Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 July 2016
One of the most important influences on Irish life during the past century and a half has been the Roman Catholic church. This is true not only in Ireland, but also in Irish emigrant communities. What I hope to demonstrate is that the emergence of the catholic church in Lancashire as a primary social institution. which fostered the growth of a community identity, gave the immigrant Irish a valuable sense of constancy and continuity and paralleled developments in Ireland during the first half of the nineteenth century. But the church’s influence, which was scarcely diminished, and was perhaps strengthened, by the experience of emigration, must have been founded on a very sound base to be in a position to assume such a dynamic role among the Irish in Ireland and the Irish living elsewhere.
2 Miller, D.W, ‘Irish Catholicism and the great famine’ in Journal of Social History, 9, no.1 (Fall 1975), pp 84–7CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Larkin, Emmet, ‘The devotional revolution in Ireland, 1850–75’ in A.H.R. 67, no. 3 (June 1972), p. 636.Google Scholar
3 Miller found that there were higher ratios for attendance to religious duties in towns than in rural districts. Of course, the facilities of urban parishes and their surrounding neighbourhoods were more easily accessible to a larger part of their parishioners than those of a rural parish were likely to be. The church further accommodated urban and suburban residents by adjusting mass times and rules involving working on Sundays and special church holidays to meet ‘the great alterations in the manner of conducting commerce’. W. Delaney to P. Leahy, ι June 1858 (N.L.I., Leahy papers, microfilm, p. 6005, 1858/22).
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6 Larkin, loc. cit., p. 636; see also the manuscript diary of Fr James O’Carroll of Clonoulty, Tipperary (cited hereafter as O’Carroll diary), 17 Feb. 1862 (Archbishop’s House, Thurles, Archives of Diocese of Cashel, pp 43–4).
7 Larkin, loc. cit., pp 639, 648.
8 Miller, loc. cit., pp 89–91.
9 Donnelly, J S., Landlord and tenant in Ireland during the nineteenth century (Dublin, 1973), p. 14.Google Scholar
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13 It may be that part of the reason for the low mass attendance figures prior to the famine was the inability to meet the expense of supporting the clergy
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15 The development of wedding customs in nineteenth-century Ireland is discussed in O’CarrolPs diary, 25 Feb. 1862, pp 49–50.
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17 Murphy, , ‘Financial support of the clergy’, pp 117–19Google Scholar; Beaumont, op. cit., pp 90–91. For the failure of government proposals to subsidise the catholic clergy in Ireland see Murphy, ‘Priests and people’, p. 245 ; and Crotty to Slattery, 14 Mar. 1842 (N.L.L, Slattery papers, microfilm, p. 6001, 1842/9).
18 James O’Carroll’s diary shows that sick calls and stations occupied a great deal of his time during the entire year
19 M. Slattery to D. O’Connell, 8 Apr. 1842 (N.L.L, Slattery papers, microfilm, p. 6001, 1842/15); Beaumont, op. cit., p. 89.
20 Meagher, op. cit., p. 90.
21 O’Carroll diary, Dec. 1863, pp 153–4.
22 Water ford Mirror, 18 Feb. 1824.
23 At this priest’s death in 1850 ’report said he had a great deal of money . His death was quite sudden and twelve and sixpence found in his pocket constituted his sole wealth. Priest’s money is but too often augmented at least tenfold.’ O’Carroll diary, 17 Feb. 1862, pp 44–5.
24 M. Slattery to D. O’Connell, 8 Apr. 1842 (N.L.I., Slattery papers, microfilm, p. 6001, 1842/15); O’Carroll diary, 15 Mar. 1862, p. 56.
25 Quoted in Connell, Irish peasant society, p. 145.
26 The intimacy between priests and people often made episcopal authorities anxious for the preservation of clerical propriety. See Murphy, , ‘Priests and people’, p. 241, Google Scholar M. Slattery to M. Canty, 19 Mar. 1852 (N.L.L, Slattery papers, microfilm, p. 6004, 1852/16); O’Carroll diary, 23 Apr. 1862, p. 67
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30 O’Carroll diary, 30 Oct. 1862, p. 97 For other examples of clerical influence see Lewis, James Cornewall, On local disturbances in Ireland, and on the Irish church question (London, 1836), p. 203,Google Scholar Connell, op. cit., p. 85. The story of an early, priest-led boycott appears in the Ennis Chronicle, 26 Mar. 1825.
31 Akenson, D.H., The Irish education experiment (London, 1970), pp 150–54,Google Scholar Murphy, ‘Question of identity’
32 Larkin, , ‘Devotional revolution’, p. 639,Google Scholar Murphy, ‘Question of identity ’
33 P Leahy, 1866 (N.L.L, Leahy papers, microfilm, p. 6008, 1866/ 51); Beaumont, op. cit., p. 91, Larkin, ‘Church, state and nation in modern Ireland’ in A.H.R., lxxx, no. 5 (Dec. 1975), pp 1255–7, Steele, E.D., ‘Cardinal Cullen and Irish nationalism’ in I.H.S., 19, no. 75 (Mar. 1975), pp 246–8.Google Scholar
34 Murphy, , ‘Priests and people’, p. 252,Google Scholar Larkin, , ‘Church, state and nation’, p. 1248.Google Scholar
35 See Tierney, op. cit., p. 60.
36 Particulars of the catholic rent subscriptions in an area were to be posted ‘in, or at least near each catholic chapel, as may be permitted by the clergy . in each parish’ (Waterford Mirror, 21 Feb. 1824). For O’ConnelPs manifesto initiating the repeal agitation see Freeman’s Journal, 6 Apr. 1840.
37 The Land League executive in Dublin solicited local information from ‘clergymen and others likely to supply information’ (The Nation, 8 Nov 1879). See also Freeman’s Journal, 31 Dec. 1879 and The Nation, 6 Nov. 1880.
38 There is no reason to believe that the organisers of these movements were referring to civil, rather than catholic, parishes, because civil parishes did not serve a practical function in the community
39 Larkin, , ‘Devotional revolution’ p. 649.Google Scholar
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41 Larkin, , ‘Church, state and nation’, p. 1244.Google Scholar
42 See my ‘Irish in Lancashire’, an abstract of which appears in Irish Economic and Social History, ii (1975), PP 63–5.
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45 Hume, loc. cit., p. 19.
46 Census of Great Britain, 1851 : religious worship in England and Wales, p. clix [1690}, H.G., 1852–3, lxxxix.
47 Ibid., p. civili.
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50 Geo. Brown, Relationem de statu religionis in hoc districtu Lan-castriensi, 11 July 1847 (L.R.O., RGLv). During the mid-nineteenth century the tremendous increase in the catholic population of the Lancashire dioceses compelled the bishops to continually request that extra priests be sent from Ireland. See Overseas correspondence, All Hallows College, Dublin, archives.
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53 O’Dea, J., The story of the old faith in Manchester (Manchester, 1910), p. 15.Google Scholar
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55 See Gutman, H.G., ‘Work, culture and society in industrialising America, 1815–1919’ in A.H.R., 78,Google Scholar no 3 (June 1973), pp 531–88. For the Irish and the catholic church in America see Shannon, W V., The American Irish (New York, 1966), pp viii, 35, 136–7,Google Scholar Wittke, Carl, The Irish in America (Baton Rouge, 1956), pp 88–102 Google Scholar; Clark, Dennis, The Irish in Philadelphia (Philadelphia, 1973), pp 90–91, 94–5, 99,Google Scholar McCaffrey, L.J., The Irish diaspora in America (Bloomington, 1976), PP 8–9.Google Scholar
56 Beaumont, Ireland, ii, 85–6.
57 ‘The Irish in Lancashire’, pp 257–8.
58 O’Connor Power, J., ‘The Irish in England’ in Fortnightly Review, 28 (Mar 1880), pp 411–12.Google Scholar
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61 Diocese of Liverpool, Attendance at mass, 1864–71 (L.R.O., Rel atio status diócesis, 1847–96, RCLv).
62 Burke, T. The catholic history of Liverpool (Liverpool, 1910). pp 203–4,Google Scholar Diocese of Liverpool, Attendance at mass, 1864–71.
63 Diocese of Liverpool, Attendance at mass, 1873–85 (L.R.O., Relatio status diòcesis, 1847–96, RG’Lv).
64 Diocese of Liverpool, School returns, 1858, 1864 (L.R.O., Schools religious examination and inspection returns, RGLv).
65 In 1867 Bishop Goss, Liverpool, claimed that ‘the hearing of mass was now within the reach of all’; Visitation sermons, 1867 (L.R.O., RGLv, 3/34/210).
66 Walker, R.B., ‘Religious changes in Liverpool in the nineteenth century’ in Journal of Ecclesiastical History, 19 (1968), p. 200.CrossRefGoogle Scholar Engels remarked in 1844 that the only exceptions to the rule of working-class religious apathy were ‘a few of the older workers… those wage earners with one foot in the middle-class camp’ and the immigrant Irish (Condition of the working class, p. 141).
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68 Lancashire Free Press, 1 Oct. 1859 for a discussion of Lancashire attitudes toward the Irish immigrants see ‘The Irish in Lancashire’ ch. 10.
69 The Lancashire clergy sometimes complained about the difficult} of extracting needed funds from their parishioners. See R. McCart to T. Bennet, 9 Nov 1853 (Overseas correspondence, All Hallows College, 2528); Visitation sermons of Alexander Goss, 1864-5 (L.R.O., RCLv, 3/3 3/i4? 25, 350).
70 Geo. Brown, Relationem de statu religionis, 11 July 1847
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73 Report of the select committee on Manchester and Salford education, pp 55–6 H.C., 1852 (499), xi, 65–6.
74 At St Helens and Preston catholic schools managed to accommodate all school-aged children in 1871. ( Barker, T.C. and Harris, J.R., A Mersey side town in the industrial revolution: St Helens, 1750–1900, London, 1959, p. 393.)Google Scholar The question of forming a school board did not come up in Preston until 1876 (A. Hewitson, History (409 A.D.–1883 of Preston, Preston, 1883, p. 446).
75 Hume, ‘On the education of the poor in Liverpool’, p. 106; Diocese of Liverpool, Schools religious examination and inspection returns, 1858, 1864 (L.R.O., RGLv).
76 Diocese of Liverpool, schools religious and examination returns; Burke, , Catholic history of Liverpool, p. 190.Google Scholar
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78 St John’s log-book (1860–64), 27 Jan. 1862, 16 Feb. 1862, 11 June 1863.
79 St John’s log-book (1860–64), 24 Aug. 1862.
80 Report from the select committee on Manchester and Salford education, pp 55–6, H.C., 1852 (499), xi, 65–6.
81 St John’s log-book (1860-64), 5, 26 Oct. 1862.
82 ‘It seems at times that half a dozen working men could scarcely sit in a room together without appointing a chairman’ ( Thompson, E.P., The making of the English working class, London, 1963, pp 672–3).Google Scholar
83 Foster, John, Class struggle and the industrial revolution (London, 1974), p. 216 CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Anderson, Michael, Family structure in nineteenth-century Lancashire (London, 1971), p. 138.Google Scholar
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86 Though relatively little is known about them, there were versions of the agrarian secret societies of Ireland among the Lancashire Irish; see ‘The Irish in Lancashire’, pp 345–9.
87 During 1846–71 trade unionism had little relevance for the Lancashire Irish socially or industrially Clerical opposition in the 1830s and 184OS in part explains Irish non-participation. More important is the fact that only a very few Irishmen worked in organisable trades during the mid-nineteenth century.
88 The indexes to the Registry of Friendly Societies for Lancashire do not reveal a single obviously Irish club that deposited their rules with the Registry up to 1875. Registry of Friendly Societies, Lancashire, 1774–1875 (P.R.O., Indexes to rules and amendments, series I, F.S.2).
89 Head Constable Grieg to watch committee, 26 Sept. 1865 (L.G.L., Head constable’s reports to the watch committee, 252POL/2/3, no. 170, pp 209–10).
90 For a description of an ‘indescribable’ meeting of St Patrick’s Sick and Burial Society see Liverpool Mercury, 9 Aug. 1865.
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93 Gosden, op. cit., pp 66–7.
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95 Catholic Young Men’s Society, Report of the second general conferenee, 13 Oct. 1862 (Liverpool, 1862), p. 31.
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98 Liverpool Courier, 16 July 1851; Liverpool Mercury, 19 Mar. 1852; The Times, 17 Mar. 1856.
99 For an account of the failure of the Free Press see ‘The Irish in Lancashire’, pp 367–70.
100 Lancashire Free Press, 1 Oct. 1859; Northern Press, 9 June 1860.
101 For a detailed study of St Patrick’s day commemorations in Lancashire see ‘The Irish in Lancashire’ pp 355–65.
102 Porcupine (Liverpool), 30 Mar. 1861
103 A paper entitled ‘The Chartists and the Irish Confederates in Lancashire, 1848’, based on day-to-day police reports in home office files at the P.R.O. is in preparation.
104 The I.R.B, became a very powerful social, as well as political, force in urban Lancashire during the 1860s. See my ‘Lancashire fenian-ism, 1864–71 ’, which is to appear in Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire, 1977.
105 Larkin, , ‘Church, state and nation’, p. 1244.Google Scholar