Contributor:

Dr Marie Coleman

Talk title:

Partition and southern Irish Protestants

Talk Synopsis:

This talk looks at the decline of the Protestant population in southern Ireland between 1911-26. It makes use of church and official records and draws on the experiences of people living in different areas, including those who left and remained. It suggests that the ‘decline in the number and proportion of non-Catholics in the Irish Free State by 1926’ was a ‘significant demographic change in modern Irish history’ and details the different factors involved - and debate about their effect. It also explores how ‘adapting to life in the new state was not an easy or seamless process’ for many Protestants and notes how this ‘resilient minority’ has made a ‘valuable contribution to a century of life in independent Ireland.’

Short Biography:

Dr Marie Coleman is a Reader in Modern Irish History at Queen's University Belfast.

Further Reading:

Southern Irish Loyalism, 1912-1949 – Brian Hughes and Conor Morrissey (eds.)