Irish and Scots Poverty in the Far North of England 1790-1870

DOCTORAL THESIS Irish and Scots poverty in the far north of England 1790-1870 Sharman, Allan Award date: 2019 General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal ? Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 28. Sep. 2021 Irish and Scots poverty in the far north of England 1790-1870 Allan Sharman Cert Ed, BSc (Hons), MA A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of PhD Department of Humanities University of Roehampton 2018 Contents Page No. Table of Contents i Abstract iii Acknowledgments iv List of Tables and Figures v Abbreviations xi Introduction 1 i. Methodology 4 ii Structure 6 Chapter 1 The background to migrant poverty i. Introduction 10 ii. Comparators across the region 11 iii. Population movement 14 iv. Controlling the flow 17 v. Image, myth and perception 21 vi. The workhouse facility 26 vii. Escape routes 29 viii. The economy of the migrant 31 ix. Conclusion 33 Chapter 2 Managing the numbers: settlement and removal i. The problem of settlement and removal 36 ii. Settlement law, implementation and impact 43 iii. Driving down costs 51 iv. The conveyancing process and the removal contractor 59 v. Managing the fraudsters 62 vi. The human cost of removal 68 vii. Conclusion 76 Chapter 3 The growing threat of vagrancy i. Themes and perceptions 80 ii. Concerns, options and priorities 83 iii. Female vagrancy 85 iv. Management of vagrants and the poor 88 v. Moving around the region 96 vi. Conclusion 103 i Chapter 4 The Irish famine years i. The prelude to the famine 108 ii. The rising tide of migrants 111 iii. Sources of relief and forms of support 114 iv. Problems of health and disease 117 v. Survival and support strategies 121 vi. Migrants in the workhouse 132 vii. Conclusion 142 Chapter 5 On the margins of poverty in Whitehaven and Cleator i. Investigation and authority reports 144 ii. Housing and the ghetto debate 150 iii. Policing the lodging house phenomenon 155 iv. Living on the margins in Cleator and Cleator Moor 157 v. The growing housing crisis 160 vi. Into the courts and passageways of Whitehaven 169 vii. Conclusion 177 Chapter 6 The Irish and Scots poor in the textile trade i. Weaving and spinning for a living 179 ii. Location population and industry 181 iii. Caldewgate, the home of spinners and weavers 191 iv. Poverty and pay 199 v. Female workers and the handloom industry 207 vi. Conclusion 210 Conclusion 213 Appendices 222 Bibliography 245 ii Abstract The thesis examines poverty at the extreme end of the scale amongst the Irish and Scots migrants who settled or travelled within the far north of England. The problems they encountered stemmed in part from the fears by the host population of the encroachment on established cultural norms and the threat they presented to employment prospects. The main emphasis of the thesis is on the reasons for and results of migration into the area when England was at one of the most critical stages in its history. The thesis challenges the notion that the Irish lived in conditions separated from and widely different to their English and Scots neighbours, which leads to the idea that the concept of ghetoisation does not work in tested areas of this region. It argues instead that there were similarities in their circumstances, differences in their survival strategies, and contrasts in the treatment they were afforded by the authorities. The authorities made strenuous efforts in their attempts to deal with the flow of migrants into and beyond the west of the region as they traversed the country from Whitehaven to Tynemouth, particularly during the period of the famine in Ireland. Their use of the Poor Law, and other legislation to control vagrancy, settlement and removal, were also tested to establish the effectiveness of its implementation. The timeframe was selected because it embraces a political and socio-economic period that witnessed the transition from the old to the new poor law, rapid urban and industrial growth and the dislocating effects of poverty and famine in traditional societies, not least in Ireland. While there is one general account of the Lake Counties, the wider far- northern region has received only scanty attention from historians in specific parts. Moreover, the historiography has relied on a range of arguments which, whilst interconnecting was not always in agreement. Diversity within the region was significant in terms of reception, law enforcement and the approach to containing the perceived problems, but the prevalence of negative attitudes towards migrants remained consistent throughout the period. iii Acknowledgments My thanks go to the many who have made the process of completing the thesis possible. I particularly want to thank Professor Donald MacRaild and Dr Lewis Darwen for their encouragement, advice and rigorous attention to detail which have contributed to the maintenance of momentum of the project. I would also like to thank Professor Peter Roebuck and Professor Michael Mullett very warmly for their support, advice and time which they gave so generously. My gratitude also goes to the administrative and academic staff at Ulster University who supported my project in the early stages of its development. To the staff of the Cumbria Record offices at Whitehaven and Carlisle I extend my gratitude for retrieving requests with a smile and their help in locating relevant material. The staff of the Tyne and Wear Record Office were equally obliging in their endeavour to fulfil my requests. A very special thankyou goes to Dr Derek Denman who has given his time and expertise with guidance on academic and practical matters which have enabled me to insert maps and format the thesis to produce the final document. Church records were made available to me by the kindness of Father Jerome Ainsworth at St Catherine’s Church in Penrith, and Father Richard Simms at St Begh’s Church in Whitehaven. Finally, and of course not least, thanks are due to my wife Elspeth for her unlimited support and the encouragement I have received from my children Matthew and Nicola in the many conversations we have had over the past three years. iv List of Tables and Figures Chapter 1 Tables Table 1.1 Population of Cumberland town Table 1.2 Workhouse construction dates and capacity, Cumberland Poor Law Unions Table 1.3 Workhouse construction dates and capacity, Northumberland Poor Law Unions Figures Figure 1.1 Irish and Scots migration routes Chapter 2 Tables Table 2.1 population of England and Wales and northern counties Table 2.2 Irish-born population in Cumberland and Northumberland Table 2.3 Scots-born population in Cumberland and Northumberland Table 2.4 Amount expended by all Poor Law Unions in Northumberland, 1848 Table 2.5 Costs of non-settled irremovable paupers in Cockermouth Poor Law Union, 1848-1853 Table 2.6 Number of Irish removed from selected Poor Law Unions in England, 1849-1854 Table 2.7 Numbers of Orders of Removal granted by Justices of the Peace in England and Wales, 1846-1849 Table 2.8 Costs and numbers of English Irish and Scots removals of paupers, 1854 Table 2.9 Numbers and percentages of irremovable English, Irish and Scots paupers in Berwick-upon-Tweed, 1850,1853, 1854 (combined) Table 2.10 In-door and out-door relief paid to paupers in Berwick-upon-Tweed, 1850,1853, 1854 (combined) Table 2.11 Cost per capita of in-door and out-door paupers in Berwick-upon- Tweed, 1850, 1853, 1854 (combined) Table 2.12 Numbers of Irish removals and Irish vagrants in Whitehaven Poor Law Union, 1847-1853 v Table 2.13 Removal Orders and Warrants for Removal of Irish in Tynemouth (Appendix) Figures Figure 2.1 Warrant of Removal of Persons in Scotland or Ireland or in the Isle of Man, Scilly or Guernsey, 1849 Figure 2.2 Regulations to enforce the ‘Act to amend the laws relating to the removal of poor persons to Scotland, Ireland, The Isle of Man, Scilly, Jersey, Guernsey and chargeable to England, 1846’, by the Cumberland Justices of the peace (Appendix) Figure 2.3 Poor Law expenditure in England and Wales, per head of population by counties, 1834 (Appendix) Chapter 3 Tables Table 3.1 Vagrants, tramps and paupers in Brampton workhouse, 1846-1851 Table 3.2 Irish and Scots vagrants in Tynemouth workhouse Figures Figure 3.1 Migrant trail routes across the far north from Whitehaven to Tynemouth and Tynemouth to Berwick Figure 3.2 Irish and Scots paupers in workhouses in the far north Figure 3.3 Paupers in workhouses in Carlisle and Berwick-upon-Tweed Figure 3.4 Scots, Irish, English and Foreign vagrants in Northumberland 1865-68 Figure 3.5 Age range of paupers in workhouses in Cumberland, 1841-1861 (Appendix) Figure 3.6 Age range of paupers in workhouses in Northumberland, 1841- 1861 (Appendix) Figure 3.7 Letter from Sir John Walsham, Assistant Poor Law Commissioner to Poor Law Commission, 15 September 1840 (Appendix) Figure 3.8 TNA, MH12/8976/215, Names and Description of Casual Poor relieved in Berwick-upon-Tweed Union from 23 March to 26 July, 1840 (Appendix) vi Figure 3.9 Irish and Scots Paupers in Cumberland workhouses, 1841- 1861 (Appendix) Figure 3.10 Irish and Scots Paupers in Northumberland workhouses, 1841-1861 (Appendix) Chapter 4 Tables Table 4.1 All deaths in England and Wales at the end of each quarter, 1848, 1850 Table 4.2 Diseases recorded in Carlisle Dispensary, 1846-1859 Table 4.3 Vagrants in the Tynemouth workhouse casual ward.

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