Heritage from Home: Dr Andrew G. Newby, “It Would Lead to Sheer Anarchy": Joseph R. Fisher, Finland and the Home Rule Question, c. 1899-1914
09 November 2021

Dr Andrew Newby will discuss Joseph R. Fisher, Finland and the Home Rule Question, c. 1899-1914.
From the mid-nineteenth century to the creation of the Irish Free State, Finland became one of several examples that Irish nationalists (and indeed Gladstonian Home Rulers) used to demonstrate the potential and viability of Irish Home Rule. Nevertheless, Joseph J. Fisher, a native of Raffrey Co. Down and editor of the unionist Northern Whig newspaper, used his in-depth knowledge of Finnish nationalism to argue that the analogy of Finland was more suited to unionist rhetoric than nationalist. As Finland was seen by contemporaries in Britain and Europe as the "enlightened", "hard-working" and "civilised" part of the Russian Empire, Fisher posited that this should be seen as analogous to the position of Ulster. This paper will outline both the nationalist and unionist use of the Finnish analogy, and demonstrate the flexibility of international comparisons in Irish politics.
Dr Newby is Senior Lecturer in Transnational and Comparative History at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland. His research covers a wide range of topics relating to Europe in the "Long Nineteenth Century", particularly in relation to land reform, famine and aspects of nationalism and national / regional identity.