Home, Family, Identity

Traveller site, Hackney, during visit by London Irish Women’s Centre, 1990s

Home Home

The phrase ‘home home’ represents the flexibility of the concept of home and identity for a migrant. For those who leave their homeland, ‘home’ takes on many different meanings, encompassing memories, connections, and a sense of belonging or distance. Many people left with a complicated relationship to Ireland, escaping a place of conservatism and religious dogma, yet also cherishing family and place.

Through our oral histories, we explore some of the deep emotions linked to ideas of home and identity and the ways that migrants and their descendants set about creating new communities. Whether it’s a feeling you carry or a place you’re building, home is a concept intertwined with identity, family, self and heritage.

Sleeping rough on the streets of London, 1980s

Home, Family, Identity

Finding Home

Irish migrants arriving in Britain found a variety of ‘first homes’. Many had established family connections, staying with relatives or friends for support. Others sought independence, or by necessity stayed in lodgings or boarding houses. Some sought community organisations’ help, while others did not.

Unfortunately, not all transitions were smooth. Some Irish migrants faced discrimination or hardships such as homelessness, expressed in the stories from Camden’s Arlington House.

The oral histories illuminate these varied experiences, highlighting Irish migrants’ resilience as they started new lives in Britain.

London Irish Centre, boarding house room photo, year unknown

Irish family Christmas in Sunbury-on-Thames, 1979

Sunday morning after Mass in the social club by the Sacred Heart Church, Quex Road, Kilburn, 9 September 1984

Crèche at London Irish Women’s Centre, year unknown

Willie Howard

You're only half a day away from home

Home, Family, Identity

Communication with Home

Irish migrants in Britain communicated with family and friends back in Ireland through various means. In the early days, handwritten letters were the primary way of staying in touch. Phone calls were costly and often scheduled in advance because many homes did not have a phone.

Today, we enjoy easier communication with the advent of the internet and mobile phones, enabling instant messaging and video calls. These channels have played a crucial role in maintaining connections and bridging the distance between loved ones across the Irish Sea.

Irish Newspapers in newsagent near Archway Station, 2013

Frank Shovlin

Having that one Irish newspaper to hang on to was a big thing

Home, Family, Identity

Oral Histories

Angie Birtill

Impact of Bloody Sunday on Irish Identity

Angie was born in Liverpool and moved to London in her 20s where she became involved with the London Irish Women’s Centre.

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Ann Sargé

Mixed Heritage Pride

Born in Manchester to an Irish mother and Nigerian father, Ann is a former NHS psychology therapist and also worked therapeutically with child soldiers in Uganda.

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Arlington House: Kevin

Kevin in Trouble

Ardal O’Hanlon retells the story of ‘Kevin’ a resident of Arlington House in the 1990s who sadly led quite a troubled life.

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Arlington House: Johnny

Johnny, That’s the way the Cookie Crumbles

Adrian Dunbar reads an extract from 1990s project, ‘Bhoys of the Big House’ capturing the heartbreaking story of former sailor and Arlington House resident ‘Johnny’.

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Chris McDonagh

Importance of Traveller Culture

Chris is a Traveller activist, originally from Manchester, now living in Cardiff, Wales. He is Campaigns Officer at Friends, Families and Travellers and sits on the advisory board for The Traveller Movement.

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Claire Hagan

Bobby Sands is Dead

Growing up within the Protestant community in Portstewart, Co. Derry, Clare moved to Leicester in 1989 to train as a nurse before becoming an actor.

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Dr Maev McDaid

I don't identify, I am Irish

Maev is from Co. Derry and moved to Liverpool when she was 18. She is an academic researching Irish migrants to Britain and has volunteered with Irish in Britain for over ten years.

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Dr Mary Tilki

Connections with Caribbean Colleagues

Mary is a former Chair of the Federation of Irish Societies/Irish in Britain. She was born in Co. Sligo and worked as a nurse and academic in London, researching health amongst ethnic minority groups.

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Dr Michael Flavin

Birmingham Pub Bombings

Michael is a Senior Lecturer in Global Education in King’s College London. He grew up in Birmingham with an Irish background and has written a novel, One Small Step, about the 1974 Birmingham Pub Bombings

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Jah Wobble

Catholic Schooling

Jah Wobble was born John Joseph Wardle in East London. He is a musician and lives in Stockport, working in community arts in addition to writing and touring.

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Jah Wobble

My Musical DNA

Jah Wobble was born John Joseph Wardle in East London. He is a musician and lives in Stockport, working in community arts in addition to writing and touring.

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Jim McCool

Meeting the Men from Arlington House

Jim McCool captured powerful testimonies from a generation of Irish men who had worked hard all their lives yet came to live in Arlington House

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Kim Moloney

Traveller all my life

Kim is an Irish Traveller and a long-time Leeds GATE volunteer and activist and received an MBE for fighting for Gypsy and Traveller rights.

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Prof. Frank Shovlin

Irish Newspapers in Britain

Frank is a Professor of Irish Literature at the University of Liverpool. Originally from Co. Donegal, he moved to England in the 1990s.

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Prof. Frank Shovlin

Irishness as a badge of honour

Frank is a Professor of Irish Literature at the University of Liverpool. Originally from Co. Donegal, he moved to England in the 1990s.

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Gerry Molumby

Letters home

Gerry is the founder of Triskellion Irish Theatre Company. He moved to North London from Co. Tipperary and worked
in social housing and support. He now lives in Derbyshire.

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Julie Pritchard Griffin

Little Ireland in Cardiff

Julie grew up in Ely, Cardiff with a strong Irish identity. She has written a novel about her Irish grandmother and Welsh grandfather called Forbidden Love.

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Liam O'Hare

Discrimination in Housing

Liam was born in Dublin and moved to London in the 1970s with his pregnant partner as they were unmarried. He worked in construction before becoming a teacher.

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Louise Durand

Joining IamIrish

Louise, originally from Co. Waterford, relocated to London in 2013 and joined STOMP, the Emmy award-winning rhythmic percussion theatre production, as a performer. She is on the board of IamIrish.

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Margaret Carolan

Irishwoman in Manchester

Originally from Crossmolina, Co. Mayo, Margaret moved to Manchester in her 20s where she spent her career as a carer and volunteered for Irish community organisations.

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Martin Docherty-Hughes

Growing up Irish Scottish

Scottish National Party MP for West Dunbartonshire, Martin Docherty-Hughes’ Irish heritage goes back generations, and he plays a pivotal role within this diaspora in Scotland.

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Maurice Malone

Anti-Irish Racism after Birmingham Pub Bombings

Maurice was born in Birmingham to Irish parents who faced anti-Irish discrimination in the 1970s. As CEO of Birmingham Irish Association he has pioneered peace and reconciliation initiatives in the city.

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Michelle Deignan

British-Irish Intertwining

Originally from Dublin, Michelle is a filmmaker and artist who moved to Scotland in the mid-1990s, then to London. Her first documentary feature was Breaking Ground: the Story of the London Irish Women’s Centre in 2013.

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Mick Ord

Finding out birth mother was Irish

Mick is a journalist, media consultant, and former head of BBC Radio Merseyside. Born and raised in Liverpool, he only discovered that his biological mother was Irish when he was at University

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Siobhan Fahey

More Irish than the Irish

Siobhan is an Irish singer, who was born in Dublin and brought up in Scotland and England. She is a founding member of Bananarama and Shakespears Sister.

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Stiofán Ó Nualláin

Irish Identity and Jack Charlton's Ireland

Stiofán was born in London to Irish parents and moved to Belfast in 1988 to study Irish. He now works with the Irish labour movement on anti-sectarian initiatives

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Willie Howard

Home Home

Willie was born in Co. Cork and first moved to London before the 2008 crash. He worked in pubs and on sites before becoming a trade union organiser.

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Paddy Kelly

Summers in Donegal

Paddy Kelly was born in Castlemilk, Glasgow to parents from Donegal. He has been active in numerous political campaigns, from Free the Birmingham Six to the recent successful campaign to erect Glasgow’s first An Gorta Mór (The Great Hunger) memorial.

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