British Shipped Starving Irish Families to Boston During the 1880s as part of an 'Assisted Emigration' Scheme

On April 15, 1883, the Nestorian steamship, operated by the Allan Line, landed at Boston Harbor, carrying more then 650 Irish paupers from the west of Ireland  who had been evicted from their small farms during that time.  Their arrival was part of an 'assisted emigration' scheme initiated by a Quaker as a way of helping the Irish.  It was then funded by the British Government as a way of dealing  with issues of poverty and starvation in the Connacht province of Ireland. 

English Quaker James Huck Tuke  had witnessed first hand the effects of the 1879 Irish famine, which had largely affected the west.  Tuck's notion was to send entire families together, so as to avoid separation and further trauma, and to focus on small farmers whose livelihood had been altered by the famine and insufficient government response.  They had been evicted from their farms by landlords when they couldn't pay their fees as a result of the famine. 

The efforts of the Tuck Emigrant Society were immediately successful and Tuck "petitioned the Gladstone government to provide financial support and £100,000 was made available under the Tramways and Public Companies Act," according to historian Dr. Gerald Moran, author of the book, Sending Out Ireland's Poor.

The British Government funded the scheme as a way of relieving the hardship of the farmers, while also helping the landlords.  Overall, it was cheaper for the government to deport the Irish than it would have been to provide relief to their families.  

The Boston Globe reported on April 16, 1883, "The majority of the passengers came from Galway county, the others from Mayo, Derry and Donegal counties. Those from Galway most of them had been evicted from their homes, and during the past winter have lived as best they could, finding shelter in tents and living upon what little could lie obtained. Porridge, made of Indian meal, was the principal article of food, and happy were the poor unfortunates if they got that once a day, and never did they have an abundant supply, and many a night they went to bed hungry."

Upon arriving in Boston, at least a third of the passengers remained in Boston, while two-thirds of the passengers were shipped to other cities across the continent, including New York, Pittsburgh, Chicago and parts of Canada.  The British government contracted the Allan Line to make sure the immigrants were immediately put on trains to reach their final destination, so that complications did not arrive regarding their status. They wanted to ensure that no Irish would be sent back to Ireland once their destitution became apparent.

The Fitchburg Sentinel reported on April 16, 1883, "Those from Ireland had their fare paid by the British government and during the passage the captain of the boat distributed money among them, the sums given being in proportion to the size of the families.  A steamer bringing paupers to "this country is obliged by law to return them, free of charge, but if the passenger has $1 he cannot be adjudged a pauper. Many of the emigrants from Ireland told pitiful stories of poverty and suffering. ...The Allan company anticipate that their contract with the British government, on account of the Irish exodus, will run on for about three months," wrote the Sentinel.

The Tuke scheme faced a lot of opposition from political leaders such as Charles Stewart Parnell, who sought a permanent and long-term solution through his Home Rule movement.  "Opposition also came from the Catholic bishops in the west, and local shopkeepers," according to a story in the Galway Advertiser, November 6, 2014.  By summer 1883, Parnell and British Prime Minister William Gladstone had reached a deal to "drop the assistance of Irish immigration with government money."

The Blacksod Bay Emigration database has identified thousands of Irish from County Mayo who were part of the assisted emigration in 1883 and 1884.

Research + Text, Michael Quinlin