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This is an essay, a page containing the advice or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. Essays may represent widespread norms or minority viewpoints, and they may be heeded or not based upon your judgement and discretion. |
Wikipedia: Manual of Style (biographies) provides that the opening paragraph of a biographical article should state the person's "nationality". However, there is no consensus on how this guideline should be applied to people from the United Kingdom.[1]
This essay provides a brief breakdown of the United Kingdom, giving examples of how the constituent nationalities have been described, and offers a guide on finding the best "opening paragraph" nationality for a UK citizen. This essay includes examples of nationalities of those from the UK's predecessor states.
Contents |
Constituent countries of the UK
The United Kingdom
 The United Kingdom |
The United Kingdom (in full, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland) is made up of four constituent countries (known in the UK as the "home nations"):
Under British law, these four countries are an equal union, sharing a common British nationality (see British nationality law). The terms "Britain" and "Great Britain" are often used to mean "the United Kingdom". A UK passport describes its holder as a "British citizen".
Northern Ireland: dual citizenship
People born in Northern Ireland are entitled to Irish citizenship by default (Irish citizenship being a fundamental "entitlement", that extends to all of the island). This automatically allows for dual British and Irish citizenship.
The Crown dependencies
 Guernsey and Jersey |
There are three Crown dependencies that are part of the British Isles but are not part of the United Kingdom. The Crown dependencies and the United Kingdom are collectively known as the "British Islands".
The Crown dependencies are:
- Isle of Man (a self-governing dependency)
The Channel Islands comprising of:
- Bailiwick of Guernsey (and its surrounding islets)
- Bailiwick of Jersey
Citizens of the Crown dependencies are officially classed as “British citizens”, but as with citizens of the home nations, the accuracy of the appellation regarding each person should be verified.
Celtic heritage within Britain and Ireland
 The "British Isles" |
 The "Celtic Nations" |
The United Kingdom was once inhabited by Celtic tribes, the heritage of which lives on today.
The remaining Celtic cultures are sometimes called the "Celtic nations":
| Branch | Area | Name of Celtic people | Language | Celtic culture | Example of use |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gaelic | Northern Ireland | Irish | Irish | Irish is taught in Northern Ireland (where 10% "have some knowledge"). | Seamus Heaney |
| Scotland | Scottish | Scottish Gaelic | Around 60,000 Scottish citizens speak Scottish Gaelic (1%), and around 1.5m (25%) speak Scots (a close relative to English). In 1997 it successfully voted for its own Scottish Parliament, and a referendum for complete independence is currently scheduled for 2010. Scotland has always had its own legal system. | Robert Burns (Scots) | |
| Isle of Man | Manx | Manx | The Isle of Man is a self governing Crown dependency in the Irish Sea, situated between northern England and Northern Ireland. Although the Manx language is no longer commonly spoken, a hybrid form of Manx English is widely used – which contains many original Manx words. | Thomas Edward Brown | |
| Brythonic | Wales | Welsh | Welsh | Welsh is spoken by 600,000 people (20% of the population), and Wales is bilingually sign-posted. In 1997 Wales successfully voted for its own Welsh National Assembly. | Dylan Thomas |
| Cornwall | Cornish | Cornish | The county of Cornwall is the South-western peninsula-tip of the United Kingdom. The Cornish language and culture has undergone a renaissance in recent years. It is spoken by 3,500 people. | Richard Trevithick |
Timeline (with historical examples)
Union did not come peacefully for the countries involved. It happened first in the 16C between England and Wales, during the Welsh-descended Tudor dynasty. In the 18C, a century after the Tudor-connected Scottish Stuart became king, the Kingdom of Great Britain was formed. Political union happened with Ireland several centuries after it was conquered by England: this lead to the "United Kingdom" comprising of Great Britain and the island of Ireland. The current "United Kingdom" comprises of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, after Ireland achieved independence.
| Date (CE) | Event | Event-related nationality | Example of use | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 43-300 | Roman invasion of the Celtic tribes of Britannia | Britain, or Great Britain is often used for Britannia. The terms Ancient Briton or "Brythons" can be used for its people | Britons, British | Boudica |
| 300-900 | Scotland north of the Forth-Clyde line | People from Fortriu can be called Picts; people from Dál Riata Gaels. It is acceptable to call people from Dál Riata Scots before 900, but this must be piped to either Scoti or Gaels, not Scottish people. Pictish people before c. 900 should not be called" Scots". | Pictish; Gaelic | Nechtan Morbet or Áedán mac Gabráin; but remember characters such as Eóganan mac Óengusa, Nechtan mac Der-Ilei, and Kenneth MacAlpin, who may be either. |
| 300-1200 | "Scotland" south of Forth before the 1200s (excluding Galloway c. 900-1230s ) | Originally entirely "British", English culture spread from the south-east. People from this region can be called British (or Cumbrian, etc) or English (or Anglo-Saxon, etc) depending on their ethnicity. They should not be called Scottish in this period. Note also that in the period 1000—1200s Gaelic Scots, Norse-Gaels, Normans (or Anglo-Normans, etc) and Flemings come into the region and are born there, without having any obvious standard ethnic identification. | British or English (depending on culture) | Run of Alt Clut (British), Owen the Bald (British), or, Cuthbert of Lindisfarne (English), Heathored (English), Richard de Morville (Norman), William de Brus, 3rd Lord of Annandale (Norman), Gillemachoi (Gaelic), Bricius de Douglas (unclear, but Flemish origin) |
| c.900-c.1230s | Galloway & Carrick in the High Middle Ages | People from this region should not be called Scottish in this period. | Galwegian, Gallovidian, etc. The region is not part of Scotland in the period, and should thus it is anachronistic to refer to its inhabitants as "Scottish". | Gille Aldan, Gille Ruadh, Uhtred of Galloway, Gille Brigte of Galloway |
| 500-1707 | consolidation of England | English is often used for the Heptarchy of kingdoms that came to be known as "England" sometime in the 10C. | English | Alfred the Great |
| 500-1707 | consolidation of Wales | Welsh is generally used; "British" and "Briton" used in contexts into the Later Middle Ages | Welsh (or British, Briton, per above) | Hywel Dda |
| c.900-1707 | High Medieval Scotland | Both Scottish, and Scots, should only be used for people north of the Forth-Clyde line, as the area to the south was not thought of as "Scotland" until the later 13th century. | Scottish, Scots | Dub mac Maíl Coluim, Crínán of Dunkeld, Óengus of Moray, Edgar of Scotland, Máel Ísu I, Earl of Strathearn, etc |
| 1200s-1707 | consolidation of Scotland | Both Scottish, and Scots (though as with England (1066), avoid calling first or second generation Norman incomers "Scottish") | Scottish, Scots | Robert the Bruce, John of Islay, Earl of Ross, John Barbour (poet), David Leslie, Lord Newark, etc |
| 1066 | Norman conquest of England | The Norman conquest of England significantly changed the course of English history. The Normans gradually became naturalised, as did Normandy itself with France. | Norman | Gerald of Wales, Strongbow |
| 1169 | Norman invasion of Ireland | Following the invasion, a series of unexpected events causes central authority in Ireland to fall into union with the English Crown. However, despite Gaelic Ireland loosing central authority, the English Crown but is unable to consolidate authority effectively leading to a centuries-long power struggle. | Anglo-Irish | |
| 1536 | union of England and Wales | Wales officially became a "Principality". | English, Welsh | Shakespeare, Robert Recorde |
| 1540 - mid-1600s | Tudor reconquest of Ireland, Plantation of Ulster | The Gaelic order in Ireland collapses following protracted war with England and central English authority is consolidated in Ireland. A hundred thousand English and Scottish settlers are "planted" in Ulster to ensure a quash resistance in the province, sowing communal differences that underly the modern conflict in Northern Ireland. | English, Welsh, Scots Irish, Irish | |
| 1707 | union with Scotland | The "Kingdom of Great Britain" was created. The term "British" came into common usage. | British becomes an option | Charles Dickens, Benjamin Disraeli, Walter Scott |
| 1801 | union with Ireland | The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was created. | British, Irish | Oscar Wilde, James Joyce |
| 1921-1922 | creation of Northern Ireland and the Irish Free State (later the Republic of Ireland). | The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland was created. | Northern Irish, Ulstermen/women | George Best, Seamus Heaney |
| present-day | United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland | All uses for present-day citizens: | British, English, Irish, Northern Irish, Scottish, Welsh |
|
Present-day UK nationality (examples of use)
Editors have strongly opposing ideas on the relative importance of the appellations "British", "English", "Northern Irish", "Scottish" and "Welsh". All are proud and highly individual countries, and each contain people that cherish their independence as much as their union (and in many cases, more so).
Various different methods of referring to a UK citizen's nationality have been adopted, including:
| Name and title | Nationality | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Jane Smith | is a British chef... | who happens to be English. |
| John Brown | is an English lyricist... | who writes about English life. |
| Liam O'Connor | was a Belfast-born footballer... | who is an "expatriate" from Northern Ireland, perhaps. |
| Muira McClair | is a British politician from Scotland... | who is part of the Cabinet of the United Kingdom. |
| Dafydd Gruffudd | was a Welsh author... | who happened to write in English, rather than Welsh. |
| David Tanner | (born on 13 June 1955 in Alloa, Clackmannanshire, Scotland) is a football pundit... | who has only his birth country mentioned. |
| Tommy Arrow | is a UK comedian... | Occurs occasionally, but is considered by many to be a lazy option. |
No variation is particular to any one nationality.
Guide to finding UK nationality
The following guide is designed to help find the right "opening paragraph" nationality for a UK citizen's biography.
- When looking for available evidence (perhaps through biographies, encyclopedias and news articles), bear in mind that there is often no consensus across the UK, and many conflicting examples can exist for any one person. Often, however, a clear national preference can arise (e.g., Sean Connery is widely referred to as a Scottish actor).
- Bear in mind too that non-UK media can make simplistic (and erroneous) assumptions about UK citizens: some use only British or English to describe them.
- Look specifically for evidence that the person has a preferred nationality. You may wish to refer to the evidence in a footnote. The writer Iris Murdoch considered herself to be Irish, though some feel she was perhaps wrong to do so:[2] the current consensus on Wikipedia is to call her "Dublin-born".
- Each UK home nation has its various national sporting teams, which are often are allowed to recruit new team members based on the nationality of their parents or grandparents. These players are sometimes described as a nationals of their team's nation, and often become proud to be a representative of the two different nations. The original nationality of the player is usually used in these cases – though some players may choose to adopt the nationality of the country they played for.
Changing an existing UK nationality
It cannot be called "wrong" to change an existing nationality (e.g., Welsh to British, or British to Irish) provided a sufficient connection exists.
Before making a change:
- Consider why the existing nationality was chosen.
- Examine the article for details that support the existing label.
- Look for existing consensus on the discussion page, and in any archives that may be present.
- Conduct research to be certain your choice is preferable (you can consult the guide above).
Sometimes no single "correct" choice exists. Is your change actually for the better? An editor may query you, or revert your choice – so be prepared to explain your decision.
Above all, be civil, assume good faith and respect other people's points of view. It is of course OK to "be bold" and apply your choice, but remember that strong feelings surround UK identity, and firm disagreement may arise!
Do NOT enforce uniformity
It is not possible to create a uniforming guideline, when such strong disagreement exists on the relative importance of the labels.
Re-labelling nationalities on grounds of consistency – making every UK citizen "British", or converting each of those labelled "British" into their constituent nationalities – is strongly discouraged. Such imposed uniformity cannot, in any case, be sustained.
Do NOT "edit war"!
Be aware that "edit warring" with other editors by repeatedly changing the text of an article to suit your views is against Wikipedia policy, and may lead to action being taken against you by Wikipedia administrators.
Cannot decide?
If you are still uncertain how your UK citizen's nationality is best labelled, you may wish to follow this course of action:
- Look at what others have done in comparable articles.
- Post a message asking for advice or assistance on the talk page, and/or on relevant WikiProjects and notice boards.
- Consider simply leaving the matter to someone who has a better feeling for it.
- When an idea of nationality exists, consider deferring to that view.
WikiProjects and notice boards
- UK Wikipedians' notice board
- WikiProject England
- WikiProject Northern Ireland
- Scottish Wikipedians' notice board
- WikiProject Wales
See also
- British Isles (terminology)
- British nationality law
- Dual nationality
- Northern Ireland – Citizenship and identity
- Irish nationality law
- Manual of Style (flags)
- Languages of the United Kingdom
Notes
- ^ See the archived discussion that took place in late 2007 at British, or English, Scottish, Welsh, (Northern) Irish?, and the 2008 discussion on this essay at Discussion on draft essay "Wikipedia:Nationality of people from the United Kingdom".
- ^ Conradi, Peter J. (2001-09-08). "Iris Murdoch: A Life by Peter J Conradi: Iris Murdoch always claimed she was Irish. But was she mythologising herself?". The Guardian (Saturday Review).
