Animal welfare in Post-Union Ireland

O'Connell, Helen

doi:10.1353/nhr.2015.0004

Animal welfare in Post-Union Ireland

O'Connell, Helen

Authors

Dr Helen O'Connell helen.o'connell@durham.ac.uk
Associate Professor

Abstract

The place of animals in English culture of the Romantic and Victorian periods has been widely explored, but the topic remains generally unexamined in the literary, social, and cultural history of Romantic-period and nineteenth-century Ireland.1 This is an unfortunate gap, as Irish animal welfare exemplifies a continual strain of reformist response to the political climate that came into existence in the aftermath of the rebellion of 1798 and Act of Union. The horrific conditions endured by many animals in post-Union Ireland attracted the attention of some well-known and other more obscure social reformers. Maria Edgeworth, Mary Leadbeater, Lady Morgan, William Hickey (Martin Doyle), Caesar Otway, and William Hamilton Drummond all noted disturbing tendencies to animal cruelty in Ireland. In a range of genres from pamphlets and lectures to novels, these writers attempted to inculcate animal welfare as a component of progressive attitudes that were increasingly commonplace in Britain.

Citation

O'Connell, H. (2015). Animal welfare in Post-Union Ireland. New hibernia review, 19(1), 34-52. https://doi.org/10.1353/nhr.2015.0004

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	May 12, 2014
Online Publication Date	Mar 22, 2015
Publication Date	Mar 22, 2015
Deposit Date	Jul 7, 2014
Publicly Available Date	Apr 24, 2015
Journal	New Hibernia review : a quarterly record of Irish studies.
Print ISSN	1092-3977
Electronic ISSN	1534-5815
Publisher	Center for Irish Studies at the University of St. Thomas
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	19
Issue	1
Pages	34-52
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1353/nhr.2015.0004