Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports 2011 From Peasant to Pariah: Changing English Perceptions of the Irish from the 1820s Through the 1860s Traci J. Scully West Virginia University Follow this and additional works at: https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd Recommended Citation Scully, Traci J., "From Peasant to Pariah: Changing English Perceptions of the Irish from the 1820s Through the 1860s" (2011). Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports. 3462. https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd/3462 This Dissertation is protected by copyright and/or related rights. It has been brought to you by the The Research Repository @ WVU with permission from the rights-holder(s). You are free to use this Dissertation in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you must obtain permission from the rights-holder(s) directly, unless additional rights are indicated by a Creative Commons license in the record and/ or on the work itself. This Dissertation has been accepted for inclusion in WVU Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports collection by an authorized administrator of The Research Repository @ WVU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. From Peasant to Pariah: Changing English Perceptions of the Irish from the 1820s Through the 1860s Traci J. Scully Dissertation submitted to the College of Arts and Sciences At West Virginia University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History Joseph Hodge, Ph.D., Chair Katherine Aaslestad, Ph.D. Kate Staples, Ph.D. Lisa Weihman, Ph.D. Sandra den Otter, Ph.D. Department of History Morgantown, West Virginia 2011 Keywords: Ireland, Identity, Victorian England, Empire Copyright 20115Traci J. Scully Abstract From Peasant to Pariah: Changing English Perceptions of the Irish from the 1820s Through the 1860s Traci J. Scully While the historiography of English perceptions of the Irish in the later period of the Victorian era is extensive, there is a dearth of research in tracing the origins of these perceptions. The connection between England and Ireland dates back centuries, and the relationship was neutral at best and extremely violent at worst. Historians such as L. Perry Curtis have analyzed the mass media of these later decades to argue that the English saw their neighbors as subhuman creatures in the racial hierarchy. However, this image did not emerge from a single event, but rather evolved over the tumultuous earlier decades marked by violence, starvation, disease, and immigration. And it did not evolve without a clear purpose. The Act of Union brought Ireland into the larger political unit of the United Kingdom. In theory, the Irish were now full partners within that kingdom, though in reality their Catholicism became the means to deny them equal status and rights. In the fight for emancipation, many Irish became involved in the Chartist movement. As the movement grew in strength, the press increasingly characterized it as both aggressive and Irish, linking the two in the public perception of this growing threat to society stability. The Great Famine followed the Chartist workers’ revolution, and millions of Irish starved or emigrated between 1845 and 1855. In spite of numerous policies and plans from Parliament, the disaster seemed to have no end or solution. English relief taxes vanished and the Irish poured into industrial centers like Liverpool and Manchester. Ghettos, disease and poverty became synonymous with the Irish people, thus laying the groundwork for the middle class to conveniently strike this biologically poverty-stricken race from their charitable guilt. iii Acknowledgements A number of people have proven to be vital throughout this challenging process. From this project’s inception, Dr. Joseph Hodge has shaped my thoughts, my analysis, and my writing to bring this work to its conclusion. Both Dr. Kate Staples and Dr. Lisa Weihman introduced me to avenues of research I had not previously considered. Dr. Katherine Aaslestad honed my understanding of the events in England as they related to the larger context of Europe during the Victorian period. Dr. Sandra den Otter provided valuable insight into the complexities of the period that opened new areas of research. My family’s support has been at the core of this project from its beginning. Without their understanding and patience, this work would have never seen the light of day. Thank you is not enough for Bobbi’s editing, demanding scholarship, stimulating debate, and incredible intellectualism. Traci J. Scully iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction…………………………………………………………… page 1 Chapter One: Prelude to the Victorian Period………………………... page 51 Chapter Two: Chartism………………………………………….......... page 86 Chapter Three: The Great Famine…………………………………….. page 141 Chapter Four: Immigration……………………………………………. page 204 Chapter Five: The Irish Other: A Convenient Truth………………….. page 256 Conclusion……………………………………………………………... page 297 Bibliography…………………………………………………………… page 312 1 Introduction In the late 1700s, Irish terrorism, known as the ‘outrages,’ renewed the centuries- old conflict between England and its internal colony. The most significant of these ‘outrages’ was the United Irishmen Rebellion of 1798 that helped drive the Act of Union through the British Parliament. By the early 1800s, the violent push for independence was coupled with a variety of political angles from Catholic Emancipation to the demand for the repeal of the hated Act of Union. As the nineteenth century progressed, English paternal kindness toward the Irish began to change. The violence of 1848 aimed at landlords, both organized and unorganized, would prove to be a turning point in the attitudes and perceptions of the English toward their neighbors across the sea. The Irish were proving to be a serious threat to the stability of the British Empire and the United Kingdom in particular. Amidst increasing world tensions and economic problems, the inhabitants of this tiny island became the target of English rage. As cracks emerged in the illusion of this unified United Kingdom, the English popular press synthesized the zeitgeist of the era to define a hierarchal social structure. The outcome, whether intended or not, was the creation of an English national identity to remain, perhaps in image only, the dominant force of the imperial age. In order to create the hierarchy, this synthesis necessitated the creation of categories, essentially ‘us’ and ‘them.’ While these divisions were not always clear-cut and well-defined, they nonetheless provided a loose framework from which to establish notions of English and non-English. The Irish, as the threat nearest to English shores, became an internal other; the antithesis to that which was English and to that which was civilized and proper. 2 The questions central to the argument Even before the extensive colonial expansion of the late nineteenth century, racial theory in Britain began to crystallize in response to contact with the country’s closest colony, that of Ireland. The prevailing mentality in the early decades of the 1800s, coming from the philosophies of the Enlightenment, stressed the common humanity of all peoples and races. Even though many European societies accepted the commonplace hierarchal distinction between savage, barbarian, and civilized cultures, the English middle and upper classes had enormous confidence that under justly administered British rule, all peoples, through education and religious influences, would be assimilated into superior Protestant British ways. Articles appeared regularly to discuss the importance of education in raising the morality and living standards of both the poor in England and the colonial natives across the globe.1 By mid-century however, that perspective shifted to a more biologically driven hierarchy that attributed poverty and ignorance to genetics, thus precluding any improvement in the condition of the lower races. The Anglo-Saxon and the Celt, in relation to Ireland, were racially different, thus making one racially inferior. Scientists such as Robert Knox and later works from Francis Galton and others solidified this racial theory as scientific fact. Ireland, as England’s oldest and most consistently problematic colonial holding, figured prominently in this shift in attitudes before it was applied to the far-flung regions of the empire. Sources from the early decades of the 1800s indicate a paternal mentality toward the Irish population. During the famine, liberal ideals seemed to prevail for a 1 For example see: “Account of the Discovery and Education of the Savage of Aveyron,” Universal Magazine, April, 1802; “On the Education of the Poor,” Universal Magazine, September, 1807, “THE FUND OF MERCY; Or, An Institution for the Prevention of Prostitutes appearing in the Streets, and for the Relief and Employment of Destitute and Forlorn Females,” Methodist Magazine, April 1813. 3 time, but by the late 1840s, the tone begins to shift to a harsher perspective. What forces, both within England itself and externally, influenced this shift? How influential were the socio-political movements, such as Chartism, in the pre-famine years? What role did the Irish themselves play in the development of the English mentality, particularly as immigration into England increased dramatically in the post-famine years? What was the dissenting perspective and how influential was that voice to the tax-paying middle