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SUMMARY:A ‘fair chance’? The Catholic Irish Brigade and the British go
 vernment\, 1793-98. - Ciaran McDonnell (NUI Maynooth\, Ireland)
DTSTART:20131119T173000Z
DTEND:20131119T190000Z
UID:TALK48853@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Gui Xi Young
DESCRIPTION:The late 18th century was a time of great social and political
  change in Europe\, and in particular during the French Revolution and the
  wars that followed. In the early 1790s Britain\, in an effort to maintain
  stability and Catholic loyalty\, removed many of the restrictions placed 
 on Roman Catholics in Ireland. Catholics regained official permission to b
 ear arms and serve in the armed forces\; thereby opening up a large manpow
 er resource to Britain and also drawing Catholic Irishmen away from the 
 ‘Wild Geese’ tradition of enlisting in the Catholic armies of France a
 nd Spain. Following the French Revolution and the disbandment of the famou
 s Irish Brigade in the French service\, a number of émigré Franco-Irish 
 officers offered their services to William Pitt the Younger and the Britis
 h government. An exclusively Catholic brigade was formed of these officers
 \, along with newly recruited Irishmen. The British government believed it
  was giving the Catholics of Ireland a ‘fair chance’ to display both t
 heir loyalty and ability\, but the reality was more complicated.\n\nThis p
 aper examines this less well-known brigade\, which as a result of Irish Pr
 otestant distrust was excluded from service anywhere in Europe\, and force
 d to serve in the West Indies and Nova Scotia. Subjects discussed include 
 the challenges encountered in establishing the brigade\, Irish Protestant 
 opposition\, recruitment difficulties\, health problems and the significan
 ce of the brigade to Catholic Emancipation and the British Army\, all agai
 nst the backdrop of rising militarisation across Europe and beyond. The Ir
 ish Brigade in the British service offers a unique example of how the well
 -established Franco-Irish ‘Wild Geese’ military tradition began to mak
 e way for a newer Anglo-Irish military tradition during the French Revolut
 ionary Wars\, a tradition that would play an important role in British and
  Irish military\, political and social history.
LOCATION:Seminar Room S3 Alison Richard Building
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