Contributor: Dr Robert Lynch Talk Title Partition and the Anglo-Irish Treaty Talk Synopsis: This talk explores the background to the Anglo-Irish Treaty and its immediate (and lasting) effects. It suggests that ‘the most extreme paranoias of the Unionist psyche’ were reinforced by the events of the post-Treaty period, including as a result of growing unionist mistrust of the British government. And it explores how the Boundary Commission allowed ‘both sides to place radically different...

Contributor: Professor Robert Savage Talk Title Broadcasting and the Border: How partition influenced broadcasting on the island of Ireland Talk Synopsis: This talk explores the development of broadcasting in Ireland during the 1920s and how the new radio stations in Belfast and Dublin were affected (and constrained) by politics. It describes the growing popularity and influence of broadcast services and the impact of new technologies, competition and wider social changes on the work of...

Professor Bill Kissane delivers a talk for this series developed by Queen’s University Belfast with broadcast support from the BBC.

Contributor: Professor Richard Bourke Talk Title: Unionisms and Partition Talk Synopsis: This talk explores the background to the Government of Ireland Act (1920) and how it was ‘a departure from unionism in its original, “classic” sense’. It describes how the creation of a ‘parliamentary federation’ was ‘a setup which unionist statecraft had been determined to avoid’ and how it ‘envisaged the creation of yet another union: an Irish union’ which would be facilitated by the formation of a...

Contributor: Professor Brendan O’Leary Talk Title Partition in Comparative Perspective Talk Synopsis: This talk places the Partition of Ireland in a comparative international context. It describes some of what was happening elsewhere in Europe at the same time and looks at the background and effects of the ‘two partitions in 1920: of Ireland and of Ulster.’ It notes that ‘few modern partitions have endured’ and explores the arguments that have been advanced for them and their...

Contributor: Professor Fearghal McGarry Talk Title: The Killing of Sir Henry Wilson: An Irish Tragedy Talk Synopsis: This talk explores the circumstances and impact of Field Marshal Sir Henry Wilson’s murder on the doorstep of his Belgravia home in June, 1922. It describes his role in the politics of this period, including as chief security advisor to the new Northern Ireland government, and how his killers (two London-born republicans) had served in the British army during WW1. It...

Contributor: Dr Tim Wilson Talk Title: Violence: the Human Cost of Partition Talk Synopsis: This talk explores the context and nature of the violence that accompanied Partition and the establishment of Northern Ireland and also the lasting effects/significance of the events of that period. It describes the scale of sectarian violence and related disturbances in Belfast and elsewhere, including workplace expulsions, rioting and the forced movement of people from their homes. It suggests...

Contributor: Professor Marianne Elliott Talk Title: Partition's Casualties: religious minorities in the new states Talk Synopsis: This talk looks at the experience of minority communities in the decades that followed Partition and some of the social, religious and political factors involved. It suggests that Partition ‘created two states whose characters were informed by sectarianised religious cultures’ and explores how community relations have changed over time. It describes the impact...

Contributor: Professor Glenn Patterson Talk Title: Writing and the Border Talk Synopsis: This talk looks at how ideas of borders and boundaries have been reflected in Irish literature. It ranges widely across time and genres and includes reflections on works by Spike Milligan, Anna Burns, Patrick Kavanagh and Seamus Heaney. It suggests that ‘fractal-like, the border recurs and recurs’ in much of the writing from/about Northern Ireland down the decades and that this divide is ‘repeated...

Contributor: Dr Margaret O’Callaghan Talk Title: Acts of partition: from the Government of Ireland Act 1920 to the Boundary Commission, 1925. Talk Synopsis: This talk describes Partition as ‘an instrument of policy that marked the [UK] government’s failure in the wider problem of governing Ireland’. It suggests that the Government of Ireland Act was ‘a landmark in the genealogy of partitions’ and sets out its immediate background and effects. And it argues that the partition of Ireland...

Contributor: Dr Peter Leary Talk Title: Life on the line: Partition at the Border Talk Synopsis: This talk explores how Partition affected the everyday life of border communities. It describes the ‘piecemeal and… protracted’ process by which the new boundary was established and how ‘it ruptured old connections… but still needed to be crossed.’ It looks at the extent of smuggling and the development of a ‘frontier bureaucracy’ and also how the Irish border continued ‘to be stalked by the...

Contributor: Dr Cormac Moore Talk Title: Sir Ernest Clark - 'Midwife to the New Province of Ulster' Talk Synopsis: This talk explores the role of Sir Ernest Clark in creating the administrative structures for the Northern Ireland government. It describes the background to his appointment as Assistant Under-Secretary to Ireland in September 1920, his relations with civil service colleagues in Dublin and unionist politicians and the challenges that he faced in establishing ‘government...

Contributor: Professor Jennifer Todd Talk Title: Community, church and culture in boundary-making Talk Synopsis: This talk explores how partition ‘crystallised communities, empowered churches [and] slowed the process of cultural change’ on both sides of the border. It describes the ‘complex cultural mosaic’ that existed before partition and how much of this complexity was ‘transformed…‘into a sharp territorial line’ that ‘turned the cultural mosaic into solidary communities divided one...

Contributor: Professor Alvin Jackson Talk Title: Rethinking unionism and partition, 1900-1921 Talk Synopsis: This talk explores how the partition of Ireland was ‘an evolving set of events, rather than a single act.’ It describes the ‘long-term drift within Irish unionist politics… towards a local, northern predominance’. And it looks at how partition changed from being a ‘tactical ploy’ for unionists to a ‘negotiating goal’ and how what had been intended as a ‘soft border between...

Contributor: Professor Jane Ohlmeyer Talk Title: Partition: imperial contexts Talk Synopsis: This talk explores ‘the imperial contexts of partition and… the interconnections between Ireland and India’. It looks at how the Government of Ireland Act ‘formed the basis of the legislation that partitioned India and Pakistan’ and the ways in which Irish people facilitated British rule in India. It also describes some of the links between Irish nationalists and their Indian counterparts,...

Contributor: Professor Richard English Talk Title: The IRA and the Partition of Ireland Talk Synopsis: This talk explores the ‘substantial and complex politics that lay behind the IRA’s violence’. It focusses on the views and outlook of Ernie O’Malley and Peadar O’Donnell and suggests that there was a paradox inherent in their politics inasmuch as what was ‘alluring to the followers of Irish republicanism’ was ‘off-putting and repellent to those of a unionist tradition’. It also looks at...

Contributor: Professor Henry Patterson Talk title: Social Class: A Family’s Story Talk Synopsis: This talk explores the central role of social class in determining people’s life chances and experiences in Northern Ireland in the pre-Troubles period. It draws on the story of Henry Patterson’s own family and describes how it was affected by social and economic change, community divisions and world affairs. It also looks at the effect of WW2 on his father’s political outlook and how ‘like...

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...

Contributor: Professor Graham Walker Talk title: Northern Ireland: the first example of UK devolution Talk Synopsis: This talk explores the practical outworking of the Government of Ireland Act (1920), focussing on the experience of the new devolved administration in Belfast and its relationship with Westminster. It looks at the arrangements that were put in place to deal with welfare and security costs in Northern Ireland and the development of a ‘step by step’ policy of alignment with...

Contributor: Professor Roy Foster Talk Title: Partition and the Southern Irish Protestant experience. Talk Synopsis: This talk explores the ‘complex and varied’ story of southern Irish Protestantism after 1921. It describes the changing position and status of this community in the pre-partition period and its declining numbers afterwards. It also notes how southern Protestants adapted to life in the new state, the diversity of their experiences and the extent to which ‘Protestant...

Contributor: Professor Diane Urquhart Talk Title: Gender and Partition Talk Synopsis: This talk explores the gender dimension to Partition, including its background and effects. It looks at the role played by the Ulster Women’s Unionist Council as ‘the largest body of political women in Ireland’s history’ and the ways in which women’s lives were affected by the politics, policies and attitudes of the states that emerged from the post-Partition period. It draws on contemporary accounts of...

Contributor: Professor Diarmaid Ferriter Talk Title: The Partitionist Mentality Talk Synopsis: This talk explores how Partition affected relationships between nationalist politicians on either side of the border. It suggests that these were characterised by a ‘partitionist mentality’ and that for many decades there was only limited engagement by successive Dublin governments in northern affairs. It looks at how attitudes have changed over time, the impact of the Troubles and more recent...

Contributor: Professor Mary E. Daly Talk Title: Partition and the Two Irelands Talk Synopsis: This talk explores how Partition was ‘a defining moment for the two Irish states that were founded in the early 1920s’ and its impact on politics, inter-governmental relations and border communities. It suggests that Partition ‘accentuated differences and contrasting identities’ in both jurisdictions and that both ‘Ireland and Northern Ireland suffered from a sense of incompleteness’ from what...

Contributor: Professor Lord Bew Talk Title: Home Rule and the Ulster Crisis Talk Synopsis: This talk explores the historic failure of the ‘union concept’ for most Irish people, but also its popularity in the north east. It describes the background to Partition, its social and economic context, and the role played by key political figures. And it concludes with an assessment of community relations at the time of Northern Ireland’s establishment (and afterwards), and a reminder that its...