Madness, Migration and the Irish in Lancashire, 1850-1921

In the first half of 1847 an estimated 300,000 Irish migrants arrived into the port of Liverpool. Irish migration into Lancashire escalated significantly during the Great Famine and remained high in the post-famine period. Irish migrants were described as being markedly susceptible to mental illness and Lancashire's four major asylums absorbed a huge number of Irish migrants from the 1850s onwards. A three-year, Wellcome trust funded project entitled 'Madness, migration and the Irish in Lancashire c.1850-1921', has been set up to examine this phenomenon.
The project assesses whether there were particular stereotypes and concerns, which influenced the incarceration and treatment of Irish patients, and places the experiences of Irish patients and those treating them within a broader canvass of efforts to tackle disease, poverty, intemperance and social dislocation in Lancashire.
The arrival of large numbers of Irish in Lancashire prompted a series of anxieties for civil, religious and medical authorities, particularly as the Irish became concentrated in overcrowded, disadvantaged areas of Liverpool. The Irish were held responsible for a range of evils that threatened the social equilibrium: the rising incidence of pauperism, violence, and crime generally, and more specifically outbreaks of disease, declining wages, sectarian violence and political tensions. These anxieties intensified during particular flashpoints such as outbreaks of cholera and typhus in Liverpool. In the asylums meanwhile overcrowding had become a major problem.
The project also examines attitudes to Irish migrants and the associated high levels of insanity, exploring whether the Irish were identified in official and medical discourse, and lay commentary as a group who were particularly susceptible to mental illness and vulnerable to psychiatric intervention. In official and medical discourse, the Irish were associated with drink and in turn drink was identified as a cause of insanity. Public anxieties about Irish migrants and Irish insanity were reflected in press reporting and lay commentary, which was harsh in tone. In 1870, the Preston Chronicle and Lancashire Advertiser reported that the influx of Irish lunatics had forced extra asylum accommodation to be provided at the expense of the ratepayers, referring to the importations of "Ould Ireland's" demented children. The hardening of attitudes seen in lay commentary did not correlate with the periods which saw the highest influx of Irish migrants. Rather it was associated with the latter decades of the century and is connected to the growing 'medical' discourse on heredity and the increase in insanity, and the gloomy prognosis for the populations threatened with escalating rates of insanity more broadly.

[@darksharkrafa1]

liverpool is the 2nd capital of ireland. we are all of irish background.

[@michealflaithbheartaigh4139]

And yet you've posted loads of anti immigration stuff on other videos ? You fucking hypocrite

[@thcdavies8479]

Scouser here just moved to Donegal. Ya probably right.

[@greentorm5467]

Not all of us!

[@darksharkrafa1]

@@michealflaithbheartaigh4139 Thicko

[@scouseshamrock2513]

My man 🫡. I welcome Irish here all day long we’re cut from the same cloth

[@margaretmarsan1927]

These are my roots on my Fathers side, my Father became mentally ill in 1939 he was taken to Whittington near Preston, I was three years old at the time and had become his victim. I believe the first Fogarty in my ancestral line came from Ireland to Liverpool in the mid 1800s, mental illness was passed on to him from many generations.

[@Edfsarah3376]

Thankyou for this..I love finding out history of the Irish people..even the upsetting and unjust parts of history.

[@22grena]

Make your mind up are you english, irish or welsh? BTW sadsack I am not American.

[@yolanda8563]

Being from the north west (Rochdale) I often feel closer to the irish kin than the southerner.

[@maudgonnemcbride6349]

Very annoying that some of the letters you were reading were blurry. Funny how we're having problems with migrants here in Ireland now

[@scouseshamrock2513]

Yes but England and Ireland are cut from the same cloth, Liverpool and Ireland are dealing with poison coming into our lands

[@ukfm]

I find this film offensive as you have misunderstood the word "asylum"

[@therespectedlex9794]

These days asylum's what we give refugees. Wait a minute... could the two be very much related?

[@22grena]

and your point is?

[@22grena]

So write a thesis on Welsh immigration. this one is about the Irish

[@l.f.c9973]

Every white scouser has irish heritage not one of us white black or asian r truly english me self i av irish welsh n french heritage while me m8 zack has sierra leonian n irish coz hes half cast but none of us r english

[@burgerchannel4590]

english isn't really an ethnicity, it consists of anglo saxon and celtic backgrounds

[@therespectedlex9794]

@@burgerchannel4590 Alors, I don't know about Welsh and Irish, at all. But the Sierra Leone people and the Algerian French are practically identical to English.

[@yoyoholck]

damn ireland goes through so much trouble.

[@22grena]

Apologisies I didn't realise I was talkingto a child. Donu know u have to b 18 to use utube?

[@MagdaleneDivine]

Sure

[@geoffwright3269]

I am writing a book about 'Little Ireland' - a hamlet in Marshside, Southport, and was wondering if any reader or those involved with this production, can assist me in any way please. Many thanks, GEOFF WRIGHT - [e-mail]