Editing Anglo-Irish people (section)

==Attitude towards Ireland's independence==

The Anglo-Irish, as a class, were mostly opposed to the notions of [[Irish nationalism|Irish independence]] and [[Irish Home Rule movement|Home Rule]].<ref>Alan O'Day, ''Reactions to Irish Nationalism, 1865–1914'' (Bloomsbury Publishing, 1 July 1987), 376.</ref> Most were supporters of continued political [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|union with Great Britain]], which existed between 1800 and 1922. This was for many reasons, but most important were the economic benefits of union for the landowning class, the close personal and familial relations with the British establishment, and the political prominence held by the Anglo-Irish in Ireland under the union settlement.<ref>{{cite book|first =D. George |last =Boyce|title =Nationalism in Ireland|publisher =Routledge|date= 2 September 2003|page = 40|isbn = 9781134797417|url =https://books.google.com/books?id=2VCEAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA40}}</ref> Many Anglo-Irish men served as officers in the [[British Army]], were clergymen in the established Anglican [[Church of Ireland]] or had land (or business interests) across the British Isles – all factors which encouraged political support for [[Unionism in Ireland|unionism]]. Between the mid-nineteenth century and 1922, the Anglo-Irish comprised the bulk of the support for movements such as the [[Irish Unionist Alliance]], especially in the southern three provinces of Ireland.<ref>Alan O'Day, ''Reactions to Irish Nationalism, 1865–1914'' (Bloomsbury Publishing, 1 July 1987), 384.</ref>

During [[World War I]], [[Irish nationalist]] [[Member of parliament|MP]] [[Tom Kettle]] compared the Anglo-Irish landlord class to the [[Prussia]]n [[Junker (Prussia)|Junkers]], saying, "England goes to fight for liberty in [[Europe]] and for junkerdom in [[Ireland]]."<ref>{{cite book|first =Tim|last = Cross |date =1988|title =The Lost Voices of World War I| page= 42|publisher = University of Iowa Press|isbn = 9780877452645}}</ref>

However, Protestants in Ireland, and the Anglo-Irish class in particular, were by no means universally attached to the cause of continued political union with Great Britain. For instance, author [[Jonathan Swift]] (1667–1745), a clergyman in the Church of Ireland, vigorously denounced the plight of ordinary [[Irish Catholics]] under the rule of the landlords. Reformist politicians such as [[Henry Grattan]] (1746–1820), [[Wolfe Tone]] (1763–1798), [[Robert Emmet]] (1778–1803), [[John Gray (Irish politician)|Sir John Gray]] (1815–1875), and [[Charles Stewart Parnell]] (1846–1891), were also [[Protestant Irish nationalists|Protestant nationalists]], and in large measure led and defined Irish nationalism. The [[Irish Rebellion of 1798]] was led by members of the Anglo-Irish and Ulster Scots class, some of whom feared the political implications of the impending union with Great Britain.<ref name="D. George Boyce 2003">D. George Boyce, ''Nationalism in Ireland'' (Routledge, 2 Sep 2003), 309.</ref> By the late 19th and early 20th centuries, however, Irish nationalism became increasingly tied to a [[Roman Catholic Church in Ireland|Roman Catholic]] identity.<ref name="D. George Boyce 2003"/> By the beginning of the twentieth century, many Anglo-Irishmen in southern Ireland had become convinced of the need for a political settlement with Irish nationalists. Anglo-Irish politicians such as [[Sir Horace Plunkett]] and [[Thomas Spring Rice, 2nd Baron Monteagle of Brandon|Lord Monteagle]] became leading figures in finding a peaceful solution to the 'Irish question'.

During the [[Irish War of Independence]] (1919–1921), many Anglo-Irish landlords left the country due to [[Destruction of country houses in the Irish revolutionary period|arson attacks on their family homes]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.reform.org/TheReformMovement_files/article_files/articles/cork.htm|title=The fate of Cork unionists 1919-1921|website=www.reform.org|date=2002|first=David|last=Christopher|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040316110819/http://www.reform.org/TheReformMovement_files/article_files/articles/cork.htm|archive-date=16 March 2004|access-date=3 February 2011|url-status=live}}</ref> The burnings continued and many sectarian murders were carried out by the [[Anti-Treaty IRA]] during the [[Irish Civil War]]. Considering the Irish State unable to protect them, many members of the Anglo-Irish class subsequently left Ireland forever, fearing that they would be subject to discriminatory legislation and social pressures. The Protestant proportion of the Irish population dropped from 10%  (300,000) to 6% (180,000) in the [[Irish Free State]] in the twenty-five years following independence,<ref>[http://multitext.ucc.ie/d/The_Anglo-Irish ''The Anglo-Irish''] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060502065641/http://multitext.ucc.ie/d/The_Anglo-Irish |date=2 May 2006 }}, Fidelma Maguire, University College of Cork</ref> with most resettling in [[Great Britain]]. In the whole of Ireland the percentage of Protestants was 26% (1.1 million).

The reaction of the Anglo-Irish to the [[Anglo-Irish Treaty]] which envisaged the establishment of the [[Irish Free State]] was mixed. [[John Gregg (archbishop of Armagh)|J. A. F. Gregg]], the [[Archbishop of Dublin (Church of Ireland)|Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin]], stated in a sermon in December 1921 (the month the Treaty was signed):

{{blockquote|It concerns us all to offer the Irish Free State our loyalty. I believe there is a genuine desire on the part of those who have long differed from us politically to welcome our co-operation. We should be wrong politically and religiously to reject such advances.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=AG19211214.2.36.2&srpos=12&e=-------10--11----2%22Irish+Free+State%22-all|title=Papers Past - RATIFICATION QUESTION. (Ashburton Guardian, 1921-12-14)|first=National Library of New|last=Zealand|website=paperspast.natlib.govt.nz}}</ref>}}

In 1925, when the Irish Free State was poised to outlaw [[divorce]], the Anglo-Irish poet [[W. B. Yeats]] delivered a famous eulogy for his class in the [[Irish Senate]]:

{{blockquote|I think it is tragic that within three years of this country gaining its independence we should be discussing a measure which a minority of this nation considers to be grossly oppressive. I am proud to consider myself a typical man of that minority. We against whom you have done this thing, are no petty people. We are one of the great stocks of Europe. We are the people of [[Edmund Burke|Burke]]; we are the people of [[Henry Grattan|Grattan]]; we are the people of [[Jonathan Swift|Swift]], the people of [[Robert Emmet|Emmet]], the people of [[Charles Stewart Parnell|Parnell]]. We have created the most of the modern literature of this country. We have created the best of its political intelligence. Yet I do not altogether regret what has happened. I shall be able to find out, if not I, my children will be able to find out whether we have lost our stamina or not. You have defined our position and have given us a popular following. If we have not lost our stamina then your victory will be brief, and your defeat final, and when it comes this nation may be transformed.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=izMWO_4_8WgC&pg=PA34 ''Modern Irish Poetry: Tradition and Continuity from Yeats to Heaney''], Robert F. Garratt, University of California Press, 1989, page 34</ref>}}