Herson John - Divergent Paths: Family Histories of Irish Emigrants in Britain, 1820-1920

John Herson

Manchester University Press

Copyright John Herson 2015

The right of John Herson to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

Published by Manchester University Press

Altrincham Street, Manchester M1 7JA

www.manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data applied for

ISBN 978 0 7190 9063 9 hardback

First published 2015

The publisher has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for any external or third-party internet websites referred to in this book, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.

Typeset by Out of House Publishing

With the exception of . The structure and contents of the database are described in the Bibliography.

This book has been a very long time in gestation. Back in the 1980s I lived in my mothers home town of Stafford and whilst there reconstructed her family tree. I discovered an apparent Irish ancestor and was surprised to find that many Irish people were living in Stafford in the mid-nineteenth century. I must therefore thank long-dead Mary Corcoran from Co. Roscommon for stimulating my interest in the experiences of the Irish, their families and descendants. Dr Eddie Hunt at the London School of Economics gave early encouragement and rigorous guidance whilst initial development of my digital capability owed much to Val OHanlon at what was then Liverpool Polytechnic. Professor Roger Swift at the University of Chester also offered great support. Recent development of the work has owed much to the encouragement and criticisms of colleagues at Liverpool John Moores University, particularly Sam Davies, Helen Rogers and Jack Williams. Paul OLeary of Aberystwyth University and Andy Gritt of the University of Central Lancashire have also provided me with much stimulating comment. Steve Lawler and Phil Rothwell have helped on issues of IT, and Phil Cubbin prepared two digital maps that are included in the final text.

I owe a great debt of gratitude to the staff at the William Salt Library and the Staffordshire Record Office in Stafford, at the Birmingham Archdiocesan Archives, at the National Archives and National Library of Ireland in Dublin, and at the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland in Belfast, particularly as they struggle to keep services going in the face of financial cuts that are undermining our status as civilised nations.

The work has gained immeasurably from the interest shown and help given by descendants of Staffords Irish immigrants in the town itself, elsewhere in Britain and also overseas. This has been through correspondence, email, interviews and other face-to-face meetings. I cannot name all the people who contributed but, where appropriate, specific information is acknowledged in the textual notes. Some enduring friendships have resulted from the research. I am indebted to a number of people for permission to use photographs in their possession: Simon and Mary Godwin () is reproduced by courtesy of the Staffordshire County Museums Service. Figure 8.1 is derived from a commercial postcard in the authors possession that was published by the London and North Western Railway in the 1900s. Figures 8.2 and 10.2 are derived from photographs contained in Bernard Malley, Solihull and the Catholic Faith, privately published in 1939, a copy of which is in this authors possession. Despite diligent efforts it has not proved possible to identify the current copyright holder for this work.

Despite the availability of online information, reconstructing the genealogies of families is still an art subject to data ambiguities, gaps in the record and personal judgement. Every effort has been made to produce robust genealogies of the families discussed in the book but any inaccuracies remain the responsibility of the author. He will esteem it a favour if specific and proven errors of fact are brought to his attention.

Tony Mason and the staff at Manchester University Press have been unfailingly helpful and supportive during the production process. It has been a pleasure working with them.

Finally I would like to thank my wife Anne Boran and our son David for their help. That has not just been the natural support offered by ones loving family but has also been in more specific contributions to the project. Anne and her family in Co. Kilkenny and elsewhere in Ireland have offered many subtle and valuable insights into Irish life, attitudes and history that might not otherwise be apparent to an English outsider. David, on the other hand, has grown up as a mixed-ethnicity descendant in England and he has been able to offer me perspectives on the issues of identity and loyalty that result. His support for the England cricket team, the Ireland rugby team, Liverpool FC and the Kilkenny GAA hurling team says it all.

This study inherently makes great use of data from census enumeration returns that are now easily available from online sources and are also contained in the authors database described in ).

ALLEGED MANSLAUGHTER BY AN IRISHMAN.