The Irish in England

Neil Cummins and Cormac Ó Gráda

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

Abstract: We use the universe of probate and vital registers from England between 1838 and 2018 to document the status of the Irish in England. We identify the “Irish” in the records as those individuals with distinctively Irish surnames. From at least the mid-nineteenth century to 2018, we find that the Irish in England have persisted as an underclass, being on average 50 percent poorer than the English. Infant mortality was about 25 percent higher for the Irish between the 1830s and the mid-twentieth century but has subsequently equalized. Sorting, both to urban areas and to the North of England, are important elements in the Irish experience. We discuss the potential roles of selective migration, social mobility, and discrimination in this and signpost directions for future research.

Keywords: inequality; economic history; big data (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 35 pages
Date: 2025-03-31
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his, nep-inv and nep-ure
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Published in Journal of Economic History, 31, March, 2025, 85(1), pp. 180 - 214. ISSN: 0022-0507

Downloads: (external link)
http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/121184/ Open access version. (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: The Irish in England (2022)
Working Paper: The Irish in England (2022)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ehl:lserod:121184

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