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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 December 2008
This article questions the prevalent assumption that prior to 1914 the Irish in Britain were unquestioningly attached to the Liberal party. It suggests that Home Rule forced the Irish into wider political sympathies which embraced both radical Liberalism and Labour. The Irish in Manchester are highlighted and the “progressive” nature of local Nationalism described. It is also denied that the transfer of Irish loyalties to Labour was proof of the emergence of a class politics or of their integration into the unskilled working-class. It is suggested that this was, in fact, evidence of their continued cultural and political distinctiveness.
1 Manchester Guardian [hereafter MG], 11th 05 1912.Google Scholar
2 For this debate see Clarke, P.F., Lancashire and the New Liberalism (Cambridge, 1971);CrossRefGoogle ScholarWald, K.D., Crosses on the Ballots (Princeton, 1983);CrossRefGoogle ScholarKeith, Burgess, The Challenge of Labour: Shaping British Society 1850–1930 (Beckenham, 1980);Google ScholarAlun, Howkins, “Edwardian Liberalism and industrial unrest: a class view of the decline of Liberalism”, History Workshop Journal, no 4 (1977).Google Scholar
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6 As pointed out in Steele, E.D., “The Irish presence in the north of England 1850–1914,” Northern History, vol. XII (1976), p. 241.Google Scholar
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15 John, Denvir, The Life Story of an Old Rebel (Dublin, 1910), P. 2.Google Scholar
16 In 1900 there were 1.6 million Irish-born in the U.S. and 1.8 million of their offspring (figure includes the American-born spouses of the Irish-born). Stephan, Thernstrom (ed.), The Harvard Encyclopedia of American Ethnic Groups (Cambridge, Mass, 1980), p. 528, Table 2.Google Scholar
17 John, Denvir, The Irish in Britain from the Earliest Times to the Fall and Death of Parnell (London, 1892), p. 430.Google Scholar
18 “The Irish in Manchester (By One of Them)” (1887), “Manchester” cuttings collection, Local History Department, Manchester Public Library.
19 Figure based upon estimates of parish population contained in the Salford Diocesan Handbook (Manchester, 1900).Google Scholar
20 Irene, Boocock, “Angel Meadow: A Study of a Migrant Community in Victorian Manchester” (B.A. dissertation, Manchester Polytechnic, 1980), p.59; Census of households in St. Michael's (Church of England) parish, c. late nineteenth century, M330/216, Manchester Archives Department, Manchester Public Library; Salford Diocesan Census, 1900, available Bishop's House, Wardley Hall [hereafter Salford Census].Google Scholar
21 Salford Census.
22 Salford Census; Religious creed registers for New Bridge St. workhouse, M4/11/1–31, Archives Department, Manchester Public Library.
23 Manchester Studies Oral History Collection, Manchester Polytechnic [hereafter Manchester Studies], tapes 122(1), 266, 823(1), 1024.
24 Manchester Faces and Places [hereafter MFP], vol. X (1899).
25 Manchester City News [hereafter MCNI], 22nd 04 1899; Manchester Catholic Herald [hereafter MCH], 26th 01, 2nd 02 1906, 22nd 02 1908.Google Scholar
26 Mick, Burke, Ancoats Lad (Swinton, 1985), pp. 4, 43.Google Scholar
27 This conclusion is based upon estimates contained in various local newspapers. Herbert Gladstone considered these divisions to be “dominated” by the Irish, cited in Clarke, Lancashire and the New Liberalism, Appendix C.
28 MCH, 7th 05 1910.Google Scholar
29 MG, 18th, 23rd 03; MCH, 30th 03, 20th 04, 11th 05 1906.Google Scholar
30 For the way Manchester's Conservatives used the pub for their own purposes, Geoffrey, Seuss Law, “Manchester's Politics, 1885–1906” (Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania, 1975), pp. 210–211 [hereafter “Manchester's Politics”].Google Scholar
31 MCH, 26th 07, 12th 08 1892. The National League was a precursor of the UIL.Google Scholar
32 MCH, 9th 11 1907.Google Scholar
33 Arthur, G. Symonds, “Unfashionable Manchester”, East Lancashire Review, vol. 3, no XVIII (1899).Google Scholar
34 MG, 9th 11 1890.Google Scholar
35 MG, 17th 03 1913.Google Scholar
36 At least according to the Chairman of the INL's O'Connell branch, Ancoats, , MG, 9th 04 1892.Google Scholar
37 Lyons, F.S.L., “The revolutionary generation”, in Lyons, Culture and Anarchy in Ireland, 1890–1939 (Oxford, 1979).Google Scholar
38 MCH, 26th 02 1904.Google Scholar
39 MG, 18th 03 1898.Google Scholar
40 MG, 20th 03 1900.Google Scholar
41 MG, 2nd 02 1892.Google Scholar
42 MG, 9th 07 1894, 19th 03 1895, 17th 03 1911 02 1913.Google Scholar
43 MG, 20th 03 1900.Google Scholar
44 MG, 7th 06 1897.Google Scholar
45 For the example of 1903, a very bleak year indeed for the prospects of Home Rule, see MG, 18th 03 1903.Google Scholar
46 For example see MG, 19th 03 1895, 20th 03 1899, 18th 03 1904.Google Scholar
47 For the description of such a rally, Daily Dispatch, 18th 03 1901.Google Scholar
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49 Denvir, , Life Story of an Old Rebel, p. 253.Google Scholar
50 MCH, 13th 06 1908.Google Scholar
51 MCH, 5th, 12th 03 1910.Google Scholar
52 MCH, 1st 11 1910.Google Scholar
53 MCH, 28th 09 1905.Google Scholar
54 This point was made by the Preston Catholic Herald during a by-election in 1903. Cited in Bealy, F., Peffing, H., Labour and Politics, 1900–1906 (London, 1958), P. 149.Google Scholar
55 MCH, 7th 09 1907.Google Scholar On Wheatly see David, Howell, A Lost Left. Three Studies in Socialism and Nationalism (Manchester, 1986), pp. 229–280.Google Scholar
56 MG, 18th 02 1895.Google Scholar
57 MG, 28th 06 1892.Google Scholar
58 Salford City Reporter, 18th 02 1955.Google Scholar
59 MG, 1st 11 1906.Google Scholar
60 MCH, 25th 01 1908; MG, 7th 09 1909.Google Scholar
61 For the details of this arrangement see MG, 24th 10 1890, 21st 10 1891, 8th 12 1910; MCN, 28th 10 1905.Google Scholar
62 MG, 31st 10 1894.Google Scholar
63 Denvir, , Irish in Britain, pp. 376–378.Google Scholar
64 MG, 9th 03 1891.Google Scholar
65 MG, 18th 03 1891.Google Scholar
66 Denvir, , Irish in Britain, p. 381.Google Scholar
67 Manchester Courier, 19th 03 1894; MG, 25th 03 1893, 20th 03 1899.Google Scholar
68 MG, 28th 01 1890, 1st 09 1891.Google Scholar
69 MG, 13th 10 1909.Google Scholar
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73 MG, 17th 05 1899.Google Scholar
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75 MG, 14th, 15th 10 1891.Google Scholar
76 North-west Manchester Liberal Association minutes, 13th May 1912 and attached letter from Kemp explaining his conduct, M283/411/1, Archives Department, Manchester Public Library.
77 MG, 23rd 10 1907.Google Scholar
78 Thomas Freeman Kelly thought it was the only difference separating Irish and English Liberals, MG, 31st 01 1891.Google Scholar
79 MG 9th 10 1897.Google Scholar
80 When McCabe was elected Mayor in 1913 an Irish tramguard excitedly telegraphed the news to his wife on holiday in Ireland, Manchester Studies, tape 794.
81 This account is based upon MFP, vol. VIII (1897); Manchester Evening Chronicle [hereafter MEC], 12th 11 1906; MCN, 22nd 08 1925;Google ScholarStevenson, M. and Lees, S. (eds), Who's Who of British Members Of Parliament, vol. II (London, 1978).Google Scholar
82 This account is based upon MFP, vol. VIII (1987); MEC, 28th 01 1907; MCN, 13th 01 1912; Catholic Federationist, 11 1913; Harvest, 03 1895, 11 1919, 05 1922;Google ScholarPatrick', St.Silver Jublilee Souvenir (Manchester, 1961).Google Scholar
83 Philip, Whitaker, “The Growth of Liberal Organisation in Manchester From the 1860s to 1903” (Ph.D., University of Manchester, 1956), p. 221.Google Scholar
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85 MCN, 22nd 10 1904.Google Scholar
86 MG, 19th 10 1895.Google Scholar
87 MG, 21st 10 1897.Google Scholar
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91 MG, 25th 10 1895.Google Scholar
92 MG, 25th 10 1907.Google Scholar
93 MG, 25th 12 1917.Google Scholar
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95 MG, 1st 11 1906.Google Scholar
96 MG, 19th 10 1900.Google Scholar
97 MG, 1st 11 1906.Google Scholar
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99 Clarion, 30th 06 1894.Google Scholar
100 MG, 11th 07 1895. My emphasis.Google Scholar
101 In 1898 there were only a reported 500 members in the District ILP, ILP News, 12 1898.Google Scholar
102 LL, 20th 07 1894.Google Scholar
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107 The formation of the LRC in London also marked an improvement in London. Benjamin, H.W., “The London Irish: A Study in Political Activism, 1870–1910” (Ph.D., University of Princeton, 1976), pp. 323–326.Google Scholar
108 MCH, 5th 01 1906.Google Scholar
109 MG, 2nd, 3rd 01 1906.Google Scholar
110 MG, 19th 03 1906.Google Scholar
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112 MG, 8th 01 1910.Google Scholar
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117 MG, 23rd 11 1910.Google Scholar
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121 MG, 10th 01 1910.Google Scholar
122 MG, 5th, 6th 01 1910.Google Scholar
123 MG, 24th, 25th, 28th, 30th 12 1910.Google Scholar
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133 Whilst North Manchester remained the possession of a radical Liberal, North-east went Labour in 1906 and thereafter, East went to Labour in January 1910 and South-west was held by Labour in 1906 only.
134 Manchester Liberal Federation, General Committee, minutes 7th July 1911, 6th June 1913, M283/1/4/1, Archives Department, Manchester Public Library.
135 MCH, 10th 12 1910.Google Scholar
136 Father Sheehey UIL branch supported Labour in St. George's ward, Hulme, . MCH, 29th 08 1910.Google Scholar
137 This is David Howell's general interpretation of the transition from Liberalism to Labour, , “Was the Labour party inevitable?”, North West Labour Hfrtory Society Bulletin, no 10 (1984–1985).Google Scholar
138 LL, 2nd 12 1910.Google Scholar
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143 MG, 3rd 12 1923.Google Scholar
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148 This was similar to the voting pattern found in Liverpool. Davies, R.S.W., “The Liverpool Labour Party and the Liverpool working-class,” North West Labour History Society Bulletin, no 6 (1979–1980).Google Scholar
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