knowledge test on anglo irish relations 1868-1893

Question 1

Define the 3 Fs.

Answer 1

• fixture of tenure
• freedom to sell
• fair rent

Question 2

Identify the aims and methods of republicans like the Fenians and the Irish republican Brotherhood.

Answer 2

• seeking independence for ireland
• promoted revolutionary violence to achieve their aims

Question 3

What did the republicans do in GB and abroad that so shocked British public opinion?

Answer 3

• attacked british forces in Canada
• unsuccessfully attempted a rebellion in ireland

Question 4

What quote is associated with Gladstone and Ireland in 1868?

Answer 4

my mission is to pacify ireland

Question 5

Identify 3 achievements of the Irish Church Act 1869.

Answer 5

• dis establishment of protestant church of Ireland in predominantly catholic ireland
• tithe is abolished
• church property used for hospitals workhouses and schools

Question 6

Identify three proposals of the Irish Land Act 1870 designed to solve the Irish land problem.

Answer 6

• customary rights like Ulster Custom were to be
  recognised in all of Ireland where it was agreed they existed
• some regulation of evictions
• brights clauses

Question 7

Why was the Irish Land Act 1870 a failure and why would this be a major problem in 1879?

Answer 7

• promised fixity of tenure and freedom to sell but it failed as it led to unproductive litigation trying to prove rights denied by landlords
• no regulation of eviction for rent arrears
• no rent control
• tenents of leases of over 31 years were excluded form the act
• failed to achieve the 3 Fs
• did not solve the land problem

Question 8

Why did Gladstone’s policies indicate he was treating Ireland as a special case in GB?

Answer 8

• departure from victorian attitudes of no intervention in the market

Question 9

What is meant by ‘Bright’s Clause’ and what happened to it?

Answer 9

• allowed tenants to purchase land from landlords
• government lent 2/3 loan of the values of the land at 5% repayable over 35 years
• diluted due to whigs objection

Question 10

What was proposed by the Irish Universities bill 1873 and why did it fail?

Answer 10

• non denominational unis
• defeated catholic and anglican opposition
• catholic wanted more catholic unis not non denominational unies

Question 11

What were the political consequences of Gladstone’s reforms for the Irish Liberals and the Liberal government in 1874?

Answer 11

• conservatives win the general election

Question 12

Who set up the Home Rule League in 1874?

Answer 12

• Butt

Question 13

Define Irish Home Rule (IHR) and explain how it differs from national independence.

Answer 13

• the establishment of an irish parliament and government elected by irish citizens
• both institutions would be responsible for domestic irish affairs and ireland would remain in the union of GB

Question 14

Identify the policy Parnell and his supporters implemented in the House of Commons to press for IHR.

Answer 14

• parliamentary obstructions : filibustering
• secret meetings with fenians

Question 15

Identify the economic factor contributing to the Land wars.

Answer 15

• agricultural depression

Question 16

How many tenants were evicted between 1879-1883?

Answer 16

6 thousand

Question 17

Who mainly led the Irish Land League, what was his political background and what did the League demand?

Answer 17

• Davitt
• fenian
• radical land reforms

Question 18

Who was the president of the League in 1879 and what is meant by the ‘Great Departure’?

Answer 18

• Parnell
• constitutional and revolutionary organisations for once were working together

Question 19

Identify the methods organised by the League in the Land wars
and the number of deaths and outrages involved.

Answer 19

• 2600 incidents of outrage included 67 murders
• assaults threats intimidations

Question 20

In one word describe what the Land Wars did to rural Ireland.

Answer 20

radicalised it

Question 21

Using legislation, explain ‘Kicks and Kindness’.

Answer 21

kicks - coercion act 1880
kindness - second irish land act

Question 22

Why was Parnell the ‘uncrowned King of Ireland’ in 1880?

Answer 22

leader of IPP and Irish land league

Question 23

Identify three reasons why the Irish Land Act 1881 largely achieved the 3 Fs.

Answer 23

• fair rent fixed for 15 years by land courts
• eviction was only justified on the grounds of rent arrears
• generous land purchase scheme set up
• Tenants could sell their interest in the land at market price without interference of the landlord.

Question 24

What two problems in rural Ireland inhibited the success of the Irish Land Act 1881.

Answer 24

• rent arrears had accumulated during the land wars (130,000 tenants)
• land purchase was not as popular with tenants as anticipated

Question 25

What political problem did the Irish Land Act 1881 present to Parnell and how did Forster resolve it for him in 1881?

Answer 25

- should he support Gladstone’s legislation and lose radical Irish support or reject it and lose moderate Irish support? - had him arrested and placed in Kilmainham prison in Dublin

Question 26

What was involved in the Kilmainham Treaty and why did it suggest progress resolving the Land Wars?

Answer 26

- the government agreed to release Parnell from prison, relax coercion and help those in rent arrears - in exchange for Parnell’s support of the Land Courts and the ILA 1881

Question 27

Who committed the Phoenix Park murders and what were the consequences for the progress suggested by the Kilmainham Treaty?

Answer 27

- the invincibles - sabotaged the progress achieved by the government and parnell

Question 28

How did the Catholic Church, the Secret Ballot Act 1872 and the third Reform Act 1884 benefit Parnell and his supporters?

Answer 28

- Third Reform Act passed. - This extended the vote to rural households and enabled Parnellites to dominate the rural vote which was conducted through the secret ballot following the Ballot Act 1872. - The Irish Catholic church openly supported Parnell and the National League.

Question 29

What measures did Salisbury take in Ireland to weaken the link between Gladstone and Parnell?

Answer 29

- relaxes coercion in Ireland - passes the first effective land purchase scheme for Ireland (the Asbourne Act) providing 100% state loans to tenants at low interest rates.

Question 30

Which party did Parnell advise his supporters in mainland Britain to vote for in 1885 and why?

Answer 30

conservatives

Question 31

Summarise the 1885 election results in Ireland for the IPP and the Liberals.

Answer 31

- the IPP had won every seat in Ireland south of eastern Ulster: ’86 IPP MPs in 86’ - held the balance of power in the Commons (Libs: 335 MPs; Cons: 249 MPs, a difference of 86 MPs). - The Liberals were destroyed in Ireland.

Question 32

Why was ’86 in 86’ so important to the composition of the Commons in 1886?

Answer 32

- 86 mps was the difference in liberals and conservatives - whoever ipp supported had the powers

Question 33

Summarise the provisions of the IHR Bill 1886.

Answer 33

- bicameral Irish parliament - An Irish government would come from this Irish parliament and sit alongside existing Lord-Lieutenant, the representative of the British monarchy. - The new Irish parliament would be responsible for domestic Irish affairs whilst the Westminster parliament would be responsible for foreign trade, customs, tariffs, defence and foreign policy. - Irish MPs were to be excluded thereafter from the Westminster parliament.

Question 34

Identify three reasons why the Whigs, Chamberlain and the Conservatives opposed the Bill.

Answer 34

- Conservatives argued IHR was a ‘stepping stone’ to Irish independence which would break up the Union of GB and weaken the empire.

Question 35

What is the ‘Orange Card’ and who said it?

Answer 35

- the threat of religious violence by warning that IHR would lead to Protestant Ulster viewing IHR as the Catholic rule and subsequent resistance to it - Randolph Churchill

Question 36

What happened to the IHR Bill and what were the consequences for the Liberal Party immediately afterwards and in the general election of 1886?

Answer 36

- The Bill was thus lost by 30 votes (313 for/343 against) - 93 Liberals voted against their own government - Gladstone’s government resigned - Chamberlain and Hartington left the Liberal party and set up the Liberal Unionist party - The general election in the summer of 1886 returned a Conservative government

Question 37

What happened to (a) Parnell, (b) the IPP and IHR between 1886 and 1893?

Answer 37

- The IPP gained 85 MPs in 1886 - attacked the implementation of coercion by in Ireland by Secretary, Balfour (‘Bloody Balfour’). - kitty o'shea affair - parnell dies in 1891

Question 38

What policies of ‘kicks and kindness’ did the Conservatives successfully pursue in Ireland between 1891 and 1905?

Answer 38

kicks(coercion) and kindness (land purchase and local government reforms)

Question 39

What were the consequences of the Conservative’s policy to the protestant ascendency in Ireland and, specifically, in Ulster?

Answer 39

Ulster Unionist Council (UUC) was set up in 1905 to organise the different types of Irish Unionists into an independent governmental organisation that would promote a Unionist Protestant identity and form the spine of resistance to IHR between 1912 and 1914