Anglo Irish - Who were they?

Written by Ben Kesp

Castletown House

You may or may not have heard of the “Anglo Irish”, a term used to describe the landed class or socially privileged, who were members of the Church of Ireland. They were descendants of the Protestant Ascendancy from the 17th century and were the ruling class up until the early 20th century Ireland. The Anglo Irish or “New English” replaced the Gaelic Lords and old English aristocracy (Hiberno Normans) as the ruling class in Ireland. The French Huguenots became part of the Anglo Irish and you can read more about this in my blog post Flight of the Huguenots to Ireland. Many of the Irish Catholic gentries who swore allegiance to the British Crown were able to retain their holdings and became part of the new ruling class. 

The Protestant Ascendancy came about following the Williamite Wars (1689-91) when much of the Irish land was confiscated by the British Crown and domination politically, socially and economically over Ireland fell into the hands of great landowners. Very rich members became members of parliament in the Irish House of Lords. 

Powers Court 

Many held major positions as navy/army officers and as administrators in the British Empire. They excelled in medicine, science, arts, culture, architecture etc and produced many great works and engineering feats not just locally within Ireland but internationally. 

However, the area that leaves distaste perhaps in some people’s mouths today is that of the Landed Estates. Land granted to Anglo Irish classes whose earnings (not all) depended on land rents from tenant farmers. This started the building of the Great Houses or the "Big House" era that rose up throughout the Irish countryside during the 17th to the early 20th century where lavish lifestyles were enjoyed on vast estates some exceeding twenty thousand acres. Today one can marvel at the wonderful architecture of these fine buildings. Today of those that remain, many are still maintained as private homes, others for luxury hotels, leisure centres and world-class golf courses providing Ireland with some great international venues. It was the treatment by some of the landed estate landlords of their tenant farmers and labours that reflect harrowing memories for some people today and as a result, during the Irish Civil War many of these great houses were targets and burned to the ground, a symbol of ending the oppression by heavy-handed landlords. Many landlords treated their tenants fairly and provided employment and prosperity to the local town building streets, schools and piers ensuring economic prosperity. 

The Anglo Irish was a mixed class of Irish, English, Welsh and French, not to be confused with the Presbyterians of Ulster whose ancestry is mostly Scottish. The Anglo Irish followed English practice and customs, for example, fox hunting and racing were popular sports with many of them feeling more English in Ireland and Irish in England. 

So where are they today? Well, many are still living in Ireland descendants from of the Anglo Irish families converting from the Church of Ireland to Roman Catholic, while others have retained their Protestant faith. Many still hold their titles of Knight, Lord, Baron, Marquess, Prince etc but under the Irish Free State formed in 1922, they have no legal rights or benefits over the general population. “West Brit” or “West British” is a term often used to describe Irish people of Anglo Irish descent or Irish people showing an Anglo interest in culture or perhaps a notion more in jest of pointing out the difference in understanding of what it is to be truly Irish.