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Wolverhampton and the Irish |
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Little Rome
Wolverhampton has long been associated with the Roman Catholic religion. In the 1600s, prior to large scale Irish immigration, the number of Catholics living in Wolverhampton earned it the nickname Little Rome (Roma Parva). The Roman Catholic population was boosted with the influx of Irish labourers; however they fundamentally altered the demographic, transforming the largely middle-class religious group into a predominantly working-class community. 
Commemorative plaque |
In the eyes of Protestant commentators, the subversive nature of these new Catholics made it an opportune moment to launch a fresh wave of anti-Papal attacks. The reaction of Wolverhampton’s Irish Roman Catholics to these attacks upon their faith reflects their development as a community.
Initially, in 1851, when the community was still largely middle-class and long-established there was little or no reaction to the anti-Papal and anti-Catholic talks, regardless of their frequency. Indeed the lectures were so common even the Wolverhampton Chronicle couldn’t report them all, claiming "the crowded state of our columns with reports of similar meetings will not permit us to give a fuller account"
At this point the papist community was still relatively small and underserved, the religious census of 1851 shows 1,000 people attending Sunday morning services at the 636 capacity Catholic chapel, SS Peter and Paul’s.
However, as the community increased in size, mostly with incoming working-class immigrants, rebellious responses to these lectures increased. Between 1858 and 1867, anti-Catholic lectures by the Baron de Camin and William Murphy met with violent protest. Protestors brandishing sticks, hurling stones and laying siege to the lecture venues were reported in the Wolverhampton Chronicle. The strength of these protests reflected the community’s increase in numbers and power within Wolverhampton. By 1867, the Irish made up almost a fifth of Wolverhampton’s population and now had three Catholic chapels, one in the notorious Carribee Island area. 
Carribee Island
© Wolverhampton Archives and Local Studies |
Today, Wolverhampton’s Irish born population stands at around 2,000, though numbers claiming, and proud of, their Irish ancestry tower above that. A marginalised community, who no-one wanted to be connected with, set apart by religion, education and poverty, dramatic changes have occurred in 150 years. As the Irish immigrants became established, so their status changed, no longer the riffraff to be avoided, they have become a group with a cultural heritage readily claimed and aspired to. Does this bode well for immigrant communities all over the UK? Or for Wolverhampton’s new immigrant communities, many of whom feel as ostracised as the Irish did over a century ago. Perhaps in another 150 years many of those who stood, and stand, against them will no longer want them ousted but will want to claim them as part of their heritage?
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