Genealogy Chat

Don't know about London specifically but many Irish people went to/from England & Scotland for work. Also quite easy to hide in London (and other big cities) and avoid census takers, particularly if you didn't have a job as you could then be moved on from parish to parish (not that anyone was likely to offer our Irish forefathers Poor Relief in any case). Wendy

Hi folks, Not just London - same applies to all big cities and ports. And as for before they came, WELL!!! Jay

Southwark and Whitechapel were also like beehives when it came to Irish immigration to London.

Marylebone seems to have been an Irish stronghold too.

Certain areas were definitely Irish ghettoes, particularly following the Potato Famine when vast numbers of starving Irish descended on London and settled in areas like the Rookery in St Giles and parts of Soho.

Very hard - if they are not on the BMD then it's almost impossible without going to the church. Many of the churches have changed of course. I have no idea why the Catholic Church wsa so huffy about LDS using their records... makes me glad I got out.

Thanks Jane - have just been looking about and it seems RC records can be very hard to get hold of :(

Not sure where the records are - mine seem to have used St James in Marylebone and they have the records on site. Most Catholic churches keep their own - apparently they wouldnt even let LDSs copy them which means I cannot use LDS for half my family.

I've had a look at that Jane - do you know where the records are kept? I've been googling and there are a few extracts on a site, including some of my names and places (also some McCarthys Nell)

Thanks Jane - I will look. I'm not sure really but I have a marriage in 1851 in Greyfriars Newgate and one in 1861 in Shoreditch - both in C of E churches.

Are you sure that they were protestant? It was often easier to say that you were Protestant in those days. It might be worth looking at St Mary Moorfields: www.stmarymoorfields.net/church/history.html

Well even if we haven't got any tips yet, at least we are not alone:))

David I sympathise. Husband has a great-great-grandfather called Dennis McCarthy who married Elizabeth Goodwin in 1848. Their fathers were Callaghan McCarthy and John Goodwin and both of them were living in Saffron Hill at the time of their marriage. I can't find any of these people in 1841.

I will be interested to see any tips. I have an Irish rellie, John Connelly, who was born in ireland in c1798 and moved to London at some point before 1819 when he married.

hiya, i havent a clue, but i'm in same boat as you, irish rellies in london, on the one census i managed to find her on it said Ireland, marvelous!!, mine from 1861 ish in kensington/nottinghill, then moved to nottingham, where she died in 1890 will be interesting to see what happens Julie

Has anyone else found extreme problems in researching Irish immigrants in the City of London? Mine were mostly in the Saffron Hill/ St Sepulchre area (1830s-1860s) and some from Whitechapel previously. They don't seem to have their children baptised anywhere (and I have a wonderful mate who's been trying everywhere) and will appear in a couple of census returns and then completely vanish. I'm fairly certain that mine were Protestant - I have found a couple of baptisms and marriages here and there and am assuming that they didn't tend to change religion. Does anyone know if there were certain churches that the Irish tended to use?