Essays in Irish Labour History: A Festschrift for Elizabeth and John W. Boyle

Description

Essays in Irish Labour History is a tribute to the late Professor John W Boyle, of University of Guelph, Canada and a leading practitioner of Irish labour history, and his late wife Elizabeth. Boyle’s specialism was in nineteenth century labour history, with a particular emphasis on Dublin and Belfast, cities to which he had academic and personal attachments, and these interests are well reflected in this book. The history of labour in Ulster is especially well covered, as is that of Protestant workers throughout the island. The collection also includes substantial scholarly articles that reflect ongoing research and areas that have thus far been neglected, such as the place for casual labour in nineteenth century Ireland and the impact of religion on the Irish Labour Party, 1922-73. The range of topics is broad and includes an obituary essay on the Boyles and an interrogation of Irish historiography and the working class.

Table of Contents

1. A Gentle Flowering: Elizabeth and John W. Boyle, Historians and Labour Activists ~ Frances Devine
2. Envisaging Labour History: Some Reflections on Irish Historiography and the Working Class ~ Fintan Lane
3. Popular Protest and a ‘Moral Economy’ in Provincial Ireland in the Early Nineteenth Century ~ John Cunningham
4. ‘Remembering who we are’: Identity and Class in Protestant Dublin and Belfast, 1868-1905 ~ Martin Maguire
5. Sheep in Wolves’ Clothing: Labour and Politics in Belfast, 1881-1914 ~ Emmet O’Connor
6. The Dublin Building Trades Lockout of 1896 ~ Charles Cullen
7. Outwork, Truck and the Lady Inspector: Lucy Deane in Londonderry and Donegal. 1897 ~ Kevin J. James
8. Striking for the Right to be Late at Work: Worker’s Resistance to Employer’s Time Discipline in Lurgan Power Loom Factories, 1899-1914 ~ Mats Greiff
9. The Belfast Shipyards and the Industrial Working Class ~ John Lynch
10. The IRA and Trade Unionism, 1922-72 ~ Brian Hamley
11. Catholic Stakhanovites? Religion and the Irish Labour Party, 1922-73 ~ Niamh Puirséil
12. Writers of the Left: Politics and Culture in Ireland during the 1930s ~ Paul O’Brien
13. Money Matters in the Lives of Working Women in Ireland in the 1940s and 1950s ~ Elizabeth Kiely and Máire Leane
14. The Decline of the Collaborators: the Ulster Unionist Labour Association and Post-war Unionist Politics

About the Editors

Francis Devine is a former editor of Saothar, the journal of Irish labour history. He works with SIPTU, Ireland’s largest trade union.

Dr Fintan Lane is a former editor of Saothar, the journal of Irish labour history and has published extensively on the Irish class and labour movement.