Deignan, patrick
(2008)
The Protestant Community in Sligo, 1914-1949.
PhD thesis, National University of Ireland Maynooth.
Abstract
This thesis traces the economic, social, political and cultural aspects of the Protestant
community in Sligo from the outbreak of the First World War in 1914 to the declaration of
an Irish republic in 1949. In the immediate period before the First World War the Protestant
community in Sligo were predominantly unionist and were well organised and vocal in their
opposition to Home Rule. The strong commitment of Protestants and unionists to the war
effort weakened the unionist movement in Sligo. The inability of the Sligo unionists to
reactivate their movement after the war and their refusal to reach any accommodation with
moderate nationalists resulted in the alienation of many Protestants from the Catholic and
nationalist majority. However, by 1949, Sligo Protestants had pragmatically adapted to the
changes in the period and had ditched unionism in favour of more economic and interestbased
political parties. They had weathered well the difficult periods of the War of
Independence and the Civil War and few Sligo Protestants suffered hardship in the period
from 1919 to 1923. The change from British administration to an Irish one was not
disastrous for Sligo’s Protestant population and two-thirds had remained in Sligo after the
Civil War and they continued to take an active interest in, and make a large contribution to
both the political and economic life of Sligo. In so doing they were able to argue their
points of view and were able to work together with Catholics and nationalists, while still
being able to honour their heritage and traditions and remaining loyal to their own groups
and clubs which gave rise not only to a socially healthy community with a feeling of
belongingness to a new state, but also a community with a sense of a separate identity.
| Item Type: |
Thesis
(PhD)
|
| Keywords: |
Protestant; Community; 1914-1949; |
| Academic Unit: |
Faculty of Arts,Celtic Studies and Philosophy > History |
| Item ID: |
5264 |
| Depositing User: |
IR eTheses
|
| Date Deposited: |
01 Aug 2014 11:25 |
| URI: |
|
| Use Licence: |
This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available
here |
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