Drills, Fights and Defence
Chapter One examines the forebears of the Tartan gangs in Belfast throughout the Twentieth-Century, demonstrating that youth sectarian conflict had a strong lineage in the city. The chapter also examines the role of the Boys’ Brigade as a restraining influence on young men during this period, and the strong focus which was placed on a culture of militarism in Protestant working-class communities through involvement with church-led organisations and political enterprises such as the Young Citizen Volunteers during the period of the Irish Home Rule Crises. The chapter also demonstrates how memory and ‘ethno-memory’ are crucial facets in understanding the manner in which the Protestant working-class would respond in defending their communities at the beginning of the Northern Ireland ‘Troubles’.