United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland 152256 224234626 2008-07-07T22:41:59Z Supertask 3417593 Clarification. {{dablink|This article is about the historical period during which Ireland and Great Britain formed a single state; for that state in its current form, see [[United Kingdom]].}} {{Infobox Former Country |native_name = |conventional_long_name = United Kingdom of<br/>Great Britain and Ireland |common_name = United Kingdom |continent = Europe |region = British Isles |country = United Kingdom |status = State union |year_start = 1801 |year_end = 1922 |life_span = 1801-1922&sup1; |event_start = [[Act of Union 1800]] |date_start = [[1 January]] [[1801]] |event2 = [[Anglo-Irish Treaty|Irish independence]] |date_event2 = [[6 December]], [[1922]] |event_end = [[Royal and Parliamentary Titles Act 1927|UK name changed]] |date_end = [[12 April]], [[1927]] |p1 = Kingdom of Great Britain |flag_p1 = Union flag 1606 (Kings Colors).svg |p2 = Kingdom of Ireland |flag_p2 = St_Patrick's_saltire3.svg |s1 = United Kingdom |flag_s1 = Flag of the United Kingdom.svg |s2 = Irish Free State |flag_s2 = Flag of Ireland.svg |image_flag = Flag of the United Kingdom.svg |image_coat = UK Arms 1837.svg|100px |image_map = Location Great Britan and Ireland.PNG |image_map_caption = Territory of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland until 1922 |national_motto = ''[[Dieu et mon droit]]''{{spaces|2}}([[French language|French]])²<br/><small>"God and my right"</small> |national_anthem = ''[[God Save the Queen|God Save the King (Queen)]]'' |capital = [[London]] |latd=51 |latm=30 |latNS=N |longd=0 |longm=07 |longEW=W |common_languages = [[English language|English]]³ |government_type = Constitutional monarchy |title_leader = [[List of British Monarchs#House of Hanover|Monarch]] |leader1 = [[George III of the United Kingdom|George III]] |year_leader1 = 1801–1820 |leader2 = [[George IV of the United Kingdom|George IV]] |year_leader2 = 1820–1830 |leader3 = [[William IV of the United Kingdom|William IV]] |year_leader3 = 1830–1837 |leader4 = [[Victoria of the United Kingdom|Victoria]] |year_leader4 = 1837–1901 |leader5 = [[Edward VII of the United Kingdom|Edward VII]] |year_leader5 = 1901–1910 |leader6 = [[George V of the United Kingdom|George V]] |year_leader6 = 1910–1927 (cont.) |title_deputy = [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|Prime Minister]] |deputy1 = [[William Pitt the Younger]] |year_deputy1 = 1801–1801 |deputy2 = [[Stanley Baldwin]] |year_deputy2 = 1924–1927 (cont.) |legislature = [[Parliament of the United Kingdom|Parliament]] |house1 = [[House of Lords]] |house2 = [[British House of Commons|House of Commons]] |stat_year1 = 1801 |stat_area1 = 315093 |stat_pop1 = 16345646 |stat_year2 = 1921 |stat_area2 = 315093 |stat_pop2 = 42769196 |currency = Pound sterling |footnotes = <sup>1</sup> The [[Irish Free State]] seceded from the United Kingdom in 1922 as a result of the [[Anglo-Irish Treaty]], but this fact was not reflected in the long-form name of United Kingdom until [[Royal and Parliamentary Titles Act 1927|Royal and Parliamentary Titles Act]] in 1927. The current British state, the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland]], is universally accepted to be a direct continuation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and should not be imagined to be a break from it or a new state formed after it.<br/>² The Royal motto used in Scotland was {{lang|la|''[[Nemo Me Impune Lacessit]]''}} ([[Latin]] for "No-one provokes me with impunity").<br/>³ In addition to [[English language|English]] (official status established by precedent), [[Irish language|Irish]], [[Scottish Gaelic]], and [[Welsh language|Welsh]] were spoken regionally. }} The '''United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland''' was the formal name of the [[United Kingdom]] from [[1 January]] [[1801]] until [[12 April]] [[1927]]. It was formed by the merger of the [[Kingdom of Great Britain]] (itself having been a merger of the Kingdoms of [[Kingdom of England and Wales|England]] and [[Kingdom of Scotland|Scotland]]) and the [[Kingdom of Ireland]]. Following [[Irish Free State|Irish independence]] on [[6 December]] [[1922]], when the 1921 [[Anglo-Irish Treaty]] came into effect, the name continued in official use until it was changed to the [[United Kingdom| United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland]] by the [[Royal and Parliamentary Titles Act 1927|Royal and Parliamentary Titles Act of 1927]]. The part of the island of [[Ireland]] that seceded from the United Kingdom in 1922 is today named [[Republic of Ireland| Ireland]] (although often described as the ''Republic of Ireland'' to distinguish it from the island). ==Origins== The merger of the two kingdoms followed the [[Irish Rebellion of 1798]], which shook the [[Protestant Ascendancy]] in Ireland. The rebellion was brutally suppressed by the government through massacres, atrocities and terrors, with the death of up to 30,000 at government hands. The rebellion had been preceded by a century of [[Penal Laws (Ireland)|discriminatory rule]] in Ireland, where the overwhelming majority of the population were excluded or limited from public and economic life. Because of this, the London government pushed the merger largely in response to the perception that the rebellion was provoked as much by the brutish misrule of the Ascendancy as by the efforts of the revolutionaries. It also prevented a possible constitutional crisis over the mental health of King [[George III of the United Kingdom|George III]], given that both separate kingdoms could in theory appoint different [[regent]]s. The union was enacted by means of the [[Act of Union 1800|Act of Union]], passed by both the [[Parliament of Ireland|Irish Parliament]] and the [[Parliament of Great Britain|British Parliament]]. ==Terms of the Union== [[Image:George III of the United Kingdom-e.jpg|thumb|left|[[George III of the United Kingdom|George III]], the first king of the new United Kingdom.]] Under the terms of the merger, the separate Parliaments of [[Parliament of Great Britain|Great Britain]] and [[Parliament of Ireland|Ireland]] were abolished, and replaced by a united [[Parliament of the United Kingdom]].<ref name="Act_1800">Act of Union 1800, Article 4.</ref> The new [[British House of Commons|House of Commons]] consisted of all [[Member of Parliament|Members]] of Great Britain's [[British general election, 1796|18th Parliament]] and 100 Irish MPs [[Co-option|co-opted]] in a special [[United Kingdom general election, 1801|election in 1801]].<ref name="Act_1800"/> The new [[House of Lords]] consisted of all members of Great Britain's House of Lords, and 4 [[Lord Spiritual|Lords Spiritual]] and 28 [[Lord Temporal|Lords Temporal]] from the [[Irish House of Lords]].<ref name="Act_1800"/> The new Parliament met in the [[Palace of Westminster]], formerly the home of the Parliament of Great Britain and, until 1707, the [[Parliament of England]]. Part of the trade-off for Irish Catholics was to be the granting of [[Catholic Emancipation]], which had been fiercely resisted by the all-[[Anglican]] Irish Parliament. However, this was blocked by [[George III of the United Kingdom|King George III]] who argued that emancipating Roman Catholics would breach his [[Coronation of the British monarch#Recognition and oath|Coronation Oath]] to act as protector of [[Protestantism]]. ==The United Kingdom== [[Image:Dublin UK.PNG|thumb|left|[[O'Connell Street|Sackville Street]] in [[Dublin]] in the United Kingdom, c. 1908, ]] The Act of Union was initially seen favourably in Ireland, given that the old Irish parliament was seen as hostile to the majority Catholic population, some of whose members had only been given the vote as late as 1794 and who were legally debarred from election to the body. The [[Roman Catholic]] hierarchy endorsed the Union. However, King George III's decision to block Catholic Emancipation fatally undermined the appeal of the Union. Leaders like [[Henry Grattan]], who sat in the new parliament, having been leading members of the old one, were bitterly critical. The eventual achievement of [[Catholic Emancipation]] in 1829, following a campaign by [[Daniel O'Connell]], [[Member of Parliament|MP]] for [[County Clare]], who had won election to Westminster and who could not for religious beliefs take the [[Oath of Supremacy]], removed the main negative that had undermined the appeal of the old parliament, the exclusion of Catholics. From 1829 on a demand grew again for a native Irish parliament separate from Westminster. However, his campaign to repeal the Act of Union ultimately failed. Aspects of the United Kingdom met with popularity in Ireland during the 122-year union. Hundreds of thousands flocked to Dublin for the visits of [[Queen Victoria]] in 1900, [[King Edward VII]] and [[Queen Alexandra]] in 1903 and 1907 and [[George V of the United Kingdom|King George V]] and [[Mary of Teck|Queen Mary]] in 1911. About 210,000 Irishmen fought in [[Irish regiment]]s of the United Kingdom in [[World War I]], at a time when Ireland was the only [[Home Nations|home nation]] where conscription was not in force. ==Irish home rule== Later leaders, such as [[Charles Stewart Parnell]] the first leader of the [[Irish Parliamentary Party]], campaigned for a version of all-Ireland self-government called [[Devolution#Irish home rule|home rule]] within the United Kingdom, which was nearly achieved in the 1880s under the (British) ministry of [[William Ewart Gladstone]] who introduced two [[Irish Home Rule Bill]]s. However, the measures were defeated in Parliament, and following the ascension of the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservatives]] to the majority, the issue was buried as long as that party was in power. With the return to power of the [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberals]] in 1910 supported by the Irish Party under [[John Redmond]] who now held the balance of power in the Commons, the veto power of the [[Lords]] was removed under the [[Parliament Act]] and a Home Rule Bill introduced in 1912 passed Parliament as the [[Third Home Rule Act]] in 1914, but was temporarily suspended for the duration of [[World War I]]. However the constant delaying of Home Rule and the opposition of the [[Orange Order]] in [[Ulster]] created the frustration that eventually led to political violence and the 1916 [[Easter Rising]]. The [[Irish Parliamentary Party#Europe intervenes|European situation]] changed the political climate such that in the [[United Kingdom general election, 1918|1918 general election]], the Irish Party lost most of its seats to the new [[Sinn Féin]] party. ==Breakdown of the Union== [[Image:Ei-map.svg||160px|thumb|The new boundaries<br><small>In 1922 twenty six Irish counties left the United Kingdom. Just six counties remained.</small>]] In 1919, [[Sinn Féin]] MPs elected to Westminster formed a unilaterally independent Irish parliament in [[Dublin]], the first [[First Dáil|Dáil Éireann]] with an executive under the [[President of Dáil Éireann]], [[Éamon de Valera]]. A [[Anglo-Irish War|War of Independence]] was fought between 1919 and 1921. The island of Ireland was partitioned on 3 May 1921 under the [[Government of Ireland Act 1920]] into two distinct autonomous United Kingdom regions, the short-lived [[Southern Ireland]] and [[Northern Ireland]].<ref>[[Order in Council]] of 3 May 1921 (SR&O 1921, No. 533). Their constitutional roots remained the [[Act of Union 1800|Act of Union]], two complimentary Acts, one passed by the [[Parliament of Great Britain]], the other by the [[Parliament of Ireland]].</ref> On [[6 December]] [[1922]], a year after the [[Anglo-Irish Treaty]] was signed, the entire island of Ireland seceded from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and formed a new [[Dominion]], the [[Irish Free State]]. However, as was widely expected, [[Northern Ireland]] almost immediately exercised its right under the [[Anglo-Irish Treaty]], to ''opt out'' of the Irish Free State and back into the United Kingdom.<ref>On 7 December 1922 (the day after the establishment of the Irish Free State) the [[Parliament of Northern Ireland| Parliament]] resolved to make the following address to the [[George V of the United Kingdom| King]] so as to ''opt out'' of the Irish Free State: ''”MOST GRACIOUS SOVEREIGN, We, your Majesty's most dutiful and loyal subjects, the Senators and Commons of Northern Ireland in Parliament assembled, having learnt of the passing of the [[Irish Free State Constitution Act 1922]], being the Act of Parliament for the ratification of the Articles of Agreement for a Treaty between Great Britain and Ireland, do, by this humble Address, pray your Majesty that the powers of the Parliament and Government of the Irish Free State shall no longer extend to Northern Ireland"''. Source: [http://stormontpapers.ahds.ac.uk/stormontpapers/pageview.html?volumeno=2&pageno=1145#bak-2-1149 Northern Ireland Parliamentary Report, 7 December 1922] and [http://www.nationalarchives.ie/topics/anglo_irish/dfaexhib2.html Anglo-Irish Treaty, sections 11, 12]. If Northern Ireland had not done so it would have became an autonomous part of the [[Irish Free State]].</ref> With that, the [[partition of Ireland| Irish border]] become an international frontier. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland continued in name until 1927 when it was renamed as the [[United Kingdom|United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland]] by the [[Royal and Parliamentary Titles Act 1927]]. ==Legacy== [[Image:Passport UKGBI.PNG|thumb|right|A passport from the Realm: common citizenship continued until 1935.]]Despite increasing political independence from each other from 1922 and complete political independence since 1949, the union left the two countries intertwined with each other in many respects. Ireland used the [[Irish Pound]] from 1928 until 2001 when the [[Euro]] replaced it. Until it joined the [[European Exchange Rate Mechanism|ERM]] in 1979, the Irish pound was [[Fixed currency|directly linked]] to the [[Pound Sterling]]. [[Decimalisation]] of both currencies occurred simultaneously on [[Decimal Day]] in 1971. Coins of equivalent value had the same dimensions and size until the introduction of the [[British Twenty Pence coin]] in 1982, the first new coin to be issued since the break with Sterling. British coinage, therefore, although technically not legal tender in the [[Republic of Ireland]] was in wide circulation and usually acceptable as payment, and vice versa. The new [[British Twenty Pence coin]] and later [[British One Pound coin]] were the notable exceptions to this, as there was initially no equivalent Irish coin value, and when subsequently, Irish coins of these values were introduced, their designs differed significantly, thereby not allowing for 'stealth' passing of the coins in change. [[Irish Citizen]]s in the UK have a status almost equivalent to [[British Citizens]]. They can vote in all elections and even stand for [[UK parliament|parliament]]. As well as this, some people born in the [[Republic of Ireland]] before 1949, but after 3rd March 1922, are [[British subject|British Subjects]]. [[British Citizens]] have similar rights to Irish Citizens in the Republic of Ireland and can vote in all elections apart from [[President of Ireland|Presidential Elections]] and [[referendum]]s. People from Northern Ireland can have dual nationality by applying for an [[Irish passport]] in addition to, or instead of a [[British passport|British one]]. ==List of monarchs== Until 1927, part of the monarch's royal title included the words ''King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland''. In 1927, the words ''United Kingdom'' were dropped from the royal title so that the monarch was instead styled as ''King of Great Britain, Ireland...[and other places]''. The words ''United Kingdom'' were restored to the monarch's title in 1953 with the reference to ''Ireland'' replaced with a reference to ''Northern Ireland''. *[[George III of the United Kingdom|George III]] (1801–1820) (monarch from 1760) *[[George IV of the United Kingdom|George IV]] (1820–1830) *[[William IV of the United Kingdom|William IV]] (1830–1837) *[[Victoria of the United Kingdom|Victoria]] (1837–1901) *[[Edward VII of the United Kingdom|Edward VII]] (1901–1910) *[[George V of the United Kingdom|George V]] (1910–1922) (title used until 1927) ==See also== *[[History of Ireland (1801-1922)]] *[[History of the United Kingdom]] ==Footnotes== {{reflist}} ==External links== * [http://www.british-history.ac.uk British History Online] * [http://ds.dial.pipex.com/town/terrace/adw03/peel/ireland/1801act.htm Act of Union 1800] {| class="wikitable" | width="30%" align="center" |''Preceded by:''<br>[[Kingdom of Great Britain]]<br><small>1707–1801</small><br>[[Kingdom of Ireland]]<br><small>1541–1801</small> | width="40%" align="center" |'''United Kingdom of<br>Great Britain and Ireland'''<br> <small>1801–1922</small> | width="30%" align="center" |''Succeeded by:''<br>[[United Kingdom|United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland]]<br><small>1922–''present''</small><br>[[Irish Free State]]<br><small>1922–1937</small> |} {{Template group |list = {{British Isles}} {{Irish states since 1171}} }} <!--Categories--> [[Category:History of the United Kingdom| ]] [[Category:Former monarchies of Europe|Great Britain (1801-1922)]] [[Category:History of Ireland 1801-1922]] [[Category:1801 establishments]] [[Category:1922 disestablishments]] <!--Other languages--> [[ca:Regne Unit de la Gran Bretanya i Irlanda]] [[cy:Teyrnas Unedig Prydain Fawr ac Iwerddon]] [[de:Vereinigtes Königreich von Großbritannien und Irland]] [[es:Reino Unido de Gran Bretaña e Irlanda]] [[fr:Royaume-Uni de Grande-Bretagne et d'Irlande]] [[ko:그레이트브리튼 아일랜드 연합 왕국]] [[id:Kerajaan Bersatu Britania Raya dan Irlandia]] [[it:Regno Unito di Gran Bretagna e Irlanda]] [[he:הממלכה המאוחדת של בריטניה הגדולה ואירלנד]] [[nl:Verenigd Koninkrijk van Groot-Brittannië en Ierland]] [[ja:グレートブリテンおよびアイルランド連合王国]] [[no:Det forente kongerike Storbritannia og Irland]] [[nn:Det sameinte kongeriket Storbritannia og Irland]] [[pl:Zjednoczone Królestwo Wielkiej Brytanii i Irlandii]] [[pt:Reino Unido da Grã-Bretanha e Irlanda]] [[ru:Соединённое королевство Великобритании и Ирландии]] [[sv:Förenade kungariket Storbritannien och Irland]] [[th:สหราชอาณาจักรบริเตนใหญ่และไอร์แลนด์]] [[vi:Vương quốc Liên hiệp Anh và Ireland]] [[tr:Büyük Britanya ve İrlanda Birleşik Krallığı]] [[zh:大不列顛與愛爾蘭聯合王國]]