University of Huddersfield Repository Holmes, David Crowned in shamrocks erin©t Broad Acres: The emergence of the Irish Catholic community in Yorkshire, and the evolution of the West Riding©s forgotten Irish Rugby clubs, 1860-c 1920. Original Citation Holmes, David (2010) Crowned in shamrocks erin©t Broad Acres: The emergence of the Irish Catholic community in Yorkshire, and the evolution of the West Riding©s forgotten Irish Rugby clubs, 1860-c 1920. Doctoral thesis, University of Huddersfield. This version is available at http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/9080/ The University Repository is a digital collection of the research output of the University, available on Open Access. Copyright and Moral Rights for the items on this site are retained by the individual author and/or other copyright owners. Users may access full items free of charge; copies of full text items generally can be reproduced, displayed or performed and given to third parties in any format or medium for personal research or study, educational or not-for-profit purposes without prior permission or charge, provided: • The authors, title and full bibliographic details is credited in any copy; • A hyperlink and/or URL is included for the original metadata page; and • The content is not changed in any way. For more information, including our policy and submission procedure, please contact the Repository Team at: [email protected]. http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/ CROWNED IN SHAMROCKS ERIN‟T BROAD ACRES: THE EMERGENCE OF THE IRISH CATHOLIC COMMUNITY IN YORKSHIRE, AND THE EVOLUTION OF THE WEST RIDING‟S FORGOTTEN IRISH RUGBY CLUBS, 1860-c 1920. DAVID HOLMES A thesis submitted to the University of Huddersfield in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy January 2010 Abstract This thesis examines the emergence of the Irish Catholic diaspora in the industrial diocese of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and the evolution of the West Riding‟s forgotten Irish rugby clubs, 1860-c 1920. In addition to considering the contributions of Irish immigrants in the history of rugby football this thesis explores their religious, nationalist, social and cultural experiences, set within the wider history of Irish immigration in England. The history and establishment of parochial and non-parochial Irish Catholic rugby clubs in the West Riding can be traced back to the 1870s. Diasporic Irish Catholics settled in the county have always been part of rugby football since its inception, albeit, at a much slower and punctuated rate than that observed among English Protestant communities. The foremost aim of this thesis is to scrutinise the rugby antecedents of Irish Catholics domiciled in the manufacturing centres of the West Riding during the Victorian and early Edwardian periods. In the late nineteenth century, towns and cities across the West Riding had become the great citadels of rugby football. Rugby attracted much participation, giving rise to the Catholic Church establishing its own internalised parochial rugby clubs, which were intended to improve the spiritual and physical well-being of its poor Irish adherents. This thesis, moreover, examines the establishment of non-parochial Irish rugby clubs which acted as sporting auxiliaries to Irish nationalist clubs. Finally, this thesis investigates those opportunities which allowed some working-class Irish Catholics to participate in games of rugby league outside of their own ethno-religious clubs for some of the county‟s senior professional rugby clubs. Since the main objective of Irish nationalist organisations was to offer financial support and political muscle to the Irish Parliamentary Party, this thesis will argue that the establishment of non- parochial nationalist Irish rugby clubs initially centred on the sport‟s by products‟, „gate- money‟. 2 Copy Right Statement i. The author of this thesis (including any appendices and/or schedules to this thesis) owns any copyright in it (the “Copyright”) and he has given The University of Huddersfield the right to use such Copyright for any administrative, promotional, educational and/or teaching purposes. ii. Copies of the thesis, either in full or in extracts, may be made only in accordance with the regulations of the University Library. Details of these regulations may be obtained from the Librarian. This form must form part of any such copies made. iii. The ownership of any such patents, designs, trade marks and any and all other intellectual property rights except for the Copyright (the ”Intellectual Property Rights”) and any reproductions of copyright works, for example graphs and tables (“Reproductions”), which may be described in this thesis, may not be owned by the author and may be owned by third parties. Such Intellectual Property Rights and Reproductions cannot and must not be made available for use without prior permission of the owner(s) of the relevant Intellectual Property Rights and/or Reproductions. 3 CONTENTS Abstract 2 List of Tables 5 Abbreviations 6 Acknowledgements 7 Introduction 8 Chapter 1 Irish Lifeways: Immigration, Life, Labour and the Irish Diasporic 21 Catholic Community in the West Riding of Yorkshire 1800-c 1922. Chapter 2 Transition and Trajectories: The Catholic Church and its People in 54 Victorian and Edwardian West Riding of Yorkshire. Chapter 3 Guns and Rosaries: The English Catholic Church, Irish Secret 113 Societies, Fenianism and Home Rule in Victorian and Edwardian West Riding of Yorkshire. Chapter 4 The Spirit of Association: Catholic Popular Culture, 155 Confraternities, Guilds and a Restored Community. Chapter 5 A Rugby Revolution Begun: The Emergence and Diffusion of 193 Rugby Football and the Origins of Rugby League in the West Riding of Yorkshire. Chapter 6 No Prayer no Player: Catholic Experience with Rugby Football in 238 the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century. Chapter 7 Funds, Football and Fraternity: The Evolution of the West Riding's 281 Irish Rugby Clubs. Chapter 8 Cracks in the Rugby Plinth: Irish Catholic Experience with Rugby 322 League Football. Conclusion 358 Bibliography 374 Word count: 112, 424 4 List of Tables Table 1.1 Irish-born in West Riding of Yorkshire in relation to total 41 population, 1841-1911. Table 2.1 Number of Catholic in the Diocese of Leeds and General 61 Statistics 1875-1911. Table 2.2 Missions in the Diocese of Leeds and their numerical 76 strength 1881-1911. Table 8.1 Number of Known Roman Catholic Players of Irish 332 Descent 1906/09 Table 8.2 Number of Known Roman Catholic Players of Irish 333 Descent 1913/20 5 Abbreviations FA: Football Association. GAA: Gaelic Athletic Association. ILL: Irish Land League. ILP: Independent Labour Party. INL: Irish National League. NILL: National Irish Land League. NU: Northern Union. RFU: Rugby Football Union. UIL: United Irish League. YMCS: Young Men‟s Catholic Society. YRFU: Yorkshire Rugby Football Union. 6 Acknowledgements First I would like to thank Professor Tony Collins of Leeds Metropolitan University, most sincerely for his wise advice, constant and practical encouragement throughout the early stages of this research. I would like also to thank Dr Peter Davies of University of Huddersfield. This investigation grew out of his involving me directly with the topic. My sincere thanks are due to my supervisor Professor Keith Laybourn of University Huddersfield, for his continuing advice and encouragement; without his willingness and cheerful co-operation this work would have been infinitely less agreeable. My thanks are due to the Hilary Haigh and Brian Haigh (not related) of the University of Huddersfield Archive, for allowing me access to collections in their care. To the members of staff at the Leeds Diocesan Archives for allowing me access to Roman Catholic records. I would like to thank the „Up and Under‟ oral history project for funding this research. I would like to thank them all, and the members of staff at the West Yorkshire Archives in Leeds, Bradford, Halifax Huddersfield, Dewsbury and Wakefield, and members of staff from the British Library who have helped in various ways during the innumerable visits and hours spent at the Colindale Archive. 7 INTRODUCTION This thesis examines the emergence of the Irish Catholic diaspora in the industrial diocese of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and the evolution of the West Riding‟s forgotten Irish rugby clubs, 1860-c 1920. The term „rugby football‟ is used here to represent both rugby union football and rugby league football, except where it is inappropriate. The aim of this research is to determine the historical relationship between Irish Catholic diasporic identities and rugby football in the late Victorian and early Edwardian eras, although occasional reference will be made of that other important nineteenth-century immigrant group, the Eastern European Jews. In addition to considering the contributions of Irish immigrants in the history of rugby football, this thesis shall also examine their religious, nationalist, social and cultural experiences, set within the wider history of Irish immigration in England. In particularly, it shall examine the role of the Roman Catholic Church, which played a predominant part in the process whereby Irish people assimilated into their new surroundings. In their new urban communities the Irish sought to maintain their Irish culture with the Catholic Church being central to many community activities. It established a means of contact between its Irish adherents and helped to strengthen many of their religious convictions, to enlighten them in the midst of the difficulties presented by the question of the day. This will lead naturally enough into the core area of the research, which will argue that diasporic Irish Catholics settled in the county have always been part of rugby football since its inception, albeit, at a much slower and punctuated rate than that observed among English Protestant communities. First, it will argue that rugby attracted much participation among the working-class Irish Catholics, giving rise to the Catholic Church establishing its own, internalised, parochial rugby clubs, which were intended to improve the spiritual and physical well-being of its poor Irish adherents.