irish

The Irish in Liverpool

Considering Irishness with Liverpool does not seem to be too difficult. If you look at its geographical position, you will find that it is set right on the edge of the Irish Sea and it is closer to Dublin, which it has got a twinning agreement with, as it is to London.

Liverpool, as a port, started to over take its local neighbour Chester, it became the first access point for Irish immigrants coming to England. But there have always been Irish people in Liverpool.

Emigration has had a long tradition in Ireland, with Irish monks travelling through Europe and many thousands migrating to France and Spain to avoid political and religious persecution in the sixteenth century.

The first notable Irish immigration to Liverpool, which is for sure, happened in 1798, the year of the great Irish rebellion. These Irish refugees were not all happily received because among them were some people from the lower classes.

For most of the immigrants, the city was seen as a stepping-stone to the Unites States of America. But if the circumstances warranted, many of them stayed on.

With the growing of the Irish population in the 19th century, especially in the countryside, people now emigrated mostly due to economic reasons. Now there were the poorest, rural labourers, as well as drovers, travelling artisans and beggars immigrating not only to Liverpool but also to Cheshire and Lancashire.
But there were also middle-class Irish, like the founding father of the Liverpool Fire brigade and the Liverpool Daily Post, Michael Whitty, and Richard Sheil who became the first catholic alderman in England. William Brown should not be forgotten either, as he financed the public library building.

The whole situation changed completely when the Irish who escaped the Potato Famine between 1846 and 1852 came to Liverpool. The image of Irish immigrants as poor, afflicted people.