The Protestant Community in Ulster, 1825-45

In the historical period prior to the Ireland's famine, Ulster's Protestant community faced major social, political, and economical changes. These challenges were created by the collapse of the linen industry, the campaigns of Daniel O'Connell, and the seemingly unsympathetic London governments. This book explores how this community, at all social levels, reacted to the changes that were occurring and which were considered detrimental to its position of dominance in society. This reaction manifested itself in a number of ways, one of the most important being membership of the Orange Order, and it is through the medium of this associational body that the response of Protestant Ulster is measured throughout the book.