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Act of Union passed
It established the formation of a new country ("The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland") by uniting England, Wales, Ireland and Scotland. A new flag - the Union Jack - was created for it which had components from the flags of each member state. All regional parliaments were abolished, and instead the entire UK was to be ruled from a centralised London parliament. -
Daniel O'Connell's Catholic Association founded.
The Catholic Association was an Irish Roman Catholic political organisation set up by Daniel O'Connell in the early nineteenth century to campaign for Catholic emancipation within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. -
O'Connell elected for Clare.
The Clare election in 1828 was a turning point. O’Connell, with the support of the forty-shilling freeholders, managed a huge victory against the government candidate. He was well supported by the clergy whose influence on the poor uneducated peasant class was enormous. -
Catholic Emancipation Act
Allowed Catholics to enter parliament and to hold public office -
Beginning of the Great Famine
In Ireland, the Great Famine was a period of mass starvation, disease and emigration between 1845 and 1852.[ It is also known, mostly outside Ireland, as the Irish Potato Famine. In the Irish language it is called an Gorta Mór , meaning "the Great Hunger". During the famine approximately 1 million people died and a million more emigrated from Ireland causing the island's population to fall -
Gladstone became Prime Minister
Gladstone became Prime Minister for the first time. He declared that it was his mission to "pacify Ireland". -
Gladstone's first Land Act.
It established that any farmer who had been evicted but had done improvements to his land, was entitled to compensation. -
Gladstone’s Second Land Act
This Land Act gave the "Three F's" which the Land League had demanded: Fair rents would be fixed by land courts for a period of 15 years
Fixed tenancies gave rights of land to the tenant. They could only be evicted if they did not pay rent.
free sale of his lease would be permitted to a tenant who wished to give up farming -
First Home Rule Bill
This bill proposed that
A separate parliament and government should be set up in Dublin.
This parliament would control all Irish affairs except defense issues, foreign relations, trade and issues relating to customs and excise. Westminster would deal with these issues.
Westminster would no longer have any Irish MP's in it.
However, many Irishmen felt that Home Rule did not go far enough. They were worried that there would be no Irish MPs in Westminster to defend Irish interests. Protestants in -
The second Home Rule bill is passed by the British House of Commons
In 1893 the Liberals passed the Second Home Rule Bill in the House of Commons, providing a bicameral legislature for purely local matters and Irish representation at Westminster to vote on Irish taxation. While unsatisfactory to Home Rule advocates, the bill was defeated in the House of Lords. -
Sinn Fein Formed
The political party Sinn Fein, meaning 'we ourselves' was formed. Their aim - to free Ireland from British rule and gain independence for the whole of Ireland. -
Third Home Rule Bill.
Third Home Rule Bill, was an Act passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom intended to provide self-government ("Home Rule") for Ireland within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
The Act was the first law ever passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom that sought to establish devolved government in any part of the United Kingdom -
Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) formed
The UVF was a movement founded in 1912 by Sir Edward Carson to fight against Home Rule. -
Irish Volunteers formed
To show their support from Home Rule, many Catholics joined the British army to fight Germany. However, as it emerged that the UVF would try to block Home Rule militant groups formed from these volunteers to counter the UVF. They became known as the Irish volunteers. -
Irish War of Independence against Britain
The Irish War of Independence was a guerrilla war mounted against the British government in Ireland by the Irish Republican Army (IRA). It began in January 1919, following the Irish Republic’s declaration of independence, and ended with a truce in July 1921. -
Anglo Irish Treaty.
The Anglo-Irish Treaty, officially called the Articles of Agreement for a Treaty Between Great Britain and Ireland, was a treaty between the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and representatives of the secessionist Irish Republic that concluded the Irish War of Independence -
Irish Civil War
Was a conflict that accompanied the establishment of the Irish Free State as an entity independent from the United Kingdom within the British Empire. -
End of Irish Civil War
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Irish Free State joins the League of Nations
The Free State joined the League of Nations, being admitted on 10th September 1923. -
De Valera founds Fianna Fail
In May 1926 at a meeting in Dublin, de Valera founded a new political party called Fianna Fail. The aims of the party were:
A united Ireland as a Republic.
To restore the Irish Language and develop the Irish culture.
To develop a social system where there is an equal opportunity for all.
To have a fair system of land distribution in Ireland.
To make Ireland as self-sufficient as possible, with a proper balance between agriculture and other industries. -
Irish Press Newspaper founded
The Fianna Fail party founded a daily newspaper, the Irish Press, in September 1931. The paper's objective was, according to its founder: "To give the truth in the news, that will be the chief aim of The Irish Press. The Irish Press will be a truthful journal and a good newspaper". -
A New Constitution was Approved
The new Constitution was seen as consolidating an independent approach to self-government and as a way of removing many of the remaining unpopular links with Britain. The name of the Irish Free State was changed to Ireland. This Constitution was adopted by the Irish people in a referendum on 1 July 1937 with 685,000 in favour and 527,000 against. -
Douglas Hyde was elected president
Hyde was an Irish scholar and political leader. He was largely responsible for the revival of Irish language and literature through his founding of the Gaelic League in 1893. After teaching modern Irish for many years, Hyde became the president of Ireland, in 1938
