A recent Generation Emigration article lamented the lack of historical awareness in England about Ireland, and, in particular, the events of 1916. Having grown up in the North, but lived for decades in England, I would have to agree there is little, if any, awareness amongst the majority here about the history of Ireland. There is also a dearth of knowledge about the history of Scotland, Wales, and even England.
I was amazed arriving here in the 1980s to find the English - of varying educational backgrounds - knew less about their history than I did. It was not just history though, but also politics and even geography. For example, people in the North East of England have a limited awareness of the South, while many Londoners have a patchy knowledge when it comes to many parts of London let alone the rest of the United Kingdom. People are pre-occupied with the here and now. For many this side of the Irish Sea, Ireland is at peace since 1998 and that's that. So why drag up the past?
This begs the question: are we expecting too much? Why should the English remember something that is, in essence, peripheral to modern Britain? If you stopped the average shopper on Oxford Street and asked about the 1926 General Strike, I would wager the reply would be a blank look. If you did happen to find someone who knew of it, would they be able to articulate its significance for today’s Britain? Unless a keen, and advanced, student of history, or of left wing politics, I suspect not.
This lack of knowledge is even more so the case when it comes to Ireland and her history. There may be another reason for it too.
Irish history is complicated, still emotive, and for many, still raw. Recently, an English friend asked for help with a class she was teaching on Seamus Heaney. The Hampstead school where she taught is well regarded and high achieving. The girls - it was a single-sex school - were all sixth formers, and as part of their English Literature course were about to embark upon a study of the Derry man's poetry.
I had been asked to give some historical background and was allotted one hour. By the end I was amazed; I hadn't even scratched the surface. I had begun with names - Irish names, before the contentious issue of the use of language in the North. So off we set: Eire, Ireland, Irish Free State, Republic of Ireland, Ulster, The North of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Six Counties …and on we went.
Looking at those intelligent teenagers, I realised I had quickly lost them. The subject was too dense, with just too many layers. Unlike the Whig version of British history - a false one at that- for Ireland there is no island story of glorious progress. Ireland’s history is a mess of many dimensions. But the truth is that all countries’ histories, including the United Kingdom’s, are just as equally messy. But for many of us, Ireland’s troubled past is still part of what we are living with today.
This side of the Irish Sea, I suspect many are less concerned, if at all, with the events of Dublin 1916 than the outcome of this year’s Premiership race or the Euros. These things are of today, the here and now, and give pleasures of sorts. The sad fact is Irish history rarely gives pleasure, even to the Irish. The subject must be viewed as something akin to a death in the family, with its sufferings only really known to those most affected. And, for those troubles others may offer condolences, but, perhaps understandably, will want to move swiftly on.
