levo

Y316: Britain and Ireland 1791–1921

Support for the Union: the decline of the Ascendancy and the rise of Unionism

  • 2 things to know
  • Unit group 3

Overview

Recall questions on the Protestant Ascendancy and what undermined it, the ballot and franchise, the organisation of Unionism in 1885 and 1886, Randolph Churchill, the Ulster Unionist Council and unionist arguments and tactics.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started
Evaluation

How did the secret ballot and franchise reform weaken landlord power?

Key term

Give three developments that undermined the Ascendancy after 1869.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    Define the Protestant Ascendancy.

    Model answer

    It was the dominance of Ireland's Anglican landed elite over land, law, patronage, local administration and parliamentary representation.

  2. 2

    Give three developments that undermined the Ascendancy after 1869.

    Model answer

    The disestablishment of the Church of Ireland, the Land Acts that transferred security and then ownership to tenants, and the reform of local government that ended landlord control of county administration.

  3. 3

    How did the secret ballot and franchise reform weaken landlord power?

    Model answer

    Once tenants could vote in secret from 1872 and the county franchise was widened in 1884, landlords could no longer deliver their tenants' votes and nationalists swept the Irish countryside.

  4. 4

    What prompted the organisation of Irish Unionism in 1885 and 1886?

    Model answer

    The prospect of Gladstone adopting Home Rule led unionists to form defensive associations in Dublin and Belfast to campaign against a Dublin parliament.

  5. 5

    How did Lord Randolph Churchill link Conservative politics to Ulster resistance?

    Model answer

    He calculated that appealing to Ulster Protestant feeling would damage the Liberals, and his declaration that Ulster would fight and would be right gave respectability to resistance.

  6. 6

    Explain what the Ulster Unionist Council was.

    Model answer

    Established in 1905, it brought together constituency associations, Orange lodges and unionist clubs into a single disciplined body that could direct Ulster's resistance.

Other ways to work this

The same content, four other ways.

What is inside Levo

Six ways to work the same material.

1Closed book
2Open book
3Closed book

See a huge jump in your memorisation

Answer cold, learn it, then prove it stuck. Levo tracks the jump between your first attempt and your last.

Y101: Alfred and the Making of England 871–1016
Y102: Anglo-Saxon England and the Norman Conquest 1035–1107
Y103: England 1199–1272
Y104: England 1377–1455

Cram a whole paper in one sitting

Sort every topic into what you know and what you do not, then drill only the weak ones.

Franz Ferdinand was shot at in June.
SarajevoBelgradeVienna

Blank Blitz consolidates the facts

Rapid timed gap-fills on the terms and numbers you need to recall without thinking.

AA republic replaced the sultanate.
BThe caliphate was abolished in 1924.
CThe Latin alphabet was adopted.

Build It trains answer structure

Assemble a full-mark answer from its marking points, in the order an examiner wants them.

Simony means the buying and selling of Church office.
TrueFalse

Test It catches misconceptions

Spot the fault in a statement. The traps are the mistakes students actually make.

721941163128510

Brain Breaks between sessions

Short focus games to reset attention, so the next set lands better than the last.

Every question in Y316: Britain and Ireland 1791–1921, on a schedule.

Attempt a question from memory, write the correct version, then attempt it again. Levo records the jump between your first attempt and your last, and brings each question back on the day you are due to forget it.

Or £46 a year, about £3.83 a month. Cancel anytime.