Back to index of Nerve 11 - Winter 2007 | Merseyside Resistance Calendar January

13th January 1847: First of 300,000 Irish fleeing famine arrive in Liverpool (see also 24th Nov 1998)

It has been estimated that between 300,000 (1) and 580,000 (2) Irish people came to Liverpool during the Irish famines. Many of these moved on again, but large numbers settled in the port. This large group brought a radicalism that inspired resistance struggles on a scale not seen up to this time (around 1850).

Ireland was not the only country to suffer a failure of the potato crop, but it was the only one to suffer famine. These were bumper harvest years for vegetable crops, as well as oats barley and wheat. However, because Ireland was controlled by the English, these were exported.

(1) According to Edward Rushton, the stipendiary magistrate, 296,331 people landed in Liverpool between 13 January and 13 December 1847.
(2) Colin G. Pooley in Liverpool 800 - Culture, Character and History, p187.
See: John Belchem and Donald M.MacRaild in Liverpool 800 - Culture, Character and History p329
Also: John Belchem, English Working-Class Radicalism and the Irish 1815-1850 in: North West Labour History Society Bulletin 8, 1982-83, p6