Editing Anglo-Irish people (section)

== As a social class ==

{{See also|Protestant Ascendancy}}

The term "Anglo-Irish" is often applied to the members of the [[Church of Ireland]] who made up the professional and [[landed gentry|landed class]] in Ireland from the 17th century up to the time of Irish independence in the early 20th century.  In the [[Early Modern Ireland 1536-1691|course of the 17th century]], this Anglo-Irish landed class replaced the [[Gaelic Aristocracy|Gaelic Irish]] and [[Old English (Ireland)|Old English]] aristocracies as the ruling class in Ireland.  They were also referred to as "'''New English'''" to distinguish them from the "Old English", who descended from the medieval [[Hiberno-Normans|Hiberno-Norman]] settlers.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Morgan |first=Hiram |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780199234837.001.0001/acref-9780199234837-e-1420 |title=The Oxford Companion to Irish History |date=27 July 2002 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-923483-7 |doi=10.1093/acref/9780199234837.001.0001}}</ref>

Under the [[Penal Laws (Ireland)|Penal Laws]], which were in force between the 17th and 19th centuries (although enforced with varying degrees of severity), [[Roman Catholic]] [[Recusancy|recusants]] in Great Britain and Ireland were barred from holding public office, while in Ireland they were also barred from entry to [[Trinity College Dublin]] and from professions such as law, medicine, and the [[Irish establishment|military]]. The lands of the recusant Roman Catholic [[landed gentry]] who refused to take the prescribed oaths were largely confiscated during the [[Plantations of Ireland]]. The rights of Roman Catholics to inherit landed property were severely restricted. Those who converted to the Church of Ireland were usually able to keep or regain their lost property, as the issue was considered primarily one of allegiance. In the late 18th century, the [[Parliament of Ireland]] in Dublin won legislative independence, and the movement for the repeal of the [[Test Acts]] began.

[[File:St. Patrick's Cathedral Swift bust.jpg|upright|thumb|right|Marble bust of [[The Very Reverend|The V. Rev.]] [[Jonathan Swift]], inside [[St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin|St Patrick's Cathedral]], [[Dublin]]. Swift was [[Dean (Christianity)|Dean]] of St Patrick's from 1713 to 1745.]]

Not all Anglo-Irish people could trace their origins to the Protestant English settlers of the Cromwellian period; some were of Welsh stock, and others descended from Old English or even native Gaelic converts to Anglicanism.<ref name="Wolff" /> Members of this ruling class commonly identified themselves as Irish,<ref name="Irish">[http://multitext.ucc.ie/d/The_Anglo-Irish ''The Anglo-Irish'', Movements for Political & Social Reform, 1870–1914, Multitext Projects in Irish History, University College Cork] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060502065641/http://multitext.ucc.ie/d/The_Anglo-Irish |date=2 May 2006 }}</ref> while retaining English habits in politics, commerce, and culture. They participated in the popular English sports of the day, particularly [[horse racing|racing]] and [[fox hunting]], and intermarried with the ruling classes in Great Britain. Many of the more successful of them spent much of their careers either in Great Britain or in some part of the [[British Empire]]. Many constructed large [[country house]]s, which became known in Ireland as [[Anglo-Irish big house|Big Houses]], and these became symbolic of the class' dominance in Irish society.

The Dublin working class playwright [[Brendan Behan]], a staunch [[Irish Republicanism|Irish Republican]], saw the Anglo-Irish as Ireland's [[The Theory of the Leisure Class|leisure class]] and famously defined an Anglo-Irishman as "a Protestant with a horse".<ref>{{blockquote|'''Pat''': He was an Anglo-Irishman.<br>
'''Meg''': In the name of God, what's that?<br>
'''Pat''': A Protestant with a horse.<br>
'''Ropeen''': Leadbetter.<br>
'''Pat''': No, no, an ordinary Protestant like Leadbetter, the plumber in the back parlour next door, won't do, nor a [[Belfast]] [[Orange Institution|orangeman]], not if he was as black as your boot.<br>
'''Meg''': Why not?<br>
'''Pat''': Because they work.  An Anglo-Irishman only works at riding horses, drinking whiskey, and reading double-meaning books in [[Irish language|Irish]] at [[Trinity College Dublin|Trinity College]].|From act one of ''The Hostage'', 1958}}</ref>

The Anglo-Irish novelist and short story writer [[Elizabeth Bowen]] memorably described her experience as feeling "English in Ireland, Irish in England" and not accepted fully as belonging to either.<ref name="Bowen">Paul Poplowski, [https://books.google.com/books?id=1OpUU_ShWvsC&pg=PA27 "Elizabeth Bowen (1899–1973),"] ''Encyclopedia of Literary Modernism'', (Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2003), pp. 26–28. {{ISBN|0-313-31017-3}}</ref>

Due to their prominence in the military and their conservative politics, the Anglo-Irish have been compared to the [[Prussian Junker]] class by, among others, [[Correlli Barnett]].<ref>"Roberts, Kitchener and Wolesley were three national heroes of the nineteenth century whom Correlli Barnett sees as prime examples of the Anglo-Irish gentry, the nearest thing Britain ever possessed to the Prussian Junker class". Desmond and Jean Bowen, ''Heroic Option: the Irish in the British Army'', Pen & Sword, Barnsley, 2005.</ref>

===Business interests===

At the beginning of the 20th century, the Anglo-Irish owned many of the major indigenous businesses in Ireland, such as [[Jacob's|Jacob's Biscuits]], [[Bewley's]], [[Beamish and Crawford]], [[Jameson Irish Whiskey|Jameson's Whiskey]], [[Odlums Group|W. P. & R. Odlum]], [[Condensed Milk Company of Ireland|Cleeve's]], [[R&H Hall]], [[Crawford McCullagh|Maguire & Patterson]], [[Maurice Dockrell (Unionist politician)|Dockrell's]], [[Arnotts (Ireland)|Arnott's]], [[Goulding Chemicals]], the ''[[Irish Times]]'', the Irish Railways, and the [[Guinness brewery]], Ireland's largest employer. {{Citation needed|date=October 2012}} They also controlled financial companies such as the [[Bank of Ireland]] and [[Goodbody Stockbrokers]].

[[File:Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland (Sculpture of George Salmon).jpg|upright|thumb|left|Statue of Anglo-Irish mathematician and theologian [[George Salmon]] (1819–1904), in front of the campanile of [[Trinity College Dublin]], the traditional ''alma mater'' of the Anglo-Irish class.  Salmon was provost of Trinity from 1888 until his death.]]

===Prominent members===

Prominent Anglo-Irish poets, writers, and playwrights include [[Oscar Wilde]], [[Maria Edgeworth]], [[Jonathan Swift]], [[George Berkeley]], [[Sheridan Le Fanu]], [[Oliver Goldsmith]], [[Laurence Sterne]], [[George Darley]], [[Lucy Knox]], [[Bram Stoker]], [[John Millington Synge|J. M. Synge]], [[W. B. Yeats]], [[Cecil Day-Lewis]], [[George Bernard Shaw|Bernard Shaw]], [[Augusta, Lady Gregory]], [[Samuel Beckett]], [[Giles Cooper (playwright)|Giles Cooper]], [[C. S. Lewis]], [[Frank Pakenham, 7th Earl of Longford|Lord Longford]], [[Elizabeth Bowen]], [[William Trevor]] and [[William Allingham]]. The writer [[Lafcadio Hearn]] was of Anglo-Irish descent on his father's side but was brought up as a Catholic by his great-aunt.{{cn|date=April 2025}}

In the 19th century, some of the most prominent mathematical and physical scientists of the British Isles, including [[Sir William Rowan Hamilton]], [[Sir George Stokes, 1st Baronet|Sir George Stokes]], [[John Tyndall]], [[George Johnstone Stoney]], [[Thomas Romney Robinson]], [[Edward Sabine]], [[Thomas Andrews (scientist)|Thomas Andrews]], [[William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse|Lord Rosse]], [[George Salmon]], and [[George Francis FitzGerald|George FitzGerald]], were Anglo-Irish. In the 20th century, scientists [[John Joly]] and [[Ernest Walton]] were also Anglo-Irish, as was the polar explorer Sir [[Ernest Shackleton]].  Medical experts included [[Sir William Wilde]], [[Robert James Graves|Robert Graves]], [[Thomas Wrigley Grimshaw]], [[William Stokes (physician)|William Stokes]], [[Robert Collis]], [[Sir John Lumsden]] and [[William Babington (physician)|William Babington]]. The geographer [[William Desborough Cooley|William Cooley]] was one of the first to describe the process of [[globalization]].{{cn|date=April 2025}}

The Anglo-Irishmen [[Richard Brinsley Sheridan]], [[Henry Grattan]], [[Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh|Lord Castlereagh]], [[George Canning]], [[George Macartney, 1st Earl Macartney|Lord Macartney]], [[Thomas Spring Rice, 1st Baron Monteagle of Brandon|Thomas Spring Rice]], [[Charles Stewart Parnell]], and [[Edward Carson]] played major roles in British politics. Downing Street itself was named after [[Sir George Downing, 1st Baronet|Sir George Downing]]. In the Church, Bishop [[Richard Pococke]] contributed much to C18 travel writing.{{cn|date=April 2025}}

The Anglo-Irish were also represented among the senior officers of the [[British Army]] by men such as [[Field Marshal (UK)|Field Marshal]] [[Frederick Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts|Earl Roberts]], first honorary Colonel of the [[Irish Guards]] regiment, who spent most of his career in [[British India]]; Field Marshal [[Hugh Gough, 1st Viscount Gough|Viscount Gough]], who served under [[Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington|Wellington]], himself a Wellesley born in Dublin to the [[Garret Wesley, 1st Earl of Mornington|Earl of Mornington]], head of a prominent Anglo-Irish family in Dublin; and in the 20th century Field Marshal [[Alan Brooke, 1st Viscount Alanbrooke|Lord Alanbrooke]], Field Marshal [[Harold Alexander, 1st Earl Alexander of Tunis|Lord Alexander of Tunis]], General [[John Hackett (British Army officer)|Sir John Winthrop Hackett]], Field Marshal [[Sir Henry Wilson, 1st Baronet|Sir Henry Wilson]] and Field Marshal [[Garnet Wolseley, 1st Viscount Wolseley|Sir Garnet Wolseley]]. (see also [[Irish military diaspora]]).

Others were prominent officials and administrators in the [[British Empire]], such as: [[Frederick Matthew Darley]], the Chief Justice of New South Wales; [[Henry Arthur Blake]], [[Antony MacDonnell, 1st Baron MacDonnell|Antony MacDonnell]] and [[Charles Gavan Duffy (Canadian politician)|Gavan Duffy]]. Others were involved in finding better ways of managing it, heading the [[Donoughmore Commission]] or the [[Report of West India Royal Commission (Moyne Report)|Moyne Commission]].

[[John Winthrop Hackett|Sir John Winthrop Hackett]] emigrated to Australia where he became the proprietor and editor of many prominent newspapers. He was also influential in the founding of the [[University of Western Australia]] and was its first chancellor.

Prolific [[art music]] composers included [[Michael William Balfe]], [[John Field (composer)|John Field]], [[George Alexander Osborne]], [[Thomas Roseingrave]], [[Charles Villiers Stanford]], [[John Andrew Stevenson]], [[Robert Prescott Stewart]], [[William Vincent Wallace]], and [[Charles Wood (composer)|Charles Wood]].

In the [[visual arts]], sculptor [[John Henry Foley]], art dealer [[Hugh Lane]], artists [[Daniel Maclise]], [[William Orpen]] and [[Jack Butler Yeats|Jack Yeats]]; ballerina [[Ninette de Valois|Dame Ninette de Valois]] and designer-architect [[Eileen Gray]] were famous outside Ireland.

[[William Desmond Taylor]] was an early and prolific maker of [[silent film]]s in [[Cinema of the United States|Hollywood]]. Scriptwriter [[Johanna Harwood]] penned several of the early [[James Bond (literary character)|James Bond]] films, among others.

[[Philanthropist]]s included [[Thomas John Barnardo|Thomas Barnardo]] and [[Edward Guinness, 1st Earl of Iveagh|Lord Iveagh]].

Confederate general [[Patrick Cleburne]] was of Anglo-Irish ancestry.

Discussing what he considered the lack of Irish civic morality in 2011, former [[Taoiseach]] [[Garret FitzGerald]] remarked that before 1922: "In Ireland a strong civic sense did exist – but mainly amongst Protestants and especially Anglicans".<ref>"Ireland's lack of civic morality grounded in our history", ''[[Irish Times]]'', 9 April 2011, p.14</ref>

[[Henry Ford]], the American [[Business magnate|industrialist and business magnate]], was half Anglo-Irish; his father William Ford was born in Cork to a family originally from [[Somerset]], England.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.hfmgv.org/exhibits/hf/|title=Henry Ford Museum & Greenfield Village|date=2001-10-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20011005164558/http://www.hfmgv.org/exhibits/hf/|access-date=2019-08-04|archive-date=5 October 2001}}</ref>
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