Transnationalising “Anti‐Popery”: Militant Protestant Preachers in the Nineteenth‐Century Anglo‐World

Abstract

Nineteenth‐century popular anti‐Catholicism may not have reached the intensity of the Gordon Riots of 1780, but it was nevertheless sustained and hostile. Whilst a deep‐rooted anti‐Catholicism shaped the British psyche, a specific anti‐Irish dimension also reared its head in response to epic migrations from the neighbouring island. This, in turn, saw traditions of intolerance spread around the globe as British and Irish migrants re‐peopled vast territories. For a time, specifically in the few decades after the 1840s, anti‐Catholic traditions were supported by a new brand of public theatre that became popular and financially rewarding. In one way, the emergence of a public style of no‐popery entertainment was an effect of mass migration, shared, ingrained Protestant identities, and urban modernity. By examining press reportage, contemporary writings, and the works of specific preachers, this article examines the global patterns of posturing and violence that marked the careers of itinerants like Charles Chiniquy, Baron de Camin, Fr Gavazzi, and John Sayers Orr, paying particular attention to the way these preachers and their supporters affected global Irish Catholic communities throughout the Anglo‐world.