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Heritage and Heraldry

A people or a liquor? - the Scots/Scotch-Irish debate

Article of November 16, 1999

There is a story of a tour guide in Scotland who enjoyed poking fun at Americans. On one of his motor coach treks, he made a point of commenting that “scotch is a beverage, Scots are persons.” While I cannot personally attest to the validity of the story, there definitely seems to be a bit of confusion when it comes to calling a certain group of people by a certain name. Some people get down right offended over the matter of being called “Scotch-Irish” vice “Scots-Irish.” However, lets get right down to the records and see what history tells us.

The Ulster Scots, more commonly identified in America as the “Scotch-Irish,” were a group of people that made their way from Scotland to North America by way of Ireland. Following a nine-year war, Ulster’s Gaelic lords had given up their control of lands in the early 17th century. Leaving the land open for colonization, King James I established the “Plantation of Ulster” which redistributed the lands from Roman Catholic lords to Protestant English and Scottish lords. In turn, these English and Scottish lords recruited Protestant settlers from among tenant farmers, laborers, and craftsmen in England and Scotland to settle among the displaced Irish tenants in Ulster. As a result, Scots Presbyterians, French Protestants (Huguenots), and English Protestants created a stir by establishing their religious practices in a land that was use to Catholicism. It was only the beginning of a long and vicious clash between the two religious groups in that region. But that will be another article - back to the central theme of this story . . .

Early immigrants to the British colonies from the north of Ireland came from the province of Ulster, which at the time of the 18th century consisted of nine counties. According to many 18th century documents, upon arriving in the colonies they generally – despite their origins – referred to themselves simply as “Irish.” In rare instances did they refer to themselves as “Scotch-Irish,” but even more rare was use of the term “Scots-Irish.”

By the mid-to-late 19th century, the usage of the term “Scotch-Irish” was quite heavy. The reason for the sudden “boom” was that those of that descent wanted a clear distinction from the masses of Roman Catholic immigrants who had begun to pour into America in the wake of the 1840 potato famine. By adding “Scotch-” to “Irish” the self-entitled peoples made it clear that they were not of Irish stock, nor were they Roman Catholic, but typically Protestant and Calvinist – Presbyterian. Additionally, “The Scotch-Irish Society of America” was formed in the late 1800’s – a self-entitled organization of the distinctive descendants of those immigrants. Certainly, the people that founded the society meant no offense to their ancestry and were in fact honoring their ancestors.

In Ireland today, there is an organization entitled “The Scotch-Irish Trust of Ulster,” showing no deviation from the trend. This organization consists of trustees who have been knighted by Queen Elizabeth II, their vice president being the Duke of Abercorn. Being a prominent group of citizens who still reside in the United Kingdom, these people apparently do not take offense to the “Scotch-Irish” title anymore than their distant cousins in America.

So while you should make certain that you call the people of Scotland – “Scots”, it would appear that history is in your corner if you call those that made the trek from Scotland to Ireland – “Scotch-Irish.”

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