The Illustrated London News - 1850

THE great tide of Emigration flows steadily westward.  The principle emigrants are Irish peasants and labourers.  It is calculated that at least four out of every five persons who leave the shores of the old country to try their fortunes in the new, are Irish.  Since the fatal years of the potato famine and the cholera, the annual numbers of emigrants have gone on increasing, until they have become so great as to suggest the idea, and almost justify the belief, of a graduate depopulation of Ireland.  The colonies of Great Britain offer powerful attractions to the great bulk of the English and Scottish emigrants who forsake their native land to make homes in the wilderness.  But the Irish emigration flows with full force upon the United States.  Though many of the Irish emigrants are, doubtless, persons of small means, who have been hoarding and saving for years, and living in rags and squalor, in order to amass sufficient money to carry themselves and families across the Atlantic, and to beg their way to the western states, where they may “squat” or purchase cheap lands, the great bulk appear to be people of the most destitute class, who go to join their friends and relatives, previously established in America.  Large sums of money reach this country annually from the United States.  Through Liverpool houses alone, near upon a million sterling, in small drafts, varying from £2 to £3 to £10 each, are annually forwarded from America, for poor persons in Ireland, to enable them to emigrate; and the passage-money of many thousands, in addition, is paid in New York.  Before the fatal year 1847, the emigration was very considerable, but since that time, it has very rapidly increased.  The following document, issued on the authority of her Majesty’s Colonial Land and Emigration Commissioners, show the progressive increase in the numbers of British subjects who have annually quitted our shores as emigrants, from 1825 to January 1st, 1850:

EMIGRATION FROM THE UNITED KINGDOM
DURING THE TWENTY-FIVE YEARS,
FROM 1825 TO 1849 INCLUSIVE

Years	North American Colonies	United States of America	Australian Colonies and New Zealand	All Other Places	Total
1825	8,741	5,551	485	114	14,891
1826	12,818	7,063	903	116	20,900
1827	12,648	14,526	715	114	28,003
1828	12,084	12,817	1,056	135	26,092
1829	13,307	15,678	2,016	197	31,198
1830	30,574	24,887	1,242	204	56,907
1831	58,067	23,418	1,561	114	83,160
1832	66,339	32,872	3,733	196	103,140
1833	28,808	29,109	4,093	517	62,527
1834	40,060	33,074	2,800	288	76,222
1835	15,573	26,720	1,860	325	44,478
1836	34,226	37,774	3,124	293	75,417
1837	29,884	36,770	5,054	326	72,034
1838	4,577	14,332	14,021	292	33,222
1839	12,658	33,536	15,786	227	62,207
1840	32,293	40,642	15,850	1,958	90,743
1841	38,164	45,017	32,625	2,786	118,592
1842	54,123	63,852	8,534	1,835	128,344
1843	23,518	28,335	3,478	1,881	57,212
1844	22,924	43,660	2,229	1,873	70,686
1845	31,803	58,538	830	2,330	93,501
1846	43,439	82,239	2,347	1,826	129,851
1847	109,680	142,154	4,949	1,487	258,270
1848	31,065	188,233	23,904	4,887	248,089
1849	41,367	219,450	32,091	6,590	299,498
Total	808,740	1,260,247	185,286	30,911	2,285,184

Average Annual Emigration from the United Kingdom for the last twenty-five years:  91,407

Irish Emigration to the United States of America

These figures do not include Irishmen entering the United States from Great Britain who were normally counted as "British", nor does it count those who entered (legally or illegally) via Canada.

Y = YEAR                   I = IMMIGRATION

Y	I	Y	I	Y	I	Y	I
1820	3,614	1860	52,103	1900	41,848	1940	839
1821	1,518	1861	28,209	1901	35,535	1941	272
1822	2,267	1862	33,521	1902	29,138	1942	83
1823	1,908	1863	94,477	1903	35,310	1943	165
1824	2,345	1864	94,368	1904	36,142	1944	112
1825	4,826	1865	82,085	1905	52,945	1945	427
1826	4,821	1866	86,594	1906	34,995	1946	1,816
1827	9,772	1867	79,571	1907	34,530	1947	2,574
1828	7,861	1868	57,662	1908	30,556	1948	7,534
1829	9,995	1869	66,467	1909	25,033	1949	8,678
1830	12,765	1870	67,891	1910	29,855	1950	5,842
1831	13,598	1871	65,591	1911	29,112	1951	3,144
1832	15,092	1872	66,752	1912	25,879	1952	3,526
1833	14,177	1873	75,536	1913	27,876	1953	4,304
1834	16,928	1874	48,136	1914	24,688	1954	4,655
1835	13,307	1875	31,433	1915	14,185	1955	5,222
1836	15,000	1876	16,432	1916	8,639	1956	5,607
1837	22,089	1877	13,991	1917	5,406	1957	8,227
1838	8,149	1878	18,602	1918	331	1958	9,134
1839	20,790	1879	30,058	1919	474	1959	6,595
1840	25,957	1880	83,018	1920	9,591	1960	6,918
1841	36,428	1881	67,339	1921	28,435	1961	5,738
1842	49,920	1882	68,300	1922	10,579	1962	5,118
1843	23,597	1883	82,849	1923	15,740	1963	5,000
1844	37,569	1884	59,204	1924	17,111	1964	5,200
1845	50,207	1885	50,657	1925	26,650	1965	5,463
1846	68,023	1886	52,858	1926	24,897	1966	4,700
1847	118,120	1887	69,084	1927	28,545	1967	1,901
1848	151,003	1888	66,306	1928	25,268	1968	2,268
1849	180,189	1889	60,502	1929	19,921	1969	1,989
1850	184,351	1890	52,110	1930	23,445	1970	1,562
1851	219,232	1891	53,438	1931	7,305	1971 - 1980
1852	195,801	1892	48,966	1932	539	11,600
1853	156,970	1893	42,122	1933	338	Irish immigrants
1854	11,095	1894	39,597	1934	443	arrived in the U.S.
1855	57,164	1895	52,027	1935	454
1856	58,777	1896	39,952	1936	444
1857	66,080	1897	32,822	1937	531
1858	31,498	1898	30,878	1938	1,085
1859	41,180	1899	38,631	1939	1,189

Counties of Irish Emigration

Where did they come from?  During the period 1856 through 1910, the following ten counties in Ireland had the highest rate of emigration:

1.         Kerry                                       6.         Galway
2.         Cork                                        7.         Limerick
3.         Clare                                        8.         Mayo
4.         Longford                                  9.         Tipperary
5.         Leitrim                                      10.       Cavan

The county of Dublin has had the lowest rate of emigration.

The Irish constituted 42.3% of all immigrants from 1820 through 1850, and 35.2% of all immigrants between 1851 and 1860.  Thereafter, the percentages declined continuously:

1861-1870                   18.8%
1871-1880                   15.5%
1881-1890                   12.5%
1891-1900                   10.6%

and

1971-1980                   0.3%

 

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