Irish rovers

A look at the history of the Irish in Hull - ahead of St Patrick's Day on March 17

Front cover star: Maureen Tempest, landlady of O'Sullivans club, Chamberlain Rd

Top and below: Irish dancing rehearsals at O'Sullivans

In the 2001 census 761 people in Hull registered themselves as being Irish.
And Maureen Tempest (60) is one of them.
Having moved to England from Cork when she was 12 years old, she is proud of her heritage - and is landlady of Hull's Irish Centre, also known as O'Sullivans club, in Chamberlain Road.
The place will be packed to the rafters on St. Patrick's Day when the local Irish community will come together to enjoy live Irish music and dancing in honour of the patron saint of their native country.
"We're gonna decorate the whole place with green, white and gold balloons," says Maureen, who runs the club with her husband John (61), originally from County Mayo.
"The atmosphere will be just like being back home in Ireland."

History of the Hull Irish

Irish born: Andrew McManus, Hull's chief constable between 1836-66

Maureen says many of the Irish families she knows in Hull came here about 60 years ago.
But some of the earliest Irish settlers in the city were soldiers stationed at the Citadel garrison, formerly located on the bank of the River Hull near to where The Deep now stands.
According to the 1841 census, 155 out of a total of 287 soldiers there were born in Ireland.
In that year there were 1,400 Irish residents in Hull, but by the 1851 census there were 2,893, largely as a result of families fleeing Ireland after The Great Famine of 1845-9.
After arriving in Liverpool, records show they often moved in short 'hops' to other parts of the country, seeking work.
The Irish who came to Hull lived in a close-knit community in an area near to where the Prospect Centre now stands, which included Mill Street, West Street and North Street.
Another Irish area was Sutton Bank, behind Sutton Drain, where in one street – Howard's Row – there were 20 four-roomed houses with almost 300 people living in them.
Other Irish settlers lived to the west of the River Hull, in a district comprising Wincolmlee, Scott Street, Machell Street and Trippett Street, which was close to the cotton mills where many worked.
It's said they were seen as a threat to local workers as they were prepared to work long hours for low pay.
Historians say however, that the Irish immigrants in Hull did not suffer as much abuse as in other areas of Britain because of the influence of key Irish-born figures in the city at the time.
These included Andrew McManus, who was chief constable between 1836-66, the surgeon Owen Daly and the editor of the Hull Advertiser Edward Collins.
The majority of Hull's Irish immigrants were catholics, and many attended St Charles Borromeo church, on Jarratt Street, the only catholic church in the city at the time.
Marriage records show that of the 336 couples who got married between 1846-55, 177 of them had at least one parent still living in Ireland.

St. Patrick's Day

It's estimated that thousands of people in Hull will have Irish ancestry, and be descended from some of those first Irish immigrants in the city.
"There are a lot of people who say 'Oh my grandma was Irish' or I have Irish descendants," says Maureen.
"But even if you haven't, you can still be Irish for one day on St. Patrick's Day – that's the saying."
It's said the day marks the death, in the 5th century, of St. Patrick, who is credited with spreading Christianity in Ireland.
It was in 1737 in America when Irish immigrants first began to observe the day publicly.
"We'll be packed all day from opening to close," says Pete Irvine (26), barman in Hull's Durty Nellies Irish pub.
"Anyone who has even touched an Irishman wants to celebrate, and it's a great excuse to get drunk."

Waltons Court, Wincolmlee, in the mid 19th century: an area where Irish immigrants lived

Top and below: West Street (near to where The Prospect Centre now stands) was another area were the Irish community lived

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Much of this article is based on a chapter entitled "Irish Immigration into Mid-Nineteenth-Century Hull" by the late historian Jo Gibbons, from the book "Keeping Faith – 700 years of Catholic Life in Hull." The book, edited by John Markham, is published by Highgate Publications and is available in local bookshops. The picture of Andrew McManus is taken from the book: "The Policemen of Hull," by A.A. Clarke, published by Hutton Press, 1992.