The 1925 Irish Boundary Commission Centenary Conference

On 7 November 1925, near the end of the work of Irish Boundary Commission, the Morning Post published a speculative map of what the Commission was going to recommend in its report to the British, Irish, and Northern Irish governments. Ultimately, the Commission’s recommendations in its report would be dismissed by all governments and its findings unpublished until 1969. However, it was the final confirmation of the Irish boundary line, which would end up shaping the political, social, cultural and economic futures of both states on the island of Ireland.

To mark the 100th anniversary of the Morning Post’s published article, as well as the wider centenary of the Irish Boundary Commission, PRONI will hold an Irish Studies conference. The conference will focus on both the 1925 Irish Boundary Commission and the wider topic of the partition of Ireland, its roots and its impact.

Conference Programme

09:00-09:30 – Open of conference and registration

09:30 09:45 – Welcome address

09:45-10:45 – Home Rule crisis & Revolutionary period

Ulster Unionist Leadership in North Londonderry, 1911–1925

Aaron Callan, Independent

The Racial Politics of the Home Rule Bill, Partition, and the Ulster Volunteers in the Irish Advanced Nationalist Press: 1912 to 1918.

Emer O’Brien, University College Dublin

Irish Free State military pensions for the dependants of deceased combatants of the Irish Revolution in Northern Ireland: Evidence, practicalities, stakeholders

Cormac Keenan, Dublin City University

10:45-11:00 – Tea break

11:00-12:00 – Role of Women

The Boundary Commission and northern women

Dr Margaret Ward, Queen’s University Belfast

Worn Stories: Unravelling the boundaries of the alterations of fashion in 20th Century Northern Ireland/Ireland

Sara Cathcart and Rachel Sayers, Public Record Office of Northern Ireland

Recognition for Republican Women in Post-Partition Ulster, 1930-1950

Andrew Himmelberg, Queen’s University Belfast

Impact of Partition

Railways in Ireland and the impact of partition

Jim McBride, Independent

Lessons in a New State: Northern Ireland and the gendered outcomes of building a post-partition secondary schooling system, 1921-1965

Becca Mowbray, Queen’s University Belfast

The Ulster Cycle: the partition saga in northern cycling and wider sport

Dónal McAnallen, National Museum NI

12:00-12:45 – Lunch

12:45-13:45 – Roundtable Discussion of High Politics and the Boundary Commission

Wooden gun: nationalists and the Boundary Commission

Dr Emmet O’Connor (Ulster University)

The Unionist Perspective on the Boundary Commission

Dr Edward Burke (University College Dublin)

Chaired by Dr Margaret O’Callaghan (Queen’s University Belfast)

13:45-14:45 – Book launch

The Unbroken Covenant: Could Ulster Unionists have controlled a nine-county Northern Ireland, 1920-1945?

Dr Samuel Beckton, Independent

Irish Boundary Commission part 1

Drawing the line: designs for the Irish border in 1914 and comparisons with the Irish Boundary Commission Settlement

Prof. Conor Mulvagh, University College Dublin

The Genesis and Workings of The Boundary Commission

Dr. Francis Costello, Independent

The Boundary Commission: the Irish Free State’s approach as seen through its Weekly Bulletin?

Ciarán McKillop-O'Shea, Open University

14:45-15:00 – Tea break

15:00-16:00 – Irish Boundary Commission part 2

No Northern Ireland Representative - What To Do? The Boundary Commission and the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council

Ronnie Weatherup, Independent

Conflicting Profiles of the Chair of the Irish Boundary Commission

Adrian Guelke, Queen’s University Belfast

The Free State’s approach to the Boundary Commission, 1923-25: a re-assessment

Patrick Duffy, Trinity College Dublin

16:00-17:00 – Legacy

Negotiating Heritage After Partition: The Ulster Folk Museum and Northern Ireland’s Cultural Vacuum

Carys Tyson-Taylor, National Museum NI

Reassessing the first EU ‘peace package’ for Northern Ireland and the Irish border counties

Ciara Nicholson, Queen’s University Belfast

Remembering, or forgetting the Boundary Commission

Deirdre Mac Bride, Independent

17:00-17:15 – Closure of conference

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, 2 Titanic Boulevard Titanic Quarter, Belfast, United Kingdom

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