Divergent paths : family histories of Irish emigrants in Britain, 1820-1920 / John Herson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Herson, John, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Irish--Great Britain--History--19th century.

Irish.

Irish--Great Britain--Social conditions--19th century.

Immigrant families--Ireland--History--19th century.

Immigrant families.

Emigration and immigration.

History.

Social conditions.

Great Britain--Emigration and immigration--History--19th century.

Great Britain.

Ireland.

Physical Description:

xiii, 341 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Manchester : Manchester University Press, 2015.

Summary:

This book is unique in adopting a family history approach to Irish immigrants in nineteenth-century Britain. Historians of the Irish in Britain have almost totally ignored the family dimension, but this study shows that the family was central to Irish peoples' lives and experiences. It was the major factor influencing the life choices and identities of the migrants and their descendants. The book documents for the first time a representative sample of Irish immigrant families and uses the techniques of family and digital history to explore their long-term fate. To do this it examines the Irish in Stafford in the West Midlands, a town that was a microcosm of the broader Irish experience in England. Central to the book is a unique body of evidence about the lives of ordinary families. They were united by their Irish origins and by living in the same town, but there the similarity ended. In the long term they diverged in different directions. Many families integrated into the local population, but others ultimately moved away whilst some simply died out. The case studies explore the reasons why the fate of these families proved to be so varied. The book reveals a fascinating picture of family life and gender relations in nineteenth-century England. It will appeal to scholars of Irish history but also to people interested in social history, genealogy and the history of the family. It also offers valuable historical parallels to the lives of contemporary immigrant families in Britain. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 Irish emigrants and family history: a new approach 1

2 The context: Irish emigration and Stafford 32

3 Stafford's Irish families: the overall picture 59

4 Pathfinders: labouring families before the Famine 78

5 Refugees from the Famine 97

6 Labouring families in the Famine's aftermath, 1852 onwards 133

7 Lace curtain Irish? The families of craft, clerical and service workers 166

8 Old soldiers and their families 215

9 The Irish in the shoe trade 241

10 The forgotten Irish: entrepreneurs and professionals 265

11 Divergent paths: the conclusions to be drawn 298.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 315-331) and index.

ISBN:

9780719090639

0719090636

OCLC:

894938063

Publisher Number:

60001999429