Turkey’s Gallipoli Peninsula. The disastrous Gallipoli campaign, ending in January 1916, cost 46,000 Allied lives, including over 2,295 Irishmen.

Contemporary southern unionism

Personal Histories

On this Day

April 25