19th Century Irish History Articles - The Effects of the Irish Famine on Ulster Ireland

Articles: 19th Century Ireland
IV. Effects of "The Famine" in Ulster

by Dr. Sam Couch, Ph. D.
Owner, Rising Road Tours

Emigration from the four "loyal" counties of Derry, Antrim, Down and Armagh was only a fraction of that from the rest of the country. The favored destination was Canada; Toronto was a city as "Irish" as Boston, if not as "Fenian." The region was different in many respects: It had the greatest concentration of Protestants, including more that 90 percent of all Presbyterians. The system of landholding was different: the "Ulster custom" gave tenants a greater security of tenure and the plantation legacy was of many small wholly owned farms. The region established a reputation for industry and industriousness and survived the change from cottage to factory and the meteoric rise and fall of cotton. It accepted the Union and realized that its prosperity was a function of that coupling. It overcame its insularity. As a result of sea transport, Belfast grew into a recognizable Victorian industrial city partaking of the advantages of the Industrial Revolution.

The region had no more in the way of natural resources than the rest of the country but it could attract investment and entrepreneurial interest. The industrial canal built in 1742 was the first in the United Kingdom. It was built from Lough Neagh to Newry so that coal could be carried from Brackaville to the sea. The generation of one industry by the requirements of another is seen in the way that engineering used to maintain the linen mills became an industry in its own right. Rope works, factories for bacon, tobacco, aerated mineral water factories (popular with the temperance Protestants), and iron foundries became features of the Lagan valley. The commercial reputation of Derry was founded on shirt making. This created a skewed economy in which women were in full employment. Derry also was known for processed pork, tobacco manufacture and its shipyard. This dock was to prove important during World War II when Derry was a strategic Allied port.

Belfast's industrial fame lay in her shipbuilding. William Dargan, the father of Irish railways, artificially created the site at Dargan's Island. The Ritchie brothers founded a shipyard at the Old Lime Kiln Dock in 1791. William Pirrie was the real genius of the shipbuilding trade. He became chairman of Harland and Wolff in 1895. The first modern liner, the White Star Line flagship Oceanic was launched in 1899. The firm's reputation grew: the Olympic was ready in 1910 and its sister ship the unsinkable Titanic was launched and lost in 1912. The loss of the ship was a financial and symbolic blow to the company. Reputation was more important than natural resources.

Native Ulstermen established none of these enterprises. The closest in blood was the Canadian Pirrie whose parents were Ulster emigrants. For the entrepreneurs, Union was a literal fact; they were actively Unionist and preferred a Protestant workforce. Many were visibly anti-Catholic and employed them only by default. Catholics were on sufferance everywhere and their treatment at work was a reliable gauge of the current political temperature. They were needed as hewers of wood and drawers of water and thronged to the cities.

This series of articles is based on lectures given by Dr. Samuel Couch to Irish Studies courses at Georgia Southern University and Young Harris College between 1997 and 2004. Documented sources come from Couch's research and studies in American universities and with scholars in Ireland. The articles are in no way intended to be comprehensive.

Background materials come from, but are not limited to, readings in the following books:

Duffy, Sean, ed., Atlas of Irish History. Gill & Macmillan: Dublin. 1997.
Joyce, P.W., Outlines of the History of Ireland from the Earliest Times to 1905. M.H. Gill & Son: Dublin. 1909.
Killeen, Richard, A Short History of Ireland. Gill & Macmillan: Dublin. 1994.
Smyth, Daragh, A Guide to Irish Mythology. 2nd ed. Irish Academic Press: Dublin. 1996.

Any lack of attribution to primary sources is unintentional and the sole responsibility of Dr. Couch.

Rising Road Tours
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Articles: 19th Century Ireland IV. Effects of "The Famine" in Ulster

Articles: 19th Century Ireland
IV. Effects of "The Famine" in Ulster