The experience of immigrants in Scotland Flashcards
Give reasons for the large-scale migration of Irish people to Scotland in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Between 1830 and 1914 over 300,000 Irish people migrated to Scotland, many of whom were Roman Catholic. Reasons for this large-scale migration included:
Ireland suffered regularly from poor harvests, crop failure and major famine.
Travel was straightforward - the journey across the Irish sea to Scotland was short and fares were cheap.
Scotland’s was a growing industrial nation which meant there were plenty of jobs available.
Wages were higher in Scotland for the same jobs.
Irish relatives and friends who had already migrated encouraged others to come to Scotland.
Describe the nature of employment carried out by Irish immigrants to Scotland.
On the whole, the Catholic Irish settled wherever muscle and strength was in demand, and as such they found their way into coal mining, dock work and labouring of all kinds. It was estimated that in Great Britain in 1851, between a half to three-quarters of all dock-labourers and two-thirds of miners were Irish.
Many Irish Catholics found their way into the less skilled jobs of handloom weaving and other textile work. Irish women made up 44.3 per cent of female textile workers in Greenock in 1851.
Irish Protestants were generally more skilled and better educated, so received higher wages than Irish Catholics. Many were employed in shipbuilding and iron foundries. A large number of the workforce which constructed the Forth Rail Bridge were Irish Protestant workers.
Describe the positive experiences of Irish Catholic immigrants to Scotland.
Many Irish Catholic immigrants earned higher wages in Scotland for doing the same jobs – in some cases almost 10 times higher than they would earn in Ireland.
The requirement for more workers to meet the growing needs of Scottish industry meant that some employers paid housing and travel costs to attract Irish workers.
Members of Catholic Irish communities were involved in strikes and trades union campaigns which was both welcomed and encouraged by Scottish workers.
Mixed marriages between Catholics and Protestants became more common as the century progressed, particularly in smaller communities (although most Catholics and Protestants married within their own faith).
The Catholic Church developed Catholic organisations and institutions (eg Celtic FC) to develop a distinct Catholic community.
The 1918 Education Act led to the establishment of Catholic schools in Scotland meaning that children could be educated within the Catholic faith.
Anti-Catholic (rather than anti-Irish) disturbances in Edinburgh in 1935 were condemned by the press and punished by the courts.
Describe the negative experiences of Irish Catholic immigrants to Scotland.
In the 1800s many Scots were repelled by the poverty and disease of Irish immigrants, Catholic and Protestant alike.
The Irish Catholics were seen as drunken, idle, uncivilised and undermining the moral fibre of Scottish society. Many native Scots didn’t mix with them due to this stereotype.
Many immigrants experienced very poor living conditions. Poor housing and sanitation led to diseases such as cholera, typhus and tuberculosis.
Irish immigrants were also seen as carriers of disease. Typhus, for example, was known as ‘Irish fever’.
Many of the Irish immigrants who arrived fleeing the famine were so weak that their resistance to disease was low and many died.
Irish manual workers (whether Catholic or Protestant) were stereotyped as illiterate or lacking intelligence due to their poor education so they worked in low paid jobs.
As the numbers of immigrants increased, the Church of Scotland became overtly hostile to Roman Catholicism. Since the Reformation, Scotland had been a Protestant country and Catholicism was largely unwelcome. Attacks on the Irish became commonplace in newspapers, pulpits and on the streets.
As the Scottish economy collapsed in the 1920s and 1930s, workplace discrimination against Catholics grew. Scots resented Irish Catholic workers as they accepted lower wages.
In the 1920s and 1930s, a few anti-Catholic councillors were successful in local elections in Glasgow and Edinburgh, though many lost their seats at the first defence.
The Irish Catholics had become a community within a community and this was strengthened by the degree of inter-marriage. In Greenock it was found that in 1851 80% of Irish men and women had found marriage partners amongst their own Catholic Irish community. Forty years later the numbers were still high at 72.4%. Such a situation made it difficult for the Irish Catholic to assimilate into the mainstream of Scottish society.
Identify areas of Scotland where Irish immigrants (both Catholic and Protestant) settled.
Many Irish immigrants settled on the West Coast of Scotland close to the areas with docks, shipbuilding and iron manufacture. This made Glasgow and its surrounding area a popular location for both Protestant and Catholic workers.
Many Irish workers settled areas close to Scotland’s weaving industry based Greenock, Ayrshire and Renfrewshire.
A large Catholic Irish community developed also on the East of Scotland in Dundee.
Describe the positive experiences of Irish Protestant immigrants to Scotland.
Irish Protestants were more accepted into Scottish society — they shared their religion with the majority of Scots, were typically well educated and therefore had better jobs. This allowed them to integrate more easily than Catholics within Scottish society.
The requirement for workers to meet the growing needs of Scottish industry meant that some employers paid housing and travel costs to attract Irish workers.
Many Irish Protestant immigrants found they could earn higher wages in Scotland for doing the same jobs – in some cases almost 10 times higher than they would earn in Ireland.
Irish immigrants played a significant role in developing Scotland’s industry and economy. A large number of the workforce which constructed the Forth Rail Bridge were Irish Protestant workers.
Many Protestant Irish settled where the weaving trade was strong, for example Renfrewshire, Ayrshire and Glasgow. They also worked as farm labourers in the south-west of Scotland.
Protestants were prominent in skilled industries like ship building and the iron manufacture. Firms such as Bairds of Coatbridge employed a mainly Protestant workforce and advertised their job vacancies in Belfast newspapers.
Describe the negative experiences of Irish Protestant immigrants to Scotland.
Sectarian trouble existed between the Irish Catholics and Irish Protestants in Glasgow, Ayrshire and Lanarkshire as early as the 1830s. This rivalry increased due to the large influx of Protestant Catholics in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Irish manual workers (whether Catholic or Protestant) were stereotyped by Scots as illiterate or lacking intelligence due to their poor education, so many worked in low paid jobs.
Many Irish immigrants experienced very poor living conditions. Poor housing and sanitation led to diseases such as cholera, typhus and tuberculosis.
Irish immigrants were also seen as carriers of disease. Typhus, for example, was known as ‘Irish fever’.
Many of the Irish immigrants who arrived fleeing the famine were so weak that their resistance to disease was low and many died.
Irish manual workers (whether Catholic or Protestant) were stereotyped as illiterate or lacking intelligence due to their poor education so they worked in low paid jobs.
What was the main reason for the Jewish immigration to Scotland in the 19th and early 20th centuries?
In the late 1800s and early 1900s Jews faced persecution and violence (pogroms) in the Russian Empire, Poland and other European countries. Many Jewish immigrants came to Scotland to escape persecution and pogroms.
What types of occupation were typical of the Jewish population in Scotland?
Jewish immigrants usually lacked the experience needed to work in heavy industry but instead they supplied goods and services. Jews typically set up businesses which provided services for the Scots, eg watchmaking, and door-to-door selling. Some Jewish immigrants were involved in tailoring and the tobacco industries.
Describe the positive experiences of Jewish immigrants to Scotland.
Many Jewish immigrants were safer in Scotland and were free from religious persecution and pogroms.
Jews were generally welcomed by Scots as they did not compete for Scots jobs.
By the end of the 19th century, many Jewish immigrants worked as university lecturers and traders in jewellery, furniture and hats, amongst other products. Many had practised these occupations in their native country so brought these skills and trades to Scotland.
Jews made positive contributions to the legal and medical professions and were successful in the cigarette industry.
Jewish immigrants brought their traditional culture, religion, music, and cuisine to Scotland.
Jews developed their own communities and built synagogues to worship in, for example in South Portland Street in Glasgow. There were also Jewish reading rooms.
Jewish communities established their own loan societies to help start businesses.
Jews continued to speak Yiddish within own community and published their own newspapers.
Describe the negative experiences of Jewish immigrants to Scotland.
Some Jewish people involved in tailoring and the tobacco industry became relatively wealthy. This resulted in some ill-feeling and anti-Semitism towards Jewish people, who were accused of undercutting prices and ‘sweating’ (making employees in the clothes industry work long hours for little pay).
Trade unions complained and opposed immigration as a result of the poor treatment of workers.
Jewish people generally lived separately and avoided mixing with other communities, which contributed to anti-Semitism and suspicion of Jews.
Prejudice and discrimination affected Jews as it did in many European countries, but anti-Jewish groups made little progress in Scotland.
Describe the main reason for the Lithuanian immigration to Scotland in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Lithuanian immigrants began entering Scotland in the early 1890s. Most were agricultural workers who had to leave the land because of poverty and famine. Not all were economic immigrants; some fled Tsarist oppression. While most were bound for the USA, a number settled in the west of Scotland. They were persuaded by agents of the large iron and steel combines, such as Bairds and Dixons, to remain in Scotland to dig coal in company-owned mines. As a result a small Lithuanian community was established in Coatbridge where 5,000–6,000 immigrants congregated.
During WWI many Lithuanians returned to Russia to fight Germany. Large numbers of Lithuanians returned there with 600 women and children deported after WWI.
Describe the positive experiences of Lithuanian immigrants to Scotland.
Lithuanian immigrants began entering Scotland in the early 1890s. Most were agricultural workers who had to leave the land because of poverty and came to Scotland to dig coal in mines owned by large iron and steel companies such as Bairds and Dixons.
As a result a small Lithuanian community was established in the west of Scotland, particularly in Coatbridge where some 5000–6000 immigrants congregated.
Once settled, the Lithuanian miners began to join with their fellow Scottish miners in fighting to improve conditions in the mining industry and as such were accepted into the Lanarkshire Miners’ Union. They also won respect from locals for their community spirit.
Lithuanians had their own clergy, two newspapers, insurance societies, shops and other recreational groups.
Many Lithuanians changed their names to integrate more easily into Scottish society.
By 1930s Lithuanian immigrants were fully integrated into Scottish life.
Describe the negative experiences of Lithuanian immigrants to Scotland.
Immigration from Lithuania was met initially with hostility as it was believed that foreigners had been brought into the Ayrshire coalfields to break strikes and dilute the power of the Unions.
The local media took up the anti-immigrant protest. Like the Jews, the Lithuanians were accused of being the ‘most filthy in their habits of life’ and a danger to the health of the local community.
The majority of Lithuanians were Catholic and this often led to discrimination.
Friction further intensified after 1900 as depression in the coal trade caused successive reductions in miners’ wages while Lithuanian immigration into the labour market continued.
During WWI many Lithuanians returned to Russia to fight Germany. Large numbers of Lithuanians returned there with 600 women and children deported after WWI.
Describe the main reason for the Italian immigration to Scotland in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Many Italians sought a new life in Scotland as a result of harsh economic conditions in Italy. Poverty was rife and living conditions were harsh, with famine and sometimes droughts. Furthermore, Italy had an agricultural-based economy that was experiencing severe hardships and industrialisation was slower than in other European nations.
Many Italian immigrants were initially bound for the USA but were persuaded to stay in Scotland. These numbers increased in the early 1900s when America changed its immigration policy and closed the door of opportunity for many of the poorest Europeans.
