Cé go bhfuil tionchar Ghaeilge ar logainmneacha Merseyside ó an 10ú aois i leith (Dinnseanchas Merseyside, Beo, eagrán 32, Nollaig 2003), ba é an 19ú aois nuair a tháinig na mílte Gaeilgeoir go dtí Learpholl.

Is é ’Black ‘47: Britain and the Famine Irish’ le Frank Neal (1998) an leabhar is fearr faoin tréimhse sin. Is eolaí staidrimh agus staraí é Frank Neal, agus cé gur rugadh agus gur tógadh i Learpholl é, tá sé ina ollamh in Ollscoil Salford le fada.

De réir an staidéar a ghlac sé ar dhaonáireamh 1841, bhí beagnach 50,000 Éireannach i Learpholl; is é sin 17.3% den daonra 286,656. Ach idir 1847 agus 1854 tháinig 1,944,886 (sea, beagnach dhá mhilliún ) Éireannach i dtír i Learpholl agus ba bhochtáin iad, 593,011 acu.

Ag teitheadh ón Drochshaol

Lucht dídin an Drochshaoil ab ea an chuid is mó acu, agus cé gur lean cuid mhaith acu ar aghaidh isteach faoin tír agus go tíortha thar lear, go mór mór go dtí Na Stáit Aontaithe, d’fhán na mílte i Learpholl fosta. De réir an daonáirimh 1851 bhí 112,669 Éireannach ina gcónaí i Learpholl agus na bailte thart timpeall mar Birkenhead, West Derby agus Prescot. Is é sin, 25% den daonra, beagnach.

"Many of the immigrants came from small towns and rural areas in the West of Ireland and on arrival in Liverpool they found more Irish gathered together than most of them had ever previously experienced. The Irish born population of Liverpool exceeded in numbers the population of the majority of Irish towns." (Frank Neal, 1998, 10)

Iamhchríoch Éireannach i Learpholl

San iamhchríoch Éireannach i dtuaisceart Learphoill, thart Vauxhall/St Stephens, ba Éireannaigh iad, formhór na ndaoine Ach cén teanga a bhí acu?

De réir Neal :"The majority of famine refugees entering Britain through Liverpool came from the famine stricken counties of the West coast of Ireland" (F. Neal, 55). Luann sé An Clár, Corcaigh, Gaillimh, Ciarraí, Maigh Eo agus Sligeach go háirithe, mar a raibh teaghlaigh, idir fhír, mhná agus pháistí ag siúl trasna na tíre chun an turas báid ba shaoire a fháil as Baile Átha Cliath nó as Droichead Átha go Learpholl. De réir an daonáirimh 1851, ba Ghaeilgeoirí iad, formhór na ndaoine sna contaetha thuas luaite, fiú tar éis tubaiste an Drochshaoil. Is féidir linn a rá, dá bhrí sin, go raibh Gaeilge ag an chuid is mó de na hÉireannaigh a tháinig i dtír i Learpholl.

John Waters as Maigh Eo

Ní deir Frank Neal é seo go beacht, ach is rud loighciúil é agus tugann sé samplaí sa leabhar de Éireannaigh gan Béarla ar bith acu: "John and Catherine Waters and their children, Patrick aged 16, Mary and Biddy, 14 year old twins, Anthony aged seven, Annie aged Three and John aged one, all walked from Mayo to Drogheda." Fuair siad an bád go Learpholl ansin. "Significantly, John Waters could not speak English and his wife Catherine had never been to England in her life." (Neal, 181) .

Nuair a fuair mac John McQuinn bás, ní raibh sé ábalta fianaise a thabhairt don choiste cróinéara: "as he did not speak English. Mary McQuinn aged 17 years, spoke for him" (Neal, 187).

Is léir mar sin, go raibh cuid mhaith de na hÉireannaigh dátheangach agus cuid eile gan Béarla ar bith acu.

A ghlanmhalairt de thuairim

Bhí iontas orm bliain is an taca seo, mar sin, nuair a léigh mé ‘Irish , Catholic and Scouse: The History of the Liverpool-Irish, 1800-1939’ leis an Ollamh John Belcham, Ollscoil Learphoill. (Beo eagrán 80, Nollaig 2007). De réir seisean :"In Irish Liverpool there were no specific dietary, dress of lingusitic requirements. The traditional consumer products of enclave consumers. ‘Irishness’ flourished without any specific language other that the local ‘Patois’, a precursor of the distinctive Scouse accent."

Ní féidir leis an beirt ollamh a bheith ceart faoi seo, agus chíor mé an scéal le Frank Neal. D’iarr sé orm amharc ar an leabhar: Missions at Home, or a clergyman’s account of a portion of the Town of Liverpool’ le Rev Abraham Hume, 1850. Tá sé le fáil sa leabharlann in Ollscoil Learphoill agus dúirt sé liom gur bhain sé féin feidhm as.

Abraham Hume, staraí cruthanta

Ba as Cromghlinn, Co. an Dúin é, Abraham Hume, a bhí ina bhiocáire i Vauxhall ó 1847 go dtí a bhás i 1884. Staraí a bhí ann fosta agus scríobh sé níos mó ná 100 leabhar agus bileog, chomh maith le haltanna don Ulster Journal of Archaeology. Féach ar www.proni.gov.uk (public Record Office of Northern Ireland, Hume Papers D2765).

Sa leabhar Missions at Home, cuireann sé síos ar an staid spioradálta i Vauxahll agus i St. Stephens, in aice leis. Ar leathanach 32 deir sé:

"25- The statistics of the Irish-speaking population have been taken. 26- Several copies of portions of the New Testament in Irish, have been distributed among the people. These were kindly supplied to me by the late Mr Langtry.27.- Four persons who could speak the language were taught to read it. It was thought that in their in their intercourse, casual or designed, some good might be done to others; and portions of the Irish Scriptures were placed in the hands of these individuals to enable them to turn their knowledge to a useful account.28.- I commenced to learn the language myself, in the hope of being able to establish a Church Service in Irish.I should soon have been able to preach in the language; but it was found on inquiry that the Irish-speaking Protestants are scarcely 1 in 100 of the whole, so it would have been impossible, within such narrow limits, to form a regular congregation from among them. I then applied to the Secretary and Treasurer of the Liverpool Auxiliary Irish Society, and earnestly urged the appointment of an Irish reader, (out of the funds collected in Liverpool,) whose attention might be, in a great degree, given to these two districts of the town..."

Ceantair bhreac-Ghaeltachta láidre i Learpholl

De réir a staitisticí, as 1580 teaghlach Caitliceach sa ceantar St Stephens, labhair 869 acu Gaeilge agus 711 Béarla. Tá anailís déanta aige ar gach sráid. I Lace Street, as 89 teaglach, ba Ghaeilgeoirí, fágaim, 78 acu.

Sa ceantar Vauxhall, as 1142 teaghlach, labhair 487 acu Gaeilge agus 655 Béarla.

Más aisteach le rá, cé go bhfuil Black ‘47 sa leabharliosta John Belcham, níl ‘Missions’ at Home luaite ann. Ach tá leabhar eile de chuid Abraham Hume ann: Condition of Liverpool, Religious and Social, 1858. Tá an leabhar seo sa seomra chéanna le Missions at Home sa Sydney Jones Library, Ollscoil Learphoill, áit a bhfuil John Belcam ina ollamh agus ina Leas-Seansailéir. Nach ait é sin?