Mention is made of the term
Irish-Scot in the text of the atlas
The Theatre of the Empire of Great Britain (1612} by
John SpeedJohn Speed was a historian, now best remembered as the cartographer whose maps of English counties are often found framed in homes throughout the United Kingdom....
(1552-1629).
"This Province of
UlsterUlster is one of the four Provinces of Ireland, located in the north of the island.Ulster is composed of nine counties: Antrim, Armagh, Down, Fermanagh, Londonderry, and Tyrone are part of Northern Ireland; while Cavan, Donegal, and Monaghan are part of the Republic of Ireland.-Terminology:The...
and furthest part of
IrelandIreland is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island in the world. It lies to the north-west of continental Europe and is surrounded by hundreds of islands and islets. To the east of Ireland, separated by the Irish Sea, is the island of Great Britain...
, affronteth the Scottish Islands, which are called the
HebridesThe Hebrides comprise a widespread and diverse archipelago off the west coast of Scotland. There are two main groups: the Inner and Outer Hebrides...
, and are scattered in the Seas betweene both Kingdomes; whose inhabitants at this day is the Irish Scot..."
In modern times, the term is also used to describe people who emigrated from
IrelandIreland is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island in the world. It lies to the north-west of continental Europe and is surrounded by hundreds of islands and islets. To the east of Ireland, separated by the Irish Sea, is the island of Great Britain...
to
ScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, mostly in the 19th and 20th centuries, and their descendants.
This group were commonly described as Irish-Catholics, although not all of the immigrants were Roman Catholic. Nowadays, with the reduction in the influence of the Catholic Church, the term "Irish-Scots" perhaps better reflects the dual ethnic and
nationA nation is a body of people who share a real or imagined common history, culture, language or ethnic origin. The development and conceptualization of the nation is closely related to the development of modern industrial states and nationalist movements in Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries,...
al character of this grouping.
Sometimes Irish-Scots are known as
Scots-IrishScotch-Irish or Scots-Irish refers to inhabitants of the United States and, by some, of Canada who are of Ulster Scottish descent. The term may be qualified with American as in "Scotch-Irish American" or "American of Scots-Irish ancestry"...
, but this term is more correctly applied to mainly Ulster Scots.
Background
As with any national "label", the term "Irish-Scots" is open to interpretation; many Scottish-born descendants of the Irish immigrants would style themselves "Scottish", while others take pride in their dual Irish and Scottish identity or spurn any association with the country of their birth, feeling greater affinity and loyalty to Ireland. The same is true of many other transnational groups or
diasporaA diaspora is any movement of a population sharing common ethnic identity. While refugees may or may not ultimately settle in a new geographic location, the term diaspora refers to a permanently displaced and relocated collective.Diasporic cultural development often assumes a different course from...
s, such as Irish-Americans or Italian-Americans, where the link to the country of origin may be decades or centuries old.
Attitudes to the waves of immigration from Ireland to Scotland were mixed, as evidenced by the following quotations:
- "In our opinion, the Irish have as much right to come to this country to better their lives as the Scots and English have to go to Ireland or any other part of Britain for the same reason. Let us hear no more complaints about the influx of Irish having a bad effect on Scotland unless it is to do something about tackling the problems which caused the emigration."
- The Glasgow Courier, 1830
- "The immigration of such a number of people from the lowest class and with no education will have a bad effect on the population. So far, living among the Scots does not seem to have improved the Irish, but the native Scots who live among the Irish have got worse. It is difficult to imagine the effect the Irish immigrants will have upon the morals and habits of the Scottish people."
- Report from the Scottish Census of 1871
http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/education/int/hist/immigrants/irish_in_scotland/index_irish_scotland.shtml
Some of the Irish-Scots were brought over from Ireland to take the jobs of striking workers, which was a source of great friction.
Difficulties also arose due to differences between the typically Catholic immigrants and the predominantly Protestant native Scots population.
Towards the end of the eighteenth century, it was reported that, in Glasgow, there were only thirty-nine Irish-Catholics, but forty-three anti-Catholic clubs.
http://www2.umist.ac.uk/sport/SPORTS%20HISTORY/BSSH/The%20Sports%20Historian/TSH%2021-1/21(1)%20-%20art%205.htm
In the UK census of 2001, the new category "Irish" was added to the list of ethnic background.
In Scotland, results showed that 49,428 (0.98%) people described themselves as of Irish background but this does not seem to be an accurate reflection of the Irish presence in Scotland. The Irish immigrated to Scotland in the tens of thousands, especially from the mid-19th century to the mid 20th century. It is believed that because the Irish category was a new addition to the census, that respondents confused this question with the more familiar question regarding country of birth.
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/library5/social/aescr-02.asp
The Irish-Scots were instrumental in the formation of
Celtic Football ClubThe Celtic Football Club is a Scottish football club based in the Parkhead area of Glasgow, which currently plays in the Scottish Premier League. Since the club's formation in 1888, Celtic have won the Scottish championship on 42 occasions, most recently in the 2007/08 season, and the Scottish...
,
Hibernian F.C.Hibernian Football Club are a Scottish professional football club based in Leith, in the north of Edinburgh. They are one of two Scottish Premier League clubs in the city, the other being their rivals Hearts, who Hibernian play in the Edinburgh derby...
, and
Dundee United F.C.Dundee United Football Club is a Scottish professional football club located in the city of Dundee. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, 2009 is Dundee United's centenary year. The club changed to the present name in 1923...
(which was originally known as Dundee Hibernian). Indeed, these teams were originally formed to provide recreational facilities for the Irish immigrants. At first, these teams faced discrimination from the football authorities, and there was controversy over whether their players should be picked to play in international games, especially against the Irish international team.
Notable Irish-Scots
- Billy Connolly
Billy Connolly, CBE is a Scottish comedian, musician, presenter and actor. He is sometimes known, especially in his native Scotland, by the nickname The Big Yin...
Comedian.
- James Connolly
James Connolly was an Irish socialist leader. He was born in the Cowgate area of Edinburgh, Scotland, to Irish immigrant parents. He left school for working life at the age of 11, but despite this he would become one of the leading Marxist theorists of his day. Though proud of his Irish background...
Irish revolutionary.
- Sean Connery
Sir Thomas Sean Connery , best known as Sean Connery, is an Academy Award, Golden Globe, and BAFTA Award winning Scottish actor and producer....
Actor.
- Brian Cox
Brian Denis Cox, CBE is a Scottish actor.-Early life:Cox was born in Dundee, Scotland, the youngest of five children. His mother, Mary Ann Guillerline , was a spinner who worked in the jute mills and suffered several nervous breakdowns during Cox's childhood. His father, Charles McArdle Campbell...
Actor.
- George Galloway
George Galloway is a British politician, author and broadcaster, who has been a Member of Parliament since 1987, and is particularly known for his anti-war views...
, Respect MP.
- Rosemary McKenna
Rosemary McKenna CBE is a Scottish Labour Party politician in the United Kingdom.She is Member of Parliament for Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East.-Early life:...
, Labour MP.
- Gerard Butler
Gerard James Butler is a Scottish actor known for his portrayal of King Leonidas in 300, The Phantom in the 2004 film version of The Phantom of the Opera, Gerry Kennedy in P.S. I Love You, One Two in RocknRolla, Mike Chadway in The Ugly Truth and Clyde Shelton in Law Abiding Citizen...
Actor.
- Chris Pendergast
Christopher-Paul Peter Pendergast BA PGDE , commonly known as Chris Pendergast is a Scottish born Gaelic Footballer of Irish descent. He currently plays with Glasgow side Tir Conaill Harps. He joined the Harps since entering the sport in 2007...
, Gaelic Footballer.
- Aiden McGeady
Aiden McGeady is a Scottish-born Irish international footballer who plays on the wing or up front for Celtic and the Republic of Ireland internationally.-Club career:...
Footballer, Irish international.
- Owen Coyle
Owen Coyle is a Scottish born Irish manager and former player. He is currently the manager of Burnley FC....
Football Manager, former Irish international.
- James McCarthy Footballer.
- Liam Miller
William Peter "Liam" Miller is an Irish professional footballer, who plays for Hibernian in the Scottish Premier League...
Footballer, Irish international. Father hails from Scotland.
- Lorraine Kelly
Lorraine Kelly is a Scottish television presenter and journalist best known as a presenter for GMTV, the ITV morning television station. She currently resides in Broughty Ferry, Dundee, previously living in Blairgowrie, Perthshire.-Early life:Kelly's father John worked as a television repairman...
Television presenter.
Scots and Irish
The terms Scots and Irish, while they have a settled meaning today, are not always readily distinguished. Sellar & Yeatman's spoof history
1066 and All That1066 and All That: A Memorable History of England, comprising all the parts you can remember, including 103 Good Things, 5 Bad Kings and 2 Genuine Dates is a tongue-in-cheek reworking of the history of England. Written by W. C. Sellar and R. J. Yeatman and illustrated by John Reynolds, it first...
highlighted the confusion that these words can cause when used to refer to the past :
Irish peopleThe Irish people are a Western European ethnic group who originate in Ireland, in north western Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolgs, Tuatha Dé Danann and the Milesians The Irish...
live in Ireland;
Scots peopleThe Scots people and an ethnic group indigenous to Scotland.An ethnic group, historically they emerged from an amalgamation of Picts, Gaels and Brythons....
live in Scotland. However,
ScottiScoti or Scotti was the generic Latin name used by the Romans to describe those who sailed from Ireland to conduct raids on Roman Britain. It was thus synonymous with the modern term Gaels...
, a word borrowed from
LatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Roman conquest, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe...
, came to mean "someone who speaks the
Old Irish languageOld Irish is the name given to the oldest form of the Goidelic languages for which extensive written texts are possessed. It was used from the 6th to the 10th centuries, when it gave way to Middle Irish....
". So, while there were Scots in Scotland, there were also Scots in Ireland,
WalesWales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom, bordered by England to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It is also an elective region of the European Union...
and
CornwallCornwall is a county of England in the United Kingdom, forming the tip of the south-western peninsula of Great Britain. It is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic Ocean, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Taken with the...
. The 11th century was the time of
Brian BoruBrian mac Cennétig, called Brian Bóruma, Brian Boru, Emperor of the Irish , , was an Irish king who ended the centuries-long domination of the High Kingship of Ireland by the Uí Néill...
, who called himself "Emperor of the Scots", and of
MacbethMac Bethad mac Findlaích was King of the Scots from 1040 until his death...
, who called himself "King of the Scots", and also of
Malcolm CanmoreMáel Coluim mac Donnchada , called in most Anglicised regnal lists Malcolm III, and in later centuries nicknamed Canmore, "Big Head" or Long-neck , was King of Scots...
, who went one better and called himself
Scottorum basileus "Emperor of the Scots", just as Brian had. In the 14th century Robert the Bruce spoke Gaelic, and lived in Gaelic-speaking world. When he and his brother
EdwardEdward de Brus , modernised Edward the Bruce or Edward of Bruce was a younger brother of King Robert I of Scotland, who supported his brother in the struggle for the crown of Scotland, then pursued his own claim in Ireland...
campaigned in Ireland, they could present themselves as, and be widely accepted as, fellow-Gaels set on liberating the Irish from the
Norman yokeThe Norman yoke is a term that emerged in English nationalist discourse in the mid-17th century. It was a shorthand phrase, useful for attributing the oppressive aspects of feudalism in England to the impositions of William I of England, his retainers and their descendants.- History :The culturally...
.
From at least the reign of
James IJames I was nominal King of Scots from 4 April 1406 until his death, although his effective reign only began in May 1424.He spent the earlier part of his reign as a prisoner in England...
, through to James VI, the main language of the Scottish monarchs was English (or the form of it which became known as
ScotsThe history of the Scots language refers to how Anglic varieties spoken in parts of Scotland developed into modern Scots.-Origins:Speakers of Northumbrian Old English settled in south eastern Scotland in the 7th century, at which time Celtic Brythonic was spoken in the south of Scotland to a little...
). Scottish identity, for Lowlanders and Highlanders, however remained rooted the Gaelic past until the 18th century. Fergus Mór mac Eirc, whom the
Duan AlbanachThe Duan Albanach is a Middle Gaelic poem found with the Lebor Bretnach, a Gaelic version of the Historia Brittonum of Nennius, with extensive additional material . It is found in a variety of Irish sources, and the usual version comes from the early 15th century Books of Lecan and Ui Maine...
, and Medieval Scots historians like
John of FordunJohn of Fordun was a Scottish chronicler. It is generally stated that he was born at Fordoun, Mearns. It is certain that he was a secular priest, and that he composed his history in the latter part of the 14th century; and it is probable that he was a chaplain in the St.Machar's cathedral of...
and
Hector BoeceHector Boece was a Scottish philosopher.He was born in Dundee where he attended school...
, and even James VI himself, saw as the founder of Scotland's ruling dynasty, was said to have invaded
ArgyllArgyll , archaically Argyle , is a region of western Scotland corresponding with most of the part of ancient Dál Riata that was located on the island of Great Britain, and in a historical context can be used to mean the entire western seaboard between the Mull of Kintyre and Cape Wrath.The early...
from Ireland, and the creation of Scotland was seen as a conquest by Gaelic kings.
The
ReformationThe Protestant Reformation was a Christian reform movement in Europe which is generally deemed to have begun with Martin Luther's Ninety-Five Theses in 1517 although a number of precursors such as Jan Hus predate that event...
and the perception of Gaelic-speaking (their language now called Erse rather than Scots, a name transferred to the
Northern EnglishNorthern English is a group of dialects of the English language. It includes the North East England dialects, which is similar in some respects to Scots....
language of Scotland now known as the
Scots languageScots or Lowland Scots is the variety of Germanic language traditionally spoken in lowland Scotland and parts of Ulster. It is not to be confused with Scottish Gaelic, the Celtic language varieties traditionally spoken in the Highlands and Hebrides....
) as idle, warlike and crude changed attitudes, but even a Protestant humanist scholar like
George BuchananGeorge Buchanan , was a Scottish historian and humanist scholar. He was part of the Monarchomach movement.-Biography:...
, himself a
GaelGaël is a commune in the Ille-et-Vilaine department in Bretagne in north-western France.It lies southwest of Rennes between Saint-Méen-le-Grand and Mauron...
, could write of the Picts and the Scots as being like the Irish. Racist fantasists such as
John PinkertonJohn Pinkerton was a British antiquarian, cartographer, author, numismatist, historian, and early advocate of Germanic racial supremacy theory....
, and others , would try to portray the Scots as the descendants of the
GothsThe Goths were a heterogeneous East Germanic tribe. The historian Jordanes claimed that the Goths arrived from semi-legendary Scandza, believed to be somewhere in modern Götaland , and that a Gothic population had crossed the Baltic Sea before the 2nd century, lending their name to the region of...
or the Scythians with the origins of their language being
PictishPictish is a term used for the extinct language or languages thought to have been spoken by the Picts, the people of northern and central Scotland in the Early Middle Ages...
, but their ideas were rejected by the majority of scholars who worked in the field.
Today, while the idea of Fergus Mór as Irish conqueror of
Dál RiataDál Riata was a Gaelic overkingdom on the western seaboard of Scotland with some territory on the northern coasts of Ireland...
is no longer universally supported, and the idea of a mass migration from Ireland is largely rejected, the archaeological evidence shows that contacts between Scotland and Ireland date back to the earliest times, not only passing from Ireland to Scotland, but also from Scotland to Ireland. Rather than a conquest, it is supposed that Argyll, and perhaps other parts of south-western Scotland, evolved together with Ireland, speaking similar
Goidelic languagesThe Goidelic languages form one of the two branches of the Insular Celtic languages, the other consisting of the Brythonic languages. They historically formed a dialect continuum stretching from the south of Ireland, through the Isle of Man, to the north of Scotland. There are three modern Goidelic...
. These languages, the ancestors of modern Irish and Scots Gaelic, spread to most of Scotland. We cannot say why they spread, but it seems safe to assume that they were carried in part by Irish clerics such as
ColumbaSaint Columba , also known as Colum Cille was an outstanding figure among the Gaelic Irish missionary monks who, some of his advocates claim, introduced Christianity to the Picts during the Early Medieval Period...
, Adomnán,
MirinSaint Mirin or Mirren, an Irish monk and missionary , is also known as Mirren of Benchor , Merinus, Merryn and Meadhrán. The patron saint of the town of Paisley, Scotland, he was the founder of a religious community which grew to become Paisley Abbey...
, and thousands whose names are now lost, and by
PictsThe Picts were a confederation of tribes living in what was later to become eastern and northern Scotland from before the Roman conquest of Britain until the 10th century. They lived to the north of the Forth and Clyde rivers, and spoke the extinct Pictish language, thought to have been related to...
and Britons trained in the flourishing Irish schools of the day.