Abstract
It is seldom possible to date accurately the beginning or end of population movements. It is doubtful whether the migration of Irish harvesters to Great Britain was very extensive before the end of the eighteenth century. At the close of the century, however, conditions were such as to render the migration desirable to the English farmers, and a necessity to the Irish peasant. By 1827 so desperate was the situation of the latter that a witness could declare before a parliamentary committee on emigration, that ‘ every decrease in the number coming to England each year would add to the probability of starvation in Ireland ’. The year 1838 has been taken as the closing date of this study since it saw the introduction of the first remedial effort (the Irish poor law act).

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