Lord Palmerston and the Irish Famine Emigration (original) (raw)
Related papers
From Ireland to America: Emigration and the Great Famine 1845 – 1852
International journal of humanities and social sciences, 2016
One of the changes that compose history is the migration of peoples. The human development of colossal numbers from one geographical area to another and their first contact with other social and economic backgrounds is a major source of change in the human state. For at least two centuries long before the great brook of the Hungry Forties, Irish immigrants had been making their way to the New World. Yet, the tragedy of the Great Famine is still seen as the greatest turning point of Irish history for the future of Ireland was forever changed. The paper tends to explore the conception of emigration and how it steadily became “a predominant way of life” in Ireland, so pervasive and integral to Irish life that it had affected the broad context of both Irish and American histories simultaneously. From the post-colonial perspective, my study presents emigration as one of the greatest emotional issues in Irish history, as it tends to have a very negative image especially in the post-Famine...
The English Historical Review, 2019
During the Great Famine (1845-51) hundreds of thousands of Irish refugees fled to Britain, escaping the hunger and disease afflicting their homeland. Many made new lives there, but others were subsequently shipped back to Ireland by poor law authorities under the laws of Settlement and Removal. This article explores the coping strategies of the Famine Irish in Britain, and the responses of poor law authorities to the inflow of refugees with a particular focus on their use of removal. We argue that British poor law unions in areas heavily affected by the refugee crisis adopted rigorous removal policies, and that the non-settled Irish were consequently deeply reluctant to apply for poor relief, doing so only when alternative sources of support were unavailable. Thus, the true scale of Irish hardship was hidden from the official record. The article also explores, for the first time, the experiences of those sent back to Ireland, a country suffering from the devastating effects of Famine. The combination of heavy Irish immigration to Britain and large-scale removals back to Ireland created distrust between the authorities at British and Irish port towns, as both sides felt aggrieved by the inflow of destitute Irish arriving on their shores. At the centre of all this were the Irish poor themselves. Uncertainty, dislocation and hardship were often their experience, and we argue that this endured long after the Famine had ended; that the events of the late 1840s, indeed, created a new reality for the Irish in Britain. During the Great Irish Famine (1845-51) hundreds of thousands of refugees arrived in Britain, fleeing the hunger and disease which afflicted their homeland and, ultimately, caused the deaths of around one million of their compatriots. 1 Press reports showed how desperate they were: emaciated, starving, and often poorly clothed and shod. 2 Many managed to make new lives in England, Scotland and Wales, but others were less fortunate. In the weeks, months, even years following their arrival on British shores, tens of thousands would be unceremoniously shipped back to Ireland by poor law authorities under a body of legislation known as the Laws of Settlement and Removal. During the most intense period of Faminerelated immigration (1847-48), close to 50,000 were removed. The mass movement of Irish refugees into Britain, and the subsequent repatriation of many of them, alarmed and angered local officials on both sides of the Irish Sea, particularly at the main ports of disembarkation. In Britain, the authorities claimed that destitute Irish people were being encouraged to emigrate to Britain by landowners and public bodies, who wanted rid of them and paid for * The authors wish to thank the Leverhulme Trust for financial support (grant number RPG-2015-404) which made this research possible.
The Next World and the New World: Relief, Migration, and the Great Irish Famine
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2018
Ireland on the eve of the Great Famine was a poor and backward economy. The Great Irish Famine of the 1840s is accordingly often considered the classic example of Malthusian population economics in action. However, unlike most historical famines, the Great Famine was not the product of a harvest shortfall, but of a major ecological disaster. Because there could be no return to the status quo ante, textbook famine relief in the form of public works or food aid was not enough. Fortunately, in an era of open borders mass emigration helped contain excess mortality, subject to the limitation that the very poorest could not afford to leave. In general, the authorities did not countenance publicly assisted migration. This paper discusses the lessons to be learned from two exceptional schemes for assisting destitute emigrants during and in the wake of the Famine.
‘Irish fever’ in Britain during the Great Famine: immigration, disease and the legacy of ‘Black ’47’
Irish Historical Studies, 2020
During the worst year of the Great Irish Famine, 'Black '47', tens of thousands of people fled across the Irish Sea from Ireland to Britain, desperately escaping the starvation and disease plaguing their country. These refugees, crowding unavoidably into the most insalubrious accommodation British towns and cities had to offer, were soon blamed for deadly outbreaks of epidemic typhus which emerged across the country during the first half of 1847. Indeed, they were accused of transporting the pestilence, then raging in Ireland, over with them. Typhus mortality rates in Ireland and Britain soared, and so closely connected with the disease were the Irish in Britain that it was widely referred to as 'Irish fever'. Much of what we know about this epidemic is based on a handful of studies focussing almost exclusively on major cities along the British west-coast. Moreover, there has been little attempt to understand the legacy of the episode on the Irish in Britain. Taking a national perspective, this article argues that the 'Irish fever' epidemic of 1847 spread far beyond the western ports of entry, and that the epidemic, by entrenching the association of the Irish with deadly disease, contributed significantly to the difficulties Britain's Irish population faced in the 1850s. The 1840s were a climacteric decade for the United Kingdom, especially Ireland. What made this so on the neighbouring island was an existential demographic crisis, the 'Great Famine' of 1846-51, caused by potato blight which ruined several annual harvests. Around a million people died in Ireland, and even more than that number fled oversees, mainly to Britain and North America. Consequently, Ireland's population fell from a peak of around 8.5 million in 1845 to 6.5 million in 1851. 1 The 1840s created lesser but still prounced trials for the working classes in Britain. Dubbed the 'Hungry Forties' many years later, this was a decade of unemployment, hardship and privation. 2 In particular, the year 1847, known as 'Black '47' in Ireland, brought acute economic depression in manufacturing areas across Britain. 3 With British workers already fearful for the livelihoods, mass Irish immigration, which began at the
“La Généreuse Nation!” Britain and the French Emigration 1792 – 1802
This paper primarily focuses on the relationship between British society and the thousands of French émigrés who sought asylum here during the 1790s. Whilst many Britons were alarmed at the sudden arrival of so many foreigners, the émigrés benefited greatly from the charitable activity of the British social elite, who introduced subscription lists in order to help support these displaced persons. As such, I contend that the emigration generated a mixed response from the British public, as many criticised the philanthropic work of the Wilmot Committee and felt threatened by the different religious and political beliefs of these refugees. I begin by outlining the difficult circumstances that many émigrés found themselves in upon arriving in these isles, as an inadequate supply of resources led them to an impoverished existence. Crucially though, their strange conduct, vast numbers and distinctive manner of speech and dress attracted a huge amount of attention and sympathy for these displaced persons. It was this widespread public interest and sympathy which led to the establishment of the Wilmot Committee -although this institution would work hard to downplay the religious and political difference between the British society and the émigré community. However, the Committee never succeeded in silencing the opposition, as many working class Englishmen feared the surge in population would lead to a hike in grain prices or a shortage of jobs, and resented the scale of relief bestowed on these Frenchmen. This separation in opinion between those sympathetic to the émigrés' plight and those suspicious of their presence was clearly reflected within the British government, which succeeded in playing a double game that simultaneously catered to the needs of these refugees and allowed for their continued surveillance.