irish immigrants in slamannan

[MARYS1995]

hi,
am i right in thinking that in the 1880s there was a lot of irish settling in slamannan,my 3xgr/parents had 5 children,and i have found all but 1 of them living in slamannan,would this be because of the famine?
thanks mary

[Elwyn Soutter]

There had been a population explosion in Ireland with the population rising from 3million to 8 million in 100 years. There just weren’t the jobs for that number of people. Ireland has few natural resources eg coal, iron ore etc and so didn’t benefit from the Industrial Revolution the way Scotland and England and elsewhere did. Apart from farming and linen in Ulster, there were few new jobs, whereas there was a huge demand for workers in Scotland. The famine (the worst of which was 30 years before the 1880s) was a factor in the decision to migrate but most would have had to leave anyway.

Scotland was very popular because it was easy to get to and you could go home for weddings and funerals and send your young children back to stay with the grandparents (leaving the wife free to work). Not so easy to do from the US or Australia.

[MARYS1995]

thank you,that explains a lot,looking at the info i have,there was a lot of comings and goings but, i couldn't understand why 
regards mary

[Skoosh]

Mary, Slamannan had many coal & ironstone pits, a woolenmill and as I've seen bricks with Slamannan on them, bricks.

Skoosh.

[mosstrooper]

Mary,
          My own Irish families lived and worked in Slamannan, Limerigg, Avonbridge
Westfield, Etc.  Coal Mines were the main attraction because of the house (Hovel) that
came with the job.

Check out Tom Patersons web Site if you have not done so already, its a bit hard to
navigate, but just click on everything.

 http://tompaterson.co.uk/

James.

[MARYS1995]

Thanks skoosh and james,
sorry to have taken so long to thank you,i was working on my maternal side.
i'm just going to check out tom patersons link,
thanks again
mary