The Act of 1801

The Act of Union, which came into force on 1 January 1801, may well be seen as the fulcrum of modern Irish history. The ‘United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland’ was born and a new flag, incorporating the cross of St Patrick, was raised over government buildings in both countries. The act established the framework in which all but the most revolutionary of political and social discourses must thereafter take place. The great Irish leaders of the nineteenth century, Daniel O'Connell and Charles Stuart Parnell, recognised it as a given and, however much they would have wished to see it revoked, worked within its possibilities and constraints. Their very presence in Westminster was testament to the power of this one piece of legislation. The Union had abolished the legislature at College Green in Dublin so that, from then on, all Irish representatives would sit with their British counterparts in Westminster. Since medieval times, Ireland had always had some kind of parliament; since 1782, it had achieved more status. In a dramatic policy reversal at the turn of the century, it was utterly abolished.

It was an act, said its architect, First Minister William Pitt, that was based upon ‘fair, just and equitable principles’. However, the Union meant very different things to different people. Some saw it as the fulfilment of Ireland's destiny – it was now a properly constituent part in the great civilising mission of the British Empire.