Cavan

The Irish Revolution, 1912-23

Mel Farrell and Brendan Scott

Located in south Ulster adjacent to Counties Fermanagh and Monaghan, but also bordering Leitrim in north Connacht and the three north Leinster counties of Longford, Meath and Westmeath, Cavan has always occupied a distinct cultural, geographic and political space. Nationalism’s quest for an Irish parliament culminated in the long-awaited introduction of the third home rule bill in 1912. For unionism, the imminent introduction of home rule represented the destruction of all that they held dear – the union of Great Britain and Ireland. The fundamental difference between these two viewpoints formed the backdrop to Cavan’s politics with thousands of unionists from the county signing the Ulster Covenant and Women’s Declaration and joining the Ulster Volunteer Force and with thousands of nationalists there joining the Irish Volunteers. The gulf between nationalists and unionists would widen significantly after the 1916 Rising as nationalism pivoted from home rule to the quest for a fully independent Irish state. Against the background of the 1918 Conscription Crisis, Arthur Griffith’s victory in the pivotal East Cavan by-election of June 1918 set Sinn Féin on course to a resounding victory in the subsequent general election in December. Thereafter, Cavan was at the vanguard of the new nationalist politics of Sinn Féin and the effort to establish a counter state through such activities as the Sinn Féin arbitration courts. Violence came to Cavan during the War of Independence with ten deaths and the arrival of the Auxiliaries and the Black and Tans. Cavan also witnessed a robust debate on the Anglo-Irish Treaty and, as a border county, adjusted to the realities of a partitioned Ireland after 1922. For Cavan’s unionists, however, there was a sense of betrayal when the Ulster Unionist Council accepted a six-county Northern Ireland. 

Mel Farrell and Brendan Scott have published and lectured widely on the 1912–23 period. Mel is the author of Party politics in a new democracy: the Irish Free State, 1922–37, while Brendan is the editor of County Cavan and the revolutionary years, 1918–22.