INTRODUCTION

There was no significant change in Cork's population between 1821, the year of the first census, and the end of the century (Connell, 1950): it oscillated around 80,000, rising in the 1840s and again in the 1880s but, even then, the increases were not spectacular (Table 11.1). This was in stark contrast to the striking 250 per cent increase during the eighteenth century. Still, in the national context, Cork more than held its own in the nineteenth century. While Irish population dropped by more than 40 per cent between 1841 and 1891, Cork's declined by only 6 per cent. In fact it was still ahead of Belfast until 1841 but, of course, was far outstripped by the latter city in the second half of the century when, against the national trend, the population of Belfast more than trebled between 1841 and 1891 (Report from the Select Committee, 1891, p. 535). However, the apparent stability of Cork's population throughout the nineteenth century conceals the fact that, in terms of natural increase, Cork was declining from at least 1841 onwards and, had it not been for the influx of people from elsewhere in Ireland and abroad, it undoubtedly would have registered a substantial fall in population during the second half of the century. Unfortunately, the census enumerators did not distinguish between Cork city and Cork county, so that we do not know the extent of migration from the county into the city. In the light of the consolidation of rural holdings in County Cork, where the percentage of those over 30 acres by 1841 was nearly double that of the national average (Donnelly, 1975, p. 15), and due to the extensive expansion of grazing that accompanied structural change in the primary sector, there is no reason to doubt that a substantial number of dispossessed country people found their way into the city. For many, it would have been an alternative to emigration. In the city they would have joined those born elsewhere, both in Ireland and abroad, who numbered 5,224 in 1841 rising to 10,930 by 1901, representing 6.47 per cent and 14.35 per cent of the population respectively (Censuses of Ireland, 1841; 1901).