‘No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs’ - The Irish in London
Irish History Podcast
Fin Dwyer
4.7 • 1.8K Ratings
🗓️ 2 August 2022
⏱️ 38 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The 1950s were a dismal time in Ireland. While the economy tanked, the catholic church, at the height of its power, maintained strict control over social life. Desperate to find a better life, nearly 500,000 Irish people emigrated. This staggering figure was equivalent to 80% of those born in the Free State between 1931 and 1941. This was a level of emigration unseen since the days of the Great Hunger of the 1840s.
The vast majority went to Britain with many making London their home. However they found the English capital isolating, lonely and unwelcoming. The poster in boarding houses stating ‘No Dogs, No Blacks, No Irish’ embodied the racism they faced. While many of the 1950s generation are no longer with us, in the late 1990s author Catherine Dunne recorded their stories. The experiences of these emigrants were the basis for her book An Unconsidered People - the Irish in London.
In this moving episode Catherine recounts the experiences they shared with her, the racism they faced as well as the isolation and loneliness. She also reveals the importance of solidarity within the Irish community, the legendary Irish clubs such as the Galtymore in Cricklewood and how many made a better life in the face of adversity.
You can find Catherine’s book An Unconsidered People - the Irish in London at https://www.newisland.ie/nonfiction/an-unconsidered-people-the-irish-in-london
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey folks, before you dive in, just a quick heads up about the Warford launch of my new book |
| 0:04.6 | Alita Legacy, A History of Ireland in 18 Murders. |
| 0:07.6 | It takes place in the book center, on Red Square in Warford at 6.30pm on Friday, September |
| 0:13.6 | 29th. |
| 0:14.6 | The book center is one of my favorite bookshops. |
| 0:17.1 | It's built into an art deco cinema from the 1930s, it alone is reason enough to come |
| 0:21.5 | to the launch. |
| 0:22.5 | But hopefully I'll see you there on Friday the 29th at 6.30pm for the launch of Alita |
| 0:27.8 | Legacy, A History of Ireland in 18 Murders. |
| 0:36.2 | The 1950s in Ireland were one of the worst decades since the great hunger of the 1840s. |
| 0:41.7 | That's a strong claim, but the reality of life at the time bears this out. |
| 0:47.3 | It's often called a lost decade, as the economy tanked and the Catholic Church at the height |
| 0:52.8 | of its power dominated life. |
| 0:55.4 | Young people, desperate to escape, began emigrating in numbers unseen in Ireland since |
| 1:00.5 | the days of the Great Famine over a century earlier. |
| 1:03.7 | Indeed the scale of this emigration was staggering. |
| 1:07.3 | Ireland lost nearly half a million people to emigration in the 1950s, a figure equivalent |
| 1:13.5 | to 80% of all those born in the free state, between 1931 and 1941. |
| 1:21.4 | An entire generation were forced to seek a better life elsewhere, a lonely silence |
| 1:27.2 | descended over many Irish communities. |
| 1:30.1 | Now unlike the famine emigrants a century earlier, who had arjagand to the US, in the |
| 1:35.0 | 1950s the vast majority of Irish emigrants went to Britain. |
... |
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