Hello, and welcome to today's lesson where we'll be looking at a case study on Liverpool in the 19th century.

This lesson is part of a broader inquiry, looking at how Britain was impacted by migration in the 18th and 19th centuries.

We'll cover lots of different things in the course of the inquiry, but for today, we're just going to be looking at Liverpool.

And in order to see that, you're going to need a piece of paper and a pen.

If you don't have one, absolutely fine.

Just pause the video now, go and get everything you need.

And once you're set up and ready to go, come back and press play.

Great.

Now let's have a look at our lesson outcome.

And by the end of this lesson, I'm hoping that you'll be able to say you can explain the reasons for increasing migration to Liverpool, the experiences of these migrants in Liverpool and the impact that they had on the city.

Now, in order to do that, we're going to need some keywords.

For this lesson, we have got three.

The first is the Transatlantic Slave Trade.

This is the trade between Europe, West Africa, and the Americas, where goods were exchanged for enslaved people who were sold onto plantations in European colonies.

Second, we have a lascar.

That's a sailor, usually from Britain's colonies across Africa and Asia.

And lastly, we have emancipation, the act of being free from legal, social or political restrictions.

And now we've had a look at our keywords, we'll see them again in the context of the lesson, and that will help them make even more sense.

But for now, we can get started.

We're going to do that by looking at the reasons for migration to Liverpool in the 19th century.

So English monarchs have been attempting to colonise Ireland for hundreds of years.

By 1700, England had a strong grip on the country.

Over the course of the 1700s, Catholics in Ireland were pushed to poverty by their landlords who were mostly Protestants from England and Scotland.

So in order to escape this poverty, an increasing number of Irish people migrated to England in the hope of finding better working and living conditions.

Thousands chose to settle in Liverpool 'cause of the opportunity for work.

Then in 1801, Ireland and Great Britain became one country, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

This meant it was now much easier for Irish people to migrate to England as they were technically one nation.

Now, Irish people were one of the largest migrant groups to come to Britain in the 18th and 19th centuries.

The greatest wave of Irish migrants occurred in the 1840s.

This was because a disease called the potato blight ruined the Irish potato harvest.

Now, potatoes formed a major part of the Irish diets at this time.

This, combined with an increase in the price of other foods, and the fact that the government was encouraging English and Scottish landlords to export grain-grown island, this meant that many people in Ireland starved.

This resulted in a famine.

This famine became known as the Great Famine or the Potato Famine.

It began in 1845, and its effects were felt well into the 1850s.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, Irish migrants made up a significant part of the population in Liverpool, as Liverpool had been one of the major trading ports in the Transatlantic Slave Trade.

When the trade and enslaved people was abolished in 1807, merchants very quickly were going to use the port to develop new trades, attracting thousands of migrants who were in search of work.

Irish migrants contributed to the Industrial Revolution by building canals and railways and working in factories and dockyards.

Yet the great famine and the pull of job opportunities in Liverpool were not the only reasons why people left Ireland.

Because remember, we're talking about, yes, there's the opportunities of jobs, but we've already spoken about the fact that many Irish people migrated to Liverpool to escape the poverty that they faced as a result of the treatment from English and Scottish landlords, but also the huge wave of migrants who came in the 1840s as a result of the Potato Famine.

So there's lots of different reasons why Irish migrants settled in Liverpool, but we know that of all the cities they could have settled in, they chose Liverpool because of Liverpool's role in the Industrial Revolution and initially, their role in the Transatlantic Slave Trade, which meant that Liverpool was a centre of trade, producing lots of opportunities for many jobs across many different industries.

And this would continue after 1807, even when the slave trade had been abolished.

Now before we go on to consider whether it was just Irish migrants who settled in Liverpool, I've got a quick question for you.

So we're gonna have a quick discussion, which means if you're doing this lesson with someone else or in a classroom, I'd like to have this discussion in pairs.

But if you're doing this lesson by yourself, absolutely not to worry.

Just have a go at articulating a response out loud for me.

So the focus of our discussion here is why did Irish people migrate to Liverpool? So pause the video now, give yourself enough time for both people to contribute or for you to articulate a response out loud, and then come back and press play when you're done.

Brilliant.

Hopefully in your discussion you mentioned some of the following: The pull of job opportunities in Liverpool, the fact that Irish Catholics looked to escape the poverty they faced under English and Scottish landlords.

In 1801, Ireland became part of the United Kingdom, and that the Great Famine led to large numbers of people in island starving.

So they looked to migrate in search of better living conditions.

If there was any of those that you didn't manage to get in your discussion or you forgot, absolutely fine, you can pause the video now and quickly make a note of it.

So we've spoken about why Irish migrants chose to settle in Liverpool, which we can see annotated on our map here.

But Irish people were not the only ones to migrate in this period.

There were also West African sailors who were usually from modern day Sierra Leone, who worked on ships with English sailors and were settled in Liverpool to find work if they were not hired for the return trip home.

Ship captains had begun using more and more African sailors, replacing English sailors.

This was because of their racist beliefs that Africans and (indistinct) lascars, one of our key words, remember those are sailors from Britain's colonies, usually in Africa or Asia, and they believe that they should be paid at lower rates, therefore, saving them money.

These ship captains would then go on to use Caribbean sailors later on as well.

And even though lascars is usually a term used to refer to sailors exclusively from India, these sailors from across Asia and also from across Africa became known as lascars as well.

So before we go on to put into practise what we've learned about the different reasons for migration to Liverpool in this period, I'd like you to quickly answer this question for me, which will help us recap what we were just talking about.

So the statement is, the only migrants who settled in Liverpool were Irish.

I need you to tell me whether this is true or false.

Pause the video now, make a decision, and then come back and press play when you've got an answer for me.

Brilliant.

We know that this statement is false, but we need to have a think about why it's false.

Is it false because other migrants included West African and Caribbean lascars who also settled in Liverpool, or is it false because West African and Caribbean migrants made up most of the migrant community in Liverpool? So pause the video now, make a decision, and then come back and press play when you've got an answer for me.

Brilliant.

We know that this statement is false because other migrants included West African and Caribbean lascars who settled in Liverpool.

Really, really well done.

Now we're gonna have a go at putting all of this into practise.

And in order to do that, we need to complete this table.

So I've got five statements here and you need to tell me whether each of these statements is true or false.

So pause the video now.

Give yourself about five minutes to complete this task, and then come back when you're done for me please.

Brilliant.

So hopefully your completed table looks a little something like this.

For the first statement, Liverpool was only an important city until 1807.

We know that that's false.

Irish migrants were attracted to rural areas by job opportunities.

Again, we know that's false.

Irish Catholics were looking to escape the poverty they faced under English and Scottish landlords.

We know that is true.

In 1801, Ireland became part of the United Kingdom, which made it easier for Irish people to settle in England.

We know that's true.

The last statement is Irish migration declined from the 1840s.

We know that that is absolutely false.

So what we're going to do with these three false statements is rewrite them as incorrect statements as the second part of this task.

So again, take another five minutes or so.

Have a look at the three statements here in purple, and I need you to rewrite them as correct statements for me.

So pause the video and come back when you're done.

Brilliant.

So we know that Liverpool remained an important city after 1807 because of new trades.

The Irish migrants were attracted to Liverpool by job opportunities.

And finally, Irish migration increased from the 1840s due to the Great Famine.

Really well done.

If there were any of those that you weren't able to correct, not to worry, just pause the video now and make those adjustments.

Excellent work so far.

So in the second part of our lesson, we're going to be looking at the experiences of migrants in Liverpool.

Now, most migrants in Liverpool had more positive experiences than those who settled elsewhere in Britain.

And this was because of the large Irish community in the city, which provided help to new migrants and meant that they did not feel isolated or alien.

The Irish population in Liverpool by 1801 was only 80,000 people, which to be fair, is still a lot of people.

But it was as a result of the continued success in settling and establishing successful businesses that this number grew to 350,000 in only 40 years.

That is a rapid growth in the population, which tells us a lot about how successful and positive many of their experiences were because they attracted other Irish migrants to settle as well.

Now, before we go on to consider whether it's as simple as saying they just had positive experiences, I've got a quick question for you.

So Aisha has been listening in and she said that "Irish migrants had positive experiences in Liverpool." We know that they did based on what we just talked about.

But what I'd like you to do very quickly is to give two details to support Aisha's statement here.

So pause the video, make a note of two details that would support what Aisha has said, and then come back and press play when you're done.

Excellent.

So hopefully your answer included any two of the following: that the large Irish community meant new arrivals were supported, that the large Irish community meant migrants could maintain autonomy.

So for example, they could continue to practise Catholicism because remember, one of the reasons for Irish migration in this period was that Catholics were being harshly treated and facing poverty under their Protestant landlords from England and Scotland.

So one example of them being able to maintain autonomy or not feel isolated was the practise of Catholicism.

Really well done if you've made that connection.

If you didn't, not to worry.

You can make a note now.

And then finally, the community was so successful that the Irish population in Liverpool grew to 350,000 from only 80,000 in 40 years.

So although there were clearly lots of examples of Irish migrants having positive experiences, there were still many Irish migrants who faced hostility for different reasons.

Despite the fact they were citizens of the UK from 1801, most Irish migrants in Liverpool were forced to live in the poorest parts of the city.

And this was particularly the case for Catholics whose opportunities were limited because of their religion.

This would however change in 1829 when the Catholic Emancipation Act granted Catholics the right to vote in Britain after much protests from the Irish population across Britain.

And then in 1871, Irish Catholics were allowed to attend British universities, and many now felt that they had made significant progress.

But also we haven't considered the African and Caribbean lascars who settled in Liverpool.

And for them, the city became a place where they could settle and assimilate into everyday life.

Their children would sometimes go on to become successful individuals.

Many settled, married, and started families with local English and Irish women.

One example of this is John Archer, who was the son of a lascar from Barbados and an Irish Catholic woman.

He would go on to become London's first elected Black politician.

Now before we put what we've learned about their experiences into practise, because we can see there's both positive and negative experiences to consider together, I've got a couple of questions for you.

So Andeep has been listening to our lesson as well, and he said that "Some Irish migrants faced hostility in Liverpool," which we know is true, but it's important we can always support our statements with evidence.

So I'd like you to give me two details that support his statement.

Pause the video now, and when you've got your two details, come back and press play for me.

Brilliant.

So hopefully your answer included some of the following: that most Irish migrants lived in the poorest parts of the city, and the Irish Catholics opportunities were limited because of their religion until the late 18th century.

Remember, it was not until 1871 that Irish Catholics were allowed to attend British universities, at which point many felt they had made significant progress.

Now, very quickly, I've got a statement for you.

African and Caribbean sailors had similar experiences to Irish migrants.

Is the statement true or false? Pause the video now, make a decision, and then come back and press play when you have an answer for me.

This statement is in fact true, but we need to think about why.

Is it true because African and Caribbean sailors were able to assimilate into everyday life, with some becoming successful individuals? Or is it because African and Caribbean sailors were generally Catholics and so had the same experiences as Irish Catholic migrants? Pause the video now, make a decision for me, and then come back and press play when you've got an answer.

Brilliant.

Hopefully you said A.

It's because they were able to assimilate into everyday life with some becoming successful individuals.

Remember we looked at the example of John Archer, whose father was a lascar from Barbados, and his mother was an Irish Catholic woman.

He went on to become London's first elected Black politician.

Now our task for this part of the lesson is for you to complete this table.

So what I need you to do is to summarise the positive and negative experiences of migrants in Liverpool.

Pause the video now.

Give yourself 5 to 10 minutes to complete this table, making sure you have examples on both sides because remember, the experiences of migrants was nuanced.

It is not as simple as saying they had positive experiences, but also not as simple as just saying they had negative experiences.

It's about understanding that there were both four different people across the period.

Brilliant.

Let's have a look at what your completed table might have looked like.

So on the positive experiences, you might have mentioned a large Irish community supporting new arrivals, the Irish migrants could practise Catholicism, that the 1829 Emancipation Act gave Catholics the right to vote, that in 1871, Irish Catholics were allowed to attend British universities, and that some African and Caribbean lascars became successful individuals.

On the other hand, you might have also noted that Irish Catholics had their opportunities limited as a result of their religion.

So really well done if you were able to get these down.

We can see that although the experiences were largely positive, there were also examples of negative experiences.

You could also have added that they were often forced to live in the poorest parts of the city.

So as you can see, this list is not exhaustive, but it's about understanding that there are both positive and negative experiences for the migrants who settled in Liverpool in this time period.

Really, really well done so far.

So now we can move onto the third and final part of the lesson where we're going to be looking at the impact of migrants in Liverpool.

So although Liverpool was already a poor city at the heart of trade, the growing number of migrants in the city led to it thriving and continuing to play an important role in the British Empire, even after the abolition of the Transatlantic Slave Trade in 1807.

Irish migrants, for example, played a significant role in helping to build canals and railways throughout Britain, but particularly on railway and canal lines that connected Liverpool with other growing cities.

These railway and canal workers were known as navvies.

This enabled raw materials and finished goods to be moved around the country faster and more easily, supporting national economic growth.

So that's a huge impact.

If you can say that the work of a migrant community supported national economic growth, that is a huge change.

So before we go on to consider whether they just had a national impact, I've got a quick question for you.

So I've got a statement here.

The economic impact on Liverpool ended after 1807, as the Transatlantic Slave Trade was abolished.

So pause this video for me please, make a decision, and then come back and press play when you have an answer.

We know this statement is false.

Well done.

Hopefully you selected false, but we now need to decide why.

Is it false because the number of migrant workers ensured Liverpool continue to play an important role in the British Empire? Or is it false because the number of migrants ensured Liverpool could continue to play a secret role in the Transatlantic Slave Trade? Make a decision and come back and press play when you have an answer for me.

Well done.

Hopefully you said A.

It's because a number of migrant workers ensured Liverpool continued to play an important role in the British Empire.

Really, really well done.

So we have considered the impact of migrants that led to national economic growth, particularly their support in building and contributing to the railways and canals that supported the Industrial Revolution.

But we haven't thought about the impact on a local level.

So the migrant community in Liverpool, including both Irish people and lascars, also made important contributions to the local economy as well as doing jobs in the city.

Some migrants opened a variety of businesses such as butchers, bakeries, tailors, and green grocers, and they did a brilliant job because we know that they had an impact on the local economy.

So we've seen on a national scale because of the contributions to railways and canal buildings that migrants in Liverpool had a huge economic impact, but also the migrant community within Liverpool led to a local impact because of the success of the businesses that they established on settling in Liverpool.

Now before we finish up with our last task for today, I'd like you to have another discussion for me, and I'd like you to explain to each other all out loud if you're doing this lesson by yourself, how migrants impacted the economy.

So pause the video now, making sure that everyone has enough time to articulate a response out loud, and then come back and press play when you're done.

Brilliant.

So hopefully your discussion included some of the following: the Irish navvies contributed to the building of canals and railways across Britain, that the work of Irish navvies connected Liverpool with other growing cities, allowing goods to be transported faster, and the other migrants contributed to the local economy by working local jobs and opening butchers, bakeries, tailors, and green grocers.

Really well done if you were able to mention those points.

If there were any that you weren't able to remember or managed to leave out by accident, not to worry, you can just drop them down now so you don't forget them next time.

Brilliant.

So for our last task today, I'd like you to explain how migrants in Liverpool impacted the economy, making sure to include the following in your response, national economy, railways and canals, local economy, and butchers, bakeries and tailors.

Give yourself 5 to 10 minutes to complete this task and then come back when you're done please.

So your answer might have looked a little something like this.

Migrants impacted both the local and national economy through their work in and around Liverpool.

First, Irish navvies impacted the national economy through their work on railways and canals.

These railways and canals better connected Liverpool with other growing cities, helping goods to move faster across the country, and in turn helping trade.

Also, there were other migrants, including lascars and Irish people, who helped their local economy through filling local positions.

Some of these migrants also opened businesses such as butchers, bakeries, tailors, and other businesses that were important in contributing to the local economy.

Really, really well done for getting all of those details down.

If there were any that you missed out you'd like to add to your paragraph, not to worry, just pause the video now and you can add it to your response.

Really well done for all your work today.

Just before we finish off, we're gonna have a look at a summary of what we have covered.

So we learned the migration from Ireland increase in the 19th century in particular because of the impacts of the Great Famine, but we did also cover other important events like the active union in 1801, the United Island and Great Britain.

We know that many of these Irish migrants settled in Liverpool.

We know that although Irish migrants made up the majority of Liverpool's migrant population, some African and Caribbean lascars also settled in Liverpool when they did not have returned trips.

We know that life for Irish migrants in Liverpool was often positive as the large existing migrant community provided many opportunities.

And finally, we learned that migrants in Liverpool had a significant impact on the local and national economy.

So really, really well done for your work today.

You've done brilliantly.

I'm so impressed and you should be too.