Popular Opposition to Irish Home Rule in Edwardian Britain

This groundbreaking volume sheds light on the complex realities of British politics prior to 1914, showing that from the start of the Third Home Rule Bill crisis, there was considerable popular interest in the Irish issue. Isolating this movement at the end of the long nineteenth century, where communal and confessional identities were just as powerful as class, and native hostility to Catholicism and Irish migration still prevailed, Daniel Jackson demonstrates the power of the enormous Home Rule protests in Britain. Through studying these massive demonstrations, the author captures the opinions of those made voiceless by history and explores how the Ulster question allowed Conservative politicians to gain popular enthusiasm and bridge the gap between elites and the masses.