Dr James McConnel

Head Of School

School: Humanities and Social Sciences

I am a historian of modern Ireland, c. 1880-1922. I joined Northumbria University in 2008, after working at the universities of Hertfordshire and Ulster. I am particularly interested in the political and parliamentary history of Ireland under the Union, unionism and nationalism, Irish military history, and anything else that piques my interest.

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Research Themes and Scholarly Interests

Over the last two decades, my research has focused on various aspects of the political history of modern Ireland. During that time, my interest has focused especially on the final years of the Irish Parliamentary Party. My first book considered the IPP during the third home rule crisis of 1912-14. My work since then has focused on pre-war and wartime Irish nationalism. I have brought these interests together in my current project, provisionally titled The Patriotic Soldier in the Irish Nationalist Imagination: From Young Ireland to the Great War. This was supported be a Leverhulme fellowship in 2019-20.

In recent years, I have also written about a variety of things that interest me: time in early modern England, the history of the gunpowder plot anniversary in Ireland, and statuery in Ireland, Scotland, and America. I am currently working on two side projects: 1. pseudocide in Ireland and Britain c. 1885-1920; 2. Ulster and the British Empire.

During the recent First World War centenary, I worked closely with the Northumbria World War One Commemoration Project on a series of projects about rhe 1914-18 conflict and the North East of England: 1. The Dominion Geordies project (funded by QUB's AHRC WW1 engagement centre); 2. The Geordie Doughboys project (funded by the US Embassy); and 3. The Tynemouth POW project (funded by HLF). http://northumbriaworldwarone.co.uk

Key Publications

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
‘One morning you would open the paper … and read, Return of Parnell’: rumours, legends and conspiracy narratives about Charles Stewart Parnell’s staged death, McConnel, J. 1 Feb 2025, In: Historical Research
Introduction: New Histories of the Irish Revolution, McConnel, J., Nic Dháibhéid, C. 1 Nov 2023, In: Contemporary European History
‘Out in the Cold’?: The children of the Irish Parliamentary Party and the Irish Free State, McConnel, J. 1 May 2018, In: Irish Historical Studies
“Time and circumstance work great changes in public sentiment”: Royal Statues and Monuments in the United States of America, 1770–2010, McConnel, J. 30 Jul 2017, English Ethnicity and Culture in North America, University of South Carolina Press
‘Après la guerre’: John Redmond, The Irish Volunteers, and Armed Constitutionalism, 1913–1915, McConnel, J. 1 Dec 2016, In: The English Historical Review
The esmonde family of co. Wexford and Catholic loyalty, Keogh, R., McConnel, J. 1 Jun 2015, Irish Catholic Identities, Manchester University Press
The GAA and the Irish Parliamentary Party, 1913-18, McConnel, J. 1 Oct 2015, The GAA & Revolution in Ireland 1913-1923, The Collins Press
The Irish Parliamentary Party and the Third Home Rule crisis, McConnel, J. Jun 2013
The 1688 Landing of William of Orange at Torbay: Numerical Dates and Temporal Understanding in Early Modern England, McConnel, J. 2012, In: The Journal of Modern History
Remembering the 1605 Gunpowder Plot in Ireland, 1605–1920, McConnel, J. 2011, In: Journal of British Studies

PGR Supervision

Daniel Riddell German and Scandinavian Expatriate Merchant Entrepreneurs in Nineteenth Century Newcastle-upon-Tyne: The Ongoing Practice of Personal Capitalism During the Rise of Corporate Capitalism Start Date: 01/10/2019 End Date: 12/03/2025