Can we consider England a British country?

Joined Sep 2013
1,670 Posts | 51+
Ulster
I think in the context of sport and the British and Irish Lions there is no distinction.

Politically I understand your point that Northern Island is part of the UK though I think Ulster province is bigger than just N.I.

It use to be just the British Lions and some from NI did play on the British Lions team. However it was changed years later to include those from the ROI and it became the British and Irish Lions.
 
Joined Sep 2013
1,670 Posts | 51+
Ulster
Technically speaking, isn't Ulster one of Northern Ireland's six counties? How did Ulster come to represent the whole of Northern Ireland in common vernacular then?
It is still officially Northern Ireland and it was Lloyd George PM who gave it that name. Basil Brooke went to Attlee and asked that the name should be Ulster. He thought that having gone though the Blitz with many deaths that Attlee would be open to the change but Attlee refused.

Ulster has varied in size over the years. At one time it was the size of twelve present day counties. At other times just two present day counties. The provinces and counties were an English configuration. Before that it was tribes of Tuath and Fine.
 
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Joined Jul 2020
2,248 Posts | 961+
Ireland
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Technically speaking, isn't Ulster one of Northern Ireland's six counties? How did Ulster come to represent the whole of Northern Ireland in common vernacular then?

It's only used among the Unionists to represent Northern Ireland. Nationalists just call the whole island Ireland. Ulaidh (The land of the Ulaidh tribes, more than likely named by the Vikings), is where the name Ulster came from because the English had a hard time pronouncing Irish names, that's why its called Ulster today.
 
Joined Sep 2013
67 Posts | 17+
New Zealand
Well now... I reckon a disproportionate number of famous Victorian military figures were Scottish, Welsh or Irish. Wellington, for example. While Robert Clive was English, Lord Palmerston was Irish.

Maybe but most of the wealth, industry, and power was generated in England, without that people from Scotland, Ireland, or Wales wouldn’t have been able to diddly squat


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Joined Jul 2020
2,248 Posts | 961+
Ireland
Maybe but most of the wealth, industry, and power was generated in England, without that people from Scotland, Ireland, or Wales wouldn’t have been able to diddly squat


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To 'do diddly squat' you mean. Wait a minute, 'hey diddle diddle the cat and the fiddle', oh no sorry that's diddle not 'diddly', yes, you must be right.
 
Joined Sep 2013
67 Posts | 17+
New Zealand
To 'do diddly squat' you mean. Wait a minute, 'hey diddle diddle the cat and the fiddle', oh no sorry that's diddle not 'diddly', yes, you must be right.

Basically without the power base of England the rest wouldn’t have been able to do much. I say this as a person with a DNA mix of English 49%, Scottish 20%, Irish 20%


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Joined Sep 2013
6,844 Posts | 688+
Wirral
Maybe but most of the wealth, industry, and power was generated in England, without that people from Scotland, Ireland, or Wales wouldn’t have been able to diddly squat


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If we're going to play that game England wouldn't have been what it was without Welsh and Scottish coalfields and heavy industry. Victorian Northern England would have slept under thatch if it weren't for the North Wales slate quarries. Of course English capital was needed to develop those industries but was a symbiosis.
 
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Joined Sep 2012
10,340 Posts | 4,400+
Bulgaria
If we're going to play that game England wouldn't have been what it was without Welsh and Scottish coalfields and heavy industry. Victorian Northern England would have slept under thatch if it weren't for the North Wales slate quarries. Of course English capital was needed to develop those industries but was a symbiosis.
I think i already mentioned it somewhere in the forum. We hear a lot lately about the city of Donetsk, a center for coal mining & steel industry far away from Wales in a distant land. The city was established during imperial times as Hughesovka (Юзовка) named after its founder the Welshman John Hughes, renamed to Donetsk nearly hundred years later. Quite interesting story.
 
Joined Nov 2020
226 Posts | 149+
Brooklyn
It is still officially Northern Ireland and it was Lloyd George PM who gave it that name. Basil Brooke went to Attlee and asked that the name should be Ulster. He thought that having gone though the Blitz with many deaths that Attlee would be open to the change but Attlee refused.

Ulster has varied in size over the years. At one time it was the size of twelve present day counties. At other times just two present day counties. The provinces and counties were an English configuration. Before that it was tribes of Tuath and Fine.

When Randolph Churchill thundered, "Ulster will fight, and Ulster will be right," was he referring to all the Protestants in Ireland, or just to the Protestants in Northern Ireland?
 
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6,844 Posts | 688+
Wirral
I think i already mentioned it somewhere in the forum. We hear a lot lately about the city of Donetsk, a center for coal mining & steel industry far away from Wales in a distant land. The city was established during imperial times as Hughesovka (Юзовка) named after its founder the Welshman John Hughes, renamed to Donetsk nearly hundred years later. Quite interesting story.
Thanks, I know of him, same surname but no relation.
 
Joined Nov 2019
4,044 Posts | 2,898+
United States
I think i already mentioned it somewhere in the forum. We hear a lot lately about the city of Donetsk, a center for coal mining & steel industry far away from Wales in a distant land. The city was established during imperial times as Hughesovka (Юзовка) named after its founder the Welshman John Hughes, renamed to Donetsk nearly hundred years later. Quite interesting story.
What an amazing story!
 
Joined Sep 2013
1,670 Posts | 51+
Ulster
It's only used among the Unionists to represent Northern Ireland. Nationalists just call the whole island Ireland. Ulaidh (The land of the Ulaidh tribes, more than likely named by the Vikings), is where the name Ulster came from because the English had a hard time pronouncing Irish names, that's why its called Ulster today.

Ulster has always had a resistance to those from the south. Probably the first ever British army
When Randolph Churchill thundered, "Ulster will fight, and Ulster will be right," was he referring to all the Protestants in Ireland, or just to the Protestants in Northern Ireland?

By saying that I think it would be the Protestants of Ulster he was referring to. Protestants in the rest of Ireland were vastly outnumbered and in no position to do anything.
 
Joined Jul 2020
2,248 Posts | 961+
Ireland
Ulster has always had a resistance to those from the south. Probably the first ever British army.

Their resistance to the South was against English armies that were in the South. Ulster was the last stronghold of Gaelic Ireland. I have no idea what you mean when you say 'the first ever British army.' I haven't read that history yet.
 
Joined Sep 2013
1,670 Posts | 51+
Ulster
Their resistance to the South was against English armies that were in the South. Ulster was the last stronghold of Gaelic Ireland. I have no idea what you mean when you say 'the first ever British army.' I haven't read that history yet.

Congal Claen raised an army which included men from what are now England, Scotland and Wales.

'By 637 Congal managed to gather around him a powerful army, which included not only his Ulstermen, but also contingents of Picts ( Scots ), Anglo-Saxons ( English ) and Britons (Welsh ) '
 
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Joined Jun 2012
15,528 Posts | 2,868+
Malaysia
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You'll have to forgive me. I'm one of those odd Americans whose a raving fan of the people's game.
You must be among the few 'sensible' ones then. I mean, what is there to see in terms of real skill in American 'football'. It's all just about brute strength & sheer brutality. One might as well watch a bout of heavyweight pro boxing or WWE wrestling for all it's worth.

And how could they even have the audacity to call it 'football'. They don't touch that darned ball with any foot even hardly 1% of the time. All they do with their feet is run.:p
 
Joined Jul 2020
2,248 Posts | 961+
Ireland
Congal Claen raised an army which included men from what are now England, Scotland and Wales.

'By 637 Congal managed to gather around him a powerful army, which included not only his Ulstermen, but also contingents of Picts ( Scots ), Anglo-Saxons ( English ) and Britons (Welsh ) '

Good heavens, what did we say now to make all them angry with us hahahaha
 
Joined Sep 2013
67 Posts | 17+
New Zealand
If we're going to play that game England wouldn't have been what it was without Welsh and Scottish coalfields and heavy industry. Victorian Northern England would have slept under thatch if it weren't for the North Wales slate quarries. Of course English capital was needed to develop those industries but was a symbiosis.

I largely agree, my point was the patriotic claim of a poster claiming the disproportionate input to Britain might by Irish, Scottish, and Welsh people. I countered that with the fact that none of their input would have been possible without the English power base.

I’m a patriot from little NZ, but having traveled the world and with my interest in history I realise we are only bit players in world affairs or indeed the British empire

Keith Park was one of the chief commanders of the Air Force that defended London during the Battle of Britain. He was a NZer, I’m proud of him, but know most of the pilots he commanded weren’t kiwis and the planes were British owned and funded


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