Peter Gray traces the history of radical liberalism in Ulster through the life and ideas of its greatest exponent, “a man whose political life was committed to the pursuit of democratic reform, social and economic justice, and the redefinition of the relationship between Britain and Ireland through the mobilisation of non-violent popular politics”. Although Sharman Crawford was born into the wealthy Co Down landlord class, his father’s involvement in the “Protestant patriot” Volunteers during the American and French Revolutions inspired his own immersion in various Irish and British 19th-century radical reform movements, such as the Repeal Association, Chartism and the Tenant League.
The absence of favourable circumstances and limited personal means delayed his public activism until middle age, but he soon made up for his late engagement. He entered reformist politics in the early 1830s, campaigning for the abolition of slavery, national education, religious equality and the extension of the franchise. Initially friendly with Daniel O’Connell, he clashed with him over some issues, disliking especially his autocratic leadership style, but he was sympathetic to the Repeal movement and came to advocate federalism for the UK. He thought it “the only workable compromise that could reconcile Irish aspirations to national self-government with the geopolitical realities of British imperial power, ensure continuing participation in the commercial advantages of the UK’s free-trade area, and address the fears of Irish Protestants over their future in a democratised Catholic-dominated Irish society”.
Had Sharman Crawford’s federalism been seriously entertained, much future suffering, bloodshed and death might have been avoided
He supported English Chartism (which was partly Irish inspired) and was MP for Rochdale twice in the 1840s. Condemning his own landlord class for their behaviour during the Great Famine, he pleaded for greater relief measures and opposed emigration and land clearance. Long a supporter of agrarian reform, he strongly advocated for tenant rights and campaigned against rural poverty and evictions. Although he failed to secure tenant rights, what he advocated was largely realised in the later 19th-century Land Acts.
The family tradition of radical liberalism continued in the next generation through his son James and daughter Mabel but ended with his grandson Robert’s conservative Ulster unionism. It was a noble tradition that deserves the lucid and scholarly treatment Gray gives it here. Had Sharman Crawford’s federalism been seriously entertained, much future suffering, bloodshed and death might have been avoided.
