From 1771 onwards, many of the Penal Laws - which limited the rights of Catholics & Presbyterians - were gradually repealed,. This allowed Catholics to own land, to vote, & to enter certain professions such as law, among other things.
Despite this, the years between 1770 - 1840 saw a lot of social & political unrest.
In 1798, there was an extremely bloody uprising against British rule. The United Irishmen lead a largely peasant army through Co. Wexford, demanding greater political autonomy from Great Britain. There were smaller uprisings in counties Wicklow, Antrim, Meath & Dublin. All were defeated by British forces. Two months later, a French force landed in Co. Mayo to support the uprising. Joined by local forces, they had some success & declared an Irish Republic in a small part of Connacht that lasted for 12 days before this army was defeated by British forces in Co. Longford.
Five years later in 1803, the United Irishmen attempted another rebellion in Dublin, but were quickly beaten.
In 1800, the Acts of Union merged the Kingdom of Ireland with the Kingdom of Britain. This meant that the Parliament of Ireland was no longer in Ireland; it was now part of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which was in London.
The Roman Catholic Relief Act of 1829 allowed British and Irish Catholics to sit in the Parliament - this was one of the final Penal Laws to be repealed. While this ostensibly allowed Catholics to sit in Parliament, it disallowed many poorer Catholics from participating in this system; only those who owned a certain amount of property were allowed to vote, & this law raised the threshold for voting significantly.
Despite the repeal of the Penal Laws, Catholic farmers were still expected to pay tithes to the Church of Ireland in the form of 10% of their produce or livestock. The Tithe War of 1831 - 1836 saw thousands of people across the island refusing to pay these tithes. The “war” was mostly non-violent, but there were several clashes with authorities, many fatal. The authorities eventually found it almost impossible to collect the tithe due to the uproar that accompanied tithe collection; the government suspended collections & gradually legislated the tithes out of existence.
Agriculture became more industrialised during the 18th century and into the 19th. Crops were grown in great quantities, often to supply the linen industry or for large-scale food production. Foodstuffs such as butter & meat were exported in huge quantities, mainly to Britain, and extensive canal & road networks were built to transport goods.
Bad harvests & economic depression hit during the 1810s, and emigration became more common throughout the early 19th century - mainly to Scotland & England but also to North America. People also moved between Ireland & Britain for seasonal work - this was made much easier by the fact that steamship routes became cheaper & more frequent.
From 1824 onwards, the Irish textile industry went into decline. This was directly influenced by the abolition of tax duties, which previously protected prices in Ireland when selling goods to Britain. Silk, woollen, cotton, leather goods, and glass & furniture production in Ireland became so unprofitable that the number of people working in these industries decreased by more than half, which caused further unemployment. In North East Ulster, cotton manufacturers switched to linen.
Like in the preceding era, people in Ireland tended to wear clothes very similar to their counterparts in England, with both the very wealthy & the less well-off keeping up with changing fashions as they could afford.
Men’s fashion became less frilly over this period; from 1770, ruffles fell out of fashion, and from the 1790s so did powdered wigs.
The silhouette & cut of clothes became simpler but very precise; men showed their wealth & refinement with excellent tailoring & high quality cloth, rather than with lace ruffles & colourful embroidery.
One of the most noticeable changes in men’s fashion was the change from knee-breeches to full-length trousers. Breeches were still worn on very formal occasions, but by the 1820s men of all classes & professions generally wore full-length trousers, sometimes tucked into boots or loose & falling over the shoes.
Women’s fashion went through a lot of changes in this period.
The basic garments were much the same as previous decades; bodices and long skirts over petticoats, with different skirt shapes coming in & out of fashion. The silhouette was a “classical” one - the skirt hung from the wearer’s natural waist, with the bodice shaping the torso to neatly taper at the waist. The voluminous skirts obscured the shape of the woman’s hips and legs, with “skirt cages” shaping the skirts to whatever shape was fashionable.
In the mid-1790s a new style developed, inspired by the loose robes seen in ancient Greek art. The waist became much higher, starting just under the bust, and the long draped skirts were not artificially shaped at all; the shape of the wearer’s hips & legs were visible as the fabric fell to her ankles. Along with the very low-cut bodice & off-the-shoulder sleeves often worn with this style, this was sometimes described as a “nude” style & was fairly scandalous when first in fashion. Despite the style being seen as “nude”, women did wear corsets & stays under their gowns, but these were less restrictive & shaped differently to previous decades to help create the new silhouette.
Variations on this style were fashionable until around 1820. After this time the waist of garments moved back to the wearer’s natural waist; a silhouette with a small waist that contrasted with puffy sleeves & a wide skirt became fashionable. To accentuate a small waist, laced corsets became widely used again.
