Wellington, Ireland and the Catholic question, 1807-1827

Abstract

The Duke of Wellington was an Anglo-Irishman who, throughout his career, was aware of the problems posed for the British state by the Irish Catholics in their campaign for full political rights. This was the case even when his career removed him from immediate contact with Ireland and her problems. This thesis traces the evolution of his attitude to the Catholic question from his period of office as Chief Secretary for Ireland to the end of the Liverpool administration, when he resigned from the cabinet for reasons at least in part connected with this issue. The context within which Wellington's views developed, in British domestic politics, in Anglo-Irish and in International affairs is discussed, as far as is relevant. Particular attention is paid to the issue of `securities' which was central to the debates on Catholic relief throughout this period. The main conclusion is that Wellington, although a member of the Anglo-Irish ascendancy, and closely connected with those opposed to Catholic relief, was never rigid or purely repressive in his attitude to the Catholics and Catholicism. In particular he hoped through an understanding with the Papacy to reach a once for all solution to a question in which religion, nationalism, the sovereign state and many other factors interacted with great complexity.

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