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West Briton, commonly shortened to West Brit, is a derogatory term for an Irish person who is perceived as being too anglophilic in matters of culture or politics.〔("West Brit" ) from World Wide Words〕 The term in modern times is not specifically limited to any geographic region or social class of Ireland, although the interests of Ireland's "upper class", and more so the "upper classes" of Dublin, and in particular south side Dublin districts, make them most susceptible as targets. This is also true for historical reasons - Dublin was part of "The Pale" a small area of territory that the British Crown governed in the middle ages. The rest of the island of Ireland was governed by local kingdoms. The Pale was known as "West Britain" by the native Irish. A slang term used by the rural Irish – "jackeen" is a comparable term from Irish history referring to people of Dublin who supported British rule. Nowadays, any Irish person, rich or poor, from any part of the country, showing great interest in British affairs, or condescending toward Irish national issues may have the term "West Brit" applied to them. ==History== The term became popularised from 19th century Ireland and has evolved over the years. Nationalist leader Daniel O'Connell used it in the British House of Commons in 1832: :"The people of Ireland are ready to become a portion of the Empire, provided they be made so in reality and not in name alone; they are ready to become a kind of West Briton if made so in benefits and justice; but if not, we are Irishmen again." At that time Scotland was known informally as "North Britain", and O'Connell was hoping that the benefits to Scotland under the Acts of Union 1707 would also be seen in Ireland which had been united to the rest of the United Kingdom under the Acts of Union 1800. “West Brit” came to prominence in the land struggle of the 1880s. D. P. Moran, who founded ''The Leader'' in 1900, used the term frequently to describe those who he did not consider sufficiently Irish. It was synonymous with those he described as “Sourfaces”, who mourned the death of the Queen Victoria.〔(D.P. Moran and the leader: writing an Irish Ireland through partition )〕 It included virtually all Church of Ireland Protestants and those Catholics who did not measure up to his definition of “Irish Irelanders”. In the early years of the Irish Free State, the term was attributed within the dominion to those who held strong emotional, political anglocentric sentiments. As an example, many residents of Dun Loaghaire (Kingstown) would hoist the Union Flag in a demonstration of their West Britishness. In some respects this was galvanised by the many professional ties which east coast Irishmen and women had as teachers, civil servants, nurses, doctors, lecturers and so forth on the island of Great Britain. The Imperial Civil Service was a bastion of the Irish professional classes who ran the British Empire with skill, aplomb and flair. The West British zeitgeist was also underscored in 1949 by the fact that despite Her withdrawal from The Commonwealth, by matter of The Government of Ireland Act Éire was not deemed a foreign power, thereby necessitating freedom of movement between the UK and Éire. "West British" was applied mainly to Roman Catholics, as Protestants were expected to be naturally unionist (although this was not automatic, since there were, and are, also Anglo-Irish Protestants favouring Irish republicanism (see Protestant Irish nationalism). 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「West Brit」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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