Irish diaspora
Encyclopedia
Diaspora
A diaspora is "the movement, migration, or scattering of people away from an established or ancestral homeland" or "people dispersed by whatever cause to more than one location", or "people settled far from their ancestral homelands".The word has come to refer to historical mass-dispersions of...
, maximally interpreted, contains more than 80 million people, which is more than thirteen times the population of the island of Ireland itself, which had approximately 6.4 million in 2011 (comprising the Republic of Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
and Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
).
After 1840, emigration had become a massive, relentless, and efficiently managed national enterprise. Counting those who went to Britain, between 9 and 10 million Irish people emigrated after 1700. The total flow was more than the population at its historical peak in the 1830s of 8.5 million. From 1830 to 1914, almost 5 million went to the United States alone. In 1890 two of every five Irish-born people were living abroad. By the 21st century, an estimated 80 million people worldwide claim some Irish descent; among them are 41 million Americans who claim "Irish" as their primary ethnicity.
Definition
The term Irish diaspora is open to many interpretations. One, preferred by the government of Ireland, is defined in legal terms: the Irish diaspora are all persons of Irish nationalityNationality
Nationality is membership of a nation or sovereign state, usually determined by their citizenship, but sometimes by ethnicity or place of residence, or based on their sense of national identity....
who habitually reside outside of the island of Ireland. This includes Irish citizens who have emigrated abroad and their children, who are Irish citizens by descent under Irish law. It also includes their grandchildren in cases where they were registered as Irish citizens in the Foreign Births Register held in every Irish diplomatic mission. (Great-grandchildren and even more distant descendants of Irish immigrants may also register as Irish citizens, but only if the parent through whom they claim descent was registered as a citizen before the descendant in question was born.) Under this legal definition, the Irish diaspora is considerably smaller—some 3 million persons, of whom 1.2 million are Irish-born emigrants. This is still a large ratio for any country.
However, the usage of Irish diaspora is generally not limited by citizenship status, thus leading to an estimated (and fluctuating) membership of up to 80 million persons—the second and more emotive definition. The Irish Government acknowledged this interpretation—although it did not acknowledge any legal obligations to persons in this larger diaspora—when Article 2 of the Constitution of Ireland
Constitution of Ireland
The Constitution of Ireland is the fundamental law of the Irish state. The constitution falls broadly within the liberal democratic tradition. It establishes an independent state based on a system of representative democracy and guarantees certain fundamental rights, along with a popularly elected...
was amended in 1998 to read "[f]urthermore, the Irish nation cherishes its special affinity with people of Irish ancestry living abroad who share its cultural identity and heritage."
The right to register as an Irish citizen terminates at the third generation (except as noted above). This contrasts with citizenship law in Italy, Israel, Japan and other countries which make no legal reference to cherishing special affinities with their diasporas but which nonetheless permit legal avenues through which members of the diaspora can register as citizens.
Causes
The Great Famine of Ireland during the 1840s saw a significant number of people flee from the island to all over the world. Robert E. Kennedy explains however that this common argument of the mass emigration of Ireland being a "flight from famine" is not entirely correct. Emigration had not only been starting at the beginning of the 19th century, but with this theory it would mean that once conditions were better emigration would have slowed down. After the famine was over the four following years produced more immigrants than during the four years of the blight. Kennedy argues that the famine was considered the final straw to convince people to move and that there were several other factors in the decision making.Irish people were facing discrimination in the United Kingdom based on their religion, increasing rents and evictions. Evictions only increased after the repeal of the British Corn Laws
Corn Laws
The Corn Laws were trade barriers designed to protect cereal producers in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland against competition from less expensive foreign imports between 1815 and 1846. The barriers were introduced by the Importation Act 1815 and repealed by the Importation Act 1846...
in 1846 and the new Encumbered Estates Act being passed in 1849 as well as the removal of existing civil rights. There had been agrarian terrorism against landlords which these new laws were to help crush. Any hope for change was squashed with the death of the political leader championing for Ireland, Daniel O’Connell in 1847 and the failed rising of the Young Ireland
Young Ireland
Young Ireland was a political, cultural and social movement of the mid-19th century. It led changes in Irish nationalism, including an abortive rebellion known as the Young Irelander Rebellion of 1848. Many of the latter's leaders were tried for sedition and sentenced to penal transportation to...
ers in 1848. It was increasingly easier to emigrate to America straight from Ireland and with the 1848 discovery of gold in California there was an alluring factor to leave.
Britain
10% of the British population has one Irish grandparent The article "More Britons applying for Irish passports" states that 6 million Britons have either an Irish grandfather or grandmother and are thus able to apply for Irish citizenship. and approximately a quarter claimed some Irish ancestry in one survey (although the report's authors noted that many people were probably "exaggerating"). The Irish have traditionally been involved in the building trade and transport particularly as dockers, following an influx of Irish workers, or navvies, who built the canal, road and rail networks in the 19th century. This is largely due to the flow of emigrants from Ireland during The Great Famine of 1845–1850. Many Irish servicemen, particularly sailors, would settle in Britain; during the 18th and 19th century a third of the Army and Royal Navy were Irish, The Irish still represent the largest contigent of foreign volunteers to the British military, with more Irishmen serving in British uniforms than Irish ones. Since the 1950s and 1960s in particular, the Irish have become assimilated into the British population. Emigration continued into the next century; over half a million Irish went to Britain in World War II to work in industry and serve in the British armed forcesBritish Armed Forces
The British Armed Forces are the armed forces of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.Also known as Her Majesty's Armed Forces and sometimes legally the Armed Forces of the Crown, the British Armed Forces encompasses three professional uniformed services, the Royal Navy, the...
. In the post-war reconstruction era, the numbers of immigrants began to increase, many settling in the larger cities and towns of Britain. According to the 2001 census, around 850,000 people in Britain were born in Ireland and much of the working class has some Irish heritage.
London once more holds an official public St Patrick's Day celebration, which although having been cancelled in the 1970s because of Irish Republican violence, is now a national celebration, with over 60 percent of the population regularly celebrating the day regardless of their ethnic origins.
The largest Irish communities are located predominantly in the cities and towns across Britain, in London, in particular Kilburn (which has one of the largest Irish-born communities outside of Ireland) out to the west and north west of the city, in the large port cities such as Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
(which elected the first Irish Nationalist Members of Parliament), Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
, Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
and Portsmouth
Portsmouth
Portsmouth is the second largest city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire on the south coast of England. Portsmouth is notable for being the United Kingdom's only island city; it is located mainly on Portsea Island...
. Big industrial cities such as Coventry
Coventry
Coventry is a city and metropolitan borough in the county of West Midlands in England. Coventry is the 9th largest city in England and the 11th largest in the United Kingdom. It is also the second largest city in the English Midlands, after Birmingham, with a population of 300,848, although...
, Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
, Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
as well as parts of Newcastle
Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Historically a part of Northumberland, it is situated on the north bank of the River Tyne...
and Nottingham
Nottingham
Nottingham is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England. It is located in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire and represents one of eight members of the English Core Cities Group...
also have large diaspora populations due to the Industrial Revolution and in the case of the first two the strength of the motor industry in the 1960s and 1970s. As with their experience in the U.S, the Irish have maintained a strong political presence in the UK, most especially in local government but also at national level. Prime Ministers Callaghan
James Callaghan
Leonard James Callaghan, Baron Callaghan of Cardiff, KG, PC , was a British Labour politician, who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1976 to 1979 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1976 to 1980...
and Blair
Tony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
have been amongst the many in Britain of part Irish ancestry, with Blair's mother coming from County Donegal
County Donegal
County Donegal is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Border Region and is also located in the province of Ulster. It is named after the town of Donegal. Donegal County Council is the local authority for the county...
. Current Chancellor George Osborne
George Osborne
George Gideon Oliver Osborne, MP is a British Conservative politician. He is the Chancellor of the Exchequer of the United Kingdom, a role to which he was appointed in May 2010, and has been the Member of Parliament for Tatton since 2001.Osborne is part of the old Anglo-Irish aristocracy, known in...
is a member of the Anglo-Irish aristocracy and heir to the baronetcies of Ballentaylor and Ballylemon.
Towns such as Rugby
Rugby, Warwickshire
Rugby is a market town in Warwickshire, England, located on the River Avon. The town has a population of 61,988 making it the second largest town in the county...
, Denbigh
Denbigh
Denbigh is a market town and community in Denbighshire, Wales. Before 1888, it was the county town of Denbighshire. Denbigh lies 8 miles to the north west of Ruthin and to the south of St Asaph. It is about 13 miles from the seaside resort of Rhyl. The town grew around the glove-making industry...
, Ilfracombe
Ilfracombe
Ilfracombe is a seaside resort and civil parish on the North Devon coast, England with a small harbour, surrounded by cliffs.The parish stretches along the coast from 'The Coastguard Cottages' in Hele Bay toward the east and 4 miles along The Torrs to Lee Bay toward the west...
, Huyton
Huyton
Huyton is a suburb of Liverpool within the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley, with some parts belonging to the borough of Liverpool in Merseyside, England. It is part of the Liverpool Urban Area and has close associations with its neighbour, Roby, having both formerly been part of the Huyton with...
and parts of Market Harborough
Market Harborough
Market Harborough is a market town within the Harborough district of Leicestershire, England.It has a population of 20,785 and is the administrative headquarters of Harborough District Council. It sits on the Northamptonshire-Leicestershire border...
and Devon
Devon
Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...
have a high concentration of Irish communities.
Central to the Irish community in Britain was the community's relationship with the Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
, with which it maintained a strong sense of identity. The Church remains a crucial focus of communal life among some of the immigrant population and their descendants. The largest ethnic group among the Catholic priesthood
Priesthood (Catholic Church)
The ministerial orders of the Catholic Church include the orders of bishops, deacons and presbyters, which in Latin is sacerdos. The ordained priesthood and common priesthood are different in function and essence....
of Britain remains Irish and in the United States, the upper ranks of the Church's hierarchy are of predominantly Irish descent. The current head of the Catholic Church in Scotland is Cardinal Keith O'Brien
Keith Michael Patrick O'Brien
Keith Michael Patrick O'Brien is a Scottish Cardinal and the Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh of the Roman Catholic Church. O'Brien is currently the only living Cardinal from Scotland....
.
Scotland experienced a significant amount of Irish immigration, particularly in Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
, Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
and Coatbridge
Coatbridge
Coatbridge is a town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, about east of Glasgow city centre, set in the central Lowlands. The town, with neighbouring Airdrie, is part of the Greater Glasgow urban area. The first settlement of the area stretches back to the Stone Age era...
. This led to the formation of Celtic Football Club in 1888 by Marist
Marist Brothers
The Marist Brothers, or Little Brothers of Mary, are a Catholic religious order of brothers and affiliated lay people. The order was founded in France, at La Valla-en-Gier near Lyon in 1817 by Saint Marcellin Champagnat, a young French priest of the Society of Mary...
Brother Walfrid
Brother Walfrid
Brother Walfrid is the religious name of Andrew Kerins, an Irish Marist Brother and founder of Celtic Football Club....
, to raise money to help the community. In Edinburgh Hibernian
Hibernian F.C.
Hibernian Football Club are a Scottish professional football club based in Leith, in the north of Edinburgh. They are one of two Scottish Premier League clubs in the city, the other being their Edinburgh derby rivals, Hearts...
were founded in 1875 and in 1909 another club with Irish links, Dundee United, was formed. Likewise the Irish community in London formed the London Irish
London Irish
London Irish RFC is an English rugby union club based in Sunbury, Surrey, where the senior squad train, the youth teams and senior academy play home games, and the club maintain their administrative offices. The senior squad play home games at the Madejski Stadium in Reading and compete in the top...
rugby union club.
The 2001 UK Census states that 869,093 people born in Ireland are living in Great Britain, with over 10% of the population (over 6 million) being of Irish descent.
Plastic paddies
People of the Irish diaspora who were not born in Ireland, but who claim to be "Irish" are sometimes labelled as Plastic PaddiesPlastic Paddy
Plastic Paddy is a slang term used to describe some members of the Irish diaspora, or those with no ancestral connection to Ireland, who appropriate Irish customs and identity. A Plastic Paddy may know little of actual Irish culture, but nevertheless assert an Irish identity...
.
Mary J. Hickman
Mary J. Hickman
Mary Hickman is Professor of Irish Studies and Sociology at London Metropolitan University. She is also the director of the Institute for the Study of European Transformations. She was a member of the Irish Governments Task Force on Policy Regarding Emigrants . She has been Visiting Professor at:...
writes that "plastic Paddy" was a term used to "deny and denigrate the second-generation Irish in Britain" in the 1980s, and was "frequently articulated by the new middle class
Middle class
The middle class is any class of people in the middle of a societal hierarchy. In Weberian socio-economic terms, the middle class is the broad group of people in contemporary society who fall socio-economically between the working class and upper class....
Irish immigrants in Britain, for whom it was a means of distancing themselves from established Irish communities." According to Bronwen Walter, Professor of Irish Diaspora Studies at Anglia Ruskin University
Anglia Ruskin University
Anglia Ruskin University is one of the largest universities in Eastern England, United Kingdom, with a total student population of around 30,000.-History:...
, "the adoption of a hyphenated identity has been much more problematic for the second generation Irish in Britain. The Irish-born have frequently denied the authenticity of their Irish identity, using the derogatory term plastic paddy, and the English regards them as "assimilated" and simply "English."
The term has also been used to taunt non-Irish born players who choose to play for the Republic of Ireland national football team
Republic of Ireland national football team
The Republic of Ireland national football team represents Ireland in association football. It is run by the Football Association of Ireland and currently plays home fixtures at Aviva Stadium in Dublin, which opened in May 2010....
, fans of Irish teams, who are members of supporters clubs outside of Ireland, and other Irish individuals living in Great Britain. A study by the University of Strathclyde
University of Strathclyde
The University of Strathclyde , Glasgow, Scotland, is Glasgow's second university by age, founded in 1796, and receiving its Royal Charter in 1964 as the UK's first technological university...
and Nil by Mouth
Nil by Mouth (charity)
Nil by Mouth is a registered Scottish anti-sectarian charity based in Glasgow and working across Scotland. It was established in 2000 by David Graham, Louise Cumming and Cara Henderson Nil by Mouth is a registered Scottish anti-sectarian charity based in Glasgow and working across Scotland. It was...
found the term was used abusively on Celtic F.C.
Celtic F.C.
Celtic Football Club is a Scottish football club based in the Parkhead area of Glasgow, which currently plays in the Scottish Premier League. The club was established in 1887, and played its first game in 1888. Celtic have won the Scottish League Championship on 42 occasions, most recently in the...
and Rangers F.C.
Rangers F.C.
Rangers Football Club are an association football club based in Glasgow, Scotland, who play in the Scottish Premier League. The club are nicknamed the Gers, Teddy Bears and the Light Blues, and the fans are known to each other as bluenoses...
supporters' internet forum
Internet forum
An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. They differ from chat rooms in that messages are at least temporarily archived...
s in reference to Celtic supporters and the wider Catholic community in Scotland. In August 2009, a British Asian
British Asian
British Asian is a term used to describe British citizens who descended from mainly South Asia, also known as South Asians in the United Kingdom...
man from Birmingham, England received a suspended sentence after making derogatory comments to a police officer, who was of Irish origin. The prosecutor said the man had made racist remarks about the officer, including accusations that the officer was a "Plastic Paddy".
Scottish journalist Alex Massie
Alex Massie (journalist)
Alex Massie is a Scottish journalist. A former Washington correspondent for The Scotsman, he has also written for The Daily Telegraph, Scotland on Sunday, The New Republic, The Daily Beast, The Los Angeles Times, Foreign Policy, National Review Online, The Sunday Telegraph, The New York Times ,...
wrote in National Review
National Review
National Review is a biweekly magazine founded by the late author William F. Buckley, Jr., in 1955 and based in New York City. It describes itself as "America's most widely read and influential magazine and web site for conservative news, commentary, and opinion."Although the print version of the...
:
When I was a student in Dublin we scoffed at the American celebration of St. Patrick, finding something preposterous in the green beer, the search for any connection, no matter how tenuous, to Ireland, the misty sentiment of it all that seemed so at odds with the Ireland we knew and actually lived in. Who were these people dressed as Leprechauns and why were they dressed that way? This Hibernian Brigadoon was a sham, a mockery, a Shamrockery of real Ireland and a remarkable exhibition of plastic paddyness. But at least it was confined to the Irish abroad and those foreigners desperate to find some trace of green in their blood.
In Spiked
Spiked (magazine)
Spiked is a British Internet magazine focusing on politics, culture and society from a humanist and libertarian viewpoint.- Editors and contributors :...
, Brendan O'Neill, himself of Irish descent, uses the term to describe "second-generation wannabe" Irishmen, and writes that some of those guilty of "Plastic Paddyism" (or, in his words, "Dermot-itis") are Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
, Daniel Day-Lewis
Daniel Day-Lewis
Daniel Michael Blake Day-Lewis is an English actor with both British and Irish citizenship. His portrayals of Christy Brown in My Left Foot and Daniel Plainview in There Will Be Blood won Academy and BAFTA Awards for Best Actor, and Screen Actors Guild as well as Golden Globe Awards for the latter...
, and Shane MacGowan
Shane MacGowan
Shane Patrick Lysaght MacGowan is an Irish musician and singer, best known as the original singer and songwriter of The Pogues.-History:...
. Scottish-Australian songwriter Eric Bogle
Eric Bogle
Eric Bogle is a folk singer-songwriter. He emigrated to Australia in 1969 and currently resides near Adelaide, South Australia.-Career:...
wrote and recorded a song titled "Plastic Paddy". British Mixed martial arts
Mixed martial arts
Mixed Martial Arts is a full contact combat sport that allows the use of both striking and grappling techniques, both standing and on the ground, including boxing, wrestling, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, muay Thai, kickboxing, karate, judo and other styles. The roots of modern mixed martial arts can be...
fighter Dan Hardy
Dan Hardy
Dan Hardy is an English professional mixed martial artist who competes in the welterweight division. A professional MMA competitor since 2004, Hardy fought in various promotions such as Cage Force and Cage Warriors before signing a contract with the Ultimate Fighting Championship in 2008. He was...
has called American fighter Marcus Davis
Marcus Davis
Marcus Paul Davis , is an Irish-American mixed martial artist. He currently fights as a welterweight. He was a contestant on The Ultimate Fighter 2 on Spike TV. He holds notable wins over Chris Lytle, Paul Taylor, Jonathan Goulet, and Shonie Carter.-Boxing career:Marcus began boxing at 14...
a "Plastic Paddy" due to Marcus' enthusiasm for his Irish ancestry. In the book Why I Am Still a Catholic: Essays in Faith and Perseverance by Peter Stanford
Peter Stanford
Peter James Stanford is an English writer, editor, journalist, and presenter. An alumnus of St Anselm's College, Birkenhead, he was the editor of The Catholic Herald, and a regular contributor to the New Statesman....
, the television presenter Dermot O'Leary
Dermot O'Leary
Dermot O'Leary is an English television and radio presenter. He established himself as a presenter of Big Brother's Little Brother on Channel 4 before moving on to The X Factor on ITV. O'Leary has also presented on the BBC and has his own radio show on BBC Radio 2...
describes his upbringing as "classic plastic paddy", where he would be "bullied in a nice way" by his own cousins in Wexford for being English "until anyone else there called me English and then they would stick up for me."
Continental Europe
Irish links with the continent go back many centuries. During the early Middle Ages, 700–900 AD, many Irish religious figures went abroad to preach and found monasteries in what is known as the Hiberno-Scottish missionHiberno-Scottish mission
The Hiberno-Scottish mission was a mission led by Irish and Scottish monks which spread Christianity and established monasteries in Great Britain and continental Europe during the Middle Ages...
. Saint Brieuc
Brioc
Saint Brioc was an early 6th century Welshman who became the first Abbot of Saint-Brieuc in Brittany. He is one of the seven founder saints of Brittany.Very little is known about his early life, as his 9th century 'life' is not altogether reliable...
founded the city that bears his name in Brittany
Brittany
Brittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...
, Saint Colmán
Columbanus
Columbanus was an Irish missionary notable for founding a number of monasteries on the European continent from around 590 in the Frankish and Lombard kingdoms, most notably Luxeuil and Bobbio , and stands as an exemplar of Irish missionary activity in early medieval Europe.He spread among the...
founded the great monastery of Bobbio
Bobbio
Bobbio is a small town and commune in the province of Piacenza in Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy. It is located in the Trebbia River valley southwest of the town Piacenza. There is also an abbey and a diocese of the same name...
in northern Italy and one of his monks was Saint Gall
Saint Gall
Saint Gall, Gallen, or Gallus was an Irish disciple and one of the traditionally twelve companions of Saint Columbanus on his mission from Ireland to the continent. Saint Deicolus is called an older brother of Gall.-Biography:...
for whom the Swiss
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
town of St Gallen
St. Gallen
St. Gallen is the capital of the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland. It evolved from the hermitage of Saint Gall, founded in the 7th century. Today, it is a large urban agglomeration and represents the center of eastern Switzerland. The town mainly relies on the service sector for its economic...
and canton
Cantons of Switzerland
The 26 cantons of Switzerland are the member states of the federal state of Switzerland. Each canton was a fully sovereign state with its own borders, army and currency from the Treaty of Westphalia until the establishment of the Swiss federal state in 1848...
of St Gallen
Canton of St. Gallen
The Canton of St. Gallen is a canton of Switzerland. St. Gallen is located in the north east of Switzerland. It covers an area of 2,026 km², and has a population of . , the population included 97,461 foreigners, or about 20.9% of the total population. The capital is St. Gallen. Spelling...
.
During the Counter-Reformation
Counter-Reformation
The Counter-Reformation was the period of Catholic revival beginning with the Council of Trent and ending at the close of the Thirty Years' War, 1648 as a response to the Protestant Reformation.The Counter-Reformation was a comprehensive effort, composed of four major elements:#Ecclesiastical or...
, Irish religious and political links with Europe became stronger. An important centre of learning and training for Irish priests developed in Leuven
Leuven
Leuven is the capital of the province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region, Belgium...
(Lúbhan in Irish and Louvain historically in English) in the Duchy of Brabant
Duchy of Brabant
The Duchy of Brabant was a historical region in the Low Countries. Its territory consisted essentially of the three modern-day Belgian provinces of Flemish Brabant, Walloon Brabant and Antwerp, the Brussels-Capital Region and most of the present-day Dutch province of North Brabant.The Flag of...
, now in Flanders
Flanders
Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...
(northern Belgium). The Flight of the Earls
Flight of the Earls
The Flight of the Earls took place on 14 September 1607, when Hugh Ó Neill of Tír Eóghain, Rory Ó Donnell of Tír Chonaill and about ninety followers left Ireland for mainland Europe.-Background to the exile:...
, in 1607, led much of the Gaelic nobility to flee the country, and after the wars of the 17th century many others fled to Spain, France, Austria, and other Catholic lands. The lords and their retainers and supporters joined the armies of these countries, and were known as the Wild Geese
Flight of the Wild Geese
The Flight of the Wild Geese refers to the departure of an Irish Jacobite army under the command of Patrick Sarsfield from Ireland to France, as agreed in the Treaty of Limerick on October 3, 1691, following the end of the Williamite War in Ireland...
. Some of the lords and their descendants rose to high ranks in their adoptive countries, such as the French royalist Patrice de Mac-Mahon, who became president of France. The French Cognac
Cognac
Cognac is a commune in the Charente department in southwestern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department.-Geography:Cognac is situated on the river Charente between the towns of Angoulême and Saintes. The majority of the town has been built on the river's left bank, with the smaller right...
brandy
Brandy
Brandy is a spirit produced by distilling wine. Brandy generally contains 35%–60% alcohol by volume and is typically taken as an after-dinner drink...
maker, James Hennessy and Co.
Hennessy
Jas Hennessy & Co., or more simply Hennessy, is a world-leading cognac house with headquarters in Cognac, France. Today, the company of Jas Hennessy & Co...
, is named for an Irishman. In Spain and its territories, many Irish descendants can be found with the name Obregón (O'Brien, Irish
Irish language
Irish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of...
, Ó Briain), including Madrid-born actress Ana Victoria García Obregón.
During the 20th century, certain Irish intellectuals made their homes in continental Europe, particularly James Joyce
James Joyce
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce was an Irish novelist and poet, considered to be one of the most influential writers in the modernist avant-garde of the early 20th century...
, and later Samuel Beckett
Samuel Beckett
Samuel Barclay Beckett was an Irish avant-garde novelist, playwright, theatre director, and poet. He wrote both in English and French. His work offers a bleak, tragicomic outlook on human nature, often coupled with black comedy and gallows humour.Beckett is widely regarded as among the most...
(who became a courier for the French Resistance
French Resistance
The French Resistance is the name used to denote the collection of French resistance movements that fought against the Nazi German occupation of France and against the collaborationist Vichy régime during World War II...
). Eoin O'Duffy
Eoin O'Duffy
Eoin O'Duffy was in succession a Teachta Dála , the Chief of Staff of the Irish Republican Army , the second Commissioner of the Garda Síochána, leader of the Army Comrades Association and then the first leader of Fine Gael , before leading the Irish Brigade to fight for Francisco Franco during...
led a brigade of 700 Irish volunteers to fight for Franco
Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco y Bahamonde was a Spanish general, dictator and head of state of Spain from October 1936 , and de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in November, 1975...
during the Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
, and Frank Ryan led the Connolly column who fought on the opposite side, with the Republican
Second Spanish Republic
The Second Spanish Republic was the government of Spain between April 14 1931, and its destruction by a military rebellion, led by General Francisco Franco....
International Brigades
International Brigades
The International Brigades were military units made up of volunteers from different countries, who traveled to Spain to defend the Second Spanish Republic in the Spanish Civil War between 1936 and 1939....
. William Joyce
William Joyce
William Joyce , nicknamed Lord Haw-Haw, was an Irish-American fascist politician and Nazi propaganda broadcaster to the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He was hanged for treason by the British as a result of his wartime activities, even though he had renounced his British nationality...
became an English-language
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
propagandist for the Third Reich, known colloquially as Lord Haw-Haw
Lord Haw-Haw
Lord Haw-Haw was the nickname of several announcers on the English-language propaganda radio programme Germany Calling, broadcast by Nazi German radio to audiences in Great Britain on the medium wave station Reichssender Hamburg and by shortwave to the United States...
.
Argentina
In the 19th and early 20th centuries, over 38,000 Irish emigrated to ArgentinaArgentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
. Distinct Irish communities and schools existed until the Perón era in the 1950s.
Today there are an estimated 700,000 people of Irish ancestry in Argentina, approximately 15.5% of the Republic of Ireland's current population; however, these numbers may be far higher, given that many Irish newcomers declared themselves to be British, as Ireland at the time was still part of the United Kingdom and today their descendants integrated into Argentine society with mixed bloodlines.
Despite the fact that Argentina was never the main destination for Irish emigrants it does form part of the Irish diaspora. The Irish-Argentine William Bulfin
William Bulfin
William Bulfin was the fourth son in a family of nine boys and one girl, the children of William Bulfin, of Derrinlough, Birr, County Offaly, Ireland, and Ellen Grogan of Croghan, County Offaly....
remarked as he travelled around Westmeath in the early 20th century that he came across many locals who had been to Buenos Aires. Several families from Bere island
Bere Island
Bere Island or Bear Island is an island off the west coast of County Cork, Ireland. It is roughly 11 km x 5 km in dimension and has a population of 210....
, County Cork
County Cork
County Cork is a county in Ireland. It is located in the South-West Region and is also part of the province of Munster. It is named after the city of Cork . Cork County Council is the local authority for the county...
were encouraged to send emigrants to Argentina by an islander who had been successful there in the 1880s.
Widely considered a national hero, William Brown
William Brown (admiral)
Admiral William Brown was an Irish-born Argentine Admiral. Brown's victories in the Independence War, the Argentina-Brazil War, and the Anglo-French blockade of the Río de la Plata earned the respect and appreciation of the Argentine people, and today he is regarded as one of Argentina's national...
is the most famous Irish citizen in Argentina. Creator of the Argentine Navy
Argentine Navy
The Navy of the Argentine Republic or Armada of the Argentine Republic is the navy of Argentina. It is one of the three branches of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic, together with the Army and the Air Force....
(Armada de la República Argentina, ARA) and leader of the Argentine Armed Forces
Military of Argentina
The Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic, in Spanish Fuerzas Armadas de la República Argentina, are controlled by the Commander-in-Chief and a civilian Minister of Defense...
in the wars against Brazil and Spain, he was born in Foxford
Foxford
Foxford, historically called Bellasa , is a small village 16 km south of Ballina in County Mayo, Ireland. The village stands on the N26 national primary route from Swinford to Ballina and has a railway station served by trains between Dublin and Ballina.Situated between the Nephin and Ox...
, County Mayo
County Mayo
County Mayo is a county in Ireland. It is located in the West Region and is also part of the province of Connacht. It is named after the village of Mayo, which is now generally known as Mayo Abbey. Mayo County Council is the local authority for the county. The population of the county is 130,552...
on June 22, 1777 and died in Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
in 1857. The is named after him, as well as the Almirante Brown
Almirante Brown Partido
Almirante Brown is a partido of the Buenos Aires Province, Argentina, located at the south of the Gran Buenos Aires urban area, at coordinates .It has an area of 129.33 km² and 555,731 inhabitants , and its capital is Adrogué....
partido
Partido
A partido is an administrative subdivision of the . They are formally considered to be a single municipality, and usually contain one or more population centers...
, part of the Gran Buenos Aires urban area, with a population of over 500.000 inhabitants.
The first entirely Catholic English language publication published in Buenos Aires, The Southern Cross is an Argentine newspaper founded on January 16, 1875 by Dean Patricio Dillon, an Irish immigrant, a deputy for Buenos Aires Province
Buenos Aires Province
The Province of Buenos Aires is the largest and most populous province of Argentina. It takes the name from the city of Buenos Aires, which used to be the provincial capital until it was federalized in 1880...
and president of the Presidential Affairs Commission amongst other positions. The newspaper continues in print to this day and publishes a beginners guide to the Irish language
Irish language
Irish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of...
, helping Irish Argentines
Irish settlement in Argentina
Irish settlement in Argentina is part of the story of immigration in Argentina and the Irish diaspora. Irish emigrants from the Midlands, Wexford and many counties of Ireland arrived in Argentina mainly from 1830 to 1930, with the largest wave taking place in 1850-1870...
keep in touch with their cultural heritage. Previously to The Southern Cross Dublin-born brothers Edward and Michael Mulhall
Michael George Mulhall
Michael George Mulhall was an Irish writer, journalist, editor and statistician.-Life:He was educated at the Irish College, Rome...
successfully published The Standard, allegedly the first English-language daily paper in South America.
Between 1943 and 1946, the de facto
De facto
De facto is a Latin expression that means "concerning fact." In law, it often means "in practice but not necessarily ordained by law" or "in practice or actuality, but not officially established." It is commonly used in contrast to de jure when referring to matters of law, governance, or...
President of Argentina
President of Argentina
The President of the Argentine Nation , usually known as the President of Argentina, is the head of state of Argentina. Under the national Constitution, the President is also the chief executive of the federal government and Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces.Through Argentine history, the...
was Edelmiro Farrell, whose paternal ancestry was Irish.
Bermuda
Early in its history, BermudaBermuda
Bermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. It is about south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and northeast of Miami, Florida...
had unusual connections with Ireland. It has been suggested that St. Brendan
Brendan
Saint Brendan of Clonfert or Bréanainn of Clonfert called "the Navigator", "the Voyager", or "the Bold" is one of the early Irish monastic saints. He is chiefly renowned for his legendary quest to the "Isle of the Blessed," also called St. Brendan's Island. The Voyage of St...
discovered it during his legendary voyage, and a local psychiatric hospital
Psychiatric hospital
Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental hospitals, are hospitals specializing in the treatment of serious mental disorders. Psychiatric hospitals vary widely in their size and grading. Some hospitals may specialise only in short-term or outpatient therapy for low-risk patients...
(since renamed) was named after him. In 1616, an incident occurred in which five white settlers arrived in Ireland, having crossed the Atlantic (a distance of around 5000 kilometres (3,106.9 mi)) in a two-ton boat. By the following year, one of Bermuda's main islands was named after Ireland
Ireland Island, Bermuda
Ireland Island is the northwesternmost island in the chain which comprises Bermuda. It forms a long finger of land pointing northeastwards from the main island, the last link in a chain which also includes Boaz Island and Somerset Island. It lies within Sandys Parish, and forms the northwestern...
. By the mid-17th century, Irish Prisoners-of-war and ethnically-cleansed civilians, were involuntarily shipped to Bermuda, condemned to indentured servitude
Indentured servant
Indentured servitude refers to the historical practice of contracting to work for a fixed period of time, typically three to seven years, in exchange for transportation, food, clothing, lodging and other necessities during the term of indenture. Usually the father made the arrangements and signed...
. This expulsion resulted from the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland
Cromwellian conquest of Ireland
The Cromwellian conquest of Ireland refers to the conquest of Ireland by the forces of the English Parliament, led by Oliver Cromwell during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. Cromwell landed in Ireland with his New Model Army on behalf of England's Rump Parliament in 1649...
,. The English government expelled Irish people to other parts of the trans-Atlantic Empire as well. This was meant to pacify Ireland, easing English rule, and to clear land for settlement by English soldiers. The Puritan English government officials also expressed the opinion that they were saving the souls of the Catholic Irish by settling them in Protestant territories where they would inevitably be converted to the true faith (smaller numbers of Scottish prisoners were also sent to Bermuda following Cromwell's invasion of Scotland).
Relations between the involuntary Irish immigrants and the local English population were strained. The Irish and Scots were ostracised by the English, ultimately intermarrying with the various Black and Native American minority groups to create a single demographic (coloured, latterly Black). In 1658, three Irishmen — John Shehan, David Laragen and Edmund Malony — were lashed for breaking curfew
Curfew
A curfew is an order specifying a time after which certain regulations apply. Examples:# An order by a government for certain persons to return home daily before a certain time...
and being suspected of stealing a boat. A Scottish indentured servant and three black slaves were also punished. Several years later, in 1661, the local government alleged that a plot was being hatched by an alliance of Blacks and Irish, one which involved cutting the throats of all the English. Governor
Governor of Bermuda
The Governor of Bermuda is the representative of the British monarch in the British overseas territory of Bermuda. The Governor is appointed by the monarch on the advice of the British government...
William Sayle
William Sayle
William Sayle was an explorer, settler of the Bahamas, and the first governor of colonial South Carolina from 1670–71.William Sayle established the first English settlement of the Bahamas between 1646–48 on the island of Eleuthera, although his legal claim to proprietorship in the Bahamas now...
prepared for the uprising with three edicts: the first was that a nightly watch be raised throughout the colony, second, that slaves and the Irish be disarmed of militia weapons and third, that any gathering of two or more Irish or slaves be dispersed by whipping. There were no arrests, trials or executions connected to the plot, though an Irish woman named Margaret was found to be romantically involved with a Native American; she was voted to be stigmatised and he was whipped. In 1803, Irish poet Thomas Moore
Thomas Moore
Thomas Moore was an Irish poet, singer, songwriter, and entertainer, now best remembered for the lyrics of The Minstrel Boy and The Last Rose of Summer. He was responsible, with John Murray, for burning Lord Byron's memoirs after his death...
arrived in Bermuda, having been appointed registrar to the Admiralty
Admiralty
The Admiralty was formerly the authority in the Kingdom of England, and later in the United Kingdom, responsible for the command of the Royal Navy...
there. Irish prisoners were again sent to Bermuda in the Nineteenth Century, including participants in the ill-fated Young Irelander Rebellion of 1848
Young Irelander Rebellion of 1848
The Young Irelander Rebellion was a failed Irish nationalist uprising led by the Young Ireland movement. It took place on 29 July 1848 in the village of Ballingarry, County Tipperary. After being chased by a force of Young Irelanders and their supporters, an Irish Constabulary unit raided a house...
, and Nationalist journalist and politician John Mitchel
John Mitchel
John Mitchel was an Irish nationalist activist, solicitor and political journalist. Born in Camnish, near Dungiven, County Londonderry, Ireland he became a leading member of both Young Ireland and the Irish Confederation...
. Alongside English convicts, they were used to build the Royal Naval Dockyard
Royal Naval Dockyard, Bermuda
HMD Bermuda was the principal base of the Royal Navy in the Western Atlantic between American independence and the Cold War. Bermuda had occupied a useful position astride the homeward leg taken by many European vessels from the New World since before its settlement by England in 1609...
on Ireland Island.
Although there is little surviving evidence of Irish culture, some elderly islanders can remember when the term "cilig" was used to describe a common method of fishing for sea turtles. The word cilig appears to be meaningless in English, but in some dialects of Gaelic is used as an adjective meaning "easily deceived". In Irish there is a word cílí meaning sly. It is used in the expression, Is é an cílí ceart é, pronounced Shayeh kilic airtay, and means What a sly-boots. Characteristics of older Bermudian accents, such as the pronunciation of the letter 'd' as 'dj', as in Bermudjin (Bermudian), may also indicate an Irish origin. Later Irish immigrants have continued to contribute to Bermuda's makeup, with names like Crockwell (Ó Creachmhaoil), and O'Connor now being thought of, locally, as Bermudian names. The strongest remaining Irish influence can be seen in the presence of bagpipes in the music of Bermuda
Music of Bermuda
The music of Bermuda is often treated as part of the Caribbean music area. Its musical output includes pop singer Heather Nova while Collie Buddz have also gained international success with reggae hits in the US and the UK....
, which stemmed from the presence of Scottish and Irish soldiers from the 18th through 20th centuries. Several prominent businesses in Bermuda have a clear Irish influence, such as the Irish Linen Shop, Tom Moore's Tavern and Flanagan
Flanagan
-People:* Flanagan , a common Irish surname, people with that surname* Flanagan , early page 3 girl-Places:* Flanagan, Illinois* Flanagan Island, an island in the United States Virgin Islands...
's Irish Pub and Restaurant.
Canada
The 2006 census by Statcan, Canada's Official Statistical office revealed that the Irish were the 4th largest ethnic group with 4,354,155 Canadians with full or partial Irish descent or 14% of the nation's total population. This may understate the Irish contribution to Canada's population, as those responding "Canadian" in census surveys are thought to be largely of British or Irish descent.Many Newfoundlanders are of Irish
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
descent. It is estimated that about 80% of Newfoundlanders have Irish ancestry on at least one side of their family tree. The family names, the predominant Catholic religion, the prevalence of Irish music – even the accents of the people – are so reminiscent of rural Ireland that Irish author Tim Pat Coogan
Tim Pat Coogan
Timothy Patrick Coogan is an Irish historical writer, broadcaster and newspaper columnist. He served as editor of the Irish Press newspaper from 1968 to 1987...
has described Newfoundland as "the most Irish place in the world outside of Ireland". Newfoundland Irish
Newfoundland Irish
Newfoundland Irish is an extinct dialect of the Irish language specific to the island of Newfoundland, Canada. It was very similar to Munster Irish, as spoken in the southeast of Ireland, due to mass immigration from the counties Waterford, Wexford, Kilkenny, Tipperary, and Cork.-Irish settlement...
, the dialect of the Irish language
Irish language
Irish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of...
specific to the island was widely spoken until the mid-20th century. It is very similar to the language heard in the southeast of Ireland centuries ago, due to mass emigration from the counties Tipperary
Tipperary
Tipperary is a town and a civil parish in South Tipperary in Ireland. Its population was 4,415 at the 2006 census. It is also an ecclesiastical parish in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cashel and Emly, and is in the historical barony of Clanwilliam....
, Waterford
Waterford
Waterford is a city in the South-East Region of Ireland. It is the oldest city in the country and fifth largest by population. Waterford City Council is the local government authority for the city and its immediate hinterland...
, Wexford
Wexford
Wexford is the county town of County Wexford, Ireland. It is situated near the southeastern corner of Ireland, close to Rosslare Europort. The town is connected to Dublin via the M11/N11 National Primary Route, and the national rail network...
, County Kerry
County Kerry
Kerry means the "people of Ciar" which was the name of the pre-Gaelic tribe who lived in part of the present county. The legendary founder of the tribe was Ciar, son of Fergus mac Róich. In Old Irish "Ciar" meant black or dark brown, and the word continues in use in modern Irish as an adjective...
and Cork
County Cork
County Cork is a county in Ireland. It is located in the South-West Region and is also part of the province of Munster. It is named after the city of Cork . Cork County Council is the local authority for the county...
.
Saint John, New Brunswick
Saint John, New Brunswick
City of Saint John , or commonly Saint John, is the largest city in the province of New Brunswick, and the first incorporated city in Canada. The city is situated along the north shore of the Bay of Fundy at the mouth of the Saint John River. In 2006 the city proper had a population of 74,043...
, claims the distinction of being Canada's most Irish city, according to census records. There have been Irish settlers in New Brunswick
New Brunswick
New Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only province in the federation that is constitutionally bilingual . The provincial capital is Fredericton and Saint John is the most populous city. Greater Moncton is the largest Census Metropolitan Area...
since at least the late 18th century, but during the peak of the Great Irish Famine (1845–1847), thousands of Irish emigrated through Partridge Island in the port of Saint John. Most of these Irish were Catholic, who changed the complexion of the Loyalist city. A large, vibrant Irish community can also be found in the Miramichi
Miramichi
The name "Miramichi" was first applied to a region in northeastern New Brunswick, Canada, and has since been applied to other places in Canada and the United States...
region of New Brunswick
New Brunswick
New Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only province in the federation that is constitutionally bilingual . The provincial capital is Fredericton and Saint John is the most populous city. Greater Moncton is the largest Census Metropolitan Area...
.
Guysborough County, Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
has many rural Irish villages. Erinville (which means Irishville), Salmon River, Ogden, Bantry (named after Bantry Bay
Bantry Bay
Bantry Bay is a bay located in County Cork, southwest Ireland. The bay runs approximately from northeast to southwest into the Atlantic Ocean. It is approximately 3-to-4 km wide at the head and wide at the entrance....
, County Cork
County Cork
County Cork is a county in Ireland. It is located in the South-West Region and is also part of the province of Munster. It is named after the city of Cork . Cork County Council is the local authority for the county...
, Ireland but now abandoned and grown up in trees) among others, where Irish last names are prevalent and the accent is reminiscent of the Irish
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
as well as the music, traditions, religion (Roman Catholic), and the love of Ireland itself. Some of the Irish counties from which these people arrived were County Kerry
County Kerry
Kerry means the "people of Ciar" which was the name of the pre-Gaelic tribe who lived in part of the present county. The legendary founder of the tribe was Ciar, son of Fergus mac Róich. In Old Irish "Ciar" meant black or dark brown, and the word continues in use in modern Irish as an adjective...
(Dingle Peninsula
Dingle Peninsula
The Dingle Peninsula is the northernmost of the major peninsulae in County Kerry. Its ends beyond the town of Dingle at Dunmore Head, the westernmost point of Ireland.-Name:...
), County Cork
County Cork
County Cork is a county in Ireland. It is located in the South-West Region and is also part of the province of Munster. It is named after the city of Cork . Cork County Council is the local authority for the county...
, and County Roscommon
County Roscommon
County Roscommon is a county in Ireland. It is located in the West Region and is also part of the province of Connacht. It is named after the town of Roscommon. Roscommon County Council is the local authority for the county...
, along with others.
In Antigonish County, next to Guysborough County in Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
there are a few rural Irish villages despite the predominance of Scottish
Scottish people
The Scottish people , or Scots, are a nation and ethnic group native to Scotland. Historically they emerged from an amalgamation of the Picts and Gaels, incorporating neighbouring Britons to the south as well as invading Germanic peoples such as the Anglo-Saxons and the Norse.In modern use,...
in most of that County. Some of these villages names are Ireland, Lochaber and Cloverville. Antigonish Town is a fairly even mix of Irish and Scottish, and the Irish presence contributes to Nova Scotia's Celtic cultural character.
Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
is also home to a large Irish community, especially in Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, where the Irish shamrock
Shamrock
The shamrock is a three-leafed old white clover. It is known as a symbol of Ireland. The name shamrock is derived from Irish , which is the diminutive version of the Irish word for clover ....
is featured on the municipal flag
Flag of Montreal
The current flag of Montreal was first displayed in May 1939, and is based on the city's coat of arms. The flag's proportions are 1:2 in a symmetric cross.-Symbolism:...
. This is not a sign of homage to the Irish but of the conquest of French speaking Québec by the British who use the symbols of France, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland bounded within the English cross of St. George
Cross of St. George
thumb|Original Cross of St. George.Ist and 2nd class were in gold.The Cross of St. George ', or simply the George's Cross, was, until 1913, officially known as the Sign of Distinction of the Military Order of St. George....
. Notably, thousands of Irish emigrants during the Famine passed through Grosse Isle near Québec City, where many succumbed to typhus
Typhus
Epidemic typhus is a form of typhus so named because the disease often causes epidemics following wars and natural disasters...
. Most of the Irish who settled near Québec City are now French speakers.
Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
has over 2 million people of Irish descent, who in greater numbers arrived in the 1820s and the decades that followed to work on colonial infrastructure and to settle land tracts in Upper Canada, the result today is a countryside speckled with the place names of Ireland. Ontario received a large number of those who landed in Quebec during the Famine years, many thousands died in Ontario's ports. Irish-born became the majority in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
by 1851.
Caribbean
In the wake of the mid 17th century Cromwellian conquest of IrelandCromwellian conquest of Ireland
The Cromwellian conquest of Ireland refers to the conquest of Ireland by the forces of the English Parliament, led by Oliver Cromwell during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. Cromwell landed in Ireland with his New Model Army on behalf of England's Rump Parliament in 1649...
, Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....
deported many Irish prisoners of war into slavery or indentured labour in Caribbean tobacco
Tobacco
Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...
plantations. Most of these forced migrants ended up in Barbados
Barbados
Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles. It is in length and as much as in width, amounting to . It is situated in the western area of the North Atlantic and 100 kilometres east of the Windward Islands and the Caribbean Sea; therein, it is about east of the islands of Saint...
, Montserrat
Montserrat
Montserrat is a British overseas territory located in the Leeward Islands, part of the chain of islands called the Lesser Antilles in the West Indies. This island measures approximately long and wide, giving of coastline...
or Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
(Tom McDermot was an Irish campaigner there against colonialism and slavery). This became so prevalent that a term "Barbado'ed" was coined to mean someone deported to Barbados. Another term to reference the Irish was the "redlegs". Most descendants of these Irishmen moved off the islands as African slavery was implemented and blacks began to replace whites. Many Barbadian-born Irishmen helped establish the Carolina colony
Province of Carolina
The Province of Carolina, originally chartered in 1629, was an English and later British colony of North America. Because the original Heath charter was unrealized and was ruled invalid, a new charter was issued to a group of eight English noblemen, the Lords Proprietors, in 1663...
in the United States.
In addition, many of the Irish Catholic landowning class in this period migrated voluntarily to the West Indies to avail of the business opportunities there occasioned by the trade in sugar, tobacco and cotton. They were followed by landless Irish indentured labourers, who were recruited to serve a landowner for a specified time before receiving freedom and land. The descendants of some Irish immigrants are known today in the West Indies as redlegs
Redlegs
Redlegs is a term used to refer to the class of poor whites that live on Barbados, St. Vincent, Grenada and a few other Caribbean islands. Their forebears came from Ireland, Scotland and the West of England. Many of their ancestors were transported by Oliver Cromwell. Others had originally...
.
After the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland (notably at the siege of Drogheda
Siege of Drogheda
The siege of Drogheda at the outset of the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland. The town of Drogheda in eastern Ireland was held by a combined English Royalist and Irish Catholic garrison when it was besieged and stormed by English Parliamentarian forces under Oliver Cromwell...
in 1649), Irish political prisoners were transferred to Montserrat. To this day, Montserrat is the only country or territory in the world, apart from the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland and the Canadian province of Newfoundland
Newfoundland and Labrador
Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada. Situated in the country's Atlantic region, it incorporates the island of Newfoundland and mainland Labrador with a combined area of . As of April 2011, the province's estimated population is 508,400...
to observe a public holiday on St Patrick's Day. The population is predominantly of mixed Irish and African descent.
Puerto Rico
Irish immigrants played an instrumental role in Puerto Rico's economy. One of the most important industries of the island was the sugar industry. Among the successful businessmen in this industry were Miguel Conway, who owned a plantation in the town of HatilloHatillo, Puerto Rico
Hatillo is a municipality located on Puerto Rico's north coast, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north, Lares and Utuado to the south, Camuy to the west, and Arecibo to the east. According to the 2000 US Census Hatillo is spread over 9 wards and Hatillo Pueblo...
and Juan Nagle whose plantation was located in Río Piedras. General Alexander O'Reilly, "Father of the Puerto Rican Militia", named Tomas O'Daly chief engineer of modernising the defences of San Juan, this included the fortress of San Cristóbal. Tomas O'Daly and Miguel Kirwan were partners in the "Hacienda San Patricio", which they named after the patron saint
Patron saint
A patron saint is a saint who is regarded as the intercessor and advocate in heaven of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or person...
of Ireland, Saint Patrick
Saint Patrick
Saint Patrick was a Romano-Briton and Christian missionary, who is the most generally recognized patron saint of Ireland or the Apostle of Ireland, although Brigid of Kildare and Colmcille are also formally patron saints....
. A relative of O'Daly, Demetrio O'Daly
Demetrio O'Daly
Field Marshal Demetrio O'Daly , was the first Puerto Rican to reach the rank of Field Marshal in the Spanish Army. O'Daly was awarded the Cruz Laureada de San Fernando , the highest military decoration awarded by the Spanish government. He represented Puerto Rico as a delegate to the Spanish Courts...
, succeeded Captain Ramon Power y Giralt
Ramon Power y Giralt
Captain Ramón Power y Giralt , commonly known only as "Ramón Power", was, according to Puerto Rican historian Lidio Cruz Monclova, among the first native born Puerto Ricans to refer to himself as a "Puerto Rican" and to fight for the equal representation of Puerto Rico in front of the parliamentary...
as the island's delegate to the Spanish Courts. The plantation no longer exists, however the land in which the plantation was located is now a San Patricio suburb with a shopping mall
Shopping mall
A shopping mall, shopping centre, shopping arcade, shopping precinct or simply mall is one or more buildings forming a complex of shops representing merchandisers, with interconnecting walkways enabling visitors to easily walk from unit to unit, along with a parking area — a modern, indoor version...
by the same name. The Quinlan family established two plantations, one in the town of Toa Baja
Toa Baja, Puerto Rico
Toa Baja is a municipality of Puerto Rico located in the northern coast, north of Toa Alta and Bayamón; east of Dorado; and west of Cataño. Toa Baja is spread over 5 wards and Toa Baja Pueblo . It is part of the San Juan-Caguas-Guaynabo Metropolitan Statistical Area.Toa Baja considered to be a...
and the other in Loíza
Loíza, Puerto Rico
Loíza is a small town and municipality in the northeastern coast of Puerto Rico, north of Canóvanas; east of Carolina; and west of Río Grande. Loíza is spread over 5 wards and Loíza Pueblo...
. Puerto Ricans of Irish descent were also instrumental in the development of the island's tobacco industry. Among them Miguel Conboy who was a founder of the tobacco trade in Puerto Rico.
Chile
Many of the Wild GeeseFlight of the Wild Geese
The Flight of the Wild Geese refers to the departure of an Irish Jacobite army under the command of Patrick Sarsfield from Ireland to France, as agreed in the Treaty of Limerick on October 3, 1691, following the end of the Williamite War in Ireland...
, expatriate Irish soldiers who had gone to Spain, or their descendants, continued on to its colonies in South America. Many of them rose to prominent positions in the Spanish governments there. In the 1820s, some of them helped liberate the continent. Bernardo O'Higgins
Bernardo O'Higgins
Bernardo O'Higgins Riquelme was a Chilean independence leader who, together with José de San Martín, freed Chile from Spanish rule in the Chilean War of Independence. Although he was the second Supreme Director of Chile , he is considered one of Chile's founding fathers, as he was the first holder...
was the first Supreme director
President of Chile
The President of the Republic of Chile is both the head of state and the head of government of the Republic of Chile. The President is responsible of the government and state administration...
of Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
. When Chilean troops occupied Lima
Lima
Lima is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín rivers, in the central part of the country, on a desert coast overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Together with the seaport of Callao, it forms a contiguous urban area known as the Lima...
during the War of the Pacific in 1881, they put in charge certain Patricio Lynch
Patricio Lynch
Patricio Javier de los Dolores Lynch y Solo de Zaldívar was a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy and a Rear Admiral in the Chilean navy, and one of the principal figures of the later stages of the War of the Pacific...
, whose grandfather came from Ireland to Argentina and then moved to Chile. Other Latin American countries that have Irish settlement include Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
and Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
.
Mexico
Probably the most famous Irishman ever to reside in Mexico is the Wexfordman William LamportWilliam Lamport
William Lamport was an Irish Mexican Catholic adventurer who according to at least one historian gained a nickname of El Zorro, the Fox, due to his exploits in Mexico. The attribution of the nickname, however, is disputed.-Birth and education:...
, better known to most Mexicans as Guillen de Lampart, precursor of the Independence movement and author of the first proclamation of independence in the New World. His statue stands today in the Crypt of Heroes beneath the Column of Independence in Mexico City. Some authorities claim he was the inspiration for Johnston McCulley's Zorro
Zorro
Zorro is a fictional character created in 1919 by New York-based pulp writer Johnston McCulley. The character has been featured in numerous books, films, television series, and other media....
, though the extent to which this may be true is disputed.
After Lampart, the most famous Irishmen in Mexican history are probably "Los Patricios". Many communities also existed in Mexican Texas
Mexican Texas
Mexican Texas is the name given by Texas history scholars to the period between 1821 and 1836, when Texas was an integral part of Mexico. The period began with Mexico's victory over Spain in its war of independence in 1821. For the first several years of its existence, Mexican Texas operated very...
until the revolution
Texas Revolution
The Texas Revolution or Texas War of Independence was an armed conflict between Mexico and settlers in the Texas portion of the Mexican state Coahuila y Tejas. The war lasted from October 2, 1835 to April 21, 1836...
there, when they sided with Catholic Mexico against Protestant pro-U.S. elements. The Batallón de San Patricio
Saint Patrick's Battalion
The Saint Patrick's Battalion , formed and led by Jon Riley, was a unit of 175 to several hundred immigrants and expatriates of European descent who fought as part of the Mexican Army against the United States in the Mexican-American War of 1846 to 1848. Most of the battalion's members had...
, a battalion of U.S. troops who deserted and fought alongside the Mexican Army
Mexican Army
The Mexican Army is the combined land and air branch and largest of the Mexican Military services; it also is known as the National Defense Army. It is famous for having been the first army to adopt and use an automatic rifle, , in 1899, and the first to issue automatic weapons as standard issue...
against the United States in the Mexican-American War of 1846 to 1848, is also famous in Mexican history
History of Mexico
The history of Mexico, a country located in the southern portion of North America, covers a period of more than two millennia. First populated more than 13,000 years ago, the country produced complex indigenous civilizations before being conquered by the Spanish in the 16th Century.Since the...
. Álvaro Obregón
Álvaro Obregón
General Álvaro Obregón Salido was the President of Mexico from 1920 to 1924. He was assassinated in 1928, shortly after winning election to another presidential term....
(possibly O'Brian) was president of Mexico during 1920-24 and Obregón city
Ciudad Obregón
Ciudad Obregon is the second largest city in the northern Mexican state of Sonora and is situated south of the state's northern border with the U.S. state of Arizona. It is also the municipal seat of Cajeme municipality, located in the Yaqui Valley.- History :...
and airport
Ciudad Obregón International Airport
Ciudad Obregón International Airport is an international airport located in Ciudad Obregón, Sonora, Mexico. It has one terminal with three gates and two jetways and two additional commercial aircraft parking spaces...
are named in his honour. More recently, Vicente Fox
Vicente Fox
Vicente Fox Quesada is a Mexican former politician who served as President of Mexico from 1 December 2000 to 30 November 2006 and currently serves as co-President of the Centrist Democrat International, an international organization of Christian democratic political parties.Fox was elected...
served as President from 2000 to 2006. Mexico also has a large number of people of Irish ancestry, among them the actor Anthony Quinn
Anthony Quinn
Antonio Rodolfo Quinn-Oaxaca , more commonly known as Anthony Quinn, was a Mexican American actor, as well as a painter and writer...
. There are also monuments in Mexico City paying tribute to those Irish who fought for Mexico in the 19th century. There is a monument to Los Patricios in the fort of Churubusco. During the Potato Famine, thousands of Irish immigrants entered the country, today, over 90,000 Irish descendants live in Mexico. Other Mexicans of Irish descent are: Romulo O'Farril
Rómulo O'Farril
Rómulo O'Farrill Jr. was a multi-millionaire Mexican businessman.His father Rómulo O'Farrill Senior founded the newspaper Novedades and owned the first commercial TV station through his company Televisión de México partnered with engineer Guillermo González Camarena and businessmen Emilio...
, Juan O'Gorman
Juan O'Gorman
Juan O'Gorman was a Mexican painter and architect.-Biography:O'Gorman was born in Coyoacán, then a village to the south of Mexico City and now a borough of the Federal District, to an Irish father, Cecil Crawford O'Gorman and a Mexican mother...
, Edmundo O'Gorman
Edmundo O'Gorman
Edmundo O'Gorman O'Gorman was an Irish-Mexican writer, historian and philosopher....
, Anthony Quinn
Anthony Quinn
Antonio Rodolfo Quinn-Oaxaca , more commonly known as Anthony Quinn, was a Mexican American actor, as well as a painter and writer...
, Alejo Bay
Alejo Bay
Alejo Bay was an Irish Mexican political leader.-Political career:His father was Thomas Bay, an Irish-American from St. Louis, Missouri....
(Governor of the state of Sonora
Sonora
Sonora officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 72 municipalities; the capital city is Hermosillo....
), Famed Conductor Felix Carrasco, Guillermo Purcell a businessman, former Miss Mexico Judith Grace Gonzalez
Judith Grace González
Judith Grace González is a Mexican television personality and former Señorita México. She competed in the Miss Universe 1981 pageant.-Biography:...
, among many others. Today, the Irish community in Mexico is a thriving one and is mainly concentrated in Mexico City
Mexico City
Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
and the northern states.
United States
The diaspora to America was immortalised in the words of many songs including the famous Irish balladBallad
A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of British and Irish popular poetry and song from the later medieval period until the 19th century and used extensively across Europe and later the Americas, Australia and North Africa. Many...
, "The Green Fields of America":
- So pack up your sea-stores, consider no longer,
- Ten dollars a week is not very bad pay,
- With no taxes or tithes to devour up your wages,
- When you're on the green fields of Americay.
The experience of Irish immigrants in America has not always been harmonious, however. Irish newcomers were sometimes uneducated and often found themselves competing with Americans for manual labour jobs or, in the 1860s, being recruited from the docks by the U.S. Army to serve in the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
and afterward to build the Union Pacific Railroad. This view of the Irish-American experience is depicted by another traditional song, "Paddy's Lamentation".
- Hear me boys, now take my advice,
- To America I'll have ye's not be going,
- There is nothing here but war, where the murderin' cannons roar,
- And I wish I was at home in dear old Ireland.
The classic image of an Irish immigrant is led to a certain extent by racist and anti-Catholic stereotypes. In modern times, in the United States, the Irish are largely perceived as hard workers. Most notably they are associated with the positions of police officer
Police officer
A police officer is a warranted employee of a police force...
, firefighter
Firefighter
Firefighters are rescuers extensively trained primarily to put out hazardous fires that threaten civilian populations and property, to rescue people from car incidents, collapsed and burning buildings and other such situations...
, Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
leaders and politicians in the larger Eastern-Seaboard metropolitan areas. Irish American
Irish American
Irish Americans are citizens of the United States who can trace their ancestry to Ireland. A total of 36,278,332 Americans—estimated at 11.9% of the total population—reported Irish ancestry in the 2008 American Community Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau...
s number over 45 million, making them the second largest reported ethnic group in the country, after German American
German American
German Americans are citizens of the United States of German ancestry and comprise about 51 million people, or 17% of the U.S. population, the country's largest self-reported ancestral group...
s. Historically, large Irish American communities have been found in Philadelphia; Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
; Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
; New York City; New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
; Baltimore
Baltimore
Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...
; Pittsburgh; St. Paul, Minnesota; Buffalo
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...
; Broome County and the San Francisco Bay Area
San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a populated region that surrounds the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses metropolitan areas of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, along with smaller urban and rural areas...
. Many cities across the country have annual St Patrick's Day parades, the nation's largest in New York City - one of the world's largest parades. The parade in Boston is closely associated with Evacuation Day
Evacuation Day (Massachusetts)
March 17 is Evacuation Day, a holiday observed in Suffolk County and also by the public schools in Cambridge and Somerville, Massachusetts. The holiday commemorates the evacuation of British forces from the city of Boston following the Siege of Boston, early in the American Revolutionary War...
, when the British left Boston in 1776 during the American War of Independence. Not to be forgotten, are the 56% of the people who claim Irish ancestry who are Protestant and populate large areas of the southeastern United States especially in Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
, North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
, South Carolina
South Carolina
South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...
, Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
, West Virginia
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...
and Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
Before the Great Hunger ("Irish Potato Famine
Famine
A famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including crop failure, overpopulation, or government policies. This phenomenon is usually accompanied or followed by regional malnutrition, starvation, epidemic, and increased mortality. Every continent in the world has...
") in which over a million died and more emigrated, there had been the Penal Laws
Penal Laws (Ireland)
The term Penal Laws in Ireland were a series of laws imposed under English and later British rule that sought to discriminate against Roman Catholics and Protestant dissenters in favour of members of the established Church of Ireland....
which had already resulted in significant emigration from Ireland.
According to the Harvard Encyclopedia of American Ethnic Groups, in 1790 there were 400,000 Americans of Irish birth or ancestry out of a total white population of 3,100,000. Half of these Irish Americans were descended from Ulster people, and half were descended from the people of Connaught, Leinster and Munster.
According to U.S. Census figures from 2000, 41,000,000 Americans claim to be wholly or partly of Irish ancestry, a group that represents more than one in five white Americans.
Australia
Irish Australians form the second largest ancestry group in Australia, numbering 1,919,727 or 9.0 per cent of respondents in the 2001 Census.It is not clear whether the Irish-born are considered "Irish Australians" or if the term only refers to their Australian-born descendants. The 2001 Census recorded 50,320 Irish-born in Australia, although this is a minimal figure as it only includes those who wrote in "Ireland" or "Republic of Ireland" as their country of birth. Responses which mentioned "Northern Ireland" as birthplace were coded as "United Kingdom". This interpretation may omit as few as 21,500 Irish-born present in the country, as many as 29,500, or possibly even more. Nevertheless the number of persons born in Ireland, north and south, resident in Australia in 2001 may be confidently extrapolated at around 75,000.
According to the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs White Paper on Foreign Policy, there were 213,000 Irish citizens living in Australia in 1997; nearly three times the number of Irish-born immigrants to the country. Most Irish Australians, however, do not have Irish citizenship
Irish nationality law
Irish nationality law is the law of the Republic of Ireland governing citizenship. A person may be an Irish citizen through birth, descent, marriage to an Irish citizen or through naturalisation. Irish nationality law is currently contained in the provisions of the Irish Nationality and Citizenship...
and define their status in terms of self-perception, affection for Ireland and an attachment to Irish culture.
Irish settlers - both voluntary and forced - were crucial to the Australian colonies from the earliest days of settlement. The Irish first came over in large numbers as convicts (50,000 were transported between 1791 and 1867), to be used as free labour; even larger numbers of free settlers came during the 19th century, partly due to the Donegal Relief Fund. Irish immigrants accounted for one-quarter of Australia's overseas-born population in 1871. Their children, the first Irish Australians in the sense we understand the term, played a definitive role in shaping Australian history, society and culture. The Irish heritage has also had a significant influence of the Australian accent and slang words.
Historian Patrick O'Farrell
Patrick O'Farrell
Patrick O'Farrell was a historian known for his histories of Roman Catholicism in Australia, Irish history and Irish Australian history...
noted in The Irish in Australia (1987) that the term "Australia first" became "what amounted to the Australian Irish Catholic slogan". These Australians of Irish background did not tend to regard Ireland as their "mother country" - primarily because few had a wish to return to a home they had left in search of a better life. Rather, they tended to identify themselves as Australians.
According to census data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics
Australian Bureau of Statistics
The Australian Bureau of Statistics is Australia's national statistical agency. It was created as the Commonwealth Bureau of Census and Statistics on 8 December 1905, when the Census and Statistics Act 1905 was given Royal assent. It had its beginnings in section 51 of the Constitution of Australia...
in 2004, Irish Australians are, by religion, 46.2% Roman Catholic, 15.3% Anglican, 13.5% other Christian denomination, 3.6% other religions, and 21.5% as "No Religion".
The high percentage of Catholics is largely the result of descendants of Irish immigrants.
The song Far Away in Australia sung by the Irish ballad group The Wolfe Tones portrays the sorrow of two young Irish lovers who are separated when the male youth is forced to make his living far away in Australia, leaving his girl behind. Examples of the sad lyrics are: "Sweetheart I'm bidding you fond farewell" murmured the youth one day... "Must we be parted?" the young girl replied. "I cannot let you go"... "Far away in Australia, soon will fate be kind. When I will be ready to welcome at last, the girl I left behind".
The Irish have made a very significant contribution to education in Australia. Approximately 20% of Australian school students are currently enrolled in Catholic schools that were, in large part, established by Irish Catholic religious orders. Large numbers of Irish priests, nuns and brothers followed other Irish immigrants to Australia from the earliest years of European settlement in order to provide education to the children of those immigrants.
South Africa
19th-century South Africa did not attract mass Irish migration, but Irish communities are to be found in Cape TownCape Town
Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...
, Port Elizabeth
Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape
Port Elizabeth is one of the largest cities in South Africa, situated in the Eastern Cape Province, east of Cape Town. The city, often shortened to PE and nicknamed "The Friendly City" or "The Windy City", stretches for 16 km along Algoa Bay, and is one of the major seaports in South Africa...
, Kimberley
Kimberley, Northern Cape
Kimberley is a city in South Africa, and the capital of the Northern Cape. It is located near the confluence of the Vaal and Orange Rivers. The town has considerable historical significance due its diamond mining past and siege during the Second Boer War...
, and Johannesburg
Johannesburg
Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...
, with smaller communities in Pretoria
Pretoria
Pretoria is a city located in the northern part of Gauteng Province, South Africa. It is one of the country's three capital cities, serving as the executive and de facto national capital; the others are Cape Town, the legislative capital, and Bloemfontein, the judicial capital.Pretoria is...
, Barberton
Barberton, Mpumalanga
Barberton is a town in the Mpumalanga province of South Africa, which has its origin in the 1880s gold rush in the region. It is situated in the De Kaap Valley and is fringed by the Mkhonjwa Mountains...
, Durban
Durban
Durban is the largest city in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal and the third largest city in South Africa. It forms part of the eThekwini metropolitan municipality. Durban is famous for being the busiest port in South Africa. It is also seen as one of the major centres of tourism...
and East London. A third of the Cape's governors were Irish, as were many of the judges and politicians. Both the Cape Colony and the Colony of Natal
Colony of Natal
The Colony of Natal was a British colony in south-eastern Africa. It was proclaimed a British colony on May 4, 1843 after the British government had annexed the Boer Republic of Natalia, and on 31 May 1910 combined with three other colonies to form the Union of South Africa, as one of its...
had Irish prime ministers: Sir Thomas Upington
Thomas Upington
Thomas Upington , born in Cork, Ireland, was a British administrator in South Africa. He was premier of Cape Colony between 1884 and 1886. The town of Upington in South Africa is named after him....
, "The Afrikaner
Afrikaner
Afrikaners are an ethnic group in Southern Africa descended from almost equal numbers of Dutch, French and German settlers whose native tongue is Afrikaans: a Germanic language which derives primarily from 17th century Dutch, and a variety of other languages.-Related ethno-linguistic groups:The...
from Cork
Cork (city)
Cork is the second largest city in the Republic of Ireland and the island of Ireland's third most populous city. It is the principal city and administrative centre of County Cork and the largest city in the province of Munster. Cork has a population of 119,418, while the addition of the suburban...
"; and Sir Albert Hime
Albert Henry Hime
Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Albert Henry Hime KCMG, PC was a Royal Engineers officer and later a prominent politician in the Colony of Natal....
, from Kilcoole
Kilcoole
Kilcoole is a village in County Wicklow, Ireland. It is three kilometres south of Greystones, 14 kilometres north of Wicklow, and about 25 kilometres south of Dublin. It was used as the set for the Irish television series Glenroe, which ran through the 1980s and 1990s...
in County Wicklow
County Wicklow
County Wicklow is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Mid-East Region and is also located in the province of Leinster. It is named after the town of Wicklow, which derives from the Old Norse name Víkingalág or Wykynlo. Wicklow County Council is the local authority for the county...
. Irish Cape Governors included Lord Macartney
George Macartney, 1st Earl Macartney
George Macartney, 1st Earl Macartney, KB was an Irish-born British statesman, colonial administrator and diplomat. He is often remembered for his observation following Britain's success in the Seven Years War and subsequent territorial expansion at the Treaty of Paris that Britain now controlled...
, Lord Caledon
Du Pre Alexander, 2nd Earl of Caledon
Du Pré Alexander, 2nd Earl of Caledon KP , styled The Honourable from 1790 to 1800 and then Viscount Alexander to 1802, was an Irish peer, landlord and colonial administrator, and was the second child and only son of James Alexander, 1st Earl of Caledon.-Education and Inheritance:He was educated...
and Sir John Francis Cradock. Irish settlers were brought in small numbers over the years, as from other parts of the United Kingdom
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name of the United Kingdom during the period when what is now the Republic of Ireland formed a part of it....
. Henry Nourse, a shipowner at the Cape, brought out a small party of Irish settlers in 1818. In 1823, John Ingram brought out 146 Irish from Cork. Single Irish women were sent to the Cape on a few occasions. Twenty arrived in November 1849 and 46 arrived in March 1851. The majority arrived in November 1857 aboard the Lady Kennaway. A large contingent of Irish troops fought in the Anglo-Boer War
Second Boer War
The Second Boer War was fought from 11 October 1899 until 31 May 1902 between the British Empire and the Afrikaans-speaking Dutch settlers of two independent Boer republics, the South African Republic and the Orange Free State...
on both sides and a few of them stayed in South Africa after the war. Others returned home but later came out to settle in South Africa with their families. Between 1902 and 1905, there were about 5,000 Irish immigrants. Places in South Africa named after Irish people include Upington
Upington, Northern Cape
Upington is a town founded in 1884 and located in the Northern Cape province of South Africa, on the banks of the Orange River. The town was named after Sir Thomas Upington, Attorney-General and then Prime Minister of the Cape. It originated as a mission station established in 1875 and run by...
, Porterville
Porterville, Western Cape
Porterville is a town in the Western Cape province in South Africa. It is situated 140 km north of Cape Town on R44 road at the base of the Olifants River mountains. Agriculture in the area is dominated by wheat production....
, Caledon
Caledon, Western Cape
Caledon is a town in the Overberg region in the Western Cape province of South Africa, located about east of Cape Town. it had a population of 10,650. It is located in, and the seat of, the Theewaterskloof Local Municipality....
, Cradock
Cradock, Eastern Cape
Cradock is a town in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, in the upper valley of the Great Fish River, by rail northeast of Port Elizabeth. The town is the administrative seat of the Inxuba Yethemba Local Municipality in the Chris Hani District of the Eastern Cape. The estimated population...
, Sir Lowry's Pass
Sir Lowry's Pass
Sir Lowry's Pass is a mountain pass on the N2 national road in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It crosses the Hottentots-Holland mountain range between Somerset West and Grabouw on the main national road between Cape Town and the Garden Route...
, the Biggarsberg Mountains, Donnybrook, Himeville and Belfast
Belfast, Mpumalanga
Belfast, now also known as eMakhazeni, is a small town in Mpumalanga Province, South Africa ....
.
External links: Irish Police in SA & Research in SA
Religion
Irish bishop Paul Cullen set out to spread Irish dominance over the English-speaking Catholic Church in the 19th century. The establishment of an 'Irish Episcopal Empire' involved three transnational entities - the British Empire, the Roman Catholic Church, and the Irish diaspora. Irish clergy, notably Cullen, made particular use of the reach of the British Empire to spread their influence. From the 1830s until his death in 1878, Cullen held several key positions near the top of the Irish hierarchy and influenced Rome's appointment of Irish bishops on four continents. By contrast, a number of Irish people abroad converted to Asian religions and played significant roles in anti-colonial revival movements, such as the Irish Buddhist monk U DhammalokaU Dhammaloka
U Dhammaloka was an Irish-born hobo turned Buddhist monk, atheist critic of Christian missionaries, and temperance campaigner who took an active role in the Asian Buddhist revival around the turn of the twentieth century....
(?Laurence Carroll?) in Burma, Buddhist sympathiser Lafcadio Hearn
Lafcadio Hearn
Patrick Lafcadio Hearn , known also by the Japanese name , was an international writer, known best for his books about Japan, especially his collections of Japanese legends and ghost stories, such as Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things...
in Japan, the Hindu nun Sister Sanghamitta (Margaret Noble) and the Theosophist Hindu couple James and Margaret Cousins
James Cousins
James Henry Cousins was an Irish writer, playwright, actor, critic, editor, teacher and poet. He used several pseudonyms including Mac Oisín and the Hindu name Jayaram....
.
Walker (2007) compares Irish immigrant communities in the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and Great Britain respecting issues of identity and 'Irishness.' Religion remained the major cause of differentiation in all Irish diaspora communities and had the greatest impact on identity, followed by the nature and difficulty of socio-economic conditions faced in each new country and the strength of continued social and political links of Irish immigrants and their descendants with the old country.
From the late 20th century onward, Irish identity abroad became increasingly cultural, non-denominational, and non-political, although many emigrants from Northern Ireland stood apart from this trend. However, Ireland as religious reference point is now increasingly significant in neopagan
Neopaganism
Neopaganism is an umbrella term used to identify a wide variety of modern religious movements, particularly those influenced by or claiming to be derived from the various pagan beliefs of pre-modern Europe...
contexts.
Politicians
See also Notable Americans of Scotch-Irish descent- Thomas Brady, 19th century Justice of the Peace of Upper Canada
- James CallaghanJames CallaghanLeonard James Callaghan, Baron Callaghan of Cardiff, KG, PC , was a British Labour politician, who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1976 to 1979 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1976 to 1980...
was Labour Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1976 to 1979. - Jean CharestJean CharestJohn James "Jean" Charest, PC, MNA is a Canadian politician who has been the 29th Premier of Quebec since 2003. He was leader of the federal Progressive Conservative Party of Canada from 1993 to 1998 and has been leader of the Quebec Liberal Party since 1998....
, born of an Irish-Canadian mother, is Premier of Quebec, Canada. - Richard J. DaleyRichard J. DaleyRichard Joseph Daley served for 21 years as the mayor and undisputed Democratic boss of Chicago and is considered by historians to be the "last of the big city bosses." He played a major role in the history of the Democratic Party, especially with his support of John F...
, former long-serving mayor of Chicago. - Richard M. DaleyRichard M. DaleyRichard Michael Daley is a United States politician, member of the national and local Democratic Party, and former Mayor of Chicago, Illinois. He was elected mayor in 1989 and reelected in 1991, 1995, 1999, 2003, and 2007. He was the longest serving Chicago mayor, surpassing the tenure of his...
, former long-serving mayor of ChicagoChicagoChicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
. - Éamon de ValeraÉamon de ValeraÉamon de Valera was one of the dominant political figures in twentieth century Ireland, serving as head of government of the Irish Free State and head of government and head of state of Ireland...
, Prime Minister and President of Ireland, born in New York City. - Helen Douglas, Actress and Congresswomen from California defeated by Richard NixonRichard NixonRichard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
. - James DuaneJames DuaneJames Duane was an American lawyer, jurist, and Revolutionary leader from New York. He served as a delegate to the Continental Congress, New York state senator, Mayor of New York, and a U.S...
, Mayor of New York City 1784, son of a Galway man. - Edelmiro Farrell, former President of ArgentinaPresident of ArgentinaThe President of the Argentine Nation , usually known as the President of Argentina, is the head of state of Argentina. Under the national Constitution, the President is also the chief executive of the federal government and Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces.Through Argentine history, the...
. - Che GuevaraChe GuevaraErnesto "Che" Guevara , commonly known as el Che or simply Che, was an Argentine Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, intellectual, guerrilla leader, diplomat and military theorist...
, Argentine-born revolutionary. - Chaim HerzogChaim HerzogChaim Herzog served as the sixth President of Israel , following a distinguished career in both the British Army and the Israel Defense Forces .-Early life:...
, 6th President of IsraelPresident of IsraelThe President of the State of Israel is the head of state of Israel. The position is largely an apolitical ceremonial figurehead role, with the real executive power lying in the hands of the Prime Minister. The current president is Shimon Peres who took office on 15 July 2007...
, born in BelfastBelfastBelfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...
. - Paul KeatingPaul KeatingPaul John Keating was the 24th Prime Minister of Australia, serving from 1991 to 1996. Keating was elected as the federal Labor member for Blaxland in 1969 and came to prominence as the reformist treasurer of the Hawke Labor government, which came to power at the 1983 election...
, former Prime Minister of Australia. - John F. KennedyJohn F. KennedyJohn Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
, 35th President of the United StatesPresident of the United StatesThe President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
, also Robert F. KennedyRobert F. KennedyRobert Francis "Bobby" Kennedy , also referred to by his initials RFK, was an American politician, a Democratic senator from New York, and a noted civil rights activist. An icon of modern American liberalism and member of the Kennedy family, he was a younger brother of President John F...
and Edward M. KennedyTed KennedyEdward Moore "Ted" Kennedy was a United States Senator from Massachusetts and a member of the Democratic Party. Serving almost 47 years, he was the second most senior member of the Senate when he died and is the fourth-longest-serving senator in United States history...
, members of the Kennedy Family, originally from WexfordWexfordWexford is the county town of County Wexford, Ireland. It is situated near the southeastern corner of Ireland, close to Rosslare Europort. The town is connected to Dublin via the M11/N11 National Primary Route, and the national rail network...
. - Ricardo López MurphyRicardo López MurphyRicardo Hipólito López Murphy is an Argentine economist and politician.-Career:López Murphy was born in Adrogué, Buenos Aires Province. He attended the National University of La Plata, where he was awarded the title of "Licenciado en Economía" in 1975...
, Argentine politician and presidential candidate. - Patrice MacMahon, duc de MagentaPatrice MacMahon, duc de MagentaMarie Edme Patrice Maurice de Mac-Mahon, 1st Duke of Magenta was a French general and politician with the distinction Marshal of France. He served as Chief of State of France from 1873 to 1875 and as the first president of the Third Republic, from 1875 to 1879.-Early life:Born in Sully , in the...
, first President of the Third French Republic. - D'Arcy McGeeD'Arcy McGeeThomas D'Arcy Etienne Hughes McGee, PC, was an Irish Nationalist, Catholic spokesman, journalist, and a Father of Canadian confederation. He fought for the development of Irish and Canadian national identities that would transcend their component groups...
, former Young IrelandYoung IrelandYoung Ireland was a political, cultural and social movement of the mid-19th century. It led changes in Irish nationalism, including an abortive rebellion known as the Young Irelander Rebellion of 1848. Many of the latter's leaders were tried for sedition and sentenced to penal transportation to...
er, Father of Canadian Confederation who was assassinated for his criticism of the Fenian raids on Canada. - Dalton McGuintyDalton McGuintyDalton James Patrick McGuinty, Jr., MPP is a Canadian lawyer, politician and, since October 23, 2003, the 24th and current Premier of the Canadian province of Ontario....
, Premier of Ontario, Canada. - Brian MulroneyBrian MulroneyMartin Brian Mulroney, was the 18th Prime Minister of Canada from September 17, 1984, to June 25, 1993 and was leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada from 1983 to 1993. His tenure as Prime Minister was marked by the introduction of major economic reforms, such as the Canada-U.S...
, 18th Prime Minister of CanadaPrime Minister of CanadaThe Prime Minister of Canada is the primary minister of the Crown, chairman of the Cabinet, and thus head of government for Canada, charged with advising the Canadian monarch or viceroy on the exercise of the executive powers vested in them by the constitution...
, child of Irish Quebecers. - Álvaro ObregónÁlvaro ObregónGeneral Álvaro Obregón Salido was the President of Mexico from 1920 to 1924. He was assassinated in 1928, shortly after winning election to another presidential term....
, President of Mexico 1920-24. - Kolouei O'BrienKolouei O'BrienKolouei O'Brien is a politician from Tokelau and current faipule of Fakaofo. He has served as the head of government of Tokelau three times previously, from February 2000 until February 2001, from February 2003 until February 2004, and from February 2006 until February 2007. Kolouei O'Brien has his...
, former head of government of TokelauTokelauTokelau is a territory of New Zealand in the South Pacific Ocean that consists of three tropical coral atolls with a combined land area of 10 km2 and a population of approximately 1,400... - Leopoldo O'Donnell, 1st Duke of Tetuan, Spanish general and statesman, a descendant of Calvagh O'DonnellCalvagh O'DonnellCalbhach Ó Domhnaill, anglicized Calvagh O'Donnell , eldest son of Manus O'Donnell, was an Irish King of Tyrconnell of the mid-16th century. He was Rí and Chief of the O'Donnell dynasty based in Tyrconnell in western Ulster...
, chieftain of Tyrconnell. - Bernardo O'HigginsBernardo O'HigginsBernardo O'Higgins Riquelme was a Chilean independence leader who, together with José de San Martín, freed Chile from Spanish rule in the Chilean War of Independence. Although he was the second Supreme Director of Chile , he is considered one of Chile's founding fathers, as he was the first holder...
, first President of ChilePresident of ChileThe President of the Republic of Chile is both the head of state and the head of government of the Republic of Chile. The President is responsible of the government and state administration...
, and his father, Viceroy of Peru Ambrosio O'Higgins, Marquis of OsornoAmbrosio O'Higgins, Marquis of OsornoAmbrosio Bernardo O'Higgins, 1st Marquis of Osorno born Ambrose Bernard O'Higgins , was a member of the O'Higgins family and an Irish-born Spanish colonial administrator...
, a Sligoman. - Ronald ReaganRonald ReaganRonald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
, 40th President of the United States. - Louis St. LaurentLouis St. LaurentLouis Stephen St. Laurent, PC, CC, QC , was the 12th Prime Minister of Canada from 15 November 1948, to 21 June 1957....
, 12th Prime Minister of Canada, mother an Irish Quebecer.
Artists and musicians
- Lucille BallLucille BallLucille Désirée Ball was an American comedian, film, television, stage and radio actress, model, film and television executive, and star of the sitcoms I Love Lucy, The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour, The Lucy Show, Here's Lucy and Life With Lucy...
, actress and comedian - Mischa BartonMischa BartonMischa Anne Marsden Barton is a British-American fashion model, film, television, and stage actress, best known for her role as Marissa Cooper in the American television series The O.C..-Early life:...
, actress - David BowieDavid BowieDavid Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
, singer/songwriter - Lara Flynn BoyleLara Flynn BoyleLara Flynn Boyle is an American film and television actress best known for her performances as Laura Palmer's best friend Donna Hayward in Twin Peaks and Assistant District Attorney Helen Gamble in The Practice...
, actress - Edward BurnsEdward BurnsEdward Fitzgerald Burns is an American actor, film producer, writer and director.-Early life:Burns was born in Woodside, Queens, New York, the son of Molly , a federal agency manager, and Edward J. Burns, a public relations spokesman and police officer. He was raised a Roman Catholic...
, actor / filmmaker - Kate BushKate BushKate Bush is an English singer-songwriter, musician and record producer. Her eclectic musical style and idiosyncratic vocal style have made her one of the United Kingdom's most successful solo female performers of the past 30 years.In 1978, at the age of 19, Bush topped the UK Singles Chart...
, Singer and songwriter - Mariah CareyMariah CareyMariah Carey is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress. She made her recording debut with the release of her eponymous studio album in 1990, under the guidance of Columbia Records executive Tommy Mottola, whom she later married in 1993...
, best selling female recording artist - George CarlinGeorge CarlinGeorge Denis Patrick Carlin was an American stand-up comedian, social critic, actor and author, who won five Grammy Awards for his comedy albums....
comedian, ranked second greatest of all time by Comedy CentralComedy CentralComedy Central is an American cable television and satellite television channel that carries comedy programming, both original and syndicated....
. - Raymond ChandlerRaymond ChandlerRaymond Thornton Chandler was an American novelist and screenwriter.In 1932, at age forty-five, Raymond Chandler decided to become a detective fiction writer after losing his job as an oil company executive during the Depression. His first short story, "Blackmailers Don't Shoot", was published in...
, writer of the MarlowePhilip MarlowePhilip Marlowe is a fictional character created by Raymond Chandler in a series of novels including The Big Sleep and The Long Goodbye. Marlowe first appeared under that name in The Big Sleep published in 1939...
series. Irish mother. - George ClooneyGeorge ClooneyGeorge Timothy Clooney is an American actor, film director, producer, and screenwriter. For his work as an actor, he has received two Golden Globe Awards and an Academy Award...
, actor - Stephen ColbertStephen ColbertStephen Tyrone Colbert is an American political satirist, writer, comedian, television host, and actor. He is the host of Comedy Central's The Colbert Report, a satirical news show in which Colbert portrays a caricatured version of conservative political pundits.Colbert originally studied to be an...
, comedian - Steve CooganSteve CooganStephen John "Steve" Coogan is a British comedian, actor, writer and producer. Born in Manchester, he began his career as a standup comedian and impressionist, working as a voice artist throughout the 1980s on satirical puppet show Spitting Image. In the early nineties, Coogan began creating...
, actor / comedian - Kevin DillonKevin DillonKevin Dillon is an American actor.Kevin Dillon is also the name of:*Kevin Dillon , character from Rodman Philbrick's young adult novel Freak the Mighty and the film based on it, The Mighty...
, actor - Matt DillonMatt DillonMatthew Raymond "Matt" Dillon is an American actor and film director. He began acting in the late 1970s, gaining fame as a teenage idol during the 1980s.- Early life :...
, actor - Patrick DuffPatrick DuffPatrick Duff is an English singer-songwriter, and was the lead singer of the alternative rock band Strangelove.- Biography :Patrick Duff was born in Bristol, England, to an Irish father and a Welsh mother on 30 June 1966...
, singer-songwriter (StrangeloveStrangelove (band)Strangelove were an English alternative rock band, formed in Bristol in 1991 and led by singer Patrick Duff. They released three albums before splitting up in 1998.-History:...
) - Patty DukePatty DukeAnna Marie "Patty" Duke is an American actress of stage, film, and television. First becoming famous as a child star, winning an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress at age 16, and later starring in her eponymous sitcom for three years, she progressed to more mature roles upon playing Neely...
, actress - Isadora DuncanIsadora DuncanIsadora Duncan was a dancer, considered by many to be the creator of modern dance. Born in the United States, she lived in Western Europe and the Soviet Union from the age of 22 until her death at age 50. In the United States she was popular only in New York, and only later in her life...
, dancer - EverlastEverlast (musician)Erik Francis Schrody , better known by his stage name Everlast, is a Grammy Award-winning American rapper and songwriter, known for his solo hit "What It's Like" and as the front-man for rap group House of Pain. He is also part of the hip-hop supergroup La Coka Nostra, which consists of members of...
& Danny BoyDanny Boy-Background:The words to "Danny Boy" were written by English lawyer and lyricist Frederic Weatherly in 1910. Although the lyrics were originally written for a different tune, Weatherly modified them to fit the "Londonderry Air" in 1913, after his sister-in-law in the U.S. sent him a copy. Ernestine...
, successively members of Hip-Hop group House of PainHouse of PainHouse of Pain is an American hip hop group who released three albums in the 1990s before lead rapper Everlast left to pursue his solo career again. The group's name is a reference to the H.G. Wells novel The Island of Dr...
and of La Coka NostraLa Coka NostraLa Coka Nostra is an American hip hop group composed of Everlast, DJ Lethal, Danny Boy, Ill Bill and Slaine.- Biography :Founded in late 2005 with no intention to record an album, La Coka Nostra was more a loose collective of artists connected through Danny Boy than a group...
. - Siobhan FaheySiobhan FaheySiobhan Fahey is an Irish musician and founding member of the 1980s British girl group Bananarama, and later formed the BRIT Award and Ivor Novello award winning musical outfit Shakespears Sister.-Career:Fahey was born the eldest of three daughters to Helen and...
, singer and songwriter of the UK-based groups BananaramaBananaramaBananarama are an English female pop duo who have had success on the pop and dance charts since 1982. Rather than relying on a two part harmony, the duo generally sings in unison, as do their background vocalists. Although there have been line-up changes, the group enjoyed their most popular...
and Shakespears SisterShakespears SisterShakespears Sister/Shakespear's Sister is a British-based synth-pop-rock band formed by Irish-born singer–songwriter Siobhan Fahey in 1988, with plaudits including a BRIT Award and Ivor Novello Award. It was Fahey's first musical outing since leaving Bananarama, and initially a solo project...
. - Michael FlatleyMichael FlatleyMichael Ryan Flatley is an American Irish dancer, choreographer, actor, musician and occasional television presenter. He became internationally known for Irish dance shows Riverdance, Lord of the Dance, Feet of Flames, and Celtic Tiger...
, dancer and creator of RiverdanceRiverdanceRiverdance is a theatrical show consisting of traditional Irish stepdancing, notable for its rapid leg movements while body and arms are kept largely stationary. It originated as an interval performance during the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest, a moment that is still considered a significant... - Liam GallagherLiam GallagherWilliam John Paul "Liam" Gallagher is an English musician and singer-songwriter, the former frontman of the English rock band Oasis and currently of the band Beady Eye. Gallagher's erratic behaviour, distinctive singing style, and abrasive attitude have been the subject of commentary in the press...
and Noel GallagherNoel GallagherNoel Thomas David Gallagher is an English musician and singer-songwriter, formerly the lead guitarist, backing vocalist and principal songwriter of the English rock band Oasis. He is currently fronting his solo project, Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds.Raised in Burnage, Manchester with his...
of OasisOasis (band)Oasis were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1991. Originally known as The Rain, the group was formed by Liam Gallagher , Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs , Paul "Guigsy" McGuigan and Tony McCarroll , who were soon joined by Liam's older brother Noel Gallagher...
. - Judy GarlandJudy GarlandJudy Garland was an American actress and singer. Through a career that spanned 45 of her 47 years and for her renowned contralto voice, she attained international stardom as an actress in musical and dramatic roles, as a recording artist and on the concert stage...
, actress and singer - Mel GibsonMel GibsonMel Colm-Cille Gerard Gibson, AO is an American actor, film director, producer and screenwriter. Born in Peekskill, New York, Gibson moved with his parents to Sydney, Australia when he was 12 years old and later studied acting at the Australian National Institute of Dramatic Art.After appearing in...
, actor / filmmaker - Thea GilmoreThea GilmoreThea Eve Gilmore is a British female singer-songwriter. She began her career working in a recording studio, where she was discovered by her now long-time collaborator, producer and sometime co-songwriter Nigel Stonier, whom she married in October 2005.-Career:Gilmore was born in Oxford to Irish...
, singer-songwriter - Merv GriffinMerv GriffinMervyn Edward "Merv" Griffin, Jr. was an American television host, musician, actor, and media mogul. He began his career as a radio and big band singer who went on to appear in movies and on Broadway. From 1965 to 1986 Griffin hosted his own talk show, The Merv Griffin Show on Group W Broadcasting...
, television host - Lafcadio HearnLafcadio HearnPatrick Lafcadio Hearn , known also by the Japanese name , was an international writer, known best for his books about Japan, especially his collections of Japanese legends and ghost stories, such as Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things...
, American writer. - Paul HoganPaul HoganPaul Hogan, AM is an Australian actor best known for his role as Michael "Crocodile" Dundee from the Crocodile Dundee film series, for which he won a Golden Globe award.-Early life and career:...
, actor. - Marian Jordan, Molly of long-time hit radio program Fibber McGee and MollyFibber McGee and MollyFibber McGee and Molly was an American radio comedy series which maintained its popularity over decades. It premiered on NBC in 1935 and continued until its demise in 1959, long after radio had ceased to be the dominant form of entertainment in American popular culture.-Husband and wife in real...
. - Mike Joyce, member of The SmithsThe SmithsThe Smiths were an English alternative rock band, formed in Manchester in 1982. Based on the song writing partnership of Morrissey and Johnny Marr , the band also included Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce...
. - Gene KellyGene KellyEugene Curran "Gene" Kelly was an American dancer, actor, singer, film director and producer, and choreographer...
actor and dancer - Princess Grace of MonacoGrace KellyGrace Patricia Kelly was an American actress who, in April 1956, married Rainier III, Prince of Monaco, to become Princess consort of Monaco, styled as Her Serene Highness The Princess of Monaco, and commonly referred to as Princess Grace.After embarking on an acting career in 1950, at the age of...
, actress (as Grace Kelly) and noblewoman. - Kennedy familyKennedy familyIn the United States, the phrase Kennedy family commonly refers to the family descending from the marriage of the Irish-Americans Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr. and Rose Elizabeth Fitzgerald that was prominent in American politics and government. Their political involvement has revolved around the...
- Jamie KennedyJamie KennedyJames Harvey "Jamie" Kennedy is an American comedian, rapper, and actor.-Early life:Kennedy, the youngest of six children, was born in Upper Darby Township, a suburb of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His family is of Irish descent and he was raised Roman Catholic. He attended and graduated from...
, actor - Kevin KlineKevin KlineKevin Delaney Kline is an American theatre, voice, film actor and comedian. He has won an Academy Award and two Tony Awards, and has been nominated for five Golden Globe Awards, two BAFTA Awards and an Emmy Award.- Early life :...
, actor - Dennis Leary, actor, musician and comedian
- John LydonJohn LydonJohn Joseph Lydon , also known by the former stage name Johnny Rotten, is a singer-songwriter and television presenter, best known as the lead singer of punk rock band the Sex Pistols from 1975 until 1978, and again for various revivals during the 1990s and 2000s...
aka Johnny Rotten, singer with the Sex PistolsSex PistolsThe Sex Pistols were an English punk rock band that formed in London in 1975. They were responsible for initiating the punk movement in the United Kingdom and inspiring many later punk and alternative rock musicians... - Bill MaherBill MaherWilliam "Bill" Maher, Jr. is an American stand-up comedian, television host, political commentator, author and actor. Before his current role as the host of HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher, Maher hosted a similar late-night talk show called Politically Incorrect originally on Comedy Central and...
talk show host, comedian. - Johnny MarrJohnny MarrJohnny Marr is an English musician and songwriter. Marr rose to fame in the 1980s as the guitarist in The Smiths, with whom he formed a prolific songwriting partnership with Morrissey. Marr has been a member of Electronic, The The, and Modest Mouse...
, member of The SmithsThe SmithsThe Smiths were an English alternative rock band, formed in Manchester in 1982. Based on the song writing partnership of Morrissey and Johnny Marr , the band also included Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce...
. - Paul McCartneyPaul McCartneySir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
, John LennonJohn LennonJohn Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
and George HarrisonGeorge HarrisonGeorge Harrison, MBE was an English musician, guitarist, singer-songwriter, actor and film producer who achieved international fame as lead guitarist of The Beatles. Often referred to as "the quiet Beatle", Harrison became over time an admirer of Indian mysticism, and introduced it to the other...
of The BeatlesThe BeatlesThe Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
. - Rose McGowanRose McGowanRose Arianna McGowan is an actress and singer. She is known for her role as Paige Matthews in The WB Television Network supernatural drama series Charmed. She played Ann-Margret alongside Jonathan Rhys Meyers as Elvis Presley in the CBS mini-series Elvis...
, actress, born in Italy to an Irish father and French mother - Colin MeloyColin MeloyColin Patrick Henry Meloy is the lead singer and songwriter for the Portland, Oregon, folk-rock band The Decemberists. In addition to vocals, he performs with an acoustic guitar, 12-string acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bouzouki, harmonica, percussion and interpretive hand gestures.-Early life...
, lead singer and songwriter of The DecemberistsThe DecemberistsThe Decemberists are an indie folk rock band from Portland, Oregon, United States, fronted by singer/songwriter Colin Meloy. The other members of the band are Chris Funk , Jenny Conlee , Nate Query , and John Moen .The band's...
. - Steven MorrisseyMorrisseySteven Patrick Morrissey , known as Morrissey, is an English singer and lyricist. He rose to prominence in the 1980s as the lyricist and vocalist of the alternative rock band The Smiths. The band was highly successful in the United Kingdom but broke up in 1987, and Morrissey began a solo career,...
, singer, member of The SmithsThe SmithsThe Smiths were an English alternative rock band, formed in Manchester in 1982. Based on the song writing partnership of Morrissey and Johnny Marr , the band also included Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce...
. - Brittany MurphyBrittany MurphyBrittany Anne Murphy-Monjack , known professionally as Brittany Murphy, was an American actress and singer. She starred in films such as Clueless, Just Married, Girl Interrupted, Spun, 8 Mile, Uptown Girls, Sin City, Happy Feet, and Riding in Cars with Boys...
actress - Mary MurphyMary Murphy (choreographer)Mary Ann Murphy is a ballroom dance champion, accredited dance judge, and a judge and choreographer on the Fox dance competition-reality show So You Think You Can Dance.-Biography:...
, choreographer. - Katie NoonanKatie NoonanKatie Anne Noonan is an Australian singer-songwriter. In addition to a successful solo career encompassing opera, jazz, pop, rock and dance, she sings in the groups george and Elixir, duets with her mother, Maggie Noonan and is currently playing with support from the group The...
, Irish-Australian singer. - Conan O'BrienConan O'BrienConan Christopher O'Brien is an American television host, comedian, writer, producer and performer. Since November 2010 he has hosted Conan, a late-night talk show that airs on the American cable television station TBS....
, television host - George O'Dowd, pop singer, also known as Boy George
- Juan O'GormanJuan O'GormanJuan O'Gorman was a Mexican painter and architect.-Biography:O'Gorman was born in Coyoacán, then a village to the south of Mexico City and now a borough of the Federal District, to an Irish father, Cecil Crawford O'Gorman and a Mexican mother...
, a 20th century Mexican artist, both a painter and an architect. - Georgia O'KeeffeGeorgia O'KeeffeGeorgia Totto O'Keeffe was an American artist.Born near Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, O'Keeffe first came to the attention of the New York art community in 1916, several decades before women had gained access to art training in America’s colleges and universities, and before any of its women artists...
, painter
- Maureen O'HaraMaureen O'HaraMaureen O'Hara is an Irish film actress and singer. The famously red-headed O'Hara has been noted for playing fiercely passionate heroines with a highly sensible attitude. She often worked with director John Ford and longtime friend John Wayne...
, Irish born actress and celebrated Hollywood beauty. - Eugene O'NeillEugene O'NeillEugene Gladstone O'Neill was an American playwright and Nobel laureate in Literature. His poetically titled plays were among the first to introduce into American drama techniques of realism earlier associated with Russian playwright Anton Chekhov, Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, and Swedish...
, writer. - Peter O'ToolePeter O'ToolePeter Seamus Lorcan O'Toole is an Irish actor of stage and screen. O'Toole achieved stardom in 1962 playing T. E. Lawrence in Lawrence of Arabia, and then went on to become a highly-honoured film and stage actor. He has been nominated for eight Academy Awards, and holds the record for most...
, Academy Award nominated actor - Aidan QuinnAidan Quinn-Early life:Quinn was born in Chicago, Illinois to Irish parents. He was brought up as a Roman Catholic and raised in Chicago and Rockford, Illinois, as well as in Dublin and Birr, County Offaly in Ireland. His mother, Teresa, was a homemaker, and his father, Michael Quinn, was a professor of...
, Emmy AwardEmmy AwardAn Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
-nominated actor - Anthony QuinnAnthony QuinnAntonio Rodolfo Quinn-Oaxaca , more commonly known as Anthony Quinn, was a Mexican American actor, as well as a painter and writer...
, OscarAcademy AwardsAn Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
-winning Mexican actor. - Mickey RooneyMickey RooneyMickey Rooney is an American film actor and entertainer whose film, television, and stage appearances span nearly his entire lifetime. He has won multiple awards, including an Honorary Academy Award, a Golden Globe and an Emmy Award...
, American actor, former child star - Johnny Rotten (b. John Lydon), singer of the Sex PistolsSex PistolsThe Sex Pistols were an English punk rock band that formed in London in 1975. They were responsible for initiating the punk movement in the United Kingdom and inspiring many later punk and alternative rock musicians...
. - Kevin RowlandKevin RowlandKevin Rowland is an English singer-songwriter and former frontman for the pop band Dexys Midnight Runners, which had several hits in the early 1980s, the most notable being "Geno" and "Come On Eileen".-Career:...
, lead singer of Dexys Midnight RunnersDexys Midnight RunnersDexys Midnight Runners are a British pop group with soul influences, who achieved their major success in the early to mid 1980s. They are best known for their songs "Come On Eileen" and "Geno", both of which went No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart....
. - Andy RourkeAndy RourkeAndy Rourke is a bass guitarist best known for being a former member of The Smiths.-Career:...
, member of The SmithsThe SmithsThe Smiths were an English alternative rock band, formed in Manchester in 1982. Based on the song writing partnership of Morrissey and Johnny Marr , the band also included Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce...
. - Justin SaneJustin SaneJustin Cathal Geever , best known by his stage name Justin Sane, is the guitarist and singer/songwriter of the United States-based musical group Anti-Flag, a punk rock band formed in 1988 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania known for its outspoken left-wing views. He holds dual US and Irish citizenship and...
, lead singer of Anti-FlagAnti-FlagAnti-Flag is a punk rock band from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the United States, formed in 1988. The band is well known for its outspoken political views. Much of the band's lyrics have focused on fervent anti-war activism, criticism of United States foreign policy, corporatism, U.S. wealth... - Dusty SpringfieldDusty SpringfieldMary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'BrienSources use both Isabel and Isobel as the spelling of her second name. OBE , known professionally as Dusty Springfield and dubbed The White Queen of Soul, was a British pop singer whose career extended from the late 1950s to the 1990s...
, English-born singer. - Bruce SpringsteenBruce SpringsteenBruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen , nicknamed "The Boss," is an American singer-songwriter who records and tours with the E Street Band...
, songwriter, performer and political activist. - John WayneJohn WayneMarion Mitchell Morrison , better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and became an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height...
, actor, enduring American icon - Brian WhelanBrian WhelanBrian Whelan is a noted London-Irish painter, author and occasional film maker.-Family life:Brian Francis Whelan was born 3 May 1957 in Ealing, London, of Irish Catholic parents. His father came from Dublin and his mother from Kilkenny...
, painter and author - Catherine Zeta-JonesCatherine Zeta-JonesCatherine Zeta-Jones, CBE, is a British actress. She began her career on stage at an early age. After starring in a number of United Kingdom and United States television films and small roles in films, she came to prominence with roles in Hollywood movies such as the 1998 action film The Mask of...
, actress
Scientists
- Robert BoyleRobert BoyleRobert Boyle FRS was a 17th century natural philosopher, chemist, physicist, and inventor, also noted for his writings in theology. He has been variously described as English, Irish, or Anglo-Irish, his father having come to Ireland from England during the time of the English plantations of...
, philosopher and chemist. - Kathleen LonsdaleKathleen LonsdaleDame Kathleen Lonsdale, DBE FRS was a crystallographer, who established the structure of benzene by X-ray diffraction methods in 1929, and hexachlorobenzene by Fourier spectral methods in 1931...
, London-based 20th century Chemist. - Ernest WaltonErnest WaltonErnest Thomas Sinton Walton was an Irish physicist and Nobel laureate for his work with John Cockcroft with "atom-smashing" experiments done at Cambridge University in the early 1930s, and so became the first person in history to artificially split the atom, thus ushering the nuclear age...
, CambridgeCambridgeThe city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
-based co-winner of the Nobel Prize in PhysicsNobel Prize in PhysicsThe Nobel Prize in Physics is awarded once a year by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895 and awarded since 1901; the others are the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Peace Prize, and...
, 1951. - James D. WatsonJames D. WatsonJames Dewey Watson is an American molecular biologist, geneticist, and zoologist, best known as one of the co-discoverers of the structure of DNA in 1953 with Francis Crick...
, co-discoverer of DNA Nobel Prize winner - Erwin SchrödingerErwin SchrödingerErwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrödinger was an Austrian physicist and theoretical biologist who was one of the fathers of quantum mechanics, and is famed for a number of important contributions to physics, especially the Schrödinger equation, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1933...
, Austrian-Irish physicist
Misc
- Anne BoleynAnne BoleynAnne Boleyn ;c.1501/1507 – 19 May 1536) was Queen of England from 1533 to 1536 as the second wife of Henry VIII of England and Marquess of Pembroke in her own right. Henry's marriage to Anne, and her subsequent execution, made her a key figure in the political and religious upheaval that was the...
, Queen consort to King Henry VIIIHenry VIII of EnglandHenry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...
of England; Irish paternal grandmother Margaret Butler - Anne Bonney, pirate, born in CorkCork (city)Cork is the second largest city in the Republic of Ireland and the island of Ireland's third most populous city. It is the principal city and administrative centre of County Cork and the largest city in the province of Munster. Cork has a population of 119,418, while the addition of the suburban...
. - James J. BraddockJames J. BraddockJames Walter "The Cinderella Man" Braddock was an American boxer who was the world heavyweight champion from 1935 to 1937....
, boxer, also known as The Cinderella Man - Molly Brown, the "Unsinkable Molly Brown."
- Nellie CashmanNellie CashmanEllen Cashman , better known as Nellie Cashman, was a native of County Cork, Ireland, who became famous across the American and Canadian west as a nurse and gold prospector.-Early years:...
, "The Angel of Tombstone". - U DhammalokaU DhammalokaU Dhammaloka was an Irish-born hobo turned Buddhist monk, atheist critic of Christian missionaries, and temperance campaigner who took an active role in the Asian Buddhist revival around the turn of the twentieth century....
(?Laurence Carroll), Buddhist monk and anti-missionary agitator in Burma, born in Dublin - Diana, Princess of WalesDiana, Princess of WalesDiana, Princess of Wales was the first wife of Charles, Prince of Wales, whom she married on 29 July 1981, and an international charity and fundraising figure, as well as a preeminent celebrity of the late 20th century...
, noblewoman, her mother, Frances Burke Roche was a descendant of the Earls of Fermoy - John DunlapJohn DunlapJohn Dunlap was the printer of the first copies of the Declaration of Independence and one of the most successful American printers of his era.-Biography:...
, printer of the first copies of the United States Declaration of IndependenceUnited States Declaration of IndependenceThe Declaration of Independence was a statement adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, which announced that the thirteen American colonies then at war with Great Britain regarded themselves as independent states, and no longer a part of the British Empire. John Adams put forth a... - Margaretta EagarMargaretta EagarMargaretta Alexandra Eagar, also known as Margaret Eagar, , was a nanny for the four daughters of Tsar Nicholas II and Tsarina Alexandra, known collectively as OTMA: The Grand Duchesses Olga ; Tatiana ; Maria ; and Anastasia Margaretta Alexandra Eagar, also known as Margaret Eagar, (August 12, 1863...
, governess to the last Russian Royal Family - Sarah, Duchess of YorkSarah, Duchess of YorkSarah, Duchess of York is a British charity patron, spokesperson, writer, film producer, television personality and former member of the British Royal Family. She is the former wife of Prince Andrew, Duke of York, whom she married from 1986 to 1996...
, former wife of a British prince, her paternal ancestors came from Northern Ireland - Henry FordHenry FordHenry Ford was an American industrialist, the founder of the Ford Motor Company, and sponsor of the development of the assembly line technique of mass production. His introduction of the Model T automobile revolutionized transportation and American industry...
, businessman and founder of the Ford FoundationFord FoundationThe Ford Foundation is a private foundation incorporated in Michigan and based in New York City created to fund programs that were chartered in 1936 by Edsel Ford and Henry Ford....
. - Cardinal James Gibbons, Roman Catholic prelate
- Kathy GriffinKathy GriffinKathleen Mary "Kathy" Griffin is an American actress, stand-up comedienne, television personality, New York Times best-selling author and an LGBT rights advocate. Griffin first gained recognition for appearances on two episodes of Seinfeld, and then for her supporting role on the NBC sitcom...
, standup comic and TV personality (both parents Irish immigrants) - Sean HannitySean HannitySean Hannity is an American radio and television host, author, and conservative political commentator. He is the host of The Sean Hannity Show, a nationally syndicated talk radio show that airs throughout the United States on Premiere Radio Networks. Hannity also hosts a cable news show, Hannity,...
, American political commentator - Mary JemisonMary JemisonMary Jemison was an American frontierswoman and an adopted Seneca. When she was in her teens, she was captured in what is now Adams County, Pennsylvania, from her home along Marsh Creek, and later chose to remain a Seneca....
, Irish captive adopted by Native American SenecaSeneca nationThe Seneca are a group of indigenous people native to North America. They were the nation located farthest to the west within the Six Nations or Iroquois League in New York before the American Revolution. While exact population figures are unknown, approximately 15,000 to 25,000 Seneca live in...
tribe.
- Dorothy Jordan, mistress to William IV of the United KingdomWilliam IV of the United KingdomWilliam IV was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and of Hanover from 26 June 1830 until his death...
- Ned KellyNed KellyEdward "Ned" Kelly was an Irish Australian bushranger. He is considered by some to be merely a cold-blooded cop killer — others, however, consider him to be a folk hero and symbol of Irish Australian resistance against the Anglo-Australian ruling class.Kelly was born in Victoria to an Irish...
- Australian farmer and outlaw - Eliza LynchEliza LynchEliza Lynch was the mistress of Francisco Solano López, president of Paraguay.-Early life:She was born Eliza Alicia Lynch in Charleville, County Cork, Ireland. She emigrated at the age of ten with her family to Paris to escape the Great Irish Famine...
, Irish born mistress of President Francisco Solano López of Paraguay - Martin MaherMartin MaherMartin "Marty" Maher, Jr. was an Irish immigrant from Ballycrine, County Tipperary, Ireland, who joined the United States Army in 1898 and rose to the rank of Master Sergeant...
, instructor at the United States Military AcademyUnited States Military AcademyThe United States Military Academy at West Point is a four-year coeducational federal service academy located at West Point, New York. The academy sits on scenic high ground overlooking the Hudson River, north of New York City...
at West Point - Mary MallonMary MallonMary Mallon , also known as Typhoid Mary, was the first person in the United States identified as an asymptomatic carrier of the pathogen associated with typhoid fever. She was presumed to have infected some 53 people, three of whom died, over the course of her career as a cook...
, also known as Typhoid Mary, a notorious cook - Lola MontezLola MontezEliza Rosanna Gilbert, Countess of Landsfeld , better known by the stage name Lola Montez, was an Irish dancer and actress who became famous as a "Spanish dancer", courtesan and mistress of King Ludwig I of Bavaria, who made her Countess of Landsfeld. She used her influence to institute liberal...
, mistress to Ludwig I of BavariaLudwig I of BavariaLudwig I was a German king of Bavaria from 1825 until the 1848 revolutions in the German states.-Crown prince:... - Annie Moore, first immigrant to USA to be processed at Ellis IslandEllis IslandEllis Island in New York Harbor was the gateway for millions of immigrants to the United States. It was the nation's busiest immigrant inspection station from 1892 until 1954. The island was greatly expanded with landfill between 1892 and 1934. Before that, the much smaller original island was the...
- George 'Bugs' MoranBugs MoranGeorge Clarence Moran , better known by the alias "Bugs" Moran, was a Chicago Prohibition-era gangster born in St. Paul, Minnesota. Moran, of Irish and Polish descent, moved to the north side of Chicago when he was 19, where he became affiliated with several gangs...
, Prohibition era Chicago US gangster - Anne Mortimer, Irish born English noblewoman
- Evelyn NesbitEvelyn NesbitEvelyn Nesbit was an American artists' model and chorus girl, noted for her entanglement in the murder of her ex-lover, architect Stanford White, by her first husband, Harry Kendall Thaw.-Early life:...
, model and actress - Mario O'DonnellPacho O'DonnellMario O'Donnell , best known as Pacho O'Donnell, is an Argentine writer, politician and physician who specializes in psychoanalysis....
, historian - Marie-Louise O'MurphyMarie-Louise O'MurphyMarie-Louise O'Murphy de Boisfaily was one of the younger mistresses of King Louis XV of France. Her original surname is also given in sources as Murphy, Morphy, or O'Morphy, and she is sometimes referred to as "La Morphise" or "La Belle Morphise"...
, mistress to King Louis XV of France.
- Bill O'ReillyBill O'Reilly (political commentator)William James "Bill" O'Reilly, Jr. is an American television host, author, syndicated columnist and political commentator. He is the host of the political commentary program The O'Reilly Factor on the Fox News Channel, which is the most watched cable news television program on American television...
, American political commentator - Count Joseph Cornelius O’Rourke, Lieutenant-General of the Russian Imperial GuardRussian Imperial GuardThe Russian Imperial Guard, officially known as the Leib Guard were military units serving as personal guards of the Emperor of Russia. Peter the Great founded the first such units following the Prussian practice in the 1690s, to replace the politically-motivated Streltsy.- Organization :The final...
. - Lee Harvey OswaldLee Harvey OswaldLee Harvey Oswald was, according to four government investigations,These were investigations by: the Federal Bureau of Investigation , the Warren Commission , the House Select Committee on Assassinations , and the Dallas Police Department. the sniper who assassinated John F...
, presumed assassin of John F. Kennedy, Irish great-grandmother Mary Tonry - Pat QuinnPat Quinn (ice hockey)John Brian Patrick Quinn , is a former head coach in the National Hockey League , most recently with the Edmonton Oilers. Known by the nickname "The Big Irishman",...
, Canadian hockey coach (former coach of Toronto Maple Leafs and Team Canada) - Frank Wallace, criminal
- James McLean, criminal
- Mickey Spillane, criminal
- James J. BulgerJames J. BulgerJames Joseph "Whitey" Bulger, Jr. is a former organized crime figure from Boston, Massachusetts.Local folklore depicted Bulger as a Robin Hood-style social bandit dedicated to protecting the neighborhood and its residents. Bulger allegedly masterminded a protection racket targeting drug kingpins...
, criminal
See also - Irish Brigade
- Irish Brigade (French)Irish Brigade (French)The Irish Brigade was a brigade in the French army composed of Irish exiles, led by Robert Reid. It was formed in May 1690 when five Jacobite regiments were sent from Ireland to France in return for a larger force of French infantry who were sent to fight in the Williamite war in Ireland...
formed from the Irish army after the flight of the Wild GeeseFlight of the Wild GeeseThe Flight of the Wild Geese refers to the departure of an Irish Jacobite army under the command of Patrick Sarsfield from Ireland to France, as agreed in the Treaty of Limerick on October 3, 1691, following the end of the Williamite War in Ireland...
in 1691. - The Irish Battalion, or Los San PatricioSaint Patrick's BattalionThe Saint Patrick's Battalion , formed and led by Jon Riley, was a unit of 175 to several hundred immigrants and expatriates of European descent who fought as part of the Mexican Army against the United States in the Mexican-American War of 1846 to 1848. Most of the battalion's members had...
, who fought on the side of Mexico against the U.S. invasion of 1846-48. - Irish Brigade (US)Irish Brigade (US)The Irish Brigade was an infantry brigade, consisting predominantly of Irish Americans, that served in the Union Army in the American Civil War. The designation of the first regiment in the brigade, the 69th New York Infantry, or the "Fighting 69th", continued in later wars...
served on the Union side in the American Civil WarAmerican Civil WarThe American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
in the 1860s. - Tyneside Irish BrigadeTyneside Irish BrigadeThe Tyneside Irish Brigade was a British First World War infantry brigade of Kitchener's Army, raised in 1914. Officially numbered the 103rd Brigade, it contained four Pals battalions from Newcastle-upon-Tyne, largely made up of men of Irish extraction...
, World War I brigade serving in the British armyBritish ArmyThe British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
at the Somme. - Irish military diasporaIrish military diasporaThe Irish military diaspora refers to the many people of either Irish birth or extraction who have served in foreign military forces, regardless of rank, duration of service, or success....
, notable individuals, Irish by birth or extraction, who served in non-Irish military forces. - Irish regiments, many Irish regiments served in non-Irish military forces and took part in several conflicts of world history.
See also - Causes of Irish emigration
- Flight of the EarlsFlight of the EarlsThe Flight of the Earls took place on 14 September 1607, when Hugh Ó Neill of Tír Eóghain, Rory Ó Donnell of Tír Chonaill and about ninety followers left Ireland for mainland Europe.-Background to the exile:...
- Cromwellian conquest of IrelandCromwellian conquest of IrelandThe Cromwellian conquest of Ireland refers to the conquest of Ireland by the forces of the English Parliament, led by Oliver Cromwell during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. Cromwell landed in Ireland with his New Model Army on behalf of England's Rump Parliament in 1649...
- The Penal LawsPenal Laws (Ireland)The term Penal Laws in Ireland were a series of laws imposed under English and later British rule that sought to discriminate against Roman Catholics and Protestant dissenters in favour of members of the established Church of Ireland....
affecting non-Conformists (c.1715–1869) - Irish Famine (1740–1741)
- Great Irish Famine (1845–1851)
- Irish Famine (1879)Irish Famine (1879)The Irish famine of 1879 was the last main Irish famine. Unlike the earlier Great Famines of 1740-1741 and 1845-1849 the 1879 famine caused hunger rather than mass deaths, due to changes in the technology of food production, different structures of land-holding The Irish famine of 1879 was the...
- Economic history of IrelandEconomic history of IrelandIreland's economic history starts at the end of the Ice Age when the first humans arrived there. Agriculture then came around 4500 BC. Iron technology came with the Celts around 350 BC. From the 12th century to the 1970s, most Irish exports went to England. During this period, Ireland's main...
- Economic history of the Republic of IrelandEconomic history of the Republic of IrelandThe state described today as the Republic of Ireland seceded from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in 1922. The state was plagued by poverty and emigration until the 1960s and again in the 1970s and 1980s...
- The Economic WarEconomic warEconomic war may refer to*The Anglo-Irish Trade War*An set of policies in Uganda under Idi Amin, including the expropriation of properties owned by Asians and Europeans....
, 1933-38. - "The Emergency" (Ireland during World War II)
- "The Troubles" (c.1969–1998)The TroublesThe Troubles was a period of ethno-political conflict in Northern Ireland which spilled over at various times into England, the Republic of Ireland, and mainland Europe. The duration of the Troubles is conventionally dated from the late 1960s and considered by many to have ended with the Belfast...
See also - General
- List of expatriate Irish populations
- Irish Australians
- Irish Americans
- Irish Canadians
- Irish QuebecersIrish QuebecersIrish Quebecers are residents of the Canadian province of Quebec who have Irish ancestry. In 2006, there were 406,085 Quebecers who identified themselves as having partial or exclusive Irish descent in Quebec, representing 5.5% of the population...
- Irish New Brunswickers
- Irish NewfoundlandersIrish NewfoundlandersIn modern Newfoundland , many Newfoundlanders are of Irish descent. According to the Statistics Canada 2006 census, 21.5% of Newfoundlanders claim Irish ancestry...
- Newfoundland IrishNewfoundland IrishNewfoundland Irish is an extinct dialect of the Irish language specific to the island of Newfoundland, Canada. It was very similar to Munster Irish, as spoken in the southeast of Ireland, due to mass immigration from the counties Waterford, Wexford, Kilkenny, Tipperary, and Cork.-Irish settlement...
- Irish Quebecers
- Irish community in BritainIrish community in BritainIrish people in Great Britain are members of the Irish diaspora who reside in Great Britain, the largest island and principal territory of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland....
- Irish TravellerIrish TravellerIrish Travellers are a traditionally nomadic people of ethnic Irish origin, who maintain a separate language and set of traditions. They live predominantly in the Republic of Ireland, the United Kingdom and the United States.-Etymology:...
s - List of Ireland-related topics
- Irish place names in other countriesIrish place names in other countriesThis is a partial or incomplete list of places in countries other than Ireland named after places in Ireland.Massive emigration, often called the Irish diaspora, from Ireland in the 19th and 20th centuries resulted in many towns and regions being named or renamed after places in Ireland.It might be...
- Irish immigration to Puerto RicoIrish immigration to Puerto RicoFrom the 16th to the 19th century, there was considerable Irish immigration to Puerto Rico, for a number of reasons. During the 16th century many Irishmen, who were known as "Wild Geese," fled the English Army and joined the Spanish Army. Some of these men were stationed in Puerto Rico and...
- The Liverpool Irish
- Coatbridge IrishCoatbridge IrishCoatbridge is an urban town located on the eastern fringes of Glasgow, Scotland. The town quickly expanded during the late 18th century as a centre of iron making, in part because it had a direct canal link to Glasgow. Cheap unskilled labour was in large demand and as result the town became a...
- Against the Wind (TV series)Against the Wind (TV series)Against the Wind was a 1978 Australian television mini-series.It is a historical drama portraying both the British rule of Ireland, and the development of New South Wales and Australia...
- Irish Migration Studies in Latin AmericaIrish Migration Studies in Latin AmericaIrish Migration Studies in Latin America is an open access journal dedicated to the links between Ireland and Latin America. It is published three times a year by the Society for Irish Latin American Studies, and it is considered the only publication focusing on this field worldwide.The journal is...
Further reading
- Akenson, Donald. The Irish Diaspora: a Primer. (Belfast: Institute of Irish Studies, 1993)
- Bielenberg, Andy, ed. The Irish Diaspora (London: Pearson, 2000)
- Campbell, Malcolm. Ireland's New Worlds: Immigrants, Politics, and Society in the United States and Australia, 1815–1922 (2007)
- Coleman, Philip Coleman, James Byrne and Jason King, eds. Ireland and the Americas: Culture, Politics, and History (3 vol. ABC-CLIO, 2008), 967pp excerpt and text search
- Coogan, Tim Pat. Wherever Green Is Worn: The Story of the Irish Diaspora (2002), popular
- Darby, Paul, and David Hassan, eds. Sport and the Irish Diaspora: Emigrants at Play (2008)
- Delaney, Enda, Kevin Kenny, and Donald Mcraild. "The Irish Diaspora", Irish Economic and Social History (2006): 33:35-58
- Fanning, Charles. New Perspectives on the Irish Diaspora (2000)
- Glazier, Michael, ed. The Encyclopedia of the Irish in America (U. of Notre Dame Press, 1999) 988pp
- Gray, Breda. Women and the Irish Diaspora (2003)
- Gribben, Arthur, and Ruth-Ann M. Harris. The Great Famine and the Irish Diaspora in America (1999)
- Kenny, Kevin. "Diaspora and Comparison: the Global Irish as a Case Study", Journal of American History 2003 90(1): 134-162, In JSTOR
- Lalor, Brian, ed. The Encyclopedia of Ireland (Dublin: Gill & Macmillan, 2003)
- Mccaffrey, Lawrence. The Irish Catholic Diaspora in America (Catholic University of America Press, 1997)
- O'Day, Alan. "Revising the Diaspora." in The Making of Modern Irish History, edited by D George Boyce and Alan O'Day. (Routledge, 1996), pp. 188–215.
- O'Farrell, Patrick. The Irish in Australia: 1798 to the Present Day (3rd ed. Cork University Press, 2001)
- O’Sullivan, Patrick, ed. The Irish Worldwide: Religion and Identity, vol. 5. (Leicester University Press, 1994)
- Walker, Brian. "'The Lost Tribes of Ireland': Diversity, Identity and Loss among the Irish Diaspora", Irish Studies Review; 2007 15(3): 267-282
External links
- Over 4700 primary & secondary sources relating to the Irish Diaspora (Sources database, from the National Library of IrelandNational Library of IrelandThe National Library of Ireland is Ireland's national library located in Dublin, in a building designed by Thomas Newenham Deane. The Minister for Arts, Sport & Tourism is the member of the Irish Government responsible for the library....
) - The Irish in America by J. F. Maguire (1868)
- A History of the Irish Settlers in North America from the Earliest Period to the Census of 1850
- The Scotch-Irish in America
- "Irish Migration Studies in Latin America"
- "The Irish in Australia", 1887
- The Irish in Argentina
- Irish Surnames in Argentina
- Newfoundland: The Most Irish Place Outside of Ireland
- Irish Emigrant Publications
- Irish Diaspora Studies Dept, Bradford University UK
- Murray, Edmundo http://www.irlandeses.org/murrayintro.htm "Ireland and Latin America"
- Ireland and Argentina
- SS Dresden scandal.
- The Irish in New Jersey by Dermot Quinn
- The Irish (In Countries Other Than Ireland) - Article in the Catholic Encyclopedia
- The San Patricios - the Irish Soldiers who died for Mexico
- The Irish in Film
- The Centre for Migration Studies- The Centre for Migration Studies, at the Ulster American Folk ParkUlster American Folk ParkThe Ulster American Folk Park is an open-air museum in Castletown, just outside Omagh, in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. The Park explores the historical link between Ulster and America, focusing particularly on the lifestyle and experiences of those immigrants who sailed from Ulster to America...
, OmaghOmaghOmagh is the county town of County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is situated where the rivers Drumragh and Camowen meet to form the Strule. The town, which is the largest in the county, had a population of 19,910 at the 2001 Census. Omagh also contains the headquarters of Omagh District Council and...
, Northern Ireland - Annie Moore First Immigrant to Arrive at Ellis Island
- The Shamrock and the Maple Leaf: Irish-Canadian Documentary Heritage at Library and Archives Canada
- Flight of the Earls
- Reassessing what we collect website – Irish London History of Irish London with objects and images
- Irish American Story Project
- Irish Diaspora for Irish Citizenship
- Discover Ireland
- Diaspora.ie - a sense of connectivity
'