Peep o' Day Boys

Peep o' Day Boys

The Peep o' Day Boys was an agrarian sectarian Protestant[1] association in 18th-century Ireland. Originally noted as being an agrarian society around 1779–80, from 1785 it became the Protestant component of the sectarian conflict that emerged in County Armagh, their rivals being the Catholic Defenders.[2][3] After the Battle of the Diamond in 1795, where an offshoot of the Peep o' Day Boys known as the Orange Boys defeated a force of Defenders, the Orange Order was instituted, and whilst repudiating the activities of the Peep o' Day Boys, they quickly superseded them.[3][4] The Orange Order would blame the Peep o' Day Boys for "the Armagh outrages" that followed the battle.[5]

  1. ^ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Peep-of-Day Boys" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 21 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 45.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Divided454 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Connolly461 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
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  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference Jackson was invoked but never defined (see the help page).