Troubled Geographies:
A Spatial History of Religion
and Society in Ireland
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Troubled Geographies:
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5. Towards Partition: 1860s-1910s
It is clear that the Great Famine of 1845-51 had a profound effect on Ireland, leaving its mark on a significantly altered and diminished society. It is also clear that the Famine’s impact was not uniform across the entire island. The death and dispersal it caused was a catastrophe, but the processes it set in train were just part of an ongoing demographic tragedy for Ireland. The extent to which the Famine was a watershed in these events, or simply acted to accelerate pre-existing trends, remains controversial. Nevertheless, what is clear, is that in the second half of the nineteenth century, the post-Famine period, Ireland north and south, began to diverge much more clearly. These divisions brought together the geographical, economic, political and the religious a mix that would explode in the early twentieth century. Population in the northIt has been claimed1 that Ireland's population decline in the twentieth century was a continuation of an ongoing trend set in place by the Famine which gathered pace in the latter nineteenth century. It soon became apparent, however, that the differing spatial impacts of the Famine described in the previous chapter would continue to divide the island. Fig 5.1: Long-term demographic trends throughout the island of Ireland and for the areas that would become Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Figure 5.1 shows the demographic trends over the island from 1821-1911 broken down by the spatial units that would become the two separate political entities after partition in 1921. The graph illustrates how much more profoundly the Republic area was affected by population decline during and after the Famine, and also how Northern Ireland did not seem to be subjected to the same pressures in the run-up to it. Furthermore, while the Republic area continued to decline, population had stabilised in Northern Ireland by 1901.
Figure 5.2 shows how population density changed over the period from 1871 to 1911. At the turn of the century baronies were replaced by rural and urban districts. There were 337 barony and urban units in 1891 and 302 rural and urban districts in 1901 so the degree of aggregation shows some continuity. The maps show that there was an ongoing pattern of population loss over much of the island with only north-eastern Ulster's population holding up. Even the Linen Triangle of northern Armagh, the most densely populated and populous area of rural Ireland, showed significant population decline over this period. This is explored in more detailed in figure 5.3 whose trends are extremely revealing in terms of the broader economic and demographic processes of the time. Fig 5.3: Population trends in Belfast and County Armagh between 1861 and 1911. As the graph shows, despite its history of prosperity based on the linen industry, Armagh still suffered significant population loss, losing 36 percent of its population between 1861 and 1911. The transition to rural and urban districts in 1901, however, allows us to identify a hidden pattern of urban population growth. Between 1901 and 1911 the county's population fell by four percent while its urban population grew by seven percent. It also seems likely that many of those who left the county only moved as far as Belfast. The fact that Belfast's population doubled between 1861 and 1891, and then increased by the same amount again over the next 20 years emphasises just how powerful the dynamics of urbanisation were. Industry in the northDemographic processes were inextricably linked to the major economic developments in Ireland at the time. The expansions and contractions of different parts of Ulster were heavily reflective of the restructuring of the linen industry into a mechanised and geographically-concentrated industry. In 1850, 21,000 people were employed in the cotton and linen industries, by 1890s this had risen to 65,0002. At the same time, Belfast's heavy engineering and shipbuilding industries were also developing and in this way, Ulster's economy was becoming increasingly tied to that of Britain and the wider British empire. Fig 5.4: Males employed in the manufacturing sector as a percentage of the male population at county level (a) 1871, (b) 1891 and (c) 1911. Figure 5.4 shows the distribution of male employment in manufacturing as it changed from 1871 to 1911. What is clear is that over this period even in Ulster male manufacturing employment is becoming increasingly concentrated in Antrim, and in particular in Belfast. Elsewhere, and particularly in the midlands and west, manufacturing employment was actually decreasing even though much of the rest of Europe was industrialising rapidly. Fig 5.5: Females employed in the manufacturing sector as a percentage of the female population at county level (a) 1871, (b) 1891 and (c) 1911. Engineering, shipbuilding and other heavy industries were dominated by men while the workforce in the linen industry was predominantly female. Figure 5.5 shows female employment in manufacturing over the same period as figure 5.4. The maps show a remarkably high degree of female economic activity among women in Ulster compared to the rest of the island but very low rates anywhere else. This again reflects the pre-eminence of the linen industry in the north.Population and industry in the southAs the north-east of Ireland became increasingly dependant on external trade it became increasingly disengaged from the rest of the island. As figure 5.4 showed, manufacturing among men was declining across most of the island south of what was to become the border. Figure 5.5 shows that female employment in manufacturing in the south was negligible. What manufacturing there was was concentrated in Dublin, with the brewing and distilling industries being major employers. Brewing was also the prevalent industry in Munster. The fact that these were the most successful industries was a source of pain rather than pride to many.EmigrationLarge-scale emigration had started during the Famine and it continued to play a powerful role in Ireland during the remainder of the pre-Partition era. By the late nineteenth century it had become the default response to economic hardship and deeply ingrained in the Irish psyche.
Fig 5.6: Emigration rates per 1000 in 1871 for (a) males and (b) females. Figure 5.6 shows the rates of emigration from Ireland in 1871. One surprising thing about these maps is the relatively high rates from the north-east, which may be in part because of the depression in the linen industry after the boom of the late 1860s brought about by the end of the American Civil War. Fig 5.7: Emigration rates per 1000 in 1891 for (a) males and (b) females. From 1881 patterns become more predicable with the highest rates being from western and southern Ireland. These were primarily from counties where agriculture was the primary source of employment and where the agricultural landscape was characterised by small farms of low value. As shown in figure 5.7 female emigration in 1891 is particularly striking. It may be explained in part by the financial benefits of leaving for North America, Britain or elsewhere, and by poor access to employment and the hardships of rural life.Religion and politicsFig 5.8: Catholic population at county level in (a) 1871, (b) 1881, (c) 1891, (d) 1901 and (e) 1911.
Figure 5.8 shows the distribution of Catholics at the start and end of this period at county level, the distribution of Protestants can be deemed to be the inverse pattern. The long-term patterns of Protestant plantation settlement and English influence are clearly visible in Ulster and the Pale. Despite the remarkable continuity between the two dates, this period saw increasing tension between the two groups, particularly associated with land reform. This was largely resolved with the Land Purchase Acts of 1891 and 1896, however, by this stage the political atmosphere had already changed as Home Rule became increasingly on the agenda. Ulster Unionists were appalled by this idea, denouncing it as 'Rome rule'3. The second half of the nineteenth century saw serious rioting in Belfast between Catholics and Protestants particularly in 1857, around the 12th of July celebration of King William of Orange's victory over the Catholic James II in 1690,and in 1864 and 1886 when the Home Rule Bill was thrown out of parliament. At the same time Catholics were increasingly marginalised in employment and in politics in Belfast. ConclusionIn A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Stephen Dedalus declares that, 'Ireland is the old sow that eats her own farrow'4. Though Dedalus, Joyce was articulating his own despair at the forces which were driving his homeland to the point of self-distruction at the end of the first decade of the twentieth century5. And these were the forces which drove him onto 'exile'; a self-imposed exile to escape the overbearing forces of religion and cultural homogenisation. Such concerns probably came much lower on the personal agendas of the vast majority of the other 4.5 million Irish men and women who left between 1850 and 1914 for whom economic imperatives were paramount and, as this chapter has discovered, could be traced through so many political developments. But Dedalus's critique is no less prescient for that: nationalism and unionism would soon consume Ireland in the quest for its reconstruction6. 1. M.E. Daly, The Slow Failure: Population Decline in Independent Ireland, 1920 – 1973 (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2006), p 1. 2. C. O’Grada, Ireland: A New Economic History 1780 – 1939 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1994), p 291. 3. Hansard HC CCVII, 1542 (12 July 1871). 4. J. Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (London: Jonathan Cape, 1985), p.208. 5. R. Ellman, James Joyce (New York: Oxford University Press, 1959), p.113. 6. D. Kiberd, Inventing Ireland: The Literature of the Modern Nation (London: Jonathan Cape, 1995), p.337. |
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©Ian Gregory & Niall Cunningham, 2013
Fig 5.2: Population density in Ireland for (a) baronies in 1871, (b) baronies in 1881, (c) baronies in 1891, (d) rural and urban districts in 1901, and (e) 
