The University of Maine DigitalCommons@UMaine Electronic Theses and Dissertations Fogler Library Summer 8-2020 Orange Riots, Party Processions Acts, and the Control of Public Space in Ireland and British North America, 1796-1851 Annie E. Tock University of Maine, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/etd Part of the Canadian History Commons, European History Commons, Legal Commons, and the Social History Commons Recommended Citation Tock, Annie E., "Orange Riots, Party Processions Acts, and the Control of Public Space in Ireland and British North America, 1796-1851" (2020). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 3230. https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/etd/3230 This Open-Access Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@UMaine. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@UMaine. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ORANGE RIOTS, PARTY PROCESSIONS ACTS, AND THE CONTROL OF PUBLIC SPACE IN IRELAND AND BRITISH NORTH AMERICA, 1796-1851 By Annie Tock B.A. Hanover College, 2001 M.A. Eastern Illinois University, 2008 M.A. East Carolina University, 2013 A DISSERTATION Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (in History) The Graduate School The University of Maine August 2020 Advisory Committee: Scott W. See, Libra Professor Emeritus of History, Co-advisor Jacques Ferland, Associate Professor of History, Co-advisor Anne Kelly Knowles, McBride Professor of History Michael Lang, Associate Professor of History Liam Riordan, Professor of History Copyright 2020 Annie Tock All Rights Reserved ii ORANGE RIOTS, PARTY PROCESSIONS ACTS, AND THE CONTROL OF PUBLIC SPACE IN IRELAND AND BRITISH NORTH AMERICA, 1796-1851 By Annie Tock Dissertation Advisors: Dr. Scott W. See and Dr. Jacques Ferland An Abstract of the Dissertation Presented In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (in History) August 2020 This dissertation explores the state’s effort to control public space by passing legislation to suppress Orange Order processions in Ireland and British North America between 1814 and 1851. By the early nineteenth century, annual July Twelfth parades commemorating William III’s victory at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690 became occasions for violent sectarian clashes in the streets of Ireland, New Brunswick, and Canada as celebratory Protestant Orangemen clashed with resentful Catholic opponents. In 1832 the British Parliament sought to put an end to these riots by passing the Party Processions Act, which prohibited Orange processions in Ireland. The Legislative Assembly of the United Canadas followed suit in 1843. Notwithstanding these statutes, tensions between Orangemen and Catholics continued. An explosion of July Twelfth violence in Canada, New Brunswick, and Ireland in 1849 resulted in divergent legislative responses. Whereas Parliament passed a second Party Processions Act for Ireland in 1850 to replace the original Act, which had expired in 1844, the Legislative Assembly for Canada repealed its Act in 1851. Despite a vigorous debate, New Brunswick never passed any specific legislation on party processions. The British Parliament’s determination to gain control of Irish public spaces through aggressive legislation ultimately revealed the fracture between the interests of the state – seated in Westminster and Dublin Castle – and the priorities of local magistrates in charge of enforcing statutes on the ground. In the two Canadian provinces, New Brunswick’s disinclination to pass a Party Processions Act and Upper Canada’s quick annulment of their legislation showed a determination on the government’s side to not expose their weakness on the ground by retaining a law they found unenforceable. The passage, enforcement, and ultimate failure of these Party Processions Acts provides an opportunity to employ theories from legal geography and social history to investigate the increasing role of government in policing public space. The debate over the Party Processions Acts in contemporary newspapers, official correspondence, legislative debates, Parliamentary reports, and court transcripts exposed tensions between the state and local concepts of order. These issues played out in both the abstract space of the law and in the material space of its enforcement. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Writing this section reminds me how fortunate I am to be surrounded by so many wonderful and supportive people. I would like to first thank the staffs of the libraries and archives I visited during the research phase of this project. The folks at the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick, the Saint John Museum, Library and Archives Canada, the National Archives of Ireland, the University of Illinois Library, and my home library at the University of Maine preserve, organize, and make available the sources that enable historians to do what we do. Graduate education, research, and writing is hard. It is even harder without robust financial support. Thankfully, I was the recipient of several generous fellowships during my studies that enabled me to focus on research and writing. I am grateful to the Canadian-American Center, the History Department, and the University of Maine Graduate School for providing that crucial financial assistance. I was also privileged to have a dissertation committee who challenged me while at the same time supported and encouraged me to express my individual voice. Professors Jacques Ferland, Michael Lang, and Liam Riordan stuck with me on this project and offered critical feedback at the dissertation stage. Professor Anne Kelly Knowles joined my committee two years ago and guided and encouraged my exploration of spatial history and legal geography. She encouraged me to be creative while holding me to a high standard of scholarship. Our conversations shaped this project and will continue to influence the way I approach both research and teaching. Professor Scott See has been my “guy” at the University of Maine from day one. He encouraged me to take on a subject close to his own research and never sought to influence my interpretation. He gave me space when needed and then let me know when it was time to iii kick it in gear. I always looked forward to our meetings and emails because they were both intellectually engaging and fun. I am honored to be Scott’s last graduate student and happy for him to move into full retirement, but I feel sorry for the UMaine students who will not get to benefit from his top-notch scholarship and mentorship. I am also fortunate to have several mentors among the professorate who offered me help and advice with no obligation whatsoever to do so. Dr. Bailey K. Young, of Eastern Illinois University, and Dr. Debra A. Reid, of the Henry Ford Museum, have treated me as a colleague for years. They served as sounding boards for my ideas on this project and encouraged me to see it through when I wondered whether it was worth it. Dr. Thomas Ulen, Professor Emeritus at the University of Illinois, provided support, advice, and coffee when it was most needed when I temporarily moved away from my home campus. We discussed the project’s direction and structure, he read and gave feedback on every draft chapter, and he sent me emails checking in on my progress. Tom’s support is a big reason why this project got done. I am so grateful to my amazing family and friends. To a person, they have been consistently encouraging throughout this process and never once gave me a hard time for taking time to finish it. They truly shape who I am and what is possible for me every day. One bright spot in this pandemic was that some of them were able to participate in my defense via Zoom, which was a fitting finale to a graduate school experience that I very much consider to have been a group effort. Finally, my partner, Adam, deserves (and has) my deepest appreciation for his patience, feedback, support, and everyday companionship. Without him, this dissertation would not have been completed. Cheers, all, and thanks! iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS……………………………………………………………………..iii CHAPTERS 1. INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………………...1 2. PARLIAMENT, POLICE, AND THE PUBLICIZATION OF PUBLIC SPACE, 1814– 1832………………………………………………………………...…………………….48 3. THE PARTY PROCESSIONS ACTS AND TERRITORIALITY IN IRELAND, 1833– 1848....................................................................................................................................81 4. PARTY PROCESSIONS IN BRITISH NORTH AMERICAN PUBLIC SPACE, 1830– 1848...……………………………………………………...…...…………………….…121 5. RETHINKING THE PARTY PROCESSIONS ACTS, 1849–1852…………………...164 6. CONCLUSION: WHOSE STREETS?............................................................................207 A NOTE ON THE APPENDIXES……………………………………………………………..216 APPENDIX A: NUMBER OF JULY TWELFTH RIOTS BY YEAR (IRELAND), 1813–1852……………………………………………………………………218 APPENDIX B: LOCATIONS OF JULY TWELFTH RIOTS BY YEAR (IRELAND), 1813–1852…………………...……………………………………………….219 APPENDIX C: PRIMARY ORANGE OPPONENT BY PARTY PROCESSIONS ACT STATUS……………………………………………………………………………....220 v APPENDIX D: ORANGE RIOTS IN IRELAND BY PARTY PROCESSIONS ACT STATUS, 1813–1852…………………………………………………………………221 APPENDIX E: JULY TWELFTH RIOTS IN BRITISH NORTH AMERICA BY LOCATION AND YEAR, 1825–1852…………….…………………………………...222 BIBLIOGRAPHY………………………………………………………………………………223 BIOGRAPHY