Madness, Migration and the Irish in Lancashire, c.1850-1921 (360G-Wellcome-089220_A_09_Z)

Through a close survey of the records of the Lancashire asylum system, the project will explore the relationship between Irish migrants and mental illness from c.1850 to 1921, a period marked by high levels of migration into Lancashire and Liverpool in particular. It will explore the linkage of mental disorder amongst the Irish to migration, trauma, isolation, poverty, and social and cultural dislocation, questioning whether underlying explanations of mental illness and its predisposing factors differed from those attributed to English patients, other migrant groups, and Irish patients in Ireland. The project will examine whether there were particular stereotypes concerning the Irish which influenced their admission to the asylum and experiences of care, and how concerns about the very visible rise in their numbers were linked to changing debates about insanity, including the impact of degeneracy, race and gender, at a time of massive growth in asylum numbers overall. Uniquely, this project will situate the experiences of Irish pauper asylum patients and those treating them within a broader canvass of efforts to manage perceived and real problems of disease, poverty, and intemperance amongst Irish migrants. The main outputs comprise a co-authored book, three articles, a workshop, conference and public engagement activities.