by Callum Beck
On March 1, 1847, Prince Edward Island experienced the second-worst election riot in Canadian history. About 200 Scottish Protestants and 300 Irish Catholics got into a brawl, resulting in at least three men dead and up to 100 others injured. This event set the stage for the hardening of the sectarian conflict between Protestants and Catholics on Prince Edward Island for the next 125 years.
The Belfast Riot of 1847 examines the social and political conditions that led to the riot, introduces us to the major players on both sides, provides a detailed account of its unfolding, and takes a nuanced look at who was to blame.
March 1, 2025
Paperback 6 x 9, 240 pages, 21 images, $29.95
ISBN: 978-1-988692-76-0
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“Beck methodically considers all of the relevant angles: religion, ethnicity, chronic election violence, the Land Question, the particular leasehold landscape of the Belfast region in the 1840s, the specific 1847 situation in terms of a critical by-election, and the political stakes as the Island colony groped towards self-government.”
– Edward MacDonald, Island historian and professor emeritus, University of Prince Edward Island
Callum Beck was born and raised in Charlottetown, PEI. He completed a BA in Philosophy at UPEI, a Master of Arts in Religion at Emmanuel School of Religion in Tennessee, and a PhD at Open University in the UK. Professionally he has served as a pastor and sessional faculty at UPEI. He is married to his high school sweetheart, Lorraine Beck, and they have three children and six grandchildren.