The Irish in Leeds

The origins of the Leeds Irish community can be traced to the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars (1799 – 1815), which seen a sharp rise in emigration from Ireland. These pioneers settled close to the centre of Leeds (in and around Kirkgate) and then gradually moved eastwards to dominate an area around Richmond Hill, known as "The Bank". This early community was greatly boosted in numbers in the late 1840s and throughout the 1850s with the arrival of emigrants fleeing the horrors of famine in Ireland. In the following decades, the Irish were joined by growing numbers of Jewish settlers from Eastern Europe, the majority of whom came from the districts around Kovno (then in Poland, today in Lithuania), who played a significant role in the expanding ready-made clothes trade in Leeds. The Leylands district became synonymous with the Jewish community and the clothing trade.

The Bank remained the focus of the Irish community until the early decades of the 20th century. Extensive slum clearances in the 1930s dispersed the community from its traditional home in the east end of Leeds. From the late 1940s onwards more and more Irish arrived into Leeds and a vibrant community thrived. These Irish differed from those arriving in the previous century in that they were not fleeing desperate circumstances but were themselves making the decision to emigrate. They were also better educated and brought a wide range of skills with them which benefited the local economy. Many of these emigrants were raised on farms and were well used to physical labour, so they brought to the local labour market a healthy mix of brain and brawn. For the mostpart the Irish remained within a 5 kilometre radius of the city centre, with concentrations to the north-east in and around Quarry Hill, Burmantofts, Leylands, Sheepscar, Chapeltown, and Harehills.

The Irish were not the only migrants making their way to Leeds. In the 1940s and 1950s Polish, Ukrainian and Hungarian refugees from the Soviet Bloc arrived in the city. And, beginning in the late 1950s and continuing on a large scale until the 1970s, thousands of families from the "New Commonwealth" countries (Pakistan, India, West Indies & former British territories in East Africa) arrived, like the Irish, in search of work and an improved standard of living. They too moved into inner-city Leeds.

By 1971 the Irish community numbered almost 31,000 persons of whom the majority lived in twelve inner-city wards (Beeston, Burmantofts, Chapel Allerton, City, Gipton, Harehills, Headingley, Holbeck, Hunslett, Richmond Hill, Scott Hall & Woodhouse). In fact, in 1971 there were more Irish per square kilometre in inner-city Leeds than in Co. Mayo!

More recently the Irish community has moved a little further from the inner city. In 2001 North Gipton and Fearnville were recorded as having the highest concentrations. These areas boarder other areas formerly associated with the Irish community including Roundhay, Oakwood and Harehills. There are also Irish clusters much further out in Oulton & Woodlesford and Scarcroft.

The following pages explore the experience of the Irish in Leeds using historical narrative and photographs to evoke a sense of their past.

RECOMMENDED READING:

HISTORY OF LEEDS

S. Burt & K. Grady, The Illustrated History of Leeds, Derby, 2002.
D. Fraser (ed.), A History of Modern Leeds, Manchester, 1980.
D. Thornton, Leeds: The Story of a City, Ayrshire, 2002.

IRISH IN BRITAIN

G. Davis, The Irish in Britain, 1815–1914, Dublin, 1991.
E. Delaney, The Irish in Post-War Britain, Oxford, 2007.
M. J. Hickman (ed.), History of Irish in Britain: A Bibliography, London, 1986.
J. A. Jackson, The Irish in Britain, London, 1963.
K. O’Connor, The Irish in Britain, London, 1972.
A. O’Day (ed.), A Survey of the Irish in England (1872), London, 1990.
R. Swift & S. Gilley (eds),The Irish in Victorian Britain , Dublin, 1999.
R. Swift & S. Gilley (eds), The Irish in Britain, 1815–1939, London, 1989. 

IRISH IN LEEDS

Dr. P. Bell, “Leeds: The Evolution of a Multi–Cultural Society”, British Council of Churches, 1982.
T. Dillon, “The Irish in Leeds, 1851–61”, The Thoresby Miscellany, 1979, pp. 1–28.
D. & H. Kennally, “From Roscrea to Leeds”, Tipperary Historical Journal, 1992, pp. 122–31.
B. McGowan, Taking the Boat: The Irish in Leeds: 1931-81. An Oral History, Killala, 2009.
M. Patterson, The Ham Shank, Bradford, 1993.
C. Silva & B. McGowan, Róisín Bán: The Irish Diaspora in Leeds, Leeds, 1996. 

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