TRANSPLANTED IRISH INSTITUTIONS - University of Canterbury

Chapter 5.
79
THE TOURING PREACHERS: CONFLICf AND CONTROVERSY
The anti-Catholicism as expressed in the Orange parades, was entrenched in
Protestant thought by the continual ideological and physical struggles that had occurred
since the Reformation. This anti-Catholic sentiment persisted into the nineteenth century
despite significant advances by Catholics in abolishing most of the penal legislation against
them and the landmark Catholic Emancipation in 1829. Despite these achievements there
was the continual threat of popular mob violence directed towards Catholics and this gained
momentum between 1840 and 1870. The amount of anti-Catholic literature increased in
the 1850s and by the 18608 riots were occurring although these tended to be localized and
not a part of any national movement.
This anti-Catholic sentiment had some reinforcement from the traditions that were
ingrained into English society such as the celebration of Guy Fawkes Day on 5 November.
Edward Norman offers an example of this:
Blessed Dominic Barberi, arriving in England for the first time in 1841, was surprised at the
intensity of the Protestant tone: in fact he had crossed the Channel on 5 November and witnessed
the burning of the Pope in effigy in virtually every place he passed through ... Children began their
hatred early: it was the practice of Protestant schoolboys to stick pins through the eyes of Queen
Mary in the illustrations in history books. I
These images convey a deep-seated tradition of anti-Catholicism that often began in
childhood and was continually reinforced through to adulthood. This reinforcement was
especially helped by the fact that the celebration of Guy Fawkes Day was an annual event
that could be used as a focus for anti-Catholic sentiment.
The Protestant English felt under threat by the flood of Irish Catholic immigrants
into England. This was a key to the resurgence of anti-Catholicism in the nineteenth
century.2 In 1841 there were 419,256 Irish born residents in Britain and by 1861 there
were 806,000. The Irish Potato Famine was the main contributing factor to this migration
I Edward Nonnan, The English Catholic Church in the Nineteenth Century, Oxford, Clarendon Press,
1984, pp. 16-20.
2John Wolffe. The Protestant Crusade in Great Britain 1829-1860. Oxford. Clarendon Press. 1991. p. 16.