Famine and the Removal of Irish Paupers from London
Despite facing starvation and disease due to the Great Famine (1845 – 1851), many Irish who fled to London were sent back to Ireland.
Examining the history of the Famine alongside Victorian settlement and poor laws, and using documents from The London Archives’ collections, this talk will discuss how and why Irish paupers were removed from London.
The decade known as the ‘Hungry Forties’ saw Europe ravaged by crop failures. The potato harvests were decimated by ‘blight’, and nowhere in Europe was more reliant on the potato than Ireland. The result? Starvation, disease and mass emigration.
This talk will discuss the history of an Gorta Mór (the Great Hunger) to give context to the mass emigration of Irish people escaping the devastation in their country. Despite the bleak situation in Ireland being well known and widely reported at the time, many of the Irish who emigrated to escape the situation found themselves deported back to their homeland.
Focusing on the Irish who fled to London, the reaction to their arrival will be discussed, the laws of poor relief and settlement examined, and documents from The London Archives’ collections used, to reveal the reasons and processes behind the removal of Irish paupers from London.
Credit to : The London Archives