AngloIrish

AngloIrish refers to people of English descent who settled in Ireland and to a historic social group known as the Anglo-Irish or Protestant Ascendancy. The term is used in historical and cultural contexts to describe a group that dominated landholding, political office, and the Anglican church in Ireland from roughly the 17th through the early 20th century.

Origins lie in the Plantations of Ireland and subsequent waves of English settlement, which established English norms, language, and institutions in Ireland. Members of the Anglo-Irish ascendancy controlled most of the land and political power, particularly in counties and provinces outside the Gaelic Irish communities. They often identified as Irish in nationality but English in ancestry, and they maintained social and religious privileges under the Penal Laws. The relationship between Anglo-Irish and Catholic Irish was marked by tension and conflict, as nationalist movements and reforms gradually changed governance.

Following the Acts of Union 1800 and the rise of Irish nationalism, the position of the Anglo-Irish class waned. The partition of Ireland in the 20th century and the creation of the Irish Free State reduced Anglo-Irish influence on the island as a whole, though pockets remained in Northern Ireland and among emigrant communities. In modern usage, AngloIrish may refer to individuals of mixed English and Irish heritage or to the historical community associated with the Protestant Ascendancy, and the term is often used in discussions of Ireland's colonial, social, and cultural history.