Ulster’s Lost Counties

In 1920, the three Ulster counties of Cavan, Donegal and Monaghan were excluded from Northern Ireland. What happens to an abandoned people? And what is the impact on subsequent generations? At a time of uncertainty over the future of Northern Ireland, the history of Ulster loyalists who found themselves on the ‘wrong side’ of the Irish border is especially relevant. Memories of the violence and betrayal experienced by one generation of protestants in the three counties entrenched an intergenerational Ulster loyalist identity. Subsequently, three-county loyalists who moved across the border played an important role in militant politics. Examining armed resistance in these counties and the radicals who came from them, Edward Burke argues that violence or terrorism perpetrated by ‘lost Ulster’ loyalists enjoyed considerable success. Spanning the Anglo-Irish War to the Troubles and beyond, Ulster’s Lost Counties demonstrates the grip of identity and betrayal since the partition of Ireland.