Ribbon Societies in Nineteenth-Century Ireland and its Diaspora: The Persistence of Tradition
Kyle Hughes and Donald MacRaild
Abstract
The book is the first full-length study of Irish Ribbonism. It traces its development from its origins in the Defender movement of the 1790s to the latter part of the century when the remnants of the Ribbon tradition found solace in a new movement: the quasi-constitutional affinities of the Ancient Order of Hibernians. This book places Ribbonism firmly within Ireland’s long tradition of secret societies and show that, due to its diversity and adaptability, it stood apart from other similar bodies and showed remarkable longevity not matched by its contemporaries. The book describes the wider co ... More
The book is the first full-length study of Irish Ribbonism. It traces its development from its origins in the Defender movement of the 1790s to the latter part of the century when the remnants of the Ribbon tradition found solace in a new movement: the quasi-constitutional affinities of the Ancient Order of Hibernians. This book places Ribbonism firmly within Ireland’s long tradition of secret societies and show that, due to its diversity and adaptability, it stood apart from other similar bodies and showed remarkable longevity not matched by its contemporaries. The book describes the wider context of Catholic struggles for improved standing, explores traditions and networks for association, and it describes external impressions. This study utilises very rich archives in the form of state surveillances records and evidence from spies. ‘Show trial’ proceedings also are examined in detail. Throughout, the book deploys masses of press reportage.
Harnesssing such evidence, the book shows that Ribbonism was a sophisticated and durable underground network drawing together various strands of the rural and urban Catholic populace in Ireland and Britain. Operating as a militant bulwark against Orangeism, an immigrant aid society, a social club, a proto-political collective, it also was at times a primitive trade union. Ribbonism operated more widely than previous studies have revealed, and was, in fact, a transnational entity linking Irish communities in Ireland and Britain, with trace elements also in the USA, Canada and Australia.
Keywords:
Ribbonism,
Hibernianism,
Diaspora,
Transnational,
Catholic secrecy,
Anti-Catholicism,
Anti-Orangeism
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2018 |
Print ISBN-13: 9781786941350 |
| Published to University Press Scholarship Online: September 2019 |
DOI:10.3828/liverpool/9781786941350.001.0001 |
