In 1861, when our story begins, Ireland was ruled by Queen Victoria. Irish Members of Parliament went to London and represented all thirty-two counties. The internal divisions of Ireland were simply the ancient provinces, Ulster, Leinster, Munster and Connaught which every schoolchild knew. The northern province of Ulster was made up of nine counties, Armagh, Down, Antrim, Londonderry, Tyrone, Fermanagh, Donegal, Cavan and Monaghan.
Throughout the period of our story most people in all four provinces spoke Irish, unless they had come from Scotland or England in the first place. Many Irish speakers from Donegal went to Scotland each year to help with the harvest. There they learnt a second language which they called Scotch, but we would call English.