crowned in shamrocks erin't broad acres: the emergence of the irish catholic community in

387 Pages·2017·2.17 MB·English

University of Huddersfield Repository
Holmes, David
Crowned in shamrocks erin't Broad Acres: The emergence of the Irish Catholic community in 
Yorkshire, and the evolution of the West Riding's forgotten Irish Rugby clubs, 1860­c 1920.
Original Citation
Holmes, David (2010) Crowned in shamrocks erin't Broad Acres: The emergence of the Irish 
Catholic community in Yorkshire, and the evolution of the West Riding's forgotten Irish Rugby 
clubs, 1860­c 1920. Doctoral thesis, University of Huddersfield. 
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CROWNED IN SHAMROCKS ERIN‟T BROAD ACRES: THE EMERGENCE OF THE

IRISH CATHOLIC COMMUNITY IN YORKSHIRE, AND THE EVOLUTION OF THE
WEST RIDING‟S FORGOTTEN IRISH RUGBY CLUBS, 1860-c 1920.

DAVID HOLMES

A thesis submitted to the University of Huddersfield
in partial fulfilment of the requirements for
the degree of Doctor of Philosophy

January 2010
Abstract
This thesis examines the emergence of the Irish Catholic diaspora in the industrial diocese of
the West Riding of Yorkshire, and the evolution of the West Riding‟s forgotten Irish rugby
clubs, 1860-c 1920. In addition to considering the contributions of Irish immigrants in the
history of rugby football this thesis explores their religious, nationalist, social and cultural
experiences, set within the wider history of Irish immigration in England. The history and
establishment of parochial and non-parochial Irish Catholic rugby clubs in the West Riding
can be traced back to the 1870s. Diasporic Irish Catholics settled in the county have always
been part of rugby football since its inception, albeit, at a much slower and punctuated rate
than that observed among English Protestant communities. The foremost aim of this thesis is
to scrutinise the rugby antecedents of Irish Catholics domiciled in the manufacturing centres
of the West Riding during the Victorian and early Edwardian periods. In the late nineteenth
century, towns and cities across the West Riding had become the great citadels of rugby
football. Rugby attracted much participation, giving rise to the Catholic Church establishing
its own internalised parochial rugby clubs, which were intended to improve the spiritual and
physical well-being of its poor Irish adherents. This thesis, moreover, examines the
establishment of non-parochial Irish rugby clubs which acted as sporting auxiliaries to Irish
nationalist clubs. Finally, this thesis investigates those opportunities which allowed some
working-class Irish Catholics to participate in games of rugby league outside of their own
ethno-religious clubs for some of the county‟s senior professional rugby clubs. Since the
main objective of Irish nationalist organisations was to offer financial support and political
muscle to the Irish Parliamentary Party, this thesis will argue that the establishment of non-
parochial nationalist Irish rugby clubs initially centred on the sport‟s by products‟, „gate-
money‟.

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Copy Right Statement
i. The author of this thesis (including any appendices and/or schedules to this thesis)
owns any copyright in it (the “Copyright”) and he has given The University of
Huddersfield the right to use such Copyright for any administrative, promotional,
educational and/or teaching purposes.
ii. Copies of the thesis, either in full or in extracts, may be made only in accordance with
the regulations of the University Library. Details of these regulations may be obtained
from the Librarian. This form must form part of any such copies made.
iii. The ownership of any such patents, designs, trade marks and any and all other
intellectual property rights except for the Copyright (the ”Intellectual Property
Rights”) and any reproductions of copyright works, for example graphs and tables
(“Reproductions”), which may be described in this thesis, may not be owned by the
author and may be owned by third parties. Such Intellectual Property Rights and
Reproductions cannot and must not be made available for use without prior
permission of the owner(s) of the relevant Intellectual Property Rights and/or
Reproductions.

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CONTENTS
Abstract 2
List of Tables 5
Abbreviations 6
Acknowledgements 7
Introduction 8
Chapter 1 Irish Lifeways: Immigration, Life, Labour and the Irish Diasporic 21
Catholic Community in the West Riding of Yorkshire 1800-c 1922.
Chapter 2 Transition and Trajectories: The Catholic Church and its People in 54
Victorian and Edwardian West Riding of Yorkshire.
Chapter 3 Guns and Rosaries: The English Catholic Church, Irish Secret 113
Societies, Fenianism and Home Rule in Victorian and Edwardian
West Riding of Yorkshire.
Chapter 4 The Spirit of Association: Catholic Popular Culture, 155
Confraternities, Guilds and a Restored Community.
Chapter 5 A Rugby Revolution Begun: The Emergence and Diffusion of 193
Rugby Football and the Origins of Rugby League in the West
Riding of Yorkshire.
Chapter 6 No Prayer no Player: Catholic Experience with Rugby Football in 238
the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century.
Chapter 7 Funds, Football and Fraternity: The Evolution of the West Riding's 281
Irish Rugby Clubs.
Chapter 8 Cracks in the Rugby Plinth: Irish Catholic Experience with Rugby 322
League Football.
Conclusion 358
Bibliography 374

Word count: 112, 424
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List of Tables
Table 1.1 Irish-born in West Riding of Yorkshire in relation to total 41
population, 1841-1911.

Table 2.1 Number of Catholic in the Diocese of Leeds and General 61
Statistics 1875-1911.

Table 2.2 Missions in the Diocese of Leeds and their numerical 76
strength 1881-1911.

Table 8.1 Number of Known Roman Catholic Players of Irish 332
Descent 1906/09

Table 8.2 Number of Known Roman Catholic Players of Irish 333
Descent 1913/20

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Abbreviations
FA: Football Association.
GAA: Gaelic Athletic Association.
ILL: Irish Land League.
ILP: Independent Labour Party.
INL: Irish National League.
NILL: National Irish Land League.
NU: Northern Union.
RFU: Rugby Football Union.
UIL: United Irish League.
YMCS: Young Men‟s Catholic Society.
YRFU: Yorkshire Rugby Football Union.

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Acknowledgements
First I would like to thank Professor Tony Collins of Leeds Metropolitan University, most
sincerely for his wise advice, constant and practical encouragement throughout the early
stages of this research. I would like also to thank Dr Peter Davies of University of
Huddersfield. This investigation grew out of his involving me directly with the topic. My
sincere thanks are due to my supervisor Professor Keith Laybourn of University
Huddersfield, for his continuing advice and encouragement; without his willingness and
cheerful co-operation this work would have been infinitely less agreeable.
My thanks are due to the Hilary Haigh and Brian Haigh (not related) of the University of
Huddersfield Archive, for allowing me access to collections in their care. To the members of
staff at the Leeds Diocesan Archives for allowing me access to Roman Catholic records. I
would like to thank the „Up and Under‟ oral history project for funding this research. I would
like to thank them all, and the members of staff at the West Yorkshire Archives in Leeds,
Bradford, Halifax Huddersfield, Dewsbury and Wakefield, and members of staff from the
British Library who have helped in various ways during the innumerable visits and hours
spent at the Colindale Archive.

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INTRODUCTION
This thesis examines the emergence of the Irish Catholic diaspora in the industrial diocese of
the West Riding of Yorkshire, and the evolution of the West Riding‟s forgotten Irish rugby
clubs, 1860-c 1920. The term „rugby football‟ is used here to represent both rugby union
football and rugby league football, except where it is inappropriate. The aim of this research
is to determine the historical relationship between Irish Catholic diasporic identities and
rugby football in the late Victorian and early Edwardian eras, although occasional reference
will be made of that other important nineteenth-century immigrant group, the Eastern
European Jews. In addition to considering the contributions of Irish immigrants in the history
of rugby football, this thesis shall also examine their religious, nationalist, social and cultural
experiences, set within the wider history of Irish immigration in England. In particularly, it
shall examine the role of the Roman Catholic Church, which played a predominant part in the
process whereby Irish people assimilated into their new surroundings. In their new urban
communities the Irish sought to maintain their Irish culture with the Catholic Church being
central to many community activities. It established a means of contact between its Irish
adherents and helped to strengthen many of their religious convictions, to enlighten them in
the midst of the difficulties presented by the question of the day.
This will lead naturally enough into the core area of the research, which will argue
that diasporic Irish Catholics settled in the county have always been part of rugby football
since its inception, albeit, at a much slower and punctuated rate than that observed among
English Protestant communities. First, it will argue that rugby attracted much participation
among the working-class Irish Catholics, giving rise to the Catholic Church establishing its
own, internalised, parochial rugby clubs, which were intended to improve the spiritual and
physical well-being of its poor Irish adherents. Secondly, it will argue that the establishment
of non-parochial Irish nationalist rugby clubs initially centred on the sport‟s by products‟,
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„gate-money‟. Thirdly, following the great rugby split of 1895, this thesis shall examine those
sporting opportunities which allowed some working-class Irish Catholics to participate in
games of rugby league outside of their ethno-religious clubs for some of the county‟s senior
professional rugby clubs.
Finally, this thesis attempts, through careful and selective consideration of primary
sources, to evaluate what effect rugby football had on the culture of Irish Catholic immigrants
and what effect, if any, Irish immigrants had on rugby football. It attempts to explore some of
the key social, economic and political trends that have developed before, during and after the
emergence of rugby league in 1895, especially, how the state and receiving societies of the
West Riding responded to Irish immigrant groups. This study also reflects a legitimate
attempt to cross inter-disciplinary boundaries to bring out some of the wider strands of
current thinking – and it does so with a sense of eclecticism, rather than sticking to the given
„party line‟ – simply dredging up dry listings of fixtures, results, personalities, catalogues of
games, a litany of victories, a string of statistics or a scatter of similes and waiting for them to
cohere into an orderly account of the past.
Historically speaking, it is a determined attempt to recover the minds, thoughts and
actions of men and women not long dead, whose customs, values and attitudes were almost
certainly different from our own. It is important to have an historical perspective, particularly
on the relationship between social and political changes in order to understand the well-
developed sense of identity and self-image of the Yorkshire people. In particular, it looks at
the dynamics of the hostilities directed towards the Irish Catholic diaspora through the lens of
public anxiety. This strategy makes it possible not only to gauge the hostilities that Irish
immigrant communities faced but also to illuminate the mental universe of popular writers,
journalists and government officials, whose fears and fantasies were directed towards them.
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