Irish Women in Mid-Nineteenth-C-Y Toronto
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IRISH WOMEN IN MID-NINETEENTH-C-Y TORONTO: IMAGE AND EXPERIENCE A Thesis Presented to The Faculty of Graduate Studies of The University of Guelph by COURTNEY HARRIS In partial fulfilment of requirements for the degree of Master of Arts September, 1999 @ Courtney Hanis, 1999 National Library Bibliothèque nationale 1+1 of Canada du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographie Sewices services bibliographiques 395 Wellington Street 395. nie Wellhgtori OttawaON KlAW OttawaON KlAON4 CaMda CaMda The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive Licence allowing the exclusive permettant à la National Library of Canada to Bibliothèque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distribute or sel1 reproduire, prêter, distribuer ou copies of this thesis in microform, vendre des copies de cette thèse sous paper or electronic formats. la forme de microfiche/film, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format électronique. The author retaùis ownership of the L'auteur conserve la propriété du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thèse. thesis nor substantial extracts fkom it Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels rnay be printed or otherwise de celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation. ABSTRACT IRISH WOMEN IN MID-hINETEENTH CENl'WRYTORONTO: IMAGE AND EXPERIENCE Courtney Harris Advisor: University of Guelph, 1999 Dr. C.A. Wilson This thesis uses the image and experience of Irish immigrant women to reassess the historiography of the Irish immigrant experience in mid-nineteenth century Toronto. Beginning with an analysis of the popular Victorian image of Erin as the embodiment of Ireland, the thesis asks the extent to which characteristics like virtue, purity, pre- rnodernity and ruralness informed an image of the irïsh immigrant and supported Irish claims to respectability in the midst of industriaking Toronto. In the Irish households of mid-nineteenth century Cabbagetown, Irish women's behaviour and their image of irreproachable morality was held up by the Irish immigrant community to claim its status as suitable, and at times exemplary, mode1 citizens. Using hsh domestic servants another case study, this thesis questions why the mistresses of Toronto's finer homes viewed girls from Ireland as suitable domestic servants and weighs the expectations of these mistresses against their irish domestic servants' detennination to marry and be respectable household mistresses in their own nght. The final chapter takes the familiar character of the disreputable irish immigrant as its subject. In the figure of the irish prostitute. images of virtue, ruralness and naivety associated with Ireland cushion the reputation of Irish female misdemeanants and shield the Irish community as a whole from disreputability and undesirability. 1 would like to thank my cornmittee members Professors Mahood, Murray, Snell and most of al1 Professor Catharine Wilson for their support. In particular, Professor Wilson spent countless hours reading draft after draft and eagerly awaiting the next instalment. She encouraged me to develop and refine my fuzzy thoughts over many months and miles. I owe a warm thank-you to her farnily for their hospitality and kindness as 1 consumed more than my fair share of Cathy's time. 1 would also like to thank my dear friend Catharine Saxberg for reading each page of the thesis and providing just the nght blend of constructive crîticism and supportive friendship. In addition, I would like to thank James Fraser for blending stimulation and support in MA coursework and Sonnet L'Abbé for introducing me to a wealth of literature on the Irish. Thanks also to my parents and sisters who questioned my wisdom in pursuing a Master's degree, but never hesitated to offer their support. The greatest appreciation is owed to Matthew Curran, who has patiently endured my preoccupation, accepted my need for silence and nurtured my physical and emotional well-king. Rather than resentrnent, he was amused that I would convert our dates into long walks through Toronto's setsdiscussing the lives of past inhabitants. Thanks to him, the thesis is finished. 1 would like to dedicate this thesis to two women frorn my family. To my great- grandmother, Mary White who, at the age of nineteen and without farnily, exchanged County Down, Northern ireland for Kent County, Ontario. Also, to my matemal grandmother, Elizabeth (Manz) Powell who inspired me to think critically about women, work, immigration and national identity. Being the first Canadian-born daughter to a German-speaking family newly arrived in Saskatchewan in the early twentieth-century, my grandmother, as did her siblings, left school for waged work. At a very young age, she left her family and went to Regina to work as a domestic servant. It was her many stones of loneliness, discrimination, economic uncertainty, resentment blended with her excitedness, hope, adventure and love for her farnily that accompanied my thoughts through the course of this thesis. 1 am grateful for her Company. TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ............................................................. i -. Acknowtedgements ..................................................... il ..- Table of Contents ....................................................... 111 List of illustrations, Tables, and Graphs ......... .. .......................... iv ChapterOne ........................................................... 1 Introduction ChapterTwo ........................................................... 26 The Image of the Irish: a Reappraisal ChapterThree ..........................................................49 Meeting the Requirements of Citizenship: Marriage, Motherhood and Morali ty ChapterFour .......-.-..-.-...........................................78 Bridget Works Towards Respectability: Irish Domestic Servants Chapter Five .......................................................... 11 1 "A thousand snares which profligate cities throw in their way": Insh hfisderneanants in Toronto Conclusion .............................................................. Bibliography .......................................................... 141 iii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Figure 2.1 - The Fenian Guy Fawkes Figure 2.2 - A Hint to the Loyal Irish Figure 2.3 - The Insh Frankenstein Figure 2.4 - The Fenian Pest Figure 2.5 - The Mad Doctor Figure 2.6 - Two Forces Figure 4. i - The Needewoman at Home and Abroad Figure 4.2 - Science at a Discount Figure 4.3 - The Patent Grid Iron Figure 4.4 - Biddy's Eccentricities Figure 4.5 - Off to the Sea-Side Figure 4.6 - Biddy's Eccentricities Figure 4.7 - One For Missus LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS Table 5.1 - Statistics from the Magdalen Asylum and Industrial Refuge, 1857-1876 Graph 5.1 - Number of Arrests by Nationality - Male, 1870-1880 Graph 5.2 - Number of Arrests by Nationality - Female, 1870-1880 Chapter One: Introduction The Irish population of Toronto from 1847-1880 provides a familiar subject, though in many ways an unknown group lost arnid a stereotype of oppression, destitution and segregation. It was this stereotype that induced me to study the image of the Irish and how it related to the Irish immigrant experience in Toronto. The initial aim of this thesis was to explore the experience of Irish women to comment on what we already know about the Irish immigrant experience in mid-nineteenth-cenhiry Toronto. In lwking specifically at Insh women and the deof gender in defining immigrant expeience, however, 1 found a very different image of 'Irishness' based on the image of nineteenth- century Ireland as feminine, rural and virtuous. This finding led me to question the belief that the Irish immigrant was not accepted in mid-nineteenth-century Toronto and to contend that Torontonians believed in a positive, though nostalgie image of the Insh which marked their suitability as Canadian citizens. Most interesting of dl, the Irish used syrnbols of Ireland alongside their matenal success in their new surroundings to promote themselves as respectable Canadian citizens. Thus, this thesis argues that despite a histonographical impulse to describe the Irish in Toronto from 1847-1880 as downtrodden, their 'peasant' image along with the hard work and determination of the Irish marked their suitability as immigrants to Canada. The time period 1847-1880 was selected chiefly because of a need to rethink the history of the Irish in Toronto pnor to 1880. Census material shows that 1847 to 1880 was a period of tremendous growth in population and industry in Toronto and the Irish were an intrinsic part of this growth. As well, this time period encompasses two crucial events in the history of Irish immigration to Canada: the Famine migration and the Fenian raids. Finaliy, 1 wish to address the works of histonan Murray Nicolson directly and thus his time period of "Victorian" Toronto was roughly followed. This thesis is about Irish experience, particularly the experience of irish women both Catholic and Protestant, immigrant and Canadian-bom. For the sake of clarity, "Irish" will be used to describe the general group of people from Ireland and of Irish descent to which both Catholics and Protestants - whether Presbyterian, Church of England, Methodist or of another Protestant denornination - belonged. When describing a particular subsection of this group, a more detailed nomer will be used. For example, Canadian-boni Irish Catholic or irish Protestant immigrant refer to two subsections