Catholic Emancipation in the Great Britain and Irish Policy of Sir Robert Peel (1812–1829)

• Published in: Vestnik Volgogradskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Serii͡a︡ 4, Istorii͡a no. 5; pp. 116 - 126
• Main Authors: Klochkov, Victor, Nazarova, Veronica, Uznarodov, Igor
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Volgograd State University 01.11.2023
• ISSN: 1998-9938
• DOI: 10.15688/jvolsu4.2023.5.9

Introduction. The subject of research in this work is a historical and historiographical review of the Irish policy of one of the Tory leaders, Sir R. Peel (1788–1850), from the moment of his appointment as Secretary for Ireland in 1812 to the political crisis associated with the Catholic Emancipation in 1829. The relevance of the work is determined by the fact that the Irish policy of R. Peel is investigated here not only in the traditional problem-chronological way but also in a biographical context. Methods. The broad research context of the work is provided by the use of the prosopographic method and the historical-critical method of data processing of sources, some of which (archival sources from the Library of the University of Southampton and the Archive Bureau of Northamptonshire) are introduced into scientific circulation for the first time. Analysis. The aim of this work is to revise the thesis established in traditional British historiography, according to which the Irish policy of R. Peel in the period from 1812 to 1829 was based on the principles of “Orangism,” whereas after the Catholic Emancipation of 1829, R. Peel became “emancipated.” The analysis of R. Peel’s political strategy in the Irish question carried out in the article shows that none of these definitions fully reflects his actual position. Results. The result of the study is the thesis that R. Peel’s Irish policy turned out to be the personification of a conservative approach to problems, in solving which he was forced to concede in detail while preserving the basics. It is shown that R. Peel’s position on the issue of Catholic emancipation was not a rejection of Anglicanism, as it often seemed to contemporaries, but a rejection of anti-Catholicism. This circumstance makes it possible today to avoid extreme assessments of R. Peel as an unprincipled politician in favor of a more moderate assessment of his Irish policy. Authors’ contribution. V.V. Klochkov determined the basic concept of the article and the methodological foundations of the study, as well as identified unpublished sources from the regional archives of Great Britain; V.S. Nazarova prepared the introduction of the article, created its structural composition, and analyzed the historiography of the problem; I.M. Uznarodov carried out general editing of the text and formulated the main results of the study.