The Caledon Lockout: Revolution and Counter-Revolution in Rural Ulster, 1918–1922

This paper examines an unsuccessful strike by Irish Catholic and Protestant workers at a woolen mill in 1919. The location, Caledon in County Tyrone, is renowned as a stronghold of Ulster Unionism and Orangeism, yet in the context of the revolutionary period in Ireland from 1916–1926, traditional sectarian divisions briefly abated in the face of working-class solidarity. In this respect, the analysis offers something of a corrective to assumptions regarding the immutability of sectarian divisions in Ulster. The article also places Caledon within the context of a widespread and sustained movement of unskilled workers in the main provincial city, Belfast, and across much of rural Ulster between 1918–1920. Nevertheless, the manner in which the employer defeated the strike and the village's subsequent history of violent sectarianism offers valuable insights into the creation and consolidation of Northern Ireland, or what many local Catholics called “the Orange State,” which celebrates its centenary in 2020.