Wikipedia's Manual of Style for biographies states that the opening paragraph of a biographical article should state the person's "nationality", which it suggests will in "most modern-day cases" refer to "the country of which the person is a citizen, national or permanent resident". 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 or national identities have been described, and offers a guide on finding the best opening paragraph description for a UK citizen. This essay includes examples of nationalities and national identities of those from the UK's constituent countries.
The United Kingdom (in full, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland) is a union of four constituent countries or nations, also called the Home Nations:
They share a common British citizenship and a UK passport describes its holder as a "British citizen". According to British nationality law there are six types of British nationality of which the main one is British citizenship.[2][3] Despite having the same citizenship status in this legal sense, the way in which British individuals self-identify and talk about nationality is more complex, often or usually being based on which of the constituent countries they have connections to. This is why it can be difficult to determine the best way to describe the nationality of someone who is British.
British nationality and the union itself stem from the union of England and Scotland in 1707. Following agreement on a Treaty of Union, identical Acts of Union were passed by the parliaments of England and Scotland. The Acts describe England and Scotland as having been "United into One Kingdom"[4]. Before this, England, Scotland and Ireland had been in a personal union but remained separate kingdoms with their own laws and Parliaments. Over subsequent centuries, Ireland was also united with Great Britain until it was partitioned into the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, while more recently Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have obtained varying degrees of devolved power. However the UK remains a unitary state.
David Cameron, the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, commented as follows after the 2015 general election:
Governing with respect means recognising that the different nations of our United Kingdom have their own governments, as well as the United Kingdom government. Both are important, and indeed with our plans, the governments of these nations will become more powerful, with wider responsibilities.[5]
Since the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, people of Northern Ireland may identify and be accepted as British or Irish, or both, and to hold both British and Irish citizenship. [6] However, a person born in Northern Ireland is automatically a British citizen provided their father or mother is a British citizen or settled in the UK.[7]
There are three Crown dependencies that are part of the British Isles but are not part of the United Kingdom. As they are possessions of the British Crown they are not sovereign nations in their own right, but they are governed by their own legislative assemblies. The Crown dependencies and the United Kingdom are collectively known as the "British Islands".
The Crown dependencies are:
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.
The islands first collectively identified as the British Isles (Ancient Greek: Βρεττανικαὶ νῆσοι, lit. 'Brettanic Islands') or as αἱ Βρεττανίαι, the Britains, were peopled by tribes the ancient Greeks first called Πρεττανοί, later Ancient Greek: Bρεττανοί, lit. 'the Britons'. These islands included Ierne (Ireland) inhabited by the "Hiberni", and the larger insula Albionum, "island of the Albions". Great Britain largely replaced "Albion" after the inclusion of Roman Britain in the Roman Empire as the province of Britannia; the classical writer Ptolemy, referred to the larger island as great Britain (megale Bretannia) and to Ireland as little Britain (mikra Brettania) in his work, Almagest (147–148 AD).[8][9]
Much of Britain used Common Brittonic or related languages before migrations in Late Antiquity introduced the Germanic Anglo-Frisian languages which developed into modern Anglic languages like Scots and English via Old English.
In 1707 Welsh scholar Edward Lhuyd identified relationships between the earlier languages and those of the Celts of continental Europe, and grouped them together in what he called Celtic languages though the term Celt had not previously been used with reference to inhabitants of Britain and Ireland.
A modern Celtic identity then developed in the course of Celtic Revival movements, and concepts of ethnic nationalism led to the Celtic nations being identified as territories in Northern and Western Europe where Celtic languages or cultural traits were still evident to some extent.
Historically, Brittany, the Celtic subnational part of France in the Armorica peninsula, was at one point a unified kingdom with Cornwall in southeast Britain.[citation needed] In earlier times, various other Celtic peoples and nations have existed within the present Celtic ethic homelands, and outside them. It is generally unhelpful, and sometimes outright incorrect, to identify them with modern national or subnational terms. For example, the Iceni were not an English Celtic tribe, or a Celtic tribe in England; they were a Celtic tribe in pre-Roman and Roman Britain, and were located in what today is Norfolk, England.
Union did not always come peacefully for the countries involved. It happened first in the 16th century between England and Wales, during the Welsh-descended Tudor dynasty. In the 18th century, a century after a Tudor-connected Scottish Stuart King also became King of England, the Kingdom of Great Britain was formed. Political union happened with Ireland in 1801, several centuries after it was conquered by England: this led to the United Kingdom comprising Great Britain and the island of Ireland. The current United Kingdom comprises Great Britain and Northern Ireland, after Ireland achieved independence.
Editors have strongly opposing ideas on the relative importance of the appellations "British", "English", "Northern Irish", "Scottish" and "Welsh".
Various different methods of referring to a UK citizen's nationality have been adopted, including:
No variation is particular to any one nationality. Individuals may identify more closely with being "British" or with being "English", "Irish, "Northern Irish", "Scottish" or "Welsh", for example (see British people § Classification).
There is much debate about the meaning of 'nationality'. Some claim that it has only the narrow meaning of being a citizen of a sovereign state. However, the Oxford Dictionary's Lexico dictionary definition states "[t]he status of belonging to a particular nation". This raises the question of whether England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are nations. Confirmation that they are has been provided by a number of prominent Unionist leaders. Prior to the 2014 Independence Referendum, Prime Minister David Cameron said: "The United Kingdom is not one nation. We are four nations in a single country. That can be difficult, but it is wonderful. Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland, different nations, with individual identities competing with each other even at times enraging each other while still being so much stronger together. We are a family of nations."[10] Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown said "The vote tomorrow is not about whether Scotland is a nation; we are, yesterday, today, and tomorrow."[11] A May 2015 quote from David Cameron has been mentioned above.
Another indication of official acceptance of the concept of Scottish nationality can be found on the website of the Court of the Lord Lyon (a part of the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service[12] with both criminal and civil jurisdiction). This states, when referring to the Saltire or Scottish flag: "this is the correct flag for all Scots or Scottish corporate bodies to fly to demonstrate their loyalty and their Scottish nationality".[13] (The same statement is to be found, attributed to the Scottish Parliament Public Information Service in 2002, recorded on a commercial website which was archived in May 2006.[14] Both dates precede May 2007 when the Scottish National Party first formed the Scottish administration.)
The word "national" is often applied to institutions within the nations of England, Scotland and Wales, some of these are 'official' institutions, others are non-government related organisations but with accepted national status. Some examples of such institutions are:
England English National Ballet, English National Opera, National Coal Mining Museum for England,
Scotland Scottish National Gallery, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Scottish National War Memorial, National Trust for Scotland, Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service, Scottish National Jazz Orchestra, National Museum of Scotland, National Records of Scotland, National Theatre of Scotland
Wales Welsh National Opera, National Assembly for Wales, The National Eisteddfod of Wales, National Museum Wales, National Botanic Garden of Wales, National Theatre Wales, National Library of Wales
Such usage may be considered as both official and popular recognition that each of the constituent countries has the status of a nation.
The census held throughout the UK in 2011 recorded information on the chosen national identity of each respondent. A separate census was carried out for each of England and Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. The results clearly show that in no part of the UK do the majority of the population self-identify as British, but as English, Welsh, Scottish or Irish etc.
The following guide is designed to help find the right "opening paragraph" nationality for a UK citizen's biography.
For sportspeople, their nationality is usually described by the national team that they qualify to represent or, in individual sports, the national sports association or federation with which they are registered.
In the UK, there are generally three different ways of organising national teams:
There may be variations and complications in following this rule – in cricket, for example, there is one team for England and Wales (usually called "England"), one for Scotland, and one for Ireland; however, as Scotland do not play test cricket and Ireland were first awarded Test status in 2017, the best players from these nations often represent England. If in doubt, follow the standards for a particular sport. Moreover, some British sportspeople (e.g. Ryan Giggs, Jamie Murray, Mark Bennett) have represented both the entire United Kingdom and one of the constituent countries at different points during their careers. In such situations the most suitable nationality to describe the subject with is determined on case by case basis.
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:
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!
It is not possible to create a uniform 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.
If you are still uncertain how your UK citizen's nationality is best labelled, you may wish to follow this course of action:
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.
Iris Murdoch always claimed she was Irish. But was she mythologising herself?
