Reading the riot commission
Belfast, 1857
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 9982338 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Robert J Morris (0009-0004-6963-8931, University of Edinburgh, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2019 |
| Volume | 43 |
| Issue | 164 |
| Pages | 194-219 |
| Publication date | 2019-11-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Irish Historical Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0021-1214 • E-ISSN: 2056-4139 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/ihs.2019.50 |
| OpenAlex | W3015807833 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 31 |
The year 1857 saw the first of the great riot commissions which provided much source material for Belfast history. It should be read as a continuation of the street conflict of that summer. Careful reading shows the skill with which the weak Catholic/Liberal alliance of the city managed the flow of witnesses and the naiveté of the Orange/Protestant lawyers. The Catholic/Liberal side ‘won’ the inquiry, achieving their aim of convincing the Dublin government that the local police force was ineffective if not sectarian and that Orange Order culture and evangelical street preaching was responsible for the disorder. Practical outcomes were limited. Resources were limited due to demands in other parts of Ireland and the process of taking first-class troops from Ireland to deal with the Indian mutiny. Considered in light of theories of ‘civil society’, the court was a means of countering the imperfections of representative government. Considered in the context of Ireland as a whole, events demonstrated the weakness of the Dublin authorities, their ignorance of Belfast and the importance of the resident magistrate. Much was concealed from the inquiry. The following months revealed evidence of an active Ribbon-style organisation, and the animosity of the local police and the constabulary. Attention to working class sectarianism diverted attention from elite failure to manage the class relationships of a fractured civil society
Alliance · Magistrate · Political science · Politics · Protestantism · Sectarianism · Sociology · History · Irish and British Studies · Law · Philippine History and Culture · Scottish History and National Identity
Conditions of liberty
Civil Society
Democracy in America
The Age of Riots
Habermas and the public sphere
Policing and Conflict in Northern Ireland
The Habsburg Empire
An Artisan Elite in Victorian Society
The Life and Opinions of General Sir Charles James Napier, G.C.B
Civil Society, Associations and Urban Places
Civil society, municipal government and the state
Unitarianism, political economy and the antinomies of liberal culture in Manchester, 1830–50
An artisan elite in Victorian society
The Dublin Evening Mail and pro-landlord conservatism in the age of Gladstone and Parnell
Chartism, Liberalism and the life of Robert Lowery
The Role of Open–Air Preaching in the Belfast Riots of 1857
Voluntary Societies and British Urban Elites, 1780–1850
Ireland in Official Print Culture, 1800-1850
Belfast
Contentious Pluralism
Islamism, Revolution, and Civil Society
South Africa and the limits of civil society
Class Struggle and the Industrial Revolution
The role of the historical adviser and the Bloody Sunday Tribunal
Class, Power and Social Structure in British Nineteenth-Century Towns
Defenders, Ribbonmen and Others
The Ribbon Societies
Publics in history
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,17 |
| Citation span | 2020 - 2020 (1) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |