1.
Belfast
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Belfast is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, the second largest on the island of Ireland, and the heart of the tenth largest Primary Urban Area in the United Kingdom. On the River Lagan, it had a population of 286,000 at the 2011 census and 333,871 after the 2015 council reform, Belfast was granted city status in 1888. Belfast played a key role in the Industrial Revolution, and was an industrial centre until the latter half of the 20th century. It has sustained a major aerospace and missiles industry since the mid 1930s, industrialisation and the inward migration it brought made Belfast Irelands biggest city at the beginning of the 20th century. Today, Belfast remains a centre for industry, as well as the arts, higher education, business, and law, additionally, Belfast city centre has undergone considerable expansion and regeneration in recent years, notably around Victoria Square. Belfast is served by two airports, George Best Belfast City Airport in the city, and Belfast International Airport 15 miles west of the city. Although the county borough of Belfast was created when it was granted city status by Queen Victoria in 1888, the site of Belfast has been occupied since the Bronze Age. The Giants Ring, a 5, 000-year-old henge, is located near the city, Belfast remained a small settlement of little importance during the Middle Ages. The ONeill clan had a presence in the area, in the 14th century, Cloinne Aodha Buidhe, descendants of Aodh Buidhe ONeill built Grey Castle at Castlereagh, now in the east of the city. Conn ONeill of the Clannaboy ONeills owned vast lands in the area and was the last inhabitant of Grey Castle, evidence of this period of Belfasts growth can still be seen in the oldest areas of the city, known as the Entries. Belfast blossomed as a commercial and industrial centre in the 18th and 19th centuries, industries thrived, including linen, rope-making, tobacco, heavy engineering and shipbuilding, and at the end of the 19th century, Belfast briefly overtook Dublin as the largest city in Ireland. The Harland and Wolff shipyards became one of the largest shipbuilders in the world, in 1886 the city suffered intense riots over the issue of home rule, which had divided the city. In 1920–22, Belfast became the capital of the new entity of Northern Ireland as the island of Ireland was partitioned, the accompanying conflict cost up to 500 lives in Belfast, the bloodiest sectarian strife in the city until the Troubles of the late 1960s onwards. Belfast was heavily bombed during World War II, in one raid, in 1941, German bombers killed around one thousand people and left tens of thousands homeless. Apart from London, this was the greatest loss of life in a raid during the Blitz. Belfast has been the capital of Northern Ireland since its establishment in 1921 following the Government of Ireland Act 1920 and it had been the scene of various episodes of sectarian conflict between its Catholic and Protestant populations. These opposing groups in conflict are now often termed republican and loyalist respectively. The most recent example of conflict was known as the Troubles – a civil conflict that raged from around 1969 to 1998
2.
William Ewart Gladstone
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William Ewart Gladstone, FRS, FSS was a British Liberal and earlier conservative politician. In a career lasting over sixty years, he served as Prime Minister four separate times, more than any other person, Gladstone was also Britains oldest Prime Minister, he resigned for the final time when he was 84 years old. Gladstone first entered Parliament in 1832, beginning as a High Tory, Gladstone served in the Cabinet of Sir Robert Peel. After the split of the Conservatives Gladstone was a Peelite – in 1859 the Peelites merged with the Whigs, as Chancellor Gladstone became committed to low public spending and to electoral reform, earning him the sobriquet The Peoples William. Gladstones first ministry saw many reforms including the disestablishment of the Church of Ireland, after his electoral defeat in 1874, Gladstone resigned as leader of the Liberal Party, but from 1876 began a comeback based on opposition to Turkeys reaction to the Bulgarian April Uprising. Gladstones Midlothian Campaign of 1879–80 was an example of many modern political campaigning techniques. The government also passed the Third Reform Act, Back in office in early 1886, Gladstone proposed Irish home rule but this was defeated in the House of Commons in July. The resulting split in the Liberal Party helped keep out of office, with one short break. In 1892 Gladstone formed his last government at the age of 82, the Second Home Rule Bill passed the Commons but was defeated in the Lords in 1893. Gladstone resigned in March 1894, in opposition to increased naval expenditure and he left Parliament in 1895 and died three years later aged 88. Gladstone was known affectionately by his supporters as The Peoples William or the G. O. M, Gladstone is consistently ranked as one of Britains greatest Prime Ministers. Born in 1809 in Liverpool, at 62 Rodney Street, William Ewart Gladstone was the son of the slave-owning merchant Sir John Gladstone. Although born and brought up in Liverpool, William Gladstone was of purely Scottish ancestry, in 1814 young Willy visited Scotland for the first time, as he and his brother John travelled with their father to Edinburgh, Biggar and Dingwall to visit their relatives. William and his brother were both made freemen of the burgh of Dingwall, in 1815 Gladstone also travelled to London and Cambridge for the first time with his parents. In London he attended a service of thanksgiving with his family at St Pauls Cathedral following the Battle of Waterloo, William Gladstone was educated from 1816 to 1821 at a preparatory school at the vicarage of St Thomass Church at Seaforth, close to his familys residence, Seaforth House. In December 1831 he achieved the double first-class degree he had long desired, Gladstone served as President of the Oxford Union debating society, where he developed a reputation as an orator, which followed him into the House of Commons. At university Gladstone was a Tory and denounced Whig proposals for parliamentary reform, following the success of his double first, William travelled with his brother John on a Grand Tour of Europe, visiting Belgium, France, Germany and Italy. On his return to England, William was elected to Parliament in 1832 as Tory Member of Parliament for Newark, partly through the influence of the local patron, the Duke of Newcastle
3.
The Twelfth
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The Twelfth is an Ulster Protestant celebration held on 12 July. It originated during the late 18th century in Ulster and it celebrates the Glorious Revolution and victory of Protestant king William of Orange over Catholic king James II at the Battle of the Boyne, which began the Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. On and around the Twelfth, large parades are held by the Orange Order and Ulster loyalist marching bands, streets are bedecked with British flags and bunting, and large towering bonfires are lit. Today the Twelfth is mainly celebrated in Northern Ireland, but smaller celebrations are held in parts of the world where Orange lodges have been set up. The Twelfth involves thousands of participants and spectators, although not all Protestants celebrate it, in Ulster, where about half the population is from a Protestant background and half from a Catholic background, the Twelfth has been accompanied by violence since its beginning. Many Catholics and Irish nationalists see the Orange Order and its marches as sectarian, the Order is also politically a unionist/loyalist organisation. Violence related to the Twelfth in Northern Ireland worsened during the 30-year ethno-political conflict known as the Troubles, the Drumcree conflict is the most well-known dispute involving Orange marches. Attempts have recently made to downplay the political aspects of the marches and present the Twelfth as a cultural. Although most events pass off peacefully, some continue to result in violence, when 12 July falls on a Sunday, the parades are held on the 13th instead. The first such commemoration was the anniversary of the 1641 rebellion on 23 October, the second major day was the birthday of William of Orange, Protestant victor of the Williamite war in the 1690s, on 4 November. Both of these anniversaries faded in popularity by the end of the 18th century, the Twelfth itself originated as a celebration of the Battle of Aughrim, which took place on 12 July 1691 in the Julian calendar then in use. Aughrim was the battle of the Williamite war, in which the predominantly Irish Catholic Jacobite army was destroyed. The Twelfth in the early 18th century was a commemoration of this battle. The Battle of the Boyne was commemorated with smaller parades on 1 July, however, the two events were combined in the late 18th century. The second reason was the foundation of the Orange Order in 1795, the Order preferred the Boyne, due to William of Oranges presence there. It has also suggested that in the 1790s the Boyne, where the Jacobites were routed, was more appealing to the Order than Aughrim. The Orders first ever took place on 12 July 1796 in Portadown, Lurgan. The Twelfth parades of the early 19th century often led to disorder, so much so that the Orange Order
4.
Jallianwala Bagh massacre
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The civilians had assembled to participate in the annual Baisakhi celebrations, a religious and cultural festival for Punjabi people. Coming from outside the city, they may have been unaware of the imposition of martial law, the Jallianwalla Bagh is a public garden of 6 to 7 acres, walled on all sides with five entrances. On Dyers orders, his troops fired on the crowd for ten minutes, the British government released figures stating 379 dead and 1,200 wounded. Other sources place the number of dead at well over 1,000 and this brutality stunned the entire nation, resulting in a wrenching loss of faith of the general public in the intentions of the UK. The ineffective inquiry and the accolades for Dyer by the House of Lords fuelled widespread anger. On Sunday,13 April 1919, Dyer was convinced of an insurrection and he banned all meetings. That was the day of Baisakhi, the main Sikh festival, on hearing that a meeting had assembled at Jallianwala Bagh, Dyer went with fifty Gurkha troops to a raised bank and ordered them to shoot at the crowd. Dyer continued the firing for about ten minutes, until the supply was almost exhausted. Dyer stated that 1,650 rounds had been fired, a number derived by counting empty cartridge cases picked up by the troops. Official British Indian sources gave a figure of 379 identified dead, the casualty number estimated by the Indian National Congress was more than 1,500, with approximately 1,000 dead. Dyer was initially lauded by conservative forces in the empire, and he became a celebrated hero in Britain among most of the people connected to the British Raj, for example, the House of Lords, but unpopular in the House of Commons, which voted against Dyer twice. The massacre caused a re-evaluation of the role, in which the new policy became minimum force. The army was retrained and developed less violent tactics for crowd control, Some historians consider the episode a decisive step towards the end of British rule in India. During World War I, British India contributed to the British war effort by providing men and resources. Millions of Indian soldiers and labourers served in Europe, Africa, however, Bengal and Punjab remained sources of anticolonial activities. Revolutionary attacks in Bengal, associated increasingly with disturbances in Punjab, were significant enough to nearly paralyse the regional administration, the planned February mutiny was ultimately thwarted when British intelligence infiltrated the Ghadarite movement, arresting key figures. Mutinies in smaller units and garrisons within India were also crushed, in the scenario of the British war effort and the threat from the militant movement in India, the Defence of India Act 1915 was passed limiting civil and political liberties. Michael ODwyer, then the Lieutenant Governor of Punjab, was one of the strongest proponents of the act, the costs of the protracted war in money and manpower were great
5.
United Kingdom general election, 1885 (Ireland)
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The 1885 general election in Ireland was the first election following the Representation of the People Act 1884 and the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885, which redrew the Irish electoral landscape. The election saw the Irish Parliamentary Party secure their place as the dominant party in Irish politics, in comparison, the Liberals were wiped out in Ireland, whilst the Conservatives were reduced to 16 seats. The election also saw the emergence of the Irish Loyal and Patriotic Union, the IPLU sought to maximise the number of candidates elected from unionist parties in the three southern Irish provinces. Despite the IPLUs attempts, no southern Unionists were elected, the election also saw a similarly named Loyal Irish Union, which campaigned alongside Irish Conservatives. Unlike the ILPU, which prioritised Unionism over party politics, the Loyal Irish Union prioritised opposition to the Liberals over forming any kind of bi-partisan Unionist alliance, the Irish electorate in 1885 was radically different to that in 1880. The result of reform was massive, and saw the Irish electorate more than triple. Not included in the totals are the two Dublin University seats, which were uncontested and were retained by the Conservatives
6.
Navvy
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The term was coined in the late 18th century in Great Britain when numerous canals were being built, which were also sometimes known as navigations, or eternal navigations, intended to last forever. A study of 19th century British railway contracts by David Brooke, coinciding with census returns and he does, however, state that only the ubiquitous Irish can be regarded as a truly international force in railway construction although the Irish only comprised about 30% of the navvies. There were 250,000 navvies employed during the apex of British railway expansion efforts, Navvies working on railway projects typically continued to work using hand tools, supplemented with explosives. Elsewhere, for example in the United States and Canada, where labour was scarce and expensive. In the States the machine became so strong that the word navvy is understood to mean not a man. Being a navvy labourer became an experience unto its own during the 19th century. The navvies working on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway were paid daily and their pay reputedly went on ale, when the workers were unfit to work, monies were subtracted from their wages and meal tokens were issued. These tokens could be handed in at meal caravans for a bowl of soup, at first the token was a slip of paper called a flimsy because of its thickness. In todays terms it would be similar to a grade called bank paper, as these tokens could be copied by the forgers, the Liverpool and Manchester Railway supplied its contractors with six-sided food tokens that were surrendered for meals. These were cut from brass and had the initials LMR stamped upon them and this reduced the problems of drunken navvies and eliminated the local farm labourers freeloading from the food caravans. Tokens and a description of their use can be found in the Museum of Science & Industry in Manchester, the construction tycoon Morton Peto encouraged religious services for his workforce, as well as providing some social services to the navvy populations. Many of the employed to build the railways in England during the early part of the 19th century lived in squalid temporary accommodations referred to as shanty towns. Due in part to constructing through rural areas, and, in part, initially, the housing huts were constructed quickly and meant to be temporary. As a result, little thought was given to comfort, let alone sanitation, shanties were clearly unhealthy places in which to live, and it was not uncommon for a navvy community to be overtaken by cholera, dysentery or typhus. In addition to these living conditions, navvies shared housing. The majority of navvies were Englishmen, with 30% of the group being Irish, while this ratio varied from navvy shanty town to shanty town, sleeping arrangements were segregated. In at least one documented instance, a riot broke out between the two nationalities in one navvy shanty town, causing local magistrates to arrest 12 individuals, though, this is not necessarily indicative of relations between the English and Irish in all navvy gangs. In addition to their living arrangements, navvies confronted varying degrees of dangerous work environments that depended both on the terrain, and the locals reception of them
7.
Reginald Edward Harry Dyer
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Colonel Reginald Edward Harry Dyer CB was an officer of the British Army who, as a temporary brigadier general, was responsible for the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in Amritsar. Dyer was removed from duty, but he became a hero in Britain. Some historians argue the episode was a step towards the end of British rule in India. Dyer was born in Murree, in the Punjab province of British India and he was the son of an Indian-born Anglo brewer who managed the Murree Brewery in the town of Ghora Gali. He spent his childhood in Murree and Shimla and received his education at the Lawrence College Ghora Gali, Murree. He attended Midleton College, County Cork, Ireland between 1875 and 1881 and he was then transferred to the British Indian Army, initially joining the Bengal Staff Corps as a lieutenant in 1887. He was attached to the 39th Bengal Infantry, later transferring to the 29th Punjabis and he served in the latter in the Black Mountain campaign, the Chitral Relief and the Mahsud blockade. In 1901 he was appointed a deputy assistant adjutant general and he was then transferred to the 25th Punjabis. In August 1903 he was promoted to major, and served with the Landi Kotal Expedition and he commanded the 25th Punjabis in India and Hong Kong and was promoted to lieutenant-colonel in 1910. During the First World War, he commanded the Seistan Force, for which he was mentioned in despatches and he was promoted colonel in 1915, and was made a temporary brigadier-general in 1916. In 1919, about a month after the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, in the Third Anglo-Afghan War, his brigade relieved the garrison of Thal, for a few months in 1919 he was posted at the 5th Brigade at Jamrud. He retired on 17 July 1920, retaining the rank of colonel, in 1919 the European population in Punjab feared the Indians would overthrow British rule. A nationwide hartal, which was called on 30 March by Mahatma Gandhi, had turned violent in some areas, authorities were also becoming concerned by displays of Hindu-Muslim unity. Michael ODwyer, the Lieutenant-Governor of Punjab, decided to deport major agitators from the province, one of those targeted was Dr. Satyapal, a Hindu who had served with the Royal Army Medical Corps during the First World War. He advocated non-violent civil disobedience and was forbidden by the authorities to speak publicly, another agitator was Dr. Saifuddin Kitchlew, a Muslim barrister who wanted political change and also preached non-violence. The district magistrate, acting on orders from the Punjab government, had the two leaders arrested, on 9 April 1919, crowds soon gathered at a bridge leading into the Civil Lines, where the British lived, demanding a release of the two men. Unable to hold the back, troops panicked and began firing, killing several protesters. The shooting of protesters resulted in a mob forming and returning to the city centre, setting fire to government buildings, Sherwood was rescued from the mob by local Indians
8.
Ulster Protestants
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Ulster Protestants are an ethnoreligious group in the Irish province of Ulster, where they make up about 54% of the population. These settlers were mostly Lowland Scottish and Northern English people and predominantly from Galloway, begun privately in 1606, the Plantation of Ulster became government-sponsored in 1609, with much land for settlement being allocated to the Livery Companies of the City of London. By 1622 there was a settler population of about 19,000. Ulster Protestants descend from a variety of lineages, including Scots, English, Irish, and Huguenots. Another influx of an estimated 20,000 Scottish Protestants, mainly to the counties of Antrim, Down. This migration decisively changed the population of Ulster, giving it a Protestant majority, most Ulster Protestants are Presbyterian or Anglican, Scottish colonists were mostly Presbyterian and the English mostly members of the Church of England. Between 1717 and 1775, an estimated 200,000 migrated to what became the United States of America, some Presbyterians also returned to Scotland during this period, where the Presbyterian Church of Scotland was the state religion. This repression by Anglicans largely ended after the Irish Rebellion of 1798, as Belfast became industrialised in the 19th century, it attracted yet more Protestant immigrants from Scotland. Because of these migrations, Ulster has a proportion of Catholics than the other provinces of Ireland. The vast majority of Ulster Protestants live in Northern Ireland, which is part of the present-day United Kingdom, most tend to support its Union with Great Britain, and are thus known as unionists. Unlike Protestants in the rest of the Republic, some retain a sense of Britishness, most Ulster Protestants speak Ulster English, and some speak one of the Ulster Scots dialects. British nationalism Protestantism in Ireland Unionism in Ireland Amity and enmity, variety in Ulster Protestant culture Ulster Protestants - Blood & Belonging
9.
Hugh Hanna
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Hugh Hanna, nicknamed Roaring Hanna, was an evangelical preacher in Belfast known for his anti-Catholicism. Born in Dromara, County Down, Hanna studied at Bullicks Academy in Belfast before becoming a draper and he was inspired by Josias Wilson to become a Sunday school teacher, then a full-time teacher at a religious school. During this period, he studied at the Belfast Academical Institution, in 1847, he decided to become a minister of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland. He began missionary work in north Belfast in 1851, founding a congregation in Berry Street, Hanna organised a large number of both national and Sunday schools, in 1880, he was made a Commissioner of national education. He also spoke widely at religious revivalist meetings, in 1857, the Church of Ireland was asked by local magistrates to postpone open-air preaching, in an effort to calm sectarian tensions. Hanna, with the encouragement of Henry Cooke, objected to this, a more successful rally followed in 1859, when Hanna addressed over 20,000 people in the Belfast Botanic Gardens. He fiercely opposed the Home Rule Bill of 1886, claiming that Roman Catholic police officers had been brought from other parts of Ireland in an attempt to intimidate Protestant opinion. A black marble statue to Hanna was erected in Carlisle Circus in 1894, this was removed after it was damaged by an Irish Republican Army bomb in 1970
10.
Government of Ireland Bill 1886
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It was introduced in 8 April 1886 by Liberal Prime Minister William Gladstone to create a devolved assembly for Ireland which would govern Ireland in specified areas. The Irish Parliamentary Party under Charles Stewart Parnell had been campaigning for home rule for Ireland since the 1870s. The Bill, like his Irish Land Act 1870, was much the work of Gladstone. Following the Purchase of Land Act 1885 it was to be introduced alongside a new Land Purchase Bill to reform tenant rights, the key aspects of the 1886 Bill were, A unicameral assembly consisting of two Orders which could meet either together or separately. The first Order was to consist of the 28 Irish representative peers plus 75 members elected through a restricted franchise. It could delay the passage of legislation for 3 years, the second Order was to consist of either 204 or 206 members. All Irish MPs would be excluded from Westminster altogether, executive power would be possessed by the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whose executive would not be responsible to either Order. Britain would still control over a range of issues including peace, war, defence, treaties with foreign states, trade. No special provision was made for Ulster, britain would retain control of the Royal Irish Constabulary until it deemed it safe for control to pass to Dublin. The Dublin Metropolitan Police would pass to Irish control, when the bill was introduced, Charles Stewart Parnell had a mixed reaction. He said that it had great faults but was prepared to vote for it, in his famous Irish Home Rule speech, Gladstone beseeched Parliament to pass it and grant Home Rule to Ireland in honour rather than being compelled to one day in humiliation. Unionists and the Orange Order were fierce in their resistance, for them and this was the headline in the local paper where it was reported that a mob attacked the small Catholic/Nationalist ghetto of Obins Street. The vote on the Bill took place two months of debate and, on 8 June 1886,341 voted against it while 311 voted for it. Parliament was dissolved on 26 June and the UK general election,1886 was called, Jackson, Alvin Jackson, HOME RULE, an Irish History 1800–2000, ISBN 0-7538-1767-5. Hennessey, Thomas, Dividing Ireland, World War 1 and Partition, full text of the Home Rule bill of 1886 Appendix A of What home rule means now. The Liberal Union of Ireland, from the Internet Archive, government of Ireland Bill matches from Hansard, matches 1886–92 relate to the 1886 bill
11.
Devolution
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Devolution is the statutory delegation of powers from the central government of a sovereign state to govern at a subnational level, such as a regional or local level. It is a form of administrative decentralization, devolved territories have the power to make legislation relevant to the area. Devolution differs from federalism in that the powers of the subnational authority may be temporary and are reversible. Thus, the state de jure unitary. Legislation creating devolved parliaments or assemblies can be repealed or amended by central government in the way as any statute. In federal systems, by contrast, sub-unit government is guaranteed in the constitution, the sub-units therefore have a lower degree of protection under devolution than under federalism. It has six states and two territories with power than states. The Northern Territory of Australia refused statehood in a 1998 referendum, the rejection was a surprise to both the Australian and Northern Territory governments. Territory legislation can be disallowed by the Commonwealth Parliament in Canberra, although Canada is a federal state, a large portion of its land mass in the north is under the legislative jurisdiction of the federal government. This has been the case since 1870, since the 1970s, the federal government has been transferring its decision-making powers to northern governments. This means greater local control and accountability by northerners for decisions central to the future of the territories, Yukon was carved from the Northwest Territories in 1898 but it remained a federal territory. Subsequently, in 1905, the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan were created from the Northwest Territories, other portions of Ruperts Land were added to the provinces of Ontario and Quebec, extending the provinces northward from their previous narrow band around the St. Lawrence and lower Great Lakes. The District of Ungava was an administrative district of Canadas Northwest Territories from 1895 to 1912. The continental areas of district were transferred by the Parliament of Canada with the adoption of the Quebec Boundary Extension Act,1898. The status of the interior of Labrador which was believed part of Ungava was settled in 1927 by the British Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, which ruled in favour of Newfoundland. In 1999, the government created Nunavut pursuant to a land claim agreement reached with Inuit. The offshore islands to the west and north of Quebec remained part of the Northwest Territories until the creation of Nunavut in 1999, since that time, the federal government has slowly devolved legislative jurisdiction to the territories. Enabling the territories to become more self-sufficient and prosperous and to play a role in the Canadian federation is considered a key component to development in Canada’s North
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