Irish Birmingham

Birmingham has long been shaped by its Irish residents. In the mid-1800s, following the migration caused by Ireland's potato famine, Birmingham's Irish-born population was the fourth-largest of any English or Welsh town. In the 1960s, one in six of its children had at least one parent from Ireland. This book examines this important aspect of English-Irish history and explains how events in Birmingham have influenced Irish political figures from Daniel O'Connell to Padraic Pearse, Irish dramatists from Brendan Behan to Tom Murphy, and English writers from Gerard Manley Hopkins to Jonathan Coe.