Chapter 16
Squalid Liverpool

‘The Irish have a notion that any part of the world is better than Ireland, and consequently are fond of change...nine tenths of the Irish settled in England did not come over from necessity, but in a wild spirit of adventure.’ These are the words of Michael J. Whitty taken from a report commissioned by the House of Commons in 1833 on the subject of the Irish poor in England. Whitty was a self-made man who lived by his own belief. He was born in 1795 into a farming family in Ducormick, County Wexford but when his father’s business faltered in 1821 it was in the spirit of adventure that he ventured to London to become a journalist. Possessed of charm and intelligence he became a great name in the literary world, publishing his Tales of Irish Life on the customs and culture of Ireland that was translated into French and German and re-published in America. He moved to Liverpool in 1830 where he become the editor of The Liverpool Journal, launched the penny newspaper the Liverpool Daily Post and was a much loved and respected Liverpudlian; he spent forty-three years living in the city until the end of his life.