Loyalism: Difference between revisions
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{{Short description|Allegiance to the British crown or the United Kingdom}} |
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''see also [[Loyalist, Ontario]]'' |
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{{Redirect|Loyalist}} |
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{{EngvarB|date=October 2013}} |
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In general, a '''loyalist''' is an individual who is loyal to the [[power (sociology)|powers]] that be. Two historical groups of individuals have been specifically called loyalists. |
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{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2020}} |
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[[File:British Loyalism.svg|250px|right]] |
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'''Loyalism''', in the [[United Kingdom]], its [[British Overseas Territories|overseas territories]] and its [[British Empire|former colonies]], refers to the allegiance to the British crown or the United Kingdom. In North America, the most common usage of the term refers to loyalty to the [[The Crown|British Crown]], notably with the [[Loyalist (American Revolution)|loyalists]] opponents of the [[American Revolution]], and [[United Empire Loyalists]] who moved to other colonies in [[British North America]] after the revolution. |
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== Loyalists in the American Revolutionary War == |
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== Historical loyalism == |
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'''Loyalists''' (capitalized ''L'') were [[British]] [[North America]]n colonists who remained loyal subjects of the British crown during the [[American Revolutionary War]]. They were also called [[Tories]]. |
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===18th century=== |
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====North America==== |
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{{Main|Loyalist (American Revolution)|Loyalists fighting in the American Revolution}} |
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In North America, the term ''loyalist'' characterised colonists who rejected the [[American Revolution]] in favour of remaining loyal to the king.<ref>Wallace Brown, "The Loyalists and the American Revolution." ''History Today'' (Mar 1962), 12# 3, pp. 149–157.</ref> American loyalists included royal officials, [[Anglican]] clergymen, wealthy merchants with ties to London, demobilised British soldiers, and recent arrivals (especially from Scotland), as well as many ordinary colonists who were conservative by nature and/or felt that the protection of Britain was needed. Colonists with loyalist views accounted for an estimated 15 per cent to 20 per cent of the white colonial population of the day, compared with those described as "[[Patriot (American Revolution)|Patriots]]", who accounted for about 40–50 per cent of the population and the rest neutrals. This high level of political polarisation leads historians to argue that the American Revolution was as much a [[civil war]] as it was a [[war of independence]] from the [[The Crown|British Crown]].<ref name="Allen2010">{{cite book|author=Thomas B. Allen|title=Tories: fighting for the king in America's first civil war|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vf_FG2Q7LeMC|year=2010|publisher=HarperCollins|isbn=978-0-06-124180-2}}</ref><ref name="Brown1965">{{cite book|author=Wallace Brown|title=The king's friends: the composition and motives of the American loyalist claimants|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yi9CAAAAIAAJ|year=1965|publisher=Brown University Press|isbn=9780870570926}}</ref><ref name="Calhoon1973">{{cite book|author=Robert M. Calhoon|title=The loyalists in Revolutionary America: 1760–1781|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r8xFYgEACAAJ|year=1973|publisher=Harcourt Brace Jovanovich}}</ref> |
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British military strategy during the American Revolution relied on mobilising loyalist soldiers throughout the [[Thirteen Colonies]]. Throughout the war, the [[British military]] formed over 100<ref name="urlLoyalist Institute: List of Loyalist Regiments">{{cite web |url=http://www.royalprovincial.com/military/rlist/rlist.htm |title=Loyalist Institute: List of Loyalist Regiments |access-date=18 November 2011}}</ref> loyalist line regiments whose strength totaled 19,000 of which 9,700 served most at one time. Including militia and marine forces more than 50,000 served. The Patriots used tactics such as property confiscation to suppress loyalism and drive active loyalists away.<ref name="Flick1901">{{cite book|author=Alexander Clarence Flick|title=Loyalism in New York during the American revolution...|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aZo-AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA7|year=1901|publisher=Columbia university.|page=7|isbn=9780598865229}}</ref> |
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An estimated 70,000 Loyalists left the [[Thirteen Colonies]], about 3% of the total population. Loyalists began leaving early in war when transport was available. In areas under Patriot control, they were subject to confiscation of property and even [[tar and feathering]] or worse. They could be arrested for being loyal to the British, some were even blackmailed, whipped, abused, threatened, and attacked by mobs of [[Revolutionaries]]. |
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After the war, approximately 80–90 per cent of the Loyalists stayed in the new United States, and adapted to the new conditions and changes of a republic.{{cn|date=September 2023}} |
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During the war, about 50 [[military]] units were made up of Loyalists, many of whom had their lands or property seized. A large number of Loyalist families took refuge in [[New York City]]. |
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=====Loyalist migrants===== |
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Following the end of the [[American Revolution]], or [[American War of Independence]], at the time of the signing of the [[Treaty of Paris (1783)|Treaty of Paris]] in [[1783]], the Loyalist soldiers and ordinary British subjects were evacuated from [[New York]] and resettled in other [[colonies]] of the [[British Empire]], most notably in the future [[Canada]]: the two colonies of [[Quebec]] (including the [[Eastern Townships]] and modern-day [[Ontario]]) and [[Nova Scotia]] (including modern-day [[New Brunswick]]). This group of people are most often referred to as ''[[United Empire Loyalists]]''. |
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{{main|Expulsion of the Loyalists}} |
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[[File:Tory Refugees by Howard Pyle.jpg|upright|thumb|Depiction of American [[Loyalists (American Revolution)|Loyalist]] refugees on their way to [[the Canadas]] during the [[American Revolution]].]] |
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Of the 62,000 who left by 1784, almost 50,000 sought refuge elsewhere in the [[British North America]]n colonies of [[Province of Quebec (1763–1791)|Quebec]] (partitioned into [[the Canadas]] in 1791), [[New Brunswick]], [[Nova Scotia]], and [[Prince Edward Island|St. John's Island]];<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/military-heritage/loyalists/loyalists-ward-chipman/Pages/loyalist-maritimes-ward-chipman.aspx|title=Loyalists in the Maritimes — Ward Chipman Muster Master's Office, 1777–1785|date=16 May 2019|work=Library and Archives Canada|publisher=Government of Canada|access-date=3 May 2020}}</ref>{{notetag|St. John's Island was renamed Prince Edward Island in 1798.}} whereas the remaining loyalist migrants went to [[Jamaica]], the [[Bahamas]] and Britain, often with financial help from the Crown. They were joined by 30,000 or more "Late Loyalists" who settled in Ontario in the early 1790s at the invitation of the British administration and given land and low taxes in exchange for swearing allegiance to the King,<ref>{{cite book|title=Liberty's Exiles, American Loyalists in the Revolutionary World|author=Maya Jasanoff|publisher=Alfred A. Knopf|year=2011|pages=206–208}}</ref> for a total of 70,000+ new settlers. There were in fact four waves of emigration: in the years 1774 through 1776 when for example 1300 [[Loyalist (American Revolution)|Tories]] were evacuated with the British fleet that left Boston for Halifax; the large wave of 50,000 in the years 1783; some few thousands who had stayed in the new Republic but left disenchanted with the results of the revolution for Upper Canada between 1784 and 1790; and the large number 'Late Loyalists,' 30,000, who came in the early 1790s for land, many of them neutrals during the War, to Upper Canada; they soon outnumbered the original truly committed anti-Republicans, 10,000, who had earlier arrived: some Loyalists about 10 per cent maybe from New Brunswick returned to the States as did an unknown number from Nova Scotia.<ref>Christopher Moore, The Loyalists, Revolution, Exile, Settlement, 1984, pp. 244–252 {{ISBN|0-7710--6093-9}}</ref> This migration also included [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|indigenous]] loyalists such as [[Mohawk nation|Mohawk]] leader [[Joseph Brant]], the "[[Black Loyalist]]s" – former slaves who had joined the British cause in exchange for their freedom, and [[Anabaptist]] loyalists ([[Mennonites]]).<ref name="Barkley1975">{{cite book|author=Murray Barkley|title=Murray Barkley the Loyalist tradition in New Brunswick:: the growth and evolution of an historical myth, 1825–1914|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Qs6TNAAACAAJ|year=1975|publisher=s.n.}}</ref><ref>''Acadiensis'' 4 (1975): 3–45;</ref> |
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These Loyalists were the founders of modern English-speaking Canada, and many of their descendants of these King's Loyal Americans still identify themselves with the nominal hereditary title "UEL" ([[United Empire Loyalist]]) today. To one degree or another, from ideological reasons or less so mixed with prospects of a better life, "All the Loyalists had taken a stand for the Crown and the British Empire"...whether "from a rigorous toryism to some vague sense that royal government was hardly so evil as its enemies claimed. In Canada this diversity was preserved. The Loyalist communities were rarely unanimous – or placid – in their politics".<ref>Moore, op. cit. p, 253</ref> |
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Others who left the former [[13 colonies]] and returned to [[Britain]] are also referred to as Loyalists. |
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==== Ireland ==== |
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Some Native Americans also left the 13 colonies for Canada. A group of Black Loyalists left Canada and settled in [[Sierra Leone]]. |
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The term ''loyalist'' was first used in Irish politics in the 1790s to refer to Protestant Irishmen (often of English or Scottish ancestry) who opposed [[Catholic Emancipation]] and Irish independence from the British Empire.<ref name="Cross1920">{{cite book|author=Arthur Lyon Cross|title=A shorter history of England and greater Britain|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5yAOAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA593|year=1920|publisher=The Macmillan company|pages=593–595, 597}}</ref> Prominent Irish loyalists included [[John Foster, 1st Baron Oriel|John Foster]], [[John Fitzgibbon, 1st Earl of Clare|John Fitzgibbon]] and [[John Beresford (statesman)|John Beresford]]. In the subsequent [[Irish Rebellion of 1798]], the term ''ultra loyalist'' was used to describe those who were opposed to the [[United Irishmen]], who were in support of an independent [[Irish Republic]]. In 1795, [[Ulster loyalist]]s founded the [[Orange Order]] and organised the [[Yeoman]] Militia, which helped to put down the rebellion. Some loyalists, such as [[Sir Richard Musgrave, 1st Baronet, of Tourin|Richard Musgrave]], considered the rebellion a Catholic plot to drive Protestant colonists out of Ireland.<ref name="Cross1920" /> |
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===19th century=== |
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Many of the descendants of Loyalists still make claim to their ancestors' property in the [[United States]]. They wait until the day that the current regime is overthrown so that they may reclaim their property rights which they assert were taken away from them by a small group of revolutionaries that had no respect for [[property rights]]. Most would say that their claims are too ancient, or that the change in circumstance that resulted from the overthrow of the British prevents any such claims from being recognized through customary [[international law]] because as the British recognized the independence of the colonies the United States thereafter had sovereign status to determine property rights within U.S. territory; but this is no more than to say that any commitment may be repudiated at the price of future credibility. |
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==== Australia ==== |
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The [[Sydney]] and [[Parramatta]] Loyalist Associations, with approximately 50 members each, were formed in 1804 to counter radical societies in those counties, and subsequently helped to put down the [[Castle Hill convict rebellion]] later that year.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.lancers.org.au/site/The_Military_at_Parramatta.asp |title=The Military at Parramatta |access-date=28 September 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150926083321/http://www.lancers.org.au/site/The_Military_at_Parramatta.asp |archive-date=26 September 2015 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="ColemanKnight1953">{{cite book|author1=Keith Coleman|author2=J. T. Knight|title=Short history of the military forces in N.S.W. from 1788 to 1953|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lXFlzgAACAAJ|year=1953}}</ref> |
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==== England and Wales ==== |
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''See also'': [[Martin v. Hunter's Lessee]] |
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{{Toryism |expanded=characteristics}} |
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During the early 19th century, nearly every English and Welsh county formed a Loyalist Association of Workers in an effort to counter a perceived threat from [[radical societies]].<ref name="Gee2003">{{cite book|author=Austin Gee|title=The British volunteer movement, 1794–1814|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1TMtozjZ7fYC|year=2003|publisher=Clarendon Press|isbn=978-0-19-926125-3|pages=17–18}}</ref> The first such association was founded in [[Westminster]] on 20 November 1792.{{cn|date=September 2023}} |
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== Modern loyalism == |
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=== Northern Ireland === |
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{{main|Ulster loyalism}} |
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Generally, the term ''loyalist'' in [[Northern Ireland]] is typified by a militant opposition to [[Irish republicanism]], and also often to Roman Catholicism. It stresses [[Ulster Protestants|Ulster Protestant]] identity and community with its own folk heroes and events, such as the actions of the [[36th (Ulster) Division]] during [[World War I]] and the activities of the Orange Order. An Ulster loyalist is most commonly a [[Unionism in Ireland|unionist]] who strongly favours the political union between [[Great Britain]] and Northern Ireland,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.academia.edu/1896376|last=White|first=Andrew|date=2007|title=Is contemporary Ulster unionism in crisis? Changes in unionist identity during the Northern Ireland Peace Process. Irish Journal of Sociology |volume=16|issue=1|pages=118–135}}</ref> although some may also support an [[Ulster nationalism|independent Northern Ireland]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Northern Ireland Loyalist Paramilitaries (U.K., extremists)|url=http://www.cfr.org/terrorist-organizations/northern-ireland-loyalist-paramilitaries-uk-extremists/p9274|work=Council on Foreign Relations|access-date=23 May 2012|author=Staff|year=2011|archive-date=20 June 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130620111722/http://www.cfr.org/terrorist-organizations/northern-ireland-loyalist-paramilitaries-uk-extremists/p9274|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IudoAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA56|title=Unionists, Loyalists, and Conflict Transformation in Northern Ireland|isbn=9780199875382|last1=Smithey|first1=Lee A.|date=22 August 2011|publisher=Oxford University Press }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tcd.ie/Political_Science/staff/michael_gallagher/HowManyNations95.pdf|title=People - Political Science - Trinity College Dublin|website=www.tcd.ie}}</ref> In recent times, the term has been used to refer to several loyalist paramilitary groups, such as the [[Ulster Defence Association]] (UDA), [[Ulster Volunteer Force]] (UVF), [[Red Hand Commando]] (RHC) and the [[Loyalist Volunteer Force]] (LVF). |
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Although Irish loyalist paramilitaries have claimed to speak on behalf of their communities and unionists in general, their electoral support is minimal and exclusively based in the urban working class. The [[Progressive Unionist Party]], a pro-[[Good Friday Agreement|Belfast Agreement]] loyalist party, won seats in the [[Northern Ireland Assembly]] in 1998, 2003 and 2007, but lost them in 2011. |
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*[http://www.uelac.org/loyalist.pdf "Who were the Loyalists" by Ann Mackenzie] (5-page, in [[Portable Document Format | pdf]] format) |
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=== Republic of Ireland === |
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Loyalism in the post-partition [[Republic of Ireland]] has declined since independence.<ref name="ClearyConnolly2005">{{cite book|author1=Joseph N. Cleary|author2=Claire Connolly|title=The Cambridge companion to modern Irish culture|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Kt8l_7gAS-gC&pg=PA71|year=2005|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-82009-7|pages=71–72}}</ref> Large numbers of southern Irish loyalists and non-loyalists volunteered for service in the British Armed Forces in World War I and World War II, many of them losing their lives or settling in the United Kingdom after the wars.<ref name="Grayson2009">{{cite book|author=Richard S. Grayson|title=Belfast Boys: how Unionists and Nationalists fought and died together in the First World War|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QBsUGGlXciwC|year=2009|publisher=Continuum International Publishing Group|isbn=978-1-84725-008-7}}</ref> Partition saw mass movements of southern loyalists to Northern Ireland or to Great Britain,<ref name="Hennessey1998">{{cite book|author=Thomas Hennessey|title=Dividing Ireland: World War One and Partition|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bha01y6OD6UC&pg=PA178|year=1998|publisher=Psychology Press|isbn=978-0-415-19880-6|pages=178–181}}</ref> although small loyalist or neo-unionist groups are still active.{{cn|date=September 2023}} |
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=== Scotland === |
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== Loyalists in Northern Ireland == |
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The Scottish loyalist movement originated during the [[Industrial Revolution]] when a significant number of Ulster Protestants migrated to Scotland from Ireland.<ref>{{cite web|title=Support in Great Britain|url=http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/loy/gb.html#1|work=A Guide to Ulster Loyalism and Unionism Online|publisher=CAIN Web Service|access-date=23 May 2012|author=Niall O'Dochartaigh|year=2004–2005}}</ref> In Scotland, a loyalist is someone on the fringes of [[Unionism (Scotland)|Scottish unionism]] who is often strongly supportive of loyalism and unionism, although mainly concentrating on the Irish union issue rather than on [[Scottish politics]].{{citation needed|date=November 2012}} Scottish loyalism is typified by militant opposition to Scottish republicanism, [[Scottish independence]]. |
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A '''loyalist''' in [[Northern Ireland]] is someone Northern Ireland [[Unionists (Ireland)|unionism]] who defends their community, Protestant faith, and the Union from the encroachments of Roman Catholics and Papist Irish Republican pawns. Loyalists within Northern Ireland live within small working enclaves within the major urban centres, such as [[Belfast]] and [[Londonderry]]. |
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Coming from a large section of Scottish society Scottish loyalism has become more visible through prominent demonstrations of the beliefs of its members since the establishment of a [[Scottish Parliament]]. Scottish loyalism is visible through participation at Orange parades with supporters from [[Rangers F.C.|Rangers]], [[Heart of Midlothian F.C.]] and [[Airdrie United F.C.|Airdrie United]]. |
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A number of Loyalist paramilitary groups exist; these include the [[Ulster Defence Association]] (UDA), [[Ulster Freedom Fighters]] (UFF), [[Loyalist Volunteer Force]] (LVF), etc. |
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Loyalists in Scotland mostly live in small working-class [[enclave]]s in the major urban centres or industrial villages, notably [[Glasgow]], Lanarkshire, [[Edinburgh]], [[Renfrewshire]], Fife, [[West Lothian]] and [[Ayrshire]]. There are relatively few loyalists in areas such as [[Aberdeen]], the [[Scottish Borders]] and the [[Scottish Highlands]]. |
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== See also == |
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Though loyalists claim to speak on behalf of their community and the unionist community, the evidence of electoral contests suggest that their support is minimal and exclusively urban, working class based. Only one moderate pro-[[Belfast Agreement]] loyalist party won any seats in the [[Northern Ireland Assembly]] in [[1999]]. |
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* [[Conservative]] |
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* [[Legitimist]] |
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* [[Monarchism]] |
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* [[Reactionary]] |
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* [[Restoration (disambiguation)]] |
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* [[Royalist]] |
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==Notes== |
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Ideologically, Loyalism is typified by a militant opposition to [[Republicanism]] and devout [[Protestantism]]. It stresses identity and community with its own folk heroes and events, e.g. the heroic exploits of the [[36th (Ulster) Division]] during [[World War I]]. |
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{{notefoot}} |
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== References == |
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Loyalism has a diverse following ranging from [[left-wing]] sympathisers to supporters of an independent [[Ulster]] to the [[British National Front]]. |
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{{reflist}} |
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== External links == |
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Officially most loyalist organisations are in ceasefire mode as a result of the Belfast Agreement, though numerous breaches of the ceasefire have been recorded. |
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* [http://www.redcoat.me.uk/index.htm American Loyalists] |
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* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070405172547/http://www.britishulsteralliance.co.uk/ British Ulster Alliance] |
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* [http://www.ulster-scots.co.uk Ulster-Scots Online] |
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* [http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/ CAIN – University of Ulster] |
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* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070223042047/http://www.haldimand-collection.ca/ Haldimand Collection] |
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* [https://web.archive.org/web/20011202155837/http://www.swansealoyal.co.uk/ Welsh Loyalists] |
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* [http://www.scottishloyalists.com/ Scottish Loyalists] |
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{{Nationalism in the United Kingdom}} |
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[[Category:Politics of Northern Ireland]] |
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== Loyalists in Scotland == |
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[[Category:Politics of Scotland]] |
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A '''loyalist''' in [[Scotland]] is someone on the fringes of Scottish [[Unionism (Scotland)|unionism]] and who is often stridently supportive of loyalism and unionism. |
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[[Category:Political movements in the British Isles]] |
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[[Category:Political ideologies]] |
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Although a tiny fraction of the [[Scottish]] population, and less so in comparison to their [[Northern Ireland]] counterparts, their profile has become more prominent with strident demonstrations of their beliefs since the establishment of a [[Scottish Parliament]] - often seen at loyalist marches and through their support for [[Rangers]]. |
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[[Category:Society of Scotland]] |
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[[Category:Society of Northern Ireland]] |
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On the extreme it will be supportive of violence, or threats of violence, in what they perceive as a "defence" of loyalists, unionists, their version of [[Protestantism]] and Northern Ireland's and Scotland's position as part of the United Kingdom. |
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Although far less active and organised in Scotland than their Northern Ireland counterparts, they have been involved in a small number of activities over the years of the troubles in Northern Ireland. Most notably have been two pub bombings, spontaneous murders of people they perceive as enemies of their version of Protestantism and gun running to Northern Ireland. |
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Loyalists within Scotland live within very small working enclaves in the major urban centres or industrial villages, in [[Glasgow]], [[Lanarkshire]], [[Renfrewshire]], [[West Lothian]] and [[Ayrshire]]. |
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A number of loyalist paramilitary groups are supported in Scotland which include the [[Ulster Defence Association]] (UDA), [[Ulster Freedom Fighters]] (UFF), [[Loyalist Volunteer Force]] (LVF), etc. Although it repudiates these organisations the [[Orange Order in Scotland]] has been embarrassed by members and flute bands who support these organisations. |
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Though loyalists claim to speak on behalf of [[Protestants]] and unionists, there is no evidence of political support. In fact many of the political representatives in their areas are often from the [[Labour party]] and, far less so, the [[Scottish National Party]]. Both parties do not support their programme. |
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Ideologically, Scottish Loyalism is typified by a strident, and at times militant, opposition to [[Republicanism]], [[Scottish independence]] and the [[Roman Catholic Church]] - particularly the existence of Roman Catholic denominational schools. |
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[[Category:Canadian history]] |
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Latest revision as of 20:28, 23 June 2024
Loyalism, in the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and its former colonies, refers to the allegiance to the British crown or the United Kingdom. In North America, the most common usage of the term refers to loyalty to the British Crown, notably with the loyalists opponents of the American Revolution, and United Empire Loyalists who moved to other colonies in British North America after the revolution.
Historical loyalism
[edit]18th century
[edit]North America
[edit]In North America, the term loyalist characterised colonists who rejected the American Revolution in favour of remaining loyal to the king.[1] American loyalists included royal officials, Anglican clergymen, wealthy merchants with ties to London, demobilised British soldiers, and recent arrivals (especially from Scotland), as well as many ordinary colonists who were conservative by nature and/or felt that the protection of Britain was needed. Colonists with loyalist views accounted for an estimated 15 per cent to 20 per cent of the white colonial population of the day, compared with those described as "Patriots", who accounted for about 40–50 per cent of the population and the rest neutrals. This high level of political polarisation leads historians to argue that the American Revolution was as much a civil war as it was a war of independence from the British Crown.[2][3][4]
British military strategy during the American Revolution relied on mobilising loyalist soldiers throughout the Thirteen Colonies. Throughout the war, the British military formed over 100[5] loyalist line regiments whose strength totaled 19,000 of which 9,700 served most at one time. Including militia and marine forces more than 50,000 served. The Patriots used tactics such as property confiscation to suppress loyalism and drive active loyalists away.[6]
After the war, approximately 80–90 per cent of the Loyalists stayed in the new United States, and adapted to the new conditions and changes of a republic.[citation needed]
Loyalist migrants
[edit]
Of the 62,000 who left by 1784, almost 50,000 sought refuge elsewhere in the British North American colonies of Quebec (partitioned into the Canadas in 1791), New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and St. John's Island;[7][note 1] whereas the remaining loyalist migrants went to Jamaica, the Bahamas and Britain, often with financial help from the Crown. They were joined by 30,000 or more "Late Loyalists" who settled in Ontario in the early 1790s at the invitation of the British administration and given land and low taxes in exchange for swearing allegiance to the King,[8] for a total of 70,000+ new settlers. There were in fact four waves of emigration: in the years 1774 through 1776 when for example 1300 Tories were evacuated with the British fleet that left Boston for Halifax; the large wave of 50,000 in the years 1783; some few thousands who had stayed in the new Republic but left disenchanted with the results of the revolution for Upper Canada between 1784 and 1790; and the large number 'Late Loyalists,' 30,000, who came in the early 1790s for land, many of them neutrals during the War, to Upper Canada; they soon outnumbered the original truly committed anti-Republicans, 10,000, who had earlier arrived: some Loyalists about 10 per cent maybe from New Brunswick returned to the States as did an unknown number from Nova Scotia.[9] This migration also included indigenous loyalists such as Mohawk leader Joseph Brant, the "Black Loyalists" – former slaves who had joined the British cause in exchange for their freedom, and Anabaptist loyalists (Mennonites).[10][11]
These Loyalists were the founders of modern English-speaking Canada, and many of their descendants of these King's Loyal Americans still identify themselves with the nominal hereditary title "UEL" (United Empire Loyalist) today. To one degree or another, from ideological reasons or less so mixed with prospects of a better life, "All the Loyalists had taken a stand for the Crown and the British Empire"...whether "from a rigorous toryism to some vague sense that royal government was hardly so evil as its enemies claimed. In Canada this diversity was preserved. The Loyalist communities were rarely unanimous – or placid – in their politics".[12]
Irland
[edit]The term loyalist was first used in Irish politics in the 1790s to refer to Protestant Irishmen (often of English or Scottish ancestry) who opposed Catholic Emancipation and Irish independence from the British Empire.[13] Prominent Irish loyalists included John Foster, John Fitzgibbon and John Beresford. In the subsequent Irish Rebellion of 1798, the term ultra loyalist was used to describe those who were opposed to the United Irishmen, who were in support of an independent Irish Republic. In 1795, Ulster loyalists founded the Orange Order and organised the Yeoman Militia, which helped to put down the rebellion. Some loyalists, such as Richard Musgrave, considered the rebellion a Catholic plot to drive Protestant colonists out of Ireland.[13]
19th century
[edit]Australien
[edit]The Sydney and Parramatta Loyalist Associations, with approximately 50 members each, were formed in 1804 to counter radical societies in those counties, and subsequently helped to put down the Castle Hill convict rebellion later that year.[14][15]
England and Wales
[edit]| Part of the Politics series on |
| Toryism |
|---|
 |
During the early 19th century, nearly every English and Welsh county formed a Loyalist Association of Workers in an effort to counter a perceived threat from radical societies.[16] The first such association was founded in Westminster on 20 November 1792.[citation needed]
Modern loyalism
[edit]Northern Ireland
[edit]Generally, the term loyalist in Northern Ireland is typified by a militant opposition to Irish republicanism, and also often to Roman Catholicism. It stresses Ulster Protestant identity and community with its own folk heroes and events, such as the actions of the 36th (Ulster) Division during World War I and the activities of the Orange Order. An Ulster loyalist is most commonly a unionist who strongly favours the political union between Great Britain and Northern Ireland,[17] although some may also support an independent Northern Ireland.[18][19][20] In recent times, the term has been used to refer to several loyalist paramilitary groups, such as the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), Red Hand Commando (RHC) and the Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF).
Although Irish loyalist paramilitaries have claimed to speak on behalf of their communities and unionists in general, their electoral support is minimal and exclusively based in the urban working class. The Progressive Unionist Party, a pro-Belfast Agreement loyalist party, won seats in the Northern Ireland Assembly in 1998, 2003 and 2007, but lost them in 2011.
Republic of Ireland
[edit]Loyalism in the post-partition Republic of Ireland has declined since independence.[21] Large numbers of southern Irish loyalists and non-loyalists volunteered for service in the British Armed Forces in World War I and World War II, many of them losing their lives or settling in the United Kingdom after the wars.[22] Partition saw mass movements of southern loyalists to Northern Ireland or to Great Britain,[23] although small loyalist or neo-unionist groups are still active.[citation needed]
Scotland
[edit]The Scottish loyalist movement originated during the Industrial Revolution when a significant number of Ulster Protestants migrated to Scotland from Ireland.[24] In Scotland, a loyalist is someone on the fringes of Scottish unionism who is often strongly supportive of loyalism and unionism, although mainly concentrating on the Irish union issue rather than on Scottish politics.[citation needed] Scottish loyalism is typified by militant opposition to Scottish republicanism, Scottish independence.
Coming from a large section of Scottish society Scottish loyalism has become more visible through prominent demonstrations of the beliefs of its members since the establishment of a Scottish Parliament. Scottish loyalism is visible through participation at Orange parades with supporters from Rangers, Heart of Midlothian F.C. and Airdrie United. Loyalists in Scotland mostly live in small working-class enclaves in the major urban centres or industrial villages, notably Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Edinburgh, Renfrewshire, Fife, West Lothian and Ayrshire. There are relatively few loyalists in areas such as Aberdeen, the Scottish Borders and the Scottish Highlands.
See also
[edit]Notes
[edit]- ^ St. John's Island was renamed Prince Edward Island in 1798.
References
[edit]- ^ Wallace Brown, "The Loyalists and the American Revolution." History Today (Mar 1962), 12# 3, pp. 149–157.
- ^ Thomas B. Allen (2010). Tories: fighting for the king in America's first civil war. HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-06-124180-2.
- ^ Wallace Brown (1965). The king's friends: the composition and motives of the American loyalist claimants. Brown University Press. ISBN 9780870570926.
- ^ Robert M. Calhoon (1973). The loyalists in Revolutionary America: 1760–1781. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
- ^ "Loyalist Institute: List of Loyalist Regiments". Retrieved 18 November 2011.
- ^ Alexander Clarence Flick (1901). Loyalism in New York during the American revolution... Columbia university. p. 7. ISBN 9780598865229.
- ^ "Loyalists in the Maritimes — Ward Chipman Muster Master's Office, 1777–1785". Library and Archives Canada. Government of Canada. 16 May 2019. Retrieved 3 May 2020.
- ^ Maya Jasanoff (2011). Liberty's Exiles, American Loyalists in the Revolutionary World. Alfred A. Knopf. pp. 206–208.
- ^ Christopher Moore, The Loyalists, Revolution, Exile, Settlement, 1984, pp. 244–252 ISBN 0-7710--6093-9
- ^ Murray Barkley (1975). Murray Barkley the Loyalist tradition in New Brunswick:: the growth and evolution of an historical myth, 1825–1914. s.n.
- ^ Acadiensis 4 (1975): 3–45;
- ^ Moore, op. cit. p, 253
- ^ a b Arthur Lyon Cross (1920). A shorter history of England and greater Britain. The Macmillan company. pp. 593–595, 597.
- ^ "The Military at Parramatta". Archived from the original on 26 September 2015. Retrieved 28 September 2008.
- ^ Keith Coleman; J. T. Knight (1953). Short history of the military forces in N.S.W. from 1788 to 1953.
- ^ Austin Gee (2003). The British volunteer movement, 1794–1814. Clarendon Press. pp. 17–18. ISBN 978-0-19-926125-3.
- ^ White, Andrew (2007). "Is contemporary Ulster unionism in crisis? Changes in unionist identity during the Northern Ireland Peace Process. Irish Journal of Sociology". pp. 118–135.
- ^ Staff (2011). "Northern Ireland Loyalist Paramilitaries (U.K., extremists)". Council on Foreign Relations. Archived from the original on 20 June 2013. Retrieved 23 May 2012.
- ^ Smithey, Lee A. (22 August 2011). Unionists, Loyalists, and Conflict Transformation in Northern Ireland. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199875382.
- ^ "People - Political Science - Trinity College Dublin" (PDF). www.tcd.ie.
- ^ Joseph N. Cleary; Claire Connolly (2005). The Cambridge companion to modern Irish culture. Cambridge University Press. pp. 71–72. ISBN 978-0-521-82009-7.
- ^ Richard S. Grayson (2009). Belfast Boys: how Unionists and Nationalists fought and died together in the First World War. Continuum International Publishing Group. ISBN 978-1-84725-008-7.
- ^ Thomas Hennessey (1998). Dividing Ireland: World War One and Partition. Psychology Press. pp. 178–181. ISBN 978-0-415-19880-6.
- ^ Niall O'Dochartaigh (2004–2005). "Support in Great Britain". A Guide to Ulster Loyalism and Unionism Online. CAIN Web Service. Retrieved 23 May 2012.