aristocracy

aristocracy. Parallel with the formation between the mid‐16th and the early 18th centuries of an ancien régime landed elite, Ireland acquired a titled aristocracy. The kingdom possessed a peerage of medieval origin, but natural wastage and infrequent creations ensured that this had become a small and somewhat antiquated order. The Tudor monarchy began its rehabilitation, but this did not commence in earnest until the 17th century. Between them James I (1603–25) and Charles I (1625–49) conferred 116 peerages on 85 individuals, 50 of whom were Englishmen. Creations on this scale excited a predictably adverse reaction among existing peers, while there were also English objections to the presence of Irish peers in royal funeral processions.

The main beneficiaries of these creations were New English landowners, ensuring that by 1688 Protestant peers greatly outnumbered Catholics. Five Protestant lay peers and four bishops attended the patriot parliament, indicating that religiously based animosities were less entrenched among the aristocracy than among commoners; but those absent, in a total peerage of about 130, nevertheless outnumbered those present by two to one. James II sought to rectify this by promoting loyal Jacobites, but these peerages were not recognized by the Williamites. In the 18th century death and forfeiture, along with conversions, ensured that the Irish aristocracy became emphatically Protestant.

The financial difficulties of many Irish landowners in the early 18th century discouraged some from accepting peerages and contributed to the decision of 60 per cent of peers not to attend parliament. As a result, control of the House of Lords passed to the bishops and a small number of active peers. These circumstances helped ensure that the Irish peerage continued to be regarded in England as an inferior order, though Englishmen constituted a high proportion of those who were admitted to its ranks between 1690 and 1760. This practice was encouraged by the fact that an Irish peerage did not disbar one from sitting in the House of Commons at Westminster, and no fewer than 22 of the 24 men ennobled between 1715 and 1727 were or became MPs there.

As the economy grew in the second half of the 18th century, the number of Irish landowners and politicians admitted to the peerage increased markedly. Thirty‐four of the 50 new peerages created between 1761 and 1785 went to Irishmen, and by 1799 two‐thirds of the richest landowners in the country were ennobled. Some families, like the Conollys, showed no interest in the peerage, but they were very much the exception.

There were 163 lay members of the Irish peerage in 1786, of whom 100 or so were resident and 70 were politically active. The continuing higher status of the English peerage encouraged Irish politicians, like the second Lord Shannon (see boyle), to seek English titles. Yet patriot peers like Lord Charlemont and the earl of Kildare were nevertheless sufficiently confident to assert, and to secure, separate recognition for the Irish peerage. The status of the Irish aristocracy was, however, dealt a severe blow by the Act of Union, when Irish peers lost the automatic right to membership of an upper house. Instead seats in the House of Lords of the united parliament were allocated to 28 lay lords, who were elected for life, and four spiritual lords.

Bibliography

G. E. C. , The Complete Peerage (13 vols., 1910–59)

James Kelly