diduknow.info - nuggets of knowledge for your noggin
 
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Welcome
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Britain, 1858
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Decisions
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Success!
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Liverpool
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Preparing
to Leave
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Setting sail
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Day 10
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Day 27
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Storm
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Shark
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Day 55
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Land
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Arrival
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Australia
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What
happened next

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Diary
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Things to do
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Illustrations by
Nicky Elson
Leaving from Liverpool
Emigrants leaving their lodging house on Great George Square, heading for the Cunard ship, Lucania
Emigrants leaving their lodging house on Great George Square, heading for the Cunard ship, Lucania

Liverpool

Our train arrived in Liverpool today shortly after seven o’clock in the evening. Even at this hour it is as noisy, dirty and crowded as London, although I was much impressed by the buildings, docks and ships. We had been told to go straight to the offices of the line on which we would sail, but instead we wandered the streets, lost and tired.

Everywhere there are people. We saw many sorry souls, dragging their sacks, confused and lonely – it is easy to see why people leave these shores. There are many foreign people here and I am especially struck by the number of Irish – it is hard to believe we are not in Dublin. Every one of them looks ill and tired. Almost everyone here seems to be selling something – even foreign money. There is the constant call of people with boards and handbills, selling passage on the fastest, cleanest ships afloat.

A cheery looking boy with dirty clothes took one of Joseph’s boxes and offered to show us to a good hotel. Sarah was very tired and wanted to follow him but I was not sure. What would you have done?

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Would you have taken the boy’s help?

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NO
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Line

A shipping line is a company that runs a regular service between two ports.

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Tired

John and his family are from the city so are not surprised by what they see in Liverpool, but people from the country or small towns must have been shocked. The noise, crowds, smells and activity must have been overwhelming for tired people who may have never been so far from home.

These people, especially those who did not speak English, would have been easy targets for ‘runners’ and touts. They worked for lodging houses, shipping agents and other businesses, conning vulnerable people. The emigration depot at Birkenhead was built partly to move travellers away from this threat.

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An 1850 illustration showing emigrants at an Irish port boarding the steamers 'Nimrod' and 'Athlone', both bound for Liverpool
An 1850 illustration showing emigrants at an Irish port boarding the steamers ‘Nimrod’ and ‘Athlone’, both bound for Liverpool

Irish

By 1851 over 20% of the population of Liverpool was Irish. Most had come to the city as refugees, fleeing the potato famine and/or brutal English landlords.

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Irish

In 1845 4.5 million people out of an Irish population of 8.5 million either depended or partly relied on potatoes (the average adult male labourers ate up to 6.5kg/14lb of potatoes a day!) So when the potato crop failed in 1846, 3-4 million people were verging on starvation. The British government could have helped the situation, but lacked either the will or the skill to do much about it.

Over the next ten years around 1.8 million people left Ireland (just 1 million had left in the previous 30 years). Many sailed for North America via Liverpool. Others got as far as the port and lacked either the money or will to go further. The descendants of these and other Irish immigrants make up a large proportion of Liverpool’s population today.

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Money

Travellers were often conned into swapping English money for fake foreign cash.

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Handbills

Leaflets

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Afloat

Several companies sailed to Australia and North America from Liverpool, and each fought for customers, eg Black Ball, White Star and Eagle. They advertised their speed, reliability, regularity and time keeping, as well as their quality. However, not all were what they seemed and travellers were often conned into travelling on poor quality ships.

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