Parliaments, Nations and Identities in Britain and Ireland, 1660-1860

In 1660 the four nations of the British Isles were governed by one imperial crown but by three parliaments. The abolition of the Scottish and Irish Parliaments in 1707 and 1800 created a United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland centred upon the Westminster legislature. What did the making of the monolith mean for the four nations? Did conceptions of English, Irish, Scottish and Welsh identities flourish, change or wither as a consequence to the growth of the imperial Parliament, and to what extent did Parliament help or hinder a developing sense of Britishness as a new nationality? This volume address these questions from a variety of perspectives, showing how the parliaments at Dublin, Edinburgh and Westminster, were seen and used in very different ways by people from very different communities.

Reviews of Parliaments, Nations and Identities in Britain and Ireland, 1660-1860

"This book makes a genuinely original contribution to the field. By putting parliament and political processes at the center of the contest to negotiate national and other identities, it constitutes an important step forward in the historiography of Britain and Ireland." — David Eastwood, University of East Anglia