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Hopelessness of the Irish in Nineteenth Century England Essay

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Hopelessness of the Irish in Nineteenth Century England

Throughout my research into the subject of the Irish in England's industrial north during the early nineteenth century, one fact became quite clear; contemporary writers' treatment of the Irish was both minimal and negative. I consulted many sources, Friedrich Engels, Leon Faucher, James Kay-Shuttleworth to name but a few and the reoccurring theme as pertaining to the Irish in all these works was mainly consistent; the Irish were a lazy, vulgar people prone to drinking and brawling.

It was not until 1841 that Great Britain's government made its first attempt to count the number of Irish migrants in the Census of 1841. Data compiled from the actual census and other …show more content…

These changes diminished the amount of industrial labour available for harvesting purposes in England, and increased the field of employment for the Irish harvesters. 1.

He continues, stating that the Irish were represented throughout most of the agricultural districts of England but for purposes of this report, his comments on those in Lancashire county are important to note;

The harvesters landing at Liverpool seem to have spread across the country from Lancashire to Lincolnshire,...Their employment in Lancashire calls for no explanation: in the middle of the century they were regarded as indispensable there through the scarcity of English agricultural labour. 2.

Although welcome by the English farmers as a surplus pool of cheap, temporary labour, the English harvesters still in existence were not quite as pleased. Most Irish were willing to work for much lower wages than their English counterparts and thus were blamed for driving down the wages of all. In defense of the Irish, even the lowest wages offered in England represented a higher standard of living to them than that they experienced back home. Thus, most Irish were willing to work for what the English considered starvation wages. Although this led to some riots between the Irish and English harvesters, it had the added effect of motivating many English to

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