Population Migration

Irish Migrants | 1 | 2 |

The Irish have been migrating to Wolverhampton and the surrounding townships for centuries. Irish migrant workers first came to the area as seasonal farm workers for the harvest at Wolverhampton. Little Rome as Wolverhampton was known attracted many Irish because of its strong Roman Catholic sentiments. The town's strong association with Catholicism is evidenced by the fact that it was a centre for Midland Catholicism, particularly around 1804 when Dr Milner, the Vicar Apostolic, took up residence at Giffard House, Wolverhampton.

There had been an accelerating rate of Irish labourers seeking work in the Midlands and North since the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1812. Many of the Irish immigrants were drawn to areas of the town that had some of the cheaper housing (and also the worst living conditions). Many lived in the area known as Caribee Island (sometimes spelt Carribee or Carabee), a neglected area near the centre of Wolverhampton. For further details of the poor health conditions in Caribee Island see the section on Victorian Public Health.

Extract from 1841 Census for Caribee Island

The extract shows that out of thirty-one persons listed, only two children were born in England: the other twenty-nine persons living in Caribee Island were born in Ireland.

For many Irish migrants Wolverhampton and the Black Country offered a place to live, work, worship and live among their fellow countrymen where they could talk in their own language, Gaelic.

The greatest influx of Irish migrants to Wolverhampton was during the
Irish Potato Famine of 1845 to 1851, and immediately afterwards. By 1851 it was estimated that one person in every eight in Wolverhampton was Irish (that is over 6,000 out of a population of 49,989).

The sharp rise in the number of Roman Catholics in Wolverhampton during the first half of the nineteenth century can largely be attributed to Irish immigration.

By the late 1840's there were a number of clashes between the police and the Irish migrants in the area of Stafford Street and Caribee Island.

In May 1848 the headline in the Wolverhampton Chronicle read "Riot in Stafford Street, and Attack on the Police" when a policeman by the name of M'Caskin attempted to stop a disturbance. He was attacked by Michael Owen who hit the officer several times. Following the arrest of Owen and others there was considerable unrest in the area, with an estimated two thousand people in the street throwing stones at the police.

Extract from Wolverhampton Chronicle, 17th May 1848

Extracts from Wolverhampton Chronicle regarding disturbances
among the Irish quarter, May - July 1848

As serious as these disturbances had been they were nothing when compared with the disturbances in 1858 and 1867, following the activities of
anti-Catholic lecturers in the town.

During the early 1850s there had been several such lecturers visiting the town warning the population against such things as "Papal Aggression". One visiting lecturer, Father Gavazzi, lectured to audiences in October 1851 and again in January 1852. The Wolverhampton Chronicle at the time noted that although his lecture was spoken in Italian and not understood by the majority present, he was cheered loudly when he spoke of Cardinal Wiseman and Father Newmanm (It was Cardinal Wiseman who performed the consecration service for SS Mary and John Church Snow Hill on 1 May, 1855.)

In June 1858 an anti-Catholic lecturer, Andre Massena (who called himself Baron de Camin) obtained permission to give a series of lectures at the Corn Exchange. Massena had previously given a similar series of lectures in Walsall and Birmingham. These lectures had caused a great deal of unrest among the Irish Catholic communities.

Wolverhampton Chronicle, 23rd June 1858

On 28th June several thousand people - some armed with sticks, stones and bludgeons - surrounded the Corn Exchange preventing the baron and his supporters from entering the building. Fights broke out between Protestants and Catholics and the lecture was cancelled.

The following evening the Baron arrived at the building escorted by the police with the intention of giving his lecture. The appearance of the baron on stage produced a violent response from the Irish Catholics in the audience. Cries of "Judas" and "Turn Him Out" were heard. Meanwhile, a crowd of over three thousand had gathered outside, throwing stones and generally causing a disturbance. The Mayor, Magistrates and the police all came under fire.

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© Copyright. Wolverhampton City Council, 2002