‘THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WATER’ was a familiar expression in the eighteenth century, one that identified Britain, Ireland and the Irish Sea as different parts of the same whole. The phrase often conveyed a sense of unity, but built into it was an underlying tension that marked distinctions between peoples and places. ‘Sides’ depended on where one was standing at the time and when migrants departed, Ireland became the other side of the water. While leaving home could cause anxiety, the means by which that separation took place were equally important. The crossing was part of a process that provided new perspectives of what it meant to be Irish. Ultimately, the Irish Sea did not form an Atlantic world in miniature, where the water served primarily as connective tissue between Ireland and Britain. Instead, the sea was just as much an obstacle as it was a bridge. The financial, physical and emotional costs of the crossing shaped the way Irish migrants thought about the geography of their world. This experience reminded migrants that they were from a different and separate place, a fact they would have numerous opportunities of recalling once they reached London.

The following case studies of law students examine these issues to delineate the initial stages in community building. Law students are a useful group for this type of analysis. First, there were a lot of them. As the legal profession began to open up and offer new routes of advancement, a dramatic rise in the number of Irish admissions to the Inns of Court, especially Middle Temple, took place and by 1800 the four Inns had admitted over 4,000 Irish students. Second, the sources necessary for studying the lives, experiences and relationships of these students are accessible. The records of the Inns – admissions registers, student ledgers and orders of Parliament – offer the scope for statistical analysis, while a range of other materials such as correspondence, biographies, court records and wills allow for the reconstruction of the individual perspective. This rich source base makes it possible to track the progress of students from Ireland to London (and in some cases, back again).