ABSTRACT
Britishness and the union state were effectively efforts to construct a pan-national identity and institutions across the “British isles” in the nineteenth century and after. This chapter looks at the complex interlinkages between Britishness, union and the component polities of the United Kingdom at this time: Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Taking a range of central aspects of Britishness and the union state, the chapter argues that – while there was certainly significant overlap between these nations – Ireland and the Irish connected with these in distinctive ways. In addition, it is also argued that Britishness and union in the United Kingdom shared some points of similarity with other pan-national or supranational identities such as Scandinavianism or Habsburgtreue – as well as with other complex multinational union states. Each of these identities had the capacity to unite; but each, too, sometimes become synonymous with the particular interests of dominant component nationalities.
