On this day 100 years ago, the Irish Free State was established, with Ireland gaining independence from the United Kingdom. It came exactly one year on from the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty in December 1921. The State lasted until December 1937.
The Treaty brought an end to the three-year-long Irish War of Independence between the forces of the Irish Republic and British Crown forces, with Ireland gaining statehood against the backdrop of a bitter civil war.
It was not, however, as a Republic, as revolutionary leaders had hoped. Rather, the foundation of the free state heralded in a new era under the ambiguous identity of the Irish Free State. For the first time in 753 years, all 32 counties of Ireland were now united as a single sovereign nation and dominion of the British empire.
Dec. 5, 1922: King George V proclaims that Ireland, a British territory for over 700 years, will become the independent Irish Free State at midnight tomorrow. The Union Jack is lowered a last time from the Viceregal Lodge in Dublin; the Irish tricolor will be raised at sunrise. pic.twitter.com/W1ET4Due9E
— 100YearsAgoNews (@100YearsAgoNews) December 5, 2022
However, it was short-lived; just one day later, the six counties under the control of Unionists, known as Northern Ireland decisively opted out of the Free State.
Just like other autonomous nations of the former British empire, Ireland was to remain part of the British Commonwealth symbolically subject to the King, with Irish lawmakers gathering to take an oath of allegiance to King George V. The Irish Free State, however, later severed ties with Britain, and was renamed Eire, with the 26 counties now known as the Republic of Ireland.
A report from the New York Times describes the granting of Royal Assent:
Exactly 100 years ago today Royal Assent was granted to the Irish Free State Constitution Act 1922, which completed ratification of the Anglo-Irish Treaty signed in Dec 1921 (& provided for the constitution’s proclamation the following day). The New York Times described the scene pic.twitter.com/irWYB6woFi
— David Torrance (@davidtorrance) December 5, 2022
CONTEXT
English rule in Ireland can be traced back to the 12th century, and later, when Queen Elizabeth I encouraged the large-scale immigration of Scottish Protestants to Ireland in the 16th century. During centuries to come, a series of rebellions carried out by Irish Catholics were quenched by the Anglo-Irish minority who extended and imposed their domination over the Catholic majority in Ireland. For instance, absentee landlords persecuted the Irish, reducing the population to living on a subsistence diet based on potatoes – meaning that when the atrocious potato famine struck Ireland in the 1840s, at least one million natives starved to death, and an additional two million fled to the United States of America.
By the late 19th century, a movement for Home Rule in Ireland had started to gain momentum. It was in 1916 that Irish nationalists launched the Easter Rising against British Rule in Dublin. While the rebellion was crushed, broad-based agitation for Irish Independence could not be extinguished. Three years later, inn 1919, the Irish Republican Army (IRA) carried out a widespread guerrilla campaign against the British forces in Ireland. A ceasefire was declared in 1921, and a peace treaty with Britain was signed by a faction of Irish nationalists in January 1922, which called for the partition of Ireland, with the south becoming autonomous, while the six northern counties were to remain part of the United Kingdom.
CIVIL WAR
Civil War erupted before the Free State was declared in December 1922. The war came to an end with the victory of the Irish Free State over the Irish Republican forces in 1923. In 1937, a constitution was adopted by the people of Ireland which declared Ireland to be “a sovereign, independent, democratic state,” bringing an end to the Irish Free State, and renaming Ireland Eire. During World War II, Eire would remain avowedly neutral, and come 1949, the Republic of Ireland Act cut the last remaining link with the British Commonwealth.
However, conflicts and tensions persisted over the existence and state of Northern Ireland. The IRA, who had been outlawed in the Republic, resorted to going underground in an effort to regain the Northern counties still under British rule. Violence between Catholics and Protestants of Northern Ireland worsened in the early 1970s with the escalation of the Troubles, and to date, the fighting has resulted in more than 3,000 deaths in the small province.
While the Anglo-Irish treaty meant the Irish Free State technically had political independence, the Free State was included as part of the British Commonwealth under the terms of the treaty. It included a heavily debated oath of allegiance to the Crown, which declared:
“I….do solemnly swear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of the Irish Free State as by law established and that I will be faithful to H.M. King George V., his heirs and successors by law, in virtue of the common citizenship of Ireland with Great Britain and her adherence to and membership of the group of nations forming the British Commonwealth of Nations”.
The transfer of power from British rule followed a three-stage process. This included the formation of a provisional government; an assembly of constituents who would give backing to a constitution for the newly formed state; and the election of the first parliament – Corcoran. The Free State was governed by Prime Minister William T. Cosgrave, and the initial few months and years after the formation of the newly independent state were marked by various internal issues.
Conflict spilled over into what is considered to be the Irish Civil War between those who favoured the treaty and those who refused to recognise the state as being free. Prolonged internal fighting meant that the government of the new Irish Free State were predominantly focused on bringing about and sustaining law and order, which resulted in the passing of multiple acts to this goal, including the Public Safety Act 1923, the Punishment of Offenders Act 1924, the Firearms Act 1924, and the Treasonable and Seditious Offences Act 1925.
Those who favoured the Anglo-Irish Treaty would ultimately go on to win the civil war, but the fighting meant many resources in the Free State had been depleted. Yet, a government was formed relatively quickly and remains significant owing to the fact the Irish Free State remains separated from Great Britain and the United Kingdom, and remains the focus of political discussion worldwide.
6 December 2022 marks the centenary of the Irish Free State. However, 100 years on, historians and commentators have pointed out that it marks an Independence Day which is largely overlooked and forgotten, despite it being a date which is central to our history. It has been pointed out that even on its centenary, few are aware of the date:
It’s remarkable to think that Tuesday marks the centenary of the Irish State, being the date in 1922 that the Irish Free State came formally into being. And yet we’re hardly aware of it. Seems a bit sad really. We’ve plenty to be proud of, despite all the faults of past 100 yrs. pic.twitter.com/pyPqc1TNRH
— sc (@stephen_coyne) December 4, 2022
While crowds lined the streets during the handing over of Dublin Castle in January 1922, and at the handing over of the military barracks to the National Army, there was no celebration of the occasion. The Free State, born of violence and blood, was largely overshadowed – Ireland had been ravaged by the Civil War for five months at this point, and there was nothing to indicate it would be over anytime soon.
The fact that people at the time were suffering the effects of a bitter war, ground down by years of violence and economic suffering, meant there was not an appetite for celebration or jubilation. In addition, within just 48 hours of the establishment of the Free State, one TD was assassinated in the capital, and four anti-Treaty prisoners were executed in Mountjoy Gaol as a reprisal.
Unlike 1916 and the War of Independence, the formation of the Irish Free State was characterised by a sense of a lost idealism. There was a palpable feeling of loss for the type of state which had been sacrificed and fought for. As conveyed in the records from the days and weeks following the formation of the new state, the sense of idealism and poetry was no longer present. Meanwhile, newspaper reports from the time shine a light on contrasting attitudes to the formation of the Irish Free State:
Two views of the formal establishment of the Irish Free State, 6 December 1922.
(1) Pro-Treaty newspaper, Young Ireland, 16 Dec. 1922
(2) Workers Republic (Communist Party of Ireland), 23 Dec. 1922. pic.twitter.com/c4WfzXvlSf— Seán William Gannon (@swgannon) December 5, 2022
Within the Free State, the civil war ended in six months, and Ireland went on to found one of the most enduring democracies worldwide. To mark this year’s centenary, on Friday 2 December 2022, a conference was held at University College Dublin (UCD), with Taoiseach Micheál Martin addressing the event to mark the centenary.
The UCD conference discussed the legacy of the Free State, as well as the delivery, under the 1922 constitution, of a lasting democracy in Ireland.
Display panels from the recent Foundation of the Irish Free State conference are now in place in the James Joyce Library.
This beautiful exhibit was curated by @ucdarchives and created by graphic designer @CatherineBodey of UCD Library Outreach. #DecadeOfCentenaries pic.twitter.com/uXzgpPD0Bj— UCD Library (@UCDLibrary) December 5, 2022