Forums
Posted By: Erainn Seeking Info On Birkenhead's Irish Influx - 21st Sep 2011 11:45pm
Sometime ago, during a conversation with friends on the subject of Merseyside's Irish heritage, somebody raised an interesting point challenging the orthodoxy which prevails that Liverpool was more associated with people from Ireland,a common perception, by insisting that Birkenhead attracted, in terms of population per head, far more Irish emigrants than Liverpool. Would be interested to learn if anyone else has heard a similar claim or knows of any factors which would support that, for example did dock contruction,shipyard expansion coincide with the pre/post Famine period, offering perhaps more stable employment prospects than may have been existing at that time in Liverpool? Also heard that the nature of the river then meant it easier for ships from Ireland to dock on the Birkenhead side, again would be keen to learn if there is any credibility in that.
Posted By: bert1 Re: Seeking Info On Birkenhead's Irish Influx - 22nd Sep 2011 7:50am
I think a timeline needs to be established, far more accurate than i can put up now, going off memory. I think we can safely assume that the Irish went further afield than Liverpool during their main migration years, deeper into Lancashire and Cheshire. I would also assume there was always a trickle of migrants and a greater influx would have occurred around 1800 at the time of the rebellion and a bigger influx around the famine 1845 ish. These dates would coincide with the population increase around Birkenhead and also work being carried out on the Birkenhead and Wallasey dock system, also extension of railways. Until the Birkenhead dock system was up and running, Liverpool was the first port of call for any ships coming from Ireland and it was also used as a landing stage for the Irish to travel further afield, America etc. Birkenhead docks once up and running was seen as a safer place for ships to dock offering more protection from the eliments.
Posted By: chriskay Re: Seeking Info On Birkenhead's Irish Influx - 22nd Sep 2011 9:02am
Although I have little knowledge of this subject, it may be that there was an influx in the 1880's associated with the vast number of Irish cattle imported into Birkenhead.
Posted By: Geekus Re: Seeking Info On Birkenhead's Irish Influx - 22nd Sep 2011 9:49am
Originally Posted by chriskay
Although I have little knowledge of this subject, it may be that there was an influx in the 1880's associated with the vast number of Irish cattle imported into Birkenhead.


Birkenhead was the UK's leading port for Irish livestock traffic:-

http://www.oldwirral.com/birkenhead_abattoir.html
Posted By: Geekus Re: Seeking Info On Birkenhead's Irish Influx - 22nd Sep 2011 9:58am
Originally Posted by bert1
I think a timeline needs to be established, far more accurate than i can put up now, going off memory. I think we can safely assume that the Irish went further afield than Liverpool during their main migration years, deeper into Lancashire and Cheshire. I would also assume there was always a trickle of migrants and a greater influx would have occurred around 1800 at the time of the rebellion and a bigger influx around the famine 1845 ish. These dates would coincide with the population increase around Birkenhead and also work being carried out on the Birkenhead and Wallasey dock system, also extension of railways. Until the Birkenhead dock system was up and running, Liverpool was the first port of call for any ships coming from Ireland and it was also used as a landing stage for the Irish to travel further afield, America etc. Birkenhead docks once up and running was seen as a safer place for ships to dock offering more protection from the eliments.


The following links might also be of some interest:-

http://www.merseyreporter.com/history/historic/irish-immigration.shtml

http://www.bbc.co.uk/legacies/immig_emig/england/liverpool/article_1.shtml

http://www.mersey-gateway.org/server.php?search_word=irish&change=SearchResults
Posted By: BennyBoy Re: Seeking Info On Birkenhead's Irish Influx - 22nd Sep 2011 10:19am
If I remember rightly, there was a riot in the 1850/60's in the Farmers Arms with local residents and Irish migrants because they had come over and stolen all the work from them.

Pretty sure this is accurate, it is documented in Irby library
Posted By: nightwalker Re: Seeking Info On Birkenhead's Irish Influx - 22nd Sep 2011 10:28am
In an article on the Birkenhead Garibaldi Riots of 1862 (F. Neal, 1981) it states:

“According to the 1851 census, the Irish-born population of Liverpool borough was 84,000 (23 per cent of the borough population). If one includes the Irish in West Derby, and those parts of Toxteth then outside the borough boundary, the number was over 100,000. On the Wirral the Irish numbered nearly 8,000, most of these in Birkenhead.”

Birkenhead’s population in 1851 was about 25,000 so the Irish could have accounted for almost 33%. If you include the population of Tranmere, Oxton and Claughton it pushes the figure up to about 34,000 which makes the possible Irish proportion 23% - the same as Liverpool borough.

I’m not a great lover of statistics but the figures are interesting.

Posted By: Geekus Re: Seeking Info On Birkenhead's Irish Influx - 22nd Sep 2011 10:42am
Nice one, Nightwalker. Erudite as ever! happy
Posted By: nightwalker Re: Seeking Info On Birkenhead's Irish Influx - 23rd Sep 2011 10:09am
Cheers Geekus – never been called that before! Fascinating thread Erainn, worthy of further research, particularly on how the mass immigration affected the social and economic growth of Birkenhead.

Bert’s summary of the situation is excellent and his observations about the dispersal of the immigrants are borne out by WW Mortimer (where would we be without him). Writing in 1847 – when it was all kicking off – Mortimer wrote:

“Birkenhead, in common with several of the Western Ports of England, suffered from the late alarming influx of paupers from Ireland, - which commenced about November, 1846. Numbers, immediately after their arrival in Liverpool, crossed the Mersey to Birkenhead; some on the pretence of seeking employment, others of travelling into the interior, but, in almost every instance, with an intention to beg. Proceeding direct from the ferries to the parish offices, their numbers - principally women and children - were so great, their applications for food so urgent, and their destitution so apparent, that the ordinary laws of vagrancy were suspended, or rather defeated. In the first quarter of the year [1847] no less than upwards of two thousand who applied for assistance, generally at an advanced period of the day, were obliged to be provided with lodgings previously to their removal; and the state of the hovels, into which the unfortunate creatures were placed, made the want of a house of refuge, or night-asylum, for casual and houseless poor, very apparent. The parochial authorities took a temporary Fever Hospital, and other means were adopted, to arrest the spread of that sickness, which might otherwise have been anticipated as the summer approached from a continuance of the poverty and disease which was so largely imported during the spring from Ireland.”

In a footnote he wrote that:

“Between the 13th November, 1846, and the 13th of May following, 196,338 persons landed in Liverpool from Ireland in a state of destitution; of these, during that period, 41,180 emigrated, principally to the United States and Canada.”

It sounds like a chaotic situation, which presumably worsened as the Irish famine continued.



Posted By: Erainn Re: Seeking Info On Birkenhead's Irish Influx - 23rd Sep 2011 1:44pm
What an insight into those days, many thanks for that, as you say it would be of interest to follow this subject a little further, as the stamp of Ireland certainly impressed itself upon the town, notably around the Docks, my own folks settled Brook Street, Coropration Road, along with many other families from Ireland. I imagine there must have been obvious factors that lead to some parts of the town receiving high levels of Irish settlers.
Posted By: Erainn Re: Seeking Info On Birkenhead's Irish Influx - 23rd Sep 2011 1:47pm
Thanks Bert, useful info.
Posted By: Geekus Re: Seeking Info On Birkenhead's Irish Influx - 23rd Sep 2011 2:13pm
It would be interesting to know Nightwalker what the pre-Famine statistics for the Irish population in Wirral were.

Parkgate was, of course, once an important port and thousands upon thousands of Irish 'harvesters' passed through the area particularly in the 18th and early 19th century.
Originally Posted by geekus
It would be interesting to know Nightwalker what the pre-Famine statistics for the Irish population in Wirral were.

Parkgate was, of course, once an important port and thousands upon thousands of Irish 'harvesters' passed through the area particularly in the 18th and early 19th century.

The problem, geekus, is that most of the statistical information readily available comes from the census returns. The 1851 census was the first to ask for place of birth, the previous ones were either just a head count or asked whether born in the same county.

The only relevant information I can find from the 1841 census about Birkenhead is that there were 1270 houses occupied by 8223 people of whom only 2752 ( just about a third) were natives of Cheshire. Interestingly, the figures for the mainly rural parish of West Kirby were 314 houses occupied by 1669 people of whom 1399 (84%) were Cheshire born. That still leaves 270 people who were born out of county which seems high for an age when it was said that most people in rural areas never travelled more than 15 miles from the place they were born.

I’ve done a lot of family history research for friends and invariably I come across Irish ancestors from 1851 onwards. Many were living in various parts of Wirral, not just Birkenhead. What is interesting is that some of them had children born on the Wirral in the 1830s (at least two in the 1820s) which indicates that there was a small but steady flow of immigration in the early years of the century. Perhaps some of the Parkgate harvesters stayed on to replace the large numbers of the Wirral agricultural labour force which moved off the land to seek their fortunes in the rapidly expanding Birkenhead and Tranmere in the 1830/40s. (My ggf is an example: born in 1815, the son of an Ag. Lab. in Greasby, in 1841 he was working as a Carter in Tranmere. Three of his brothers were also working and living in Birkenhead or Tranmere).

Much more research to do!


Posted By: Geekus Re: Seeking Info On Birkenhead's Irish Influx - 25th Sep 2011 6:44pm
You're right about the stats Nightwalker, but it might be worth looking at the records relating to the Poor Laws to get an idea of what was really going on. The Neston House of Correction, for example, opened in the early 1750's and had to repatiate literally thousands of Irish vagrants every year. There are quite accurate records for this establishment, certainly up until the early 1800's. In one notable period, between 1783-4, over three thousand Irish vagrants had to be repatiated.
Posted By: Geekus Re: Seeking Info On Birkenhead's Irish Influx - 25th Sep 2011 9:13pm
Originally Posted by geekus
You're right about the stats Nightwalker, but it might be worth looking at the records relating to the Poor Laws to get an idea of what was really going on. The Neston House of Correction, for example, opened in the early 1750's and had to repatiate literally thousands of Irish vagrants every year. There are quite accurate records for this establishment, certainly up until the early 1800's. In one notable period, between 1783-4, over three thousand Irish vagrants had to be repatiated.


Lol! ...sorry but can't spell repatriate! smack
Posted By: bert1 Re: Seeking Info On Birkenhead's Irish Influx - 4th Oct 2011 10:19am
I think we can safely assume that the famine era brought about the biggest influx of Irish and leading up to that period of time, if not a trickle, certainly not the vast amounts that would make a great deal of difference to this areas population, considering that there was repatriation taking place.(Geekus post)
Perhaps its debatable why the Irish landed here in the first place, was it really that they were starving and there was no alternative way of feeding them or was it land clearance by greedy land owners.
Eventually Liverpool started to repatriate, i can't find any evidence this took place in Birkenhead. Its possible we on this side of the river were more benevolent towards their needs and they were able to find work in the ever developing Birkenhead.
Once Liverpool started throwing out the Irish, repatriation being the nice name for it, it was then that they seemed to move further afield, deeper in to Lancashire and Cheshire to escape this deportation, I can't find any evidence this applied to the peoples of Birkenhead.
Posted By: Geekus Re: Seeking Info On Birkenhead's Irish Influx - 4th Oct 2011 11:52am
I don't know exactly how 'benevolent' the Birkenhead authorities really were bert. Certainly not if you think back to some of the comments made on Wiki re: the 'One Eyed City' tag (on an earlier thread).

I know that, generally speaking, there was a great deal of poverty in mid to late Victorian Birkenhead, and the powers that be were quick enough to even ship off our own orphans to places like Canada.


Posted By: bert1 Re: Seeking Info On Birkenhead's Irish Influx - 4th Oct 2011 12:44pm
I'm not sure how benevolent the Birkenhead authorities were either Geekus, however on saying that, what we deem as barbaric practices in the 21st century may not have been deemed so in the 19th century. Poverty there certainly was and the way they dealt with it at that time must have seemed the best way forward, perhaps we should look upon the likes of workhouses, poor houses and even the deportation of orphans as a first step of welfare help and giving people a chance in life, again perhaps they thought the orphans had a better chance in Canada.
What the Birkenhead authorities didn't do unlike the Liverpool authorities was pile sick and dying people into holds of ships and send them packing back to Ireland and what seems like certain death. unless of course when we read Liverpool we should read Birkenhead also, just in case some Historian has not found Birkenhead worthy of a mention.
I’ve come across a report in the Lancet regarding a smallpox outbreak in Birkenhead in 1870. This might be an appropriate thread to put it in as it appears that the outbreak occurred in an area where the population was predominantly Irish. It certainly gives an insight into the squalid and overcrowded conditions that many lived in. Haven’t been able to trace Exeter Street but assume it was in the Argyle Street area.

EXTRACT FROM A REPORT IN THE LANCET, DECEMBER 3, 1870.

Tracings of small-pox for two months after its importation into Birkenhead. Thirty cases of the disease noted, including one death. The disease, though checked, still progresses.

THE presence of small-pox remained undiscovered from its importation on May 15th till June 25th, on which date five houses had already become infected from the original focus. From the investigation then instituted, it appears that seven children and their mother, whose husband, William B rents the cottage, No. 46, Egerton-street, Birkenhead, were some time ago on tramp, and that one of the children sickened at Darwin, whence arriving at Blackburn, she was found to be labouring under small-pox. After the child had sufficiently recovered, they all rejoined their father in Birkenhead, about the 15th of May. Three more were then attacked, at intervals of about one week apart. All are now (June 25th) well or convalescent, but the crowded and pitted marks on their faces attest the completeness of the disease. All are said to have been vaccinated. The children got out of doors quickly, and played promiscuously with the others of the neighbourhood.

June 17th. — Samuel P (35, Marion-street), aged twenty-two years, said to be vaccinated, was thought to be seized with measles, and sent to the parish hospital; it proved, however, to be small-pox. This youth tended his brother's cart-horses night and morning, at stables immediately opposite to the cottage of William B, but is not known to have had any intercourse with the infected family. His house is about one-third of a mile distant from that of the latter.

June 18th. — Thomas D (17, Egerton-street), aged twenty years, said to be vaccinated, was pronounced to be suffering from small-pox, and sent to the hospital by the parish doctor. The dwelling in which he lodges is made up of two cottages, the one opening to the other, and accommodates the chief tenant, his wife and four children, two other families of three persons each, and one single lodger.

June 19th. — Elizabeth McL (73, Egerton-street), aged nine years, vaccinated, showed scattered eruption, some of which soon dried up. She is not confined to bed.

June 20th.—-Sarah S (33, Egerton-street), aged five years, said to be vaccinated, showed the characteristic eruption, becoming afterwards confluent; died June 27th. The father, mother, and two children occupied the upper one out of the four rooms constituting the cottage, the other three rooms accommodating the chief tenant, his wife, and four children. All are Irish. The funeral was promiscuously attended by the friends who had held the usual wake on the previous night. An ordinary car was used to convey the corpse and attendants to the grave. Crape hatbands were given out, and received back for further use into the general stock of the undertaker. The vigilance alone of the sanitary authorities ensured afterwards the renovation and disinfection of the vehicle and the destruction of the hat-bands.

June 20th.—Anne B (49, Egerton-street), aged three years and a half, not vaccinated, commenced the eruption, which became confluent. She is one of a family consisting of father, mother, and four children. The house comprises four apartments, the first of which serves as a shop, to which the neighbours or their children constantly resort.

June 22nd.—William McL (73, Egerton-street), aged three years, not vaccinated, was found to have the eruption, which afterwards became only moderately confluent. The dwelling has four apartments, and nine inmates, all of one family.

July 2nd.—John H. B (49, Egerton-street), aged seven years, successfully vaccinated six days before, was seized with the disease, which went through its course in a OE modified form.

July 5th.—Richard S (33, Egerton-street), brother of deceased case, aged three years, was successfully vaccinated on a second attempt along with three other children in the same house, about or on June 1st. Small-pox in a mild form and vaccinia each passed through their respective courses.

July 6th.—Mary A. McL (73, Egerton-street), aged eleven years, vaccinated, is found to be sickening; some scattered eruption is visible. Afterwards did well.

July 6th.—Robert E (58, Egerton-street), aged four years, not vaccinated ; eruption confluent. Cottage contains four rooms, lodging one family, numbering eight persons.

July 7th.—Anne R (19, Lower Ivy-street), aged seven months, not vaccinated; eruption scattered. The dwelling only fronts in Ivy-street, being over a shop; and the entrance is through a foul back passage into Grange-street, which crosses the top of the first infected street—viz., Egerton-street. Family numbers seven.

July 9th.—George R (19, Lower Ivy-street), aged nine years, not vaccinated, was seized, and eruption became ultimately confluent. The three remaining children were vaccinated during infancy, and these escaped (Oct. 15th) the disease.

July 9th.—Mary L (54, Egerton-street), aged three years; eruption scattered; said to have been vaccinated. House has four apartments, in which live father, mother, and three children.

July 10th.—Samuel B (49, Egerton-street), aged a year and a quarter, was vaccinated fourteen days previously; eruption scattered; disease modified.

July 11th. — James D (13, Carpenter's-row), aged eleven years, recently vaccinated; eruption scattered. House has four rooms, and lodges one family of eight. Carpenter's-row is the name of a court at the rear of, and connected only with, Egerton-street.

July 11th.—John M (Beckwith-street), butcher, aged twenty-two years, not known to be vaccinated; eruption confluent on the 17th, and his face a mask of pustules and scabs. Was hanging much about the infected neighbourhood one evening about a fortnight before. His dwelling is about three-quarters of a mile from it.

July 14th. — Frank D (56, Egerton-street), aged six years, not vaccinated; eruption confluent. Out at play when vaccinator called.

July 15th.—Up to this date the following (with the exception of the last three, residing in Egerton-street) had also been recently attacked with the disease, and ultimately recovered—namely: Peter McL , aged sixteen years, and Minnie McL——, aged eleven years, vaccinated; eruption scattered. Anne G , aged five years, and Michael G , aged three years, both recently vaccinated; eruption scattered. Eliza R , aged three years, recently vaccinated; eruption scattered. John J. L , aged eight months, not vaccinated; eruption scattered. AnneE.D (13, Carpenter's-row), aged fourteen years, recently vaccinated; eruption scattered. Hannah E , aged ten years, and Sarah E , aged four years (77, Jackson-street), not vaccinated; sent to hospital. Jackson-street is within a quarter of a mile of the infected Egerton-street, but is completely separated from it by a railway.

The disease had also by this time (July 15th) found its way into the adjoining township of Tranmere. No death from small-pox has been registered this year up to date in Liverpool, on the opposite side of the river, nor is it known that the disease exists there.

Remarks and conclusions.—Egerton-street is boulder-paved. Many confined courts open into it on both sides. The houses are old, many being rickety; all are crowded together, with little or no exterior ventilation. The street, however, has been improved by the conversion of most of its privies into waterclosets. The population partakes largely of the Irish element. Tramps favour the locality.

I imagine the phrases 'were some time ago on tramp' and 'tramps favour the locality' are used in the old sense of travelling/travellers rather than the modern use relating to vagrancy. Seems to show that there was a fair amount of movement in the population.
Posted By: derekdwc Re: Seeking Info On Birkenhead's Irish Influx - 8th Oct 2011 3:50pm
Egerton st

Attached picture egerton st.jpg
Thanks, Derek. I was looking in the wrong area (must learn more about Birkenhead geography!).
Posted By: bert1 Re: Seeking Info On Birkenhead's Irish Influx - 8th Oct 2011 6:48pm
Very good post Nightwalker and very enlightening, although about 25 years earlier about the time of the famine, the most prevalent diseases recorded due to the famine and lack of hygiene was Cholera and Typhus, these were the main diseases along with starvation that the Irish peoples brought with them to these shores. It is also believed that the Irish landlords wasted no time in getting rid of sick tenants as a cleansing exercise.
Originally Posted by nightwalker
Thanks, Derek. I was looking in the wrong area (must learn more about Birkenhead geography!).

...and look for the right place - for some reason I put Exeter Street instead of Egerton Street in the first para. Apologies and well ignored Derek!
Posted By: Erainn Re: Seeking Info On Birkenhead's Irish Influx - 9th Oct 2011 8:36am
There was a typhus outbreak in the Price Street area during 1875, I know this as my gg-Grandfather/mother/uncle all died of the disease that year. It was at the time considered by many to be an 'Irish'fever, little did people understand that the ethnology of a people was not the cause of the disease, but resulted from:

"The infectious organism of typhus, Rickettsia prowazeki, appears to be invariably
louse-borne among human beings. Like dysentery, typhus appears wherever poverty,
crowding and insanitary conditions prevail, in times of social dislocation, and
principally in the winter months."


Typhus In The Victorian City

The housing and sanitary conditions that prevailed in Birkenhead's dock side streets during that period, along with the degree and extent of overcrowding and appalling circumstances endured by Irish families, provided perfect conditions for typhus to thrive.
Posted By: yoller Re: Seeking Info On Birkenhead's Irish Influx - 9th Oct 2011 4:27pm
At the time of the smallpox outbreak, Egerton Street was part of the area around Back Chester Street that formed some of Birkenhead's worst slums.
The dwellings were dark, overcrowded 'courts' with little sanitation that had been thrown up to accommodate workers as the town expanded.
The attached map (courtesy of marty99fred from a previous thread) gives some idea how crammed the buildings were - so it is no surprise that infection and disease spread quickly.
After the Housing of the Working Classes Act, 1890, the council cleared the courts and built rows of small redbrick terrace houses. These had no heating, hot water or inside toilets, but were an improvement on the previous places. These houses were in their turn demolished around 1966-1967 to make way for the tunnel flyovers.


Attached picture egertonstreet.jpg
Posted By: bert1 Re: Seeking Info On Birkenhead's Irish Influx - 9th Oct 2011 5:52pm
Picture taken Back Chester St area c1900 and Birkenhead health and smallpox.

Attached picture bcs.jpg
Attached picture h_101.jpg
Attached picture h102.jpg
Posted By: Bezzymate Re: Seeking Info On Birkenhead's Irish Influx - 9th Oct 2011 7:38pm
I have ancesters that came over from Ireland abt 1870.
They lived in Gillbrook, which was off Laird St, by St.James's Church. GG.Grandad, William was a Horse Slaughterer(knacker).
Posted By: Erainn Re: Seeking Info On Birkenhead's Irish Influx - 10th Oct 2011 10:11am
Like my own folks, your Irish family would have endured terrible conditions in Birkenhead at that time.
Posted By: bert1 Re: Seeking Info On Birkenhead's Irish Influx - 10th Oct 2011 10:48am
The figures Nightwalker posted,The Irish being approx 33 percent of Birkenheads population in 1851, is it possible that Birkenhead had its own Irish Quarter before integrating fully amongst the local already established inhabitants. Its not uncommon for immigrants to develop herding instincts, wanting to be close to friends and relatives. Any thoughts on this?
Posted By: Erainn Re: Seeking Info On Birkenhead's Irish Influx - 10th Oct 2011 11:42am
Great point you raise Bert. It's a well known process that economic and other forms of migration tend to seek areas of habitation already populated by their own folk. Of course economic and employment factors operate also in terms of distribution, in the case of Irish people arriving in Birkenhead, presumably opportunities for general labour would be dominated by the docks and subsequent Iron Works. In addition the housing stock and affordability of rents perhaps were most accessible in such areas.Would this perhaps explain why so many Irish families, including my own, populated such locations as Brook Street,Cavendish Street, Coroporation Road, and other places in/around the North End?
Posted By: bert1 Re: Seeking Info On Birkenhead's Irish Influx - 10th Oct 2011 12:37pm
What may help is a street directory with occupants for 1851/61/71,if anyone has one. Also i have Ancestry, does anyone know if its possible to bring streets up only on various census.
Posted By: poodlepup Re: Seeking Info On Birkenhead's Irish Influx - 10th Oct 2011 12:57pm
I used to just put street name and town in the "keywords" box and leave every other box blank,if i remember correctly.
Posted By: bert1 Re: Seeking Info On Birkenhead's Irish Influx - 10th Oct 2011 1:16pm
Thanks PP, doesn't seem to want to work for me. Just wanted to see if some streets, areas, had a higher portion of Irish people.
Posted By: poodlepup Re: Seeking Info On Birkenhead's Irish Influx - 10th Oct 2011 1:21pm
My membership has expired,but i can still view,let me go and see if i can search the free census,back in 5
Originally Posted by bert1
The figures Nightwalker posted,The Irish being approx 33 percent of Birkenheads population in 1851, is it possible that Birkenhead had its own Irish Quarter before integrating fully amongst the local already established inhabitants. Its not uncommon for immigrants to develop herding instincts, wanting to be close to friends and relatives. Any thoughts on this?

Since I started writing this there have been other posts covering some of my observations. Rather than make changes, here are my thoughts:

I think you’re right Bert. Although I have not found anything definitive, there are mentions in various reports and articles about particular areas being predominantly Irish. For example, the report I posted on the smallpox outbreak (1870) states that the population in the area around Egerton Street “partakes largely of the Irish element”. Also the Garibaldi riots (1862) were centred around Holy Trinity Church in Price Street “which was sited in the midst of streets housing thousands of Irish Catholic labourers and their families” (THSLC, 1981).

If we make some assumptions, it is possible to get an idea of where and why the Irish immigrants might have gathered within the town. It is reasonable to think that many of the immigrants landing in Liverpool on the 1840/1850s were aware of, or soon found out about, the major building works being carried out in Birkenhead: Monks’ Ferry Tunnel, railways and - the biggest of the lot - the docks and warehouses. These building works would require a huge pool of ‘new’ labourers (in 1845 at least 1500 were working on the docks alone) and it is probable that a high proportion of these were Irish.

The Birkenhead Dock Company realised early on that “they must submit to much inconvenience, expense and delay, if they did not provide accommodation for their numerous workmen” (W.W. Mortimer), and by 1845, 350 ‘cottages’ had been built. I've not been able to find where these were. By 1847, the Dock Company owned all the land between Poulton Bridge and St. James’ Church extending along Wallasey Pool to Woodside. Assuming that the Company continued with its policy of providing accommodation for its workers, then I would expect that this would be the area where they would be built (the Dock Cottages?). Going back to my first assumption that a high proportion of the workmen would be Irish this would account for their congregation in this general area. It would be natural that subsequent Irish immigrants would tend to gravitate to these areas.

The quote about the Garibaldi riots specifies the Irish Catholics so a useful exercise might be to identify where the early Catholic Churches were founded.
Posted By: bert1 Re: Seeking Info On Birkenhead's Irish Influx - 10th Oct 2011 3:31pm
Indeed the churches and possibly Catholic schools, are they normally built in close proximity to the churches?

Not sure if this is a complete list for Catholic churches in Birkenhead. Taken off Genuki.

Birkenhead, St. Werburgh (Roman Catholic), Grange Road. Founded 1834.
Birkenhead, Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception and St. Edward the Confessor (Roman Catholic), Cavendish Street. Founded 1854.
Birkenhead, St. Laurence (Roman Catholic), Beckwith Street. Founded 1864.
Birkenhead, St. Joseph (Roman Catholic), North Road. Founded 1900.
Birkenhead, Holy Cross (Roman Catholic), Hoylake Road. Founded 1928
Posted By: yoller Re: Seeking Info On Birkenhead's Irish Influx - 10th Oct 2011 3:42pm

The years between 1834 and 1854 saw a huge influx of Catholics into the town - many of them presumably Irish. This is illustrated by the fact that Our Lady's, designed by Edward Pugin, was at one stage proposed to be a new cathedral, moving the Catholic diocesan headquarters from Shrewsbury.
Posted By: derekdwc Re: Seeking Info On Birkenhead's Irish Influx - 10th Oct 2011 3:47pm
list of churches pic posted by chriskay

I don't think all the Irish would have been Catholics.


Attached picture churches_sm.jpg
Posted By: bert1 Re: Seeking Info On Birkenhead's Irish Influx - 10th Oct 2011 5:09pm
Not all Derek but a fair assumption most would be.
Posted By: nightwalker Re: Seeking Info On Birkenhead's Irish Influx - 15th Oct 2011 12:08pm
Originally Posted by bert1
Just wanted to see if some streets, areas, had a higher portion of Irish people.

Out of curiosity (and because I’m turning into a sad anorak), I’ve done an analysis of a street in the 1851 census. I chose Neptune Street for the only reasons that it was there in 1851, seemed to be in the right area and wasn’t too long.

The bare facts are:

Number of occupied houses - 23
Total residents – 224 of which 108 were born in Ireland
House occupation: 1 family – 8; 2 families – 13; 3 families – 1; 4 families – 1.
(41 families lived in 23 houses).

Not included in the figure of those born in Ireland are children who appeared to be born in Birkenhead of Irish parentage. So, those of Irish heritage exceeded 50% of the street's residents.

The average occupation density of almost 10 per house is very high even for those times. I have no idea of the size of the houses in Neptune Street but cannot imagine them being particularly big. However, average figures can blur reality. For example, number 23 was occupied by 16 people: 2 families consisting of 9 adults and 7 children/babies under the age of 8. The conditions they must have been living under are unimaginable.
Posted By: bert1 Re: Seeking Info On Birkenhead's Irish Influx - 15th Oct 2011 2:15pm
Well done NW, I've worked on property's in Neptune st and they are not that big, I suppose cramped living conditions became the norm for some working class families especially those who just come here, life being what it was, any roof over their heads must have been acceptable compared to the alternative.
The street being right on the east float would have been close to where the employment was.
© Wirral-Wikiwirral