The Forgotten 14th British Colony Of New Ireland

New Ireland, where is that?

(Public domain)

If you bring up the name New Ireland, you are likely to be met with blank stares. Where the heck is/was New Ireland? New Ireland was the name given to a colony that the British tried to establish not once but twice during the Revolutionary period between 1779 and 1815. The colony was supposed to be where Maine is today. But the British failed in each attempt to establish the colony.

The British had lofty goals when they imagined New Ireland. It was an attempt to hew out another crown colony from the lands that were quickly slipping from their grasp in North America.

Here are the goals that the British set out to achieve with New Ireland and why the colony ultimately failed.

The Revolutionary War

In 1779, when it was becoming clear that the war in North America was going badly, the British adopted a new plan. The idea was to invade the lightly defended coastline of Maine (which was then a part of Massachusetts.) Once the coastal areas of Maine had been captured, the British wanted to put out a call for loyalists to come and inhabit the colony. The British wanted to recreate a crown colony on the doorstep of Boston where loyalists could flock and help continue the war effort in a strategically important…