Page 49 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Ireland

THE HIST OR Y OF IRELAND  47

The Irish Abroad
One result of the Famine was the growth
of a strong Irish community in the USA.
From the lowest rung of American
society, the immigrants rose up the
social scale and became rich by Irish
Catholic standards. They sent money to
causes back home, and as a well-
organized lobby group put pressure on
the American gov ernment to influence
British policies in Ireland. A more militant
group, Clan na Gael, sent veterans of
the American Civil War to fight in the
Eviction of Irish Farmers Fenian risings of 1865 and 1867.
In the late 1870s, agricultural prices plummeted. Starving
tenant farmers fell into arrears and were mercilessly evicted.
Their plight spawned the Land League, which lobbied
successfully for reform.

New Yorkers stage a huge St Patrick’s Day parade,
17 March 1870.

The Irish
were widely
perceived as
illiterate
peasants in
the USA and
often met
with a hostile
reception.

Charles Stewart Parnell
Immigrants Arrive In New York A campaigner for the Land
The Irish who survived the journey to America landed League and Home Rule, Parnell
at Castle Garden in New York, seen here in a painting saw his political career ruined in
by Samuel Waugh (1855). Although mainly country 1890, when he was cited as
people, most new arrivals settled in Manhattan, often co-respondent in a divorce case.
enduring horrific living conditions.

1845 Start of 1884 Founding of 1886 British PM
Great Famine, 1853 Dublin Exhibition Gaelic Athletic Gladstone sponsors
which lasts for is opened by Queen Victoria 1877 Parnell becomes Association, first first Home Rule
four years leader of the new group to promote Bill but is defeated
Home Rule Party Irish traditions by Parliament
1850 1860 1870 1880 1890
1848 Failure of the 1867 Irish-Americans 1881 Parnell
Young Ireland Uprising – return home to fight in a 1879–82 Land War, led by is jailed in
a spontaneous response rising led by the Irish Michael Davitt’s Land League, Kilmainham 1892 Second
to insurrections Home Rule Bill
Father Republican Brotherhood, campaigns for the reform of Gaol, Dublin is defeated
Mathew elsewhere in Europe also known as the Fenians tenancy laws

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