Naming the Names (Historical Context)

Historical Context

Ireland and Home Rule

Catholic Ireland had been dominated by Protestant England since the sixteenth century. In the first third of the 1600s, the English sent out one hundred thousand Protestant settlers who were loyal to the British crown. The settlers colonized mostly the northern part of Ireland, and are the ancestors of today's Protestants who wish to maintain their link with Britain. English dominance of Ireland was secured in 1690, when the Protestant English king, William of Orange, was victorious over the Catholic James II at the Battle of the Boyne. James had been trying to regain the English throne.

In the nineteenth century, there was a strong movement towards home rule for Ireland. The Irish leader in this campaign was Charles Stewart Parnell. Parnell, who was himself a Protestant, headed a group of Irish members of the British parliament who pledged themselves to the repeal of the Act of Union between Britain and Ireland that had been passed in 1800.

The British prime minister, William Ewart Gladstone, supported home rule for Ireland and prepared Home Rule Bills in the 1880s. But these failed to pass into law. In the story, this is the period of Irish history that Finn's young English friend is researching at Oxford University.

After the failure of the movement for home rule, nationalist feeling in Ireland continued to grow. In 1916 came the Easter Rising. Irish nationalists in Dublin proclaimed the Irish Republic and for five days fought against British troops before being forced to surrender. Fifteen leaders of the rebellion were executed.

However, strife with the British continued. In 1920, Britain sent a force known as the Black and Tans to assist the Royal Irish Constabulary in suppressing Irish nationalism. The Black and Tans were a makeshift force composed largely of unemployed World War I veterans. Numbering two thousand men, they were ill-trained for the task they were asked to perform and gained a notorious record for brutality. The memory of the Black and Tans has been passed on generation after generation in Ireland, which is why in the story Finn hears about them from her grandmother.

In 1922, Ireland finally won its independence, although this did not include the entire island. Ireland was partitioned into the mostly Catholic Irish Free State in the south and Ulster in the north. Ulster was predominantly Protestant, and remained part of the United Kingdom.

In 1932, Eamon De Valera, who had been one of the leaders of the Easter Rising, became president of the Irish Free State. In 1937, the Free State changed its name to Eire, and in 1949 it became the Republic of Ireland.

Northern Ireland and "the Troubles"

In 1967, the Northern Irish Civil Rights Association was set up to counter discrimination against Catholics in employment, housing, and political representation. In the shipyard in Belfast, for example, only four hundred of ten thousand employees were Catholics. Nonviolent protest marches were held, but in Derry in 1968 the marchers were subject to attacks by Protestants and the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC). Rising tensions finally exploded in August, 1969, when rioting erupted in Derry following the annual Protestant Apprentice Boys parade. The ensuing conflict between Catholic residents and the RUC, as well as Protestant loyalists, went on for two days and became known as the Battle of the Bogside. The following day, riots broke out in Belfast. Many Catholics (including Finn's grandmother in the story) were forced from their homes. After two days of disorder in which many people were killed and injured, British troops were sent to Derry and Belfast to keep the peace.

In September, 1969, a "peace line" was constructed between Catholic and Protestant areas of Belfast to try to prevent rioting. This is the peace line referred to early in the story (the library administrators do not want their staff crossing the peace line when they go home at night). Later, a more substantial "peace wall" was built. It separated the Protestant Shankhill Road area from the Catholic Falls Road in west Belfast.

In December 1969, there was a split in the Irish Republican Army (IRA). The splinter group became known as the Provisional IRA, which was abbreviated to the Provos, as Chrissie refers to them in "Naming the Names." The original IRA became known as the Official IRA. It was the Provos who carried out most of the terrorist attacks that were soon to follow. The aim of the IRA was to force the British out of Northern Ireland and create a unified Ireland.

In August 1971, the British government introduced internment in Northern Ireland. This meant that suspected terrorists could be arrested and jailed indefinitely without trial. In "Naming the Names," this event so shocks Finn that she begins to help the IRA. On the first day of internment, 342 men, almost all of them Catholics, were rounded up and imprisoned. Internment, however, did nothing to quell the violence. Riots immediately broke out in Derry, Belfast, and other towns in Northern Ireland, and within three days twenty-two people had been killed. Internment also created a groundswell of sympathy for the IRA cause among the local Catholic population. It also helped the IRA to raise funds.

The following year, 274 people were killed in violence related to the political situation. Britain increased its troops in the province to 22,000. In one incident on January 30, 1972, British troops fired on demonstrators after an anti-internment rally in Derry. Fourteen civilians were killed, none of whom was armed. The tragedy became known as "Bloody Sunday." Two months later, Britain suspended the Northern Irish parliament and imposed direct rule on the province from London.

Compare & Contrast

• 1970s: The sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland is at its height. A political power-sharing agreement between Protestants and Catholics collapses. The IRA conducts bombing campaigns in England, and also assassinates Lord Mountbatten, Queen Elizabeth II's cousin, in August 1979 by blowing up his fishing boat. The same day, a bomb explodes in South Armagh, Northern Ireland, killing eighteen British soldiers. It is the largest death toll in one day since the troubles began. Protestant paramilitary groups carry out acts of terrorism against Catholic targets.
  1980s: In 1981, IRA prisoners in Belfast's Maze Prison begin a hunger strike. They demand to be classified as political prisoners, with prisoner of war status. During the hunger strike, one of the strikers, Bobby Sands, is elected to the British parliament. The British government refuses to yield to the strikers' demands and ten of them die, including Sands. The strike causes anti-British feeling internationally, particularly amongst the Irish community in the United States. American donations to the IRA triple. An Anglo-Irish agreement in 1985, which gives the Irish Republic a limited role in the affairs of the north, fails to stop the violence, which flares up on both sides again between 1987 and 1989.
  Today: After faltering movements towards peace in the mid-1990s, a peace agreement is finally signed in 1998. A new 108-member Northern Ireland Assembly is created, with responsibility for running the province. A North-South Ministerial Council is created made up of leaders from Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic, to discuss matters such as the environment, tourism, and transportation. The Irish Republic gives up its territorial claims to Northern Ireland. The peace agreement meets with many obstacles, but remains intact. In 2001, a momentous step is taken when the IRA finally begins to decommission its weapons, as called for under the agreement.
• 1960s: Education in Northern Ireland is almost entirely segregated. Protestants who control the local education boards insist that the compulsory instruction in religion should be Protestant. Catholics boycott the state system, and 98 percent of Catholics attend Church schools. Compared to Protestant schools, these schools are underfunded, have high teacher/student ratios and produce inferior results.
  1980s: Inspired by the All Children Together Movement, which was founded in the late-1970s, the first integrated school in Northern Ireland is established in 1981. By 1989, there are ten integrated schools.
  Today: In January 2002, there are forty-six integrated schools throughout Northern Ireland. However, the fourteen thousand students who attend them comprise only 4 per cent of the school population. The vast majority of children still attend segregated schools.
• 1960s: Protestants dominate political life in Northern Ireland in part because of the practice of gerrymandering (manipulating electoral boundaries to favor one group over another). Gerrymandering occurs for example in the local government of Londonderry, the city that will later change its name to Derry. Although Protestants are in the minority, boundaries are drawn so that Protestants hold a majority on Derry City Council.
  1970s: The British government reorganizes local government in Northern Ireland. Elections are held in 1973 to elect 526 councilors to the 26 new District Councils. Voting is by the system of proportional representation, which ensures representation according to the proportion of the vote won. In Derry, Catholics win a majority on the City Council.
  Today: In Northern Ireland's new 108-member National Assembly, Protestants are allocated sixty-six seats, while Catholics get forty-two seats. This is in proportion to their numbers in the population. However, the Assembly can make no decision without the support of the majority of Catholics and Protestants.