The Anglo-Irish Experience, 1680-1730

The defeat of the Jacobite force in 1690-91 confirmed in power in Ireland a protestant landed class predominantly of English descent who had a monopoly of public office. This ruling class, however, had settled in Ireland in different ways over a long period, and had differing degrees of attachment to England. Moreover, as the eighteenth century progressed, and the "patriot movement" argued for constitutional equality with Great Britain, this Anglo-Irish ruling class came to see itself as predominantly Irish, with its own distinctive notion of "Irishness". This book examines the political culture of the Anglo-Irish. It considers changing views of identity, provides detailed case studies of different kinds of Anglo-Irish families, discusses the nature of Anglo-Irish "patriotism", in a context of limited legislative autonomy and the strategic demands of the emerging British empire, and considers issues of social reform and "improvement", showing how these enthusiasms arose from, and maintained an intimate connexion with, the evangelical Protestantism which was another defining feature of the political culture of the period. David Hayton is Professor of Early Modern Irish and British History at Queen's University, Belfast