The Act of Union
On 1 January 1801 the Kingdom of Ireland is dissolved into the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The parliament on College Green votes itself out of existence. Daniel O'Connell wins Catholic Emancipation in 1829 and rallies vast crowds for Repeal. Behind all of it, a population fed on potatoes races past eight million.
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When was the Act of Union in Ireland?
The Act of Union spans 1801 to 1844 in this atlas. On 1 January 1801 the Kingdom of Ireland is dissolved into the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
Who ruled Ireland during the Act of Union?
United Kingdom of Great Britain & Ireland held the whole island in this atlas's reckoning. After the 1798 rising, the Act of Union (1801) abolished the Irish parliament. Ireland sent MPs to Westminster — and O'Connell, Parnell and Redmond fought there to loosen the knot.
What is a lesser-known fact about the Act of Union?
The Union was bought. Some £1.5 million in secret-service money, pensions and 28 new peerages secured the votes of the Irish Parliament — a purchase so notorious that even contemporaries called it the most corrupt transaction of the age.
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