Ireland in the early 19th Century was trying to recover from the crushing of the Irish Rebellion of 1798, a revolution seeking to gain total Independence for Ireland from Great Britain. The British passed the Acts of Union in 1801, and the Parliament of Ireland merged with the Parliament of Great Britain, creating the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The British were wary of the power of the Catholic Church and so had restricted the Irish Parliament to predominantly Anglican Irish, though the great majority of the Irish population were Catholic, and a large number Presbyterian. The Catholic church approved the union of the two parliaments, hoping it would lead to Catholics having the right to sit as MPs representing their own country. This didn’t happen until around 1829 and the introduction of the Roman Catholic Relief Act and even then the inclusion of the Catholic representatives was limited to the mainly wealthy and those who demonstrated affinity with the English. Therefore, the general Irish population was not represented at all.

The Irish Rebellion came on the back of the French Revolution 10 years earlier, and Britain was very aware of the danger represented to their Empire. The British were afraid that if the Irish broke away from the Union and formed an alliance with the French against the British, they could cause the uprising of other colonies and also the installation of the Roman Catholic church as rulers in Ireland. With the suppression of the Irish uprising, the British refused to enact the hoped for improvements in economic and social opportunities that the Irish lobbied for. The upshot of this was felt right through to the early 20th Century, when all but 6 of the Irish counties broke away from the Union and created the Republic of Ireland. England, Scotland, Wales and the northern six counties renamed themselves The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in 1927.

The political, economic and legal policies were to be the items which exacerbated the Great Famine and the consequent migration push in the 1840s to 1860s. The Great Famine began around 1840 and was caused initially by a pest which infected the potato crops throughout Europe and Ireland. In Europe, the authorities worked assiduously to find alternative crops for their populations. The British did not do this, and insisted that the Irish continue to produce food and goods for the British population and their settlements in other lands. So while they grew and raised food, it was all sent to England for domestic use and distribution to its colonies. Simultaneously, social and economic policies continued, which meant many very poor people were forced off their small land holdings and left to fend for themselves.

Migration was seen as an answer for some, and many mainly young people left for America, Canada, India, Africa, New Zealand and Australia. Some even went to England. The hope was the young ones would find work in new countries and remit funds back home. The famine finished in Europe around 1852, when the potato crops began to recover however it took the Irish population another 10 years to recover from the devastation. The famine, exacerbated by the politics of the time decimated the Irish population - at the census of 1841, the population stood at 8 million. By 1851 the population was 6 million and by 1881 had dropped to 5 million. 1 million died from starvation and disease between 1845 and 1855. The continued depopulation was due to reluctance of the people to marry and have children, recovery from the famine which took several years and ongoing emigration.