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The Battles That Won Our Freedoms

Documentaries

Factual: Politics

A new series exploring the long history of struggles for liberty in Britain.

The stories of the most dramatic, high-stakes battles in our history that helped to win liberties we take for granted.

The Battles That Won Our Freedoms 

The Battles That Won Our Freedoms: 7 Catholic Emancipation

7 Catholic Emancipation

BBC Radio 4 - The Battles That Won Our Freedoms, 7 Catholic Emancipation

The long struggle to free pre-Victorian Catholics from laws barring them from public life.

Professor Marianne Elliott tells the story of the struggle to free Catholics from laws which stopped them becoming MPs.  Siobhain McDonagh MP reflects on what this means to her.

In this episode, Phil Tinline asks Professor Marianne Elliott to tell the story of Daniel O'Connell's long struggle in the early 19th century to free Catholics from old laws which stopped them becoming going to university or participating fully in British public life, culminating in the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829.  Siobhain McDonagh MP reflects on what O'Connell's battle means to her, and explains why she campaigned to lift a restriction left over from the 1820s that remained in law throughout the 19th and 20th centuries.

First broadcast in 2019.

Producer: Phil Tinline

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