‘Little Ireland’

The Irish in Jarrow

My descendants were immigrants.  They came from Ireland at the end of the nineteenth century and helped to lay claim to Jarrow being known as ‘Little Ireland.’

The connections between County Durham and its miners was established before the opening of Jarrow’s Alfred Pit in 1803 when pit sinkers in 179 worked in the Castlecomer mines, in Kilkenny.  This resulted in Irishmen working in the Durham Coalfield.  You will find today communities from Kilkenny throughout County Durham.  The paternal side of my family left Kilkenny; they eventually found themselves on Tyneside after first working in the jute mills in Dundee.  This was, apparently, a regular route to Tyneside for many Irish workers.

The influx of the Irish into Jarrow changed the entire picture from a town having a small contingent of Catholics, to being known as ‘Little Ireland’ within a lifetime.

Jarrow in 1821 had four known Catholic and they travelled to North Shields for Mass on a Sunday.  In 1849, Father Richard Singleton opened at South Shields, a church dedicated to St Bede and Jarrow Catholics attended.  It was, an Irishman from County Waterford who founded the Jarrow Mission in 1856 when Father Edmund Kelly said Mass in a house in High Street, Jarrow.  Father Kelly is buried in Moncoon churchyard in Waterford.  However at this time, Jarrow was still a village, the population being around 3,500.  The foundation stone for St Bede’s, Jarrow church was laid on 30^th October 1860.  For those that have not been inside St Bede’s church it is a beautiful airy building that my paternal great grandfather helped to build.

At the ceremony following the laying of the foundation stone, the reverend Father Bernard delivered an address in which he said the church has returned, after three hundred years, to take its place at Jarrow.

The population at the time was between six and seven thousand.  The church was eventually completed on 27^th December 1861, all the work having been carried out by the men and women of the parish with the two priests, Fathers Kelly and Meynell.  Initially, the congregation was made up of English and Scottish families, but the majority of men employed in the chemical industry were Irish.

The expansion of Palmer’s from shipyard to rolling mills, blast furnaces in 1867 and steelworks in 1888, brought an influx of immigrants from all over the British Isles but from Ireland in particular.  In 1871, Jarrow’s population was 18,000, an increase of 11,000 from the opening of the church in 1861; by 1881 it was 25,000 and ten years later, 33,000!  The influx of Irish was due in part to Palmer’s advertising in Ireland.  The Irish immigrants became shipyard labourers and later worked in the rolling mills and blast furnaces, a large number spoke Gaelic more fluently than English.  They were said to have been greeted with little warmth by the English, Scottish and Welsh, but that Father Meynell became an ally. 

St Bede’s became an Irish parish.  From the beginning, Irish gatherings were frequent and concert often-included Irish music.  It is claimed that there was animosity towards the Irish Catholics because of their support against Garibaldi in the fight for Italian Unification in the 1860s and their opposition to English rule of Ireland, this often caused friction and Jarrow could be was a rough place on Saturday nights.

When trying to raise funds for the church, Father Meynell would stand outside the work’s gates and claim that ever contributor should give half a crown!  Later, Father Meynell said that he knew which men were Catholic by the reverence they showed him.  He would then approach them and ask for a contribution.  This eventually led to Palmer’s taking sixpence from each man who was willing to contribute.  This method continued until the company went into new hands.

The first Catholic school building on Chapel Road was opened on 19^th October 1868.  Prior to this, there had been a number of house schools.  A new section was added to the school in 1870, this catered for junior children and a room in the basement was turned into an infant school.  In January 1872, the East Jarrow School of St Bede’s was opened for boys and girls.  In 1873, the first male teacher was appointed to the school.  By 1880, the basement in Chapel Road had ceased being the infant school when the school was extended into St John’s Terrace.  The school in East Jarrow was built as near as possible to what was then, the built up area of Jarrow, and from 1876 the East Jarrow School became boys only.

From this time, Mariast Brothers became involved in the school and the first head teacher under the new regime was Brother Valente, a Frenchman.  The brothers remained in the parish for a further thirty years.  My father attended this school and it was said to be a harsh regime. 

The Jarrow parish was also instrumental in the development of churches at Willington Quay, Boldon Colliery and later Hebburn, when in 1871 Father J J Corboy became Hebburn’s resident priest.  St Bede’s parish continued to grow and the church was extended in March 1883 when the Catholic population numbered around 6,000.

In 1884, Father Meynell retired and in his final sermon mentioned that a new school on Grant Street would be opened.  He also said that employers had been open hearted to all Catholics and had given them the same privileges as those enjoyed by others.  He felt there had been no distinction made.  That the priest should make such a comment reflects the opposition they expected Catholics would meet.  A member of the parish, Thomas Larkin became General Manager of Black’s Chemical Factory and Catholics found employment there.

You see in this the development of certain industries or particular factories being almost taken over by specific religions or groups.  My Grandfather told me that Irishmen coming to work in Palmer’s for the first time would often ask, ‘can you tell me where I’ll find Coyne’s shipyard?’  Coyne being an Irish name and Palmer’s was felt to be an Irish preserve. 

Father Meynell died in 1897 in Penrith where he had worked for twelve years.  He had asked to be buried in Jarrow and his body transported to Jarrow and buried in its cemetery.  Father Martin Hayes, another Irishman from Tipperary, succeeded Father Meynell in 1885 and soon became involved with the community.

He felt a place would have to be found for Catholics.  He was elected to the school board and later became its chairman.  Catholic candidates were put forward for the Town Council.  This brought about opposition from the non-Catholics. Father Hayes leadership brought about fuller civic recognition for Catholics.  He was keen in pushing forward on the Education front and in 1885 Grant Street Senior Girls School was completed.

The first Catholic Procession was held on Sunday 25^th March 1906.  The chief reason was to demonstrate against the Education Amendment Bill recently introduced into Parliament.  Benediction followed, carried out by Father Hayes, then a meeting at the Co-operative Hall.

The Co-op Hall was to be associated with the Catholics cause for a number of years and was the headquarters of Catholic candidates in local elections into the 1920s and 1930s.

The Amendment Act proposed a number of changes in Catholic Education including the confiscation of schools built by the Catholic poor for Educational purposes, to put Catholic schools under Protestant control, to place Protestant teachers and religion inside Catholic schools and to stop further building of Catholic Schools.  The Catholic Community was enraged by these proposals.

On a local level, there was what seemed another attack on Catholics, when the education Committee in October 1906 stated that a new Head Teacher should be appointed to St Bede’s School in Low Jarrow as the present head had only received one years training.  This was an attempt to remove the Marist Brothers from the school.

The church fought the proposal of the education Committee and brought in at the end of 1906, Father Henry Mackin from Washington hoping that a new face that had not clashed with the authority would help their case. 

Father Hayes was transferred to Washington, Father Mackin’s former parish.  The change in priests did not effect the committee’s decision and the Brothers’ association with the parish came to an end.

Father Hayes died on 11^th June 1907.  From the beginning, Father Mackin was heavily involved with the congregation.  The number of priests was increased and there was some sort of service every night except Monday.  There was also an increase in priests visiting schools and homes in the parish.  Father Mackin believed in societies within the congregation.  These included The Catholic Women’s League, The Guild of Saint Agnes, Saint Patrick’s Guild, Saint Bede’s Guild and the Catholic Social Guildhall.  These were all established under his direction.  After the spiritual side of the church was developed, he began to look at the position of the Catholics in the town.

The attitude towards Catholics had hardened  so something had to be done to improve the position.  Mr Terrence O’Connor secured a seat on the County Council and when he retired, Father Mackin took the seat uncontested, as it was a Catholic stronghold.  This enabled the priest to look after Catholics interests in the county.

In local elections Catholic trade unionists were put forward as candidates, which meant that Catholics had representation in the Council chamber.  This can be seen in some ways as a response to the growth of the Labour Party going for a more working class representation rather than the traditional candidates of traders and teachers.

Father Mackin improved educational standards in the town and on 1^st February 1914, my old school, in Harold Street School was opened.  It could accommodate 990 children and was the largest and most up to date in the town.  Father Mackin planned the schools on revolutionary lines, grouping the children, contrary to common practice: five to six year olds, seven to ten year olds and eleven to fourteen year olds as Infants, Juniors and Seniors respectively.

Twelve years later, the Haddow report recommended all schools to use this grouping.  The First World War obviously brought to a halt any further development.

In May 1920, ‘Belsfield’ Central School was opened on Bede Burn Road.  Nuns initially ran the school but eventually lay-teachers took over.  Father Mackin at this time developed a group through the Catholic Social Guild. 

The aims of the organisation were to see that its members knew Catholic teaching and thinking on a variety of subjects including the Poor Law reform and the Fisher Education Bill.  Father Mackin lectured from time to time on the ‘Northern Martyrs’ and ‘Durham Cathedral’. 

The Catholics started the first child welfare clinic in Jarrow.  Initially, it only catered for Catholics, but the town council realising its value set up its own and included the Catholic clinic.  Father Mackin had a good relationship with the Palmer Company as did Father Meynell and when it was the Priest’s silver jubilee, the Palmer Company donated to the testimonial fund.

Father Mackin was a member of a number of committees, in the main tied up with Education.  He was a member of the Executive of the Catholic Education Council for England and Wales, Secretary of the Diocesan Schools’ Association on the Jarrow Education Committee and Durham County Council.

Another school was added to the Catholic schools in Jarrow when a senior girls’ school, Mayfield, on Pine Street, was opened on 9^th June 1928.  The completion of this school meant the end of Father Mackin’s educational plans, which in twenty found years had raised £35,000, and in addition, there was no school debt.

Father Mackin was running Catholic Education in Jarrow, which meant being in charge of seven school departments, which catered for over 2,000 children.  His health began to deteriorate in 1931 and he was transferred to Hexham where his health improved and he was able to take up various posts until his death on 10^th February 1938.  Following Father Mackin was Father Martin McDonnell who became Parish Priest in 1931.  He took a stand against the Church being associated with local elections and ended Catholic candidates.

He established a choral and orchestral society and helped to organise the twelve hundredth anniversary of the death of St Bede on 11^th June 1935; over 50,000 people attended the service held at Drewitt’s playing field. 

Commemorative silver medals were produced and I hold in my hand and I imagine a number of homes in Jarrow have these medals.

Father McDonnell died on 10^th April 1941.  He died on the same night as a German blitz, which left two hundred Jarrow people homeless.

It was not until sixty-five years after the Incorporation of the Borough that Jarrow had a Catholic Mayor.  Mr Terence O’Connor became Mayor, following the death in office of the previous Mayor in 1939-40.  One of the Jarrow Crusade’s leaders, Ald D Riley succeeded Mr O’Connor in Office.  When Father Mackin was in ‘command’ a case was made for the appointment of magistrate and Thomas Lumsden and John O’Connor were subsequently appointed. It must also be remembered that the prime movers were Catholics, Riley, Scullion, Symonds and Hanlon.  It can also be seen that ‘Irish’ and ‘Catholic’, at this point, are interchangeable.

The population of Jarrow stood at 35,750 and the Catholic population was 10,000.

The Irish within a generation had become a major force within Jarrow.  The term, ‘Little Ireland’ was entirely justified.

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