Siblinghood and Sociability in Nineteenth-Century Ulster

This book is an innovative exploration of nineteenth-century family life and society. The first study of its kind, it uses the sibling relationship as a window into Irish society in the past. Employing a creative genealogical methodology, Shannon Devlin pieces together the lives of twenty-five sibling sets from Ulster, allowing for an exploration of power, emotion and gender in the family. She considers families from both Catholic and Protestant backgrounds and in urban and rural contexts, shedding new light on the Ulster middle classes during a century of rapid social and economic change.

Through its emphasis on horizontal family relationships, the book uncovers the lived experiences of individuals and reveals how the family could help navigate the social hierarchies and gendered power structures underpinning middle-class society. It complicates our understanding of family dynamics, household formation and cultural performances of sociability, and offers an exciting new perspective on aspects of the lifecycle, marriage practices, inheritance, family finances and Irish middle-class mobility. Exploring the influence of brothers and sisters on everyday life, Siblinghood and Sociability in Nineteenth-Century Ulster provides a unique insight into the ways in which family loyalties and obligations intersected with personal reputation, aspiration and ambition.