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Black ’47 pp 47–88Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Escape

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Abstract

John Fitzpatrick, a Roman Catholic priest, wrote a letter to the Catholic journal The Tablet, dated 4 January 1847. He was writing from Skibbereen to thank the readers of The Tablet for monetary gifts sent to help his parishioners:

Most of the labouring and trade population are literally naked, having pawned for their support, day and night clothes. I have often seen, in visiting the houses, entire families labouring under fever and lying together on a sop of dirty straw without any covering than the rags which they wear by day. I have found the living and dead lying together on the same floor. I have known some bodies to be buried without coffins, in consequence of the poverty of the people; and in some cases, from the inability of surviving friends to purchase a coffin and their repugnance to bury the deceased without one, the body has been kept for five days until it was in a state of putrefaction and I have known the children in fever lying with the corpse during this time.

Increasingly during the winter of 1846, the English papers published harrowing accounts of the desperate condition of a significant proportion of the Irish population. However, given the scale of the tragedy, the coverage is less than modem newspaper readers would expect. The Tablet published Fitzpatrick’s letter in an edition of 9 January 1847 and this was one of a growing number of reports of the horrors occurring in Ireland.

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Notes and References

  1. 1 Liverpool Courier, 6 January 1847.

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  2. Liverpool Journal, 20 February 1847. This edition carried the full text of Commander Caffin’s report.

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  3. ibid.

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  4. For a treatment of some of these technological changes see, J.Kennedy, The History of Steam Navigation, (Liverpool: 1903). F.Neal, ‘Shipbuilding in the North-West of England’, in S. Ville (ed) Shipbuilding in the United Kingdom in the Nineteenth Century: a regional approach; E.Corlett, The Iron Ship, 2nd ed. (Moonraker Press: 1990).

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  5. The nature and scale of the Irish cross channel trade has received relatively little attention from maritime historians. See F.Harcourt, ‘Charles Wye Williams and Irish Steam Shipping’, The Journal of Transport History, 3rd series, volume 13, no. 2, September, 1992, pp. 141–62. H.S.Irvine, ‘Some Aspects of Passengers Traffic Between Britain and Ireland, 1820–50’, The Journal of Transport History. F.Neal, ‘Liverpool, The Irish Steamship Companies and the Famine Irish’, Immigrants and Minorities, volume 5, no. 1, (March, 1986), pp. 28–61, referred to hereafter as Neal (Steamships). An important source of information on the Irish steamer trade during the famine period is the report by Captain Denham on his investigations carried out in 1849. PRO/BPP/HC (1849) ‘Captain Denham’s Report on Passenger Accommodation in Steamers Between Ireland and Liverpool’, referred to hereafter as Denham, 1849. For an idiosyncratic, but insightful look at the Irish emigration trade over the period under review see, R.Scally, ‘Liverpool Ships and Irish Emigrants in the Age of Sail’, Journal of Social History’, volume 17, no. 1, (Fall: 1983) pp. 5–30.

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  6. Kennedy, op.cit, p. 33.

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  7. Kennedy, op.cit, p. 37.

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  8. Kennedy, op.cit, p. 37. Harcourt, op.cit, p. 142.

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  9. Gore’s General Advertiser, 28 September 1843.

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  10. Liverpool Mercury, 3 October 1845. This edition carries a report on the orders for Irish steamers placed with Peter Cato’s. The Emerald was launched by Cato, 15 January 1846. She was an iron steamship, 130 feet long, 21 feet wide and was screw driven, 60 h.p. engines, see liverpool Mercury, 16 January 1846 and Liverpool Times, 20 January 1846.

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  11. 11 Liverpool Mercury, 23 and 30 January 1846. The Ajax was intended for the London-Cork route. See also Liverpool Mercury, 27 March and 3 April 1846 for reports on the launching of the Black Diamond, an iron steamship for the City of Dublin Steam Packet Company. She was 330 tons burden, 60 h.p. engines and was to be used on the Liverpool-Dublin crossing.

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  12. Manchester Guardian, 29 April 1837.

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  13. Manchester Guardian, 27 January 1838.

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  14. Gore’s General Advertiser, 14 January 1841.

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  15. Gore’s General Advertiser, 25 February and 18 March 1841.

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  16. Liverpool Mercury, 16 April 1847.

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  17. There is a large, and growing literature on Irish emigration. The most authoritative works are D.Fitzpatrick, Irish Emigration, 1801–1921 (Dublin: 1984). D.Fitzpatrick, Oceans of Consolation: personal accounts of Irish migration to Australia, (Cork: 1994). P.O’Farrell, The Irish in Australia (N.S.W. University Press: 1986), chapter three is particularly useful. O.MacDonagh, ‘Irish Emigration to the United States of America and British Colonies during the Famine’ in R.Dudley Edwards, T.D.Williams (eds),

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  18. The Great Famine: studies in Irish history, 1845–52, (Dublin: 1956), chapter vi. B.Collins, ‘The Origins of Irish Immigration to Scotland in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries’, in T.M.Devine (ed), Irish Immigrants in Scottish Society in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, (Edinburgh: 1991), pp. 1–18. A detailed treatment of the emigration of Irish women is P.O’Sullivan (ed), The Irish World Wide History, Heritage, Identity, volume 4, ‘Irish Women and Irish Migration’, (Leicester U.P: 1995). W.D.McKay, Flight from Famine: the coming of the Irish to Canada, (Toronto: 1990), The author of this work is a journalist and is not authoritative but is frequently quoted. C.Kinealy, This Great Calamity: the Irish famine 1848–52, (Dublin: 1994), in particular chapter eight. C.O’Grada, Ireland: a new economic history, 1780–1939, part II, chapter four and part IV, chapter nine, (Oxford: 1994).

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  19. Manchester Guardian, 2 January 1847, Stockport Advertiser, 8 January 1847. Waters died of malnutrition in Stockport. (see p. 183), Sunderlaiul Herald, 16 April 1847.

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  20. Bristol Gazette, 27 April 1847, Cheltenham Examiner, 28 April 1847. Three Sullivan children died of malnutrition in Cheltenham, see pp. 178–9.

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  21. SC (1854) J.Evans, q. 5333.

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  22. SC (1854) J.Evans, q. 5339.

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  23. The Customs’ Bills of Entry record each vessel arriving at a port, including the name of the vessel, its port of departure, a detailed list of its cargo, date of arrival, tonnage of the vessel, master’s name and number of crew. Unfortunately, the amount of detail recorded varies between ports. Thus, for example, in the case of the Glasgow bills, the tonnage of a ship is not always recorded. The bills have not survived for all ports. From the point of view of this study, it is disappointing that the bills for Cardiff, Swansea and Newport, cannot be traced.

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  24. When the tonnage of a vessel is not recorded it can be obtained elsewhere. In the case of steamers, the companies advertised their sailings and often gave the tonnage of the vessel. Sailing vessels were very small and it was rarely that their trips were advertised. In the case of the Glasgow Bills, however, for the year 1847, 413 sailing ships had their tonnage recorded, providing a large sample from which to estimate the overall average tonnage of sailing vessels arriving at Glasgow (64 tons)

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  25. Captain Denham inspected the Emerald on her arrival at Liverpool 6 May 1849. She had taken nearly 31 hours on the trip from Dublin to Liverpool. She carried 306 deck passengers and a woman gave birth in the ship’s engine room. Denham, 1849, pp. 10–11.

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  26. Denham, 1849, p. 3.

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  27. Denham, 1849, p. 4.

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  28. The Tablet, 17 April 1847. (This report was taken from the Cork Register).

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  29. Denham, 1849, p. 9.

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  30. BPP (HC) Accounts and Papers, 1847. The Number of Cattle, Sheep and Pigs Imported into Great Britain during the year ending 5 January 1847.

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  31. Liverpool Mail, 26 December 1846. Report on the meeting of the Select Vestry.

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  32. SC, 1847, Minutes of Evidence, E.Rushton, qq. 4370–1. See also SC (1854) Minutes of Evidence, A.Campbell, qq. 4969–4971. Campbell explains the source of some data on emigration arrivals from Ireland.

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  33. No data of arrivals at Liverpool from Ireland appears to have been kept for any year after 1855.

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  34. SC (1854) Minutes of Evidence, qq. 4952–54. This is a complete copy of Rushton’s letter to the Home Secretary.

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  35. The statistics for 1848 and 1849 were estimated using the data of weekly arrivals at Liverpool recorded in the press. The Manchester Guardian carried such reports.

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  36. Strathclyde, Glasgow Parochial Board meeting held 24 August 1847, p. 162.

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  37. Glasgow Herald, 27 September 1847, report on the meeting of the Glasgow Parochial Board at which a memorial was prepared for the Privy Council, complaining of Irish pauper immigration.

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  38. Strathclyde, Glasgow Parochial Board meeting, 30 November 1847.

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  39. SC (1854) Minutes of Evidence contain lots of anecdotal evidence, claiming that various agencies and individuals in Ireland were financing the trip to England of many destitute Irish.

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  40. SC (1850) Minutes of Evidence, A. Campbell, q. 4954, p. 359, copy of Rushton’s letter.

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  41. SC (1854) Minutes of Evidence, J.Evans, qq. 5340–1.

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  42. SC (1854) Minutes of Evidence, G.Carr, qq. 5546–5576.

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  44. Denham, 1849, p. 3.

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  45. SC (1854) Minutes of Evidence, A.Campbell, q. 5025. Campbell quoted Hart.

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  46. For a detailed analysis of competition on the Irish-Liverpool crossing see Neal (Steamships).

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  47. Strathclyde„ Minutes of Glasgow Parochial Board held 26 January 1847. Also reported in the Glasgow Herald, 29 January 1847.

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  48. SC (1854) Minutes of Evidence, A.Campbell, qq. 5076–5082.

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  49. The Times, 8 May 1847. Report on questions in the House of Commons on 7 May regarding the situation in Liverpool. Sir George Grey, Home Secretary, said that the steamship companies had been warned about carrying fever victims.

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  50. Manchester Guardian, 12 May 1847.

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  51. Liverpool Standard, 15 June 1847, report on the meeting of the Select Vestry held on 8 June 1847. Charles Wye Williams, Managing Director of the City of Dublin Steamship Company tried to persuade the Vestry to agree that on arrival in Liverpool, steamers flying a quarantine flag should dock first and sick persons then be removed to the lazarettos. Clearly, this proposal was beneficial to the companies but it was rejected.

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  52. Manchester Guardian, 9 June 1847.

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  53. Glasgow Herald, 21 May 1847. Report on the meeting of the Glasgow Parochial Board held 17 May 1847.

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  54. Glasgow Herald, 14 June 1847. When the Thetis arrived at the Broomielaw, a detachment of police was on hand in case there was resistance to a medical inspection. In the event there was no reaction among the passengers.

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  55. Strathclyde, Minutes of the meeting of the Glasgow Parochial Board held on 25 June 1847, p. 121.

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  56. The Cambrian, 30 April 1847.

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  57. PRO/MH12/7802/Stepney Union/8696A. Stepney Guardians to E.Chadwick, Secretary to the Poor Law Commissioners, dated 18 May 1847. Mr Hall of the Poor Law Commissioners commented on the back of the letter that there was nothing they could do to stem the inflow of Irish immigration.

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  61. Cardiff and Merthyr Guardian, 10 April 1847. This carried a detailed report of the inquest. PRO/Customs/71/49. Letter to the Customs House, London from Newport, dated 21 July 1847. The captain of the Industry had arrived without completing the necessary paperwork.

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  62. Cardiff and Merthyr Guardian, 17 April 1847.

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  63. The zeal with which harbourmasters and custom officers enforced passenger legislation varied considerably. Also long after Denham’s report, masters continued to flout the law. See Liverpool Mail, 15 January 1853.

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  64. SC (1854) Minutes of Evidence, J.Salter, Newport Relieving Officer, q. 6740–5

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  65. Manchester Guardian, 19 May 1849.

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  66. The Times, 2 July 1849.

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  68. Emigrant Ships (1854) Minutes of Evidence, J.Besnard, q. 4700.

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  69. Emigrant Ships (1854) Minutes of Evidence, S.Redmond, q. 1527. Redmond claimed he had never seen tarpaulins provided.

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  71. Liverpool Journal, 27 February 1847.

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  73. The account given here of the Londonderry tragedy is based on contemporary press reports. See Londonderry Journal, 6 December 1848, Mayo and Sligo Intelligencer, 7 and 14 December 1847, Liverpool Mercury, 8 December 1848, Times, 8 and 13 December 1848, Manchester Guardian, 9 December 1848, Sunderland Herald, 15 December 1848 and Newcastle Journal, 9 December 1848.

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  74. Liverpool Mercury, 21 April 1849. See also liverpool Albion, 23 April 1849.

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  75. Hansard (Commons) volume 106, 1849, p. 670.

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  76. ibid.

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  77. Liverpool Chronicle, 8 December 1849.

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  78. Denham, 1849, p. 17. Evidence of the Medical Officers’ in charge of quarantine at Liverpool.

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  79. Denham, 1849, p. 18. Evidence of Inspector Johnson.

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  80. Denham, 1849, p. 10.

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  81. Liverpool Mail, 28 July 1849. This edition of the paper carries a full copy of Charles Wye William’s letter to the Morning Chronicle.

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  82. For a detailed account of the battle for a tightening up of legislation regarding Irish steamers see Neal (Steamships).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. European Studies Research Institute, The University of Salford, Salford, England

    Frank Neal (Professor of Economic and Social History)

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© 1998 Frank Neal

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Neal, F. (1998). Escape. In: Black ’47. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230372658_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230372658_3

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-349-39833-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-0-230-37265-8

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