JOURNAL OF THE IRISH LABOUR HISTORY SOCIETY

76 SAOTHAR13only due to their activism but to the social utility of such views for a society undergoing rapidtransformation and in whiCh religious and ethnic loyalties were strong, at least in times of crisis. Beyondthat, evangelicalism was an important catalyst in the creation of a culture emphasising voluntaryorganisations, mutual and self-improvement, religion and respectability, and Protestant identity.Ironically, but for some of the same reasons, Irish Catholicism was steaming on the same course. Thus,the polarisation of rough and respectable cultures is common to both Protestant and Catholiccommunitiesbetween 1800 and 1850, the ramifications of which are discernible in the broader political,economic and social history of the period.Evangelical Protestantism did not, of course, have to be politicised, but its strong Englishconnections dating from the mid-eighteenth century, overt anti-Catholicism and stereotyped view ofitself and Irish Catholics made it a useful sentiment to exploit in times of economic or constitutionalcompetition. What we still need to know is what exactly are the dimensions of this movement, whatprecise impact did it have on working people in town and countryside, in what ways was its socialessence distilled from its theological apparatus and how does it relate to issues of class consciousness,denominational loyalties, sectarian animosities and Ulster's social, economic and political distinctivenessfrom the rest of Ireland. Such a research agenda, as the preceding pages have indicated, is wellworth pursuing. Nineteenth-century Ulster Protestantism may not have played as creative a role in theformation of class consciousness and labour politics as did some elements within English nonconformityin the same period, but its influence over social mores was almost certainly even more pervasive.NotesDavid Hempton and Myrtle Hill1. Elie Halevy, A History of the English People in the Nineteenth Century, 4 Volumes, (London, 1949-51). Forrecent historiographical surveys see E.S. Itzkin, 'The Halevy Thesis - A Working Hypothesis?' in ChurchHistory, 44, no. 1 (1975), pp. 47-56; A.D. Gilbert, 'Methodism, Dissent and Political Stability in earlyIndustrial England' in Journal of Religious History, 10, (1978-9), pp. 381-99; and David Hempton,'Evangelical Revival and Society: A Historiographical Review of Methodism and British Society c. 1750-1850' in Themelios, 8, no. 3, (April 1983), pp. 19-25.2. E.J. Hobsbawm, Primitive Rebels, (Manchester, 1959); Labouring Men: Studies in the History of Labour,(London, 1964); and E.P. Thompson, The Making of the English Working Class, (London, 1963).3. John Foster, Class Struggle and the Industrial Revolution: Early Industrial Capitalism in Three EnglishTowns, (London, 1974); and Patrick Joyce, Work, Society and Politics: the Culture of the Factory in laterVictorian England, (Brighton, 1980).4. HughMcLeod, 'Recent Studies in Victorian Religious History' in Victorian Studies, 21, no. 2 (1978), pp. 245-55; and his Religion and the Working Class in Nineteenth Century Britain, (London, 1984).5. Hugh McLeod, 'New Perspectives on Working Class Religion: The Oral Evidence' in Oral History, 14, no.1 (1986), pp. 31-49; John Rule, 'Methodism, Popular Beliefs and Village Culture in Cornwall 1800-50' inR.D.Storch (ed.), Popular Culture and Custom in Nineteenth Century England, (London, 1982), pp. 48-70; and E.and S. Yeo (ed.), Popular Culture and Class Conflict, 1590-1914, (Brighton, 1982).6. A.R. Acheson, 'The Evangelicals in the Church of Ireland, 1784-1859', Queen's University Belfast PhD thesis(1967); A.T.Q. Stewart, 'The Transformation of Presbyterian Radicalism in the North of Ireland, 1792-1825',Queen's University Belfast MA thesis (1956); Peter Brooke, 'Controversies in Ulster Presbyterianism, 1790-1836', University of Cambridge PhD thesis (1980); and R.F.G. Holmes, Henry Cooke, (Belfast, 1981).7. Desmond Bowen, The Protestant Crusade in Ireland, 1800-70, (Dublin, 1978); I.M. Hehir, 'New Lights andOld Enemies: The Second Reformation and the Catholics of Ireland, 1800-1835', University of Wisconsin MAthesis (1983); and David Hempton, 'The Methodist Crusade in Ireland, 1795-1845' in Irish l/ istorical Studies,22, no. 85 (March, 1980), pp. 33-48 ..8. For a survey of recent work see Myrtle Hill, 'Evangelicalism and the Churches in Ulster Society, 1770-1850',Queen's University Belfast PhD thesis (1987); Joe Liechty has recently completed a PhD thesis on Dublinevangelicalism in Maynooth College, and Terence Duffy is engaged on a PhD thesis in Nuffield College,Oxford on 'Religion and Community in Belfast and Londonderry, 1859-1923'.