The Irish Times: ‘The Protestant and Conservative daily newspaper’

Abstract

First published in March 1859 and established by former conservative MP, Lawrence E. Knox, The Irish Times was aimed at Dublin’s mercantile and administrative class, which was predominantly Protestant and unionist. It articulated a belief that Ireland functioned best as part of the British Empire. In line with its conservative ethos it believed the position of the established (minority) church should be ‘left undisturbed’ and was opposed to the concept of the secret ballot, which had ‘been overrated by its promoters’. It did, however, recognise the need for land reform. Following Knox’s death in 1873 the title was purchased by Scottish businessman Sir John Arnott. As a philanthropist, Arnott was sympathetic to the objectives – though not the tactics – of the Land League. Home Rule, however, was a different issue: despite Arnott being sympathetic to the demands for Home Rule, The Irish Times consistently and vehemently editorialised against it in 1886 and 1892. This strain of thinking was to continue through to the early twentieth century, when in an independent Ireland, nationalists were often quick to point to the title’s heritage as proof of its where its real, supposedly pro-British, sympathies lay.