Anne O'Dowd:
Spalpeens and Tattie Hokers
History and Folklore of the Irish Migratory Agricultural Worker in Ireland and Britain (Dublin, 1991)

Book review by Roger Swift

Whilst the migration of Irish agricultural labourers on a permanent basis has long been an object of historical study, the seasonal or short-term movement of workers while maintaining unbroken links with home has received relatively little attention from historians, either within Ireland or in Britain. In an outstanding study, Dr. O'Dowd seeks to rectify this imbalance by tracing the history of these seasonal and migratory movements of Irish farm workers in the British Isles from 1650 to 1915.

Dr. O'Dowd provides a contextual framework for the study as a whole by first examining the historical context within which seasonal migration occurred within both Ireland and Britain during the period. The scope and scale of seasonal migration was, despite annual fluctuations, considerable, although the numbers who migrated showed a general decline from 57,000 in 1841 to only 13,000 in 1915, although O'Dowd acknowledges that the official statistics almost certainly represent an undercount. Moreover, seasonal migration assumed the force of tradition, with individual workers and sometimes whole families returning year after year to the same farms in Ireland and Britain. Seasonal migrants were essentially small farmers, cottagers, agricultural labourers and generally poor people many living in the Congested Districts - with family responsibilities and no means of earning a cash income at home. Survival was the prime motive for the men and women who undertook seasonal work, for money was needed to pay the rents and other debts which had no place in traditional subsistence economies. Yet these migrants were far from homogeneous, as the names they were called indicates: indeed, in a fascinating analysis, O'Dowd illustrates how the workers' nomenclature indicated their place of origin in Ireland, the nature of their agreements with employers, and the kind of work which they undertook, as gutters, harvesters, hookmen, reapers, labourers or tattie hokers.

By reference to a rich selection of personal reminiscences and anecdotal evidence, O'Dowd vivivdly illustrates the conditions experienced by migratory labourers in Ireland, with particular reference to their hours and conditions of work, their material condition, their relationship with farmers, and the general disrespect shown to migratory workers by other sectors of society. The examination of the conditions experienced by Irish seasonal workers, including tattie hokers, in Britain is particularly welcome, for this has long been relatively uncharted territory. This said, Dr. O'Dowd ignores references to Irish seasonal workers contained in The Nation survey of 1872 and in Denvir's The Irish in Britain of 1892, and might have made fuller reference to some recent and relevant studies of the Irish in Britain during the period.

In assessing the merits and demerits of migratory labour, by reference to its effects on the host community, the benefits to workers as individuals and to their home communities, and the extent to which labourers mixed and settled in the workplace, O'Dowd concludes that there were many good reasons and economic advantages for seasonal migration. However she notes that some contemporary observers held that migratory labour sometimes threatended the moral and spiritual welfare of the workers because they made contact with the 'lower orders' while away from home and acquired a roving and immoral disposition on their return.

Dr. O'Dowd provides a critical and succinct appraisal of the range of sources available for the study of Irish migratory agricultural workers, and the breadth of the research and the range of sources employed - which include a vast array of contemporary parliamentary papers and official documents - are impressive. However, what really makes this study unique is the way in which it uses oral evidence, in the form of personal accounts and recollections, to provide a vivid recreation of the experiences of migratory labourers during the period. Indeed, by the judicious deployment of hundreds of hitherto-unpublished personal reminiscences culled from manuscripts and replies to questionnaires on seasonal migration deposited in the Department of Irish Folklore at the University of Dublin, and from replies to questionnaires on hiring fairs deposited in the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum, O'Dowd illustrates the ways in which oral evidence can illuminate our understanding of the past. Transcripts and translations of some of these sources are included in an extensive and valuable appendix of some eighty pages, which usefully complements the study, as indeed do a wide range of clearly delineated and informative maps, graphs and tables.

This highly original study provides an effective synthesis of the experiences of Irish seasonal migrants and represents a major contribution to the study of its subject. It is, indeed, a veritable treasure-trove of oral evidence. However, at £35 per copy, this excellent book is surely beyond the reach of most students. A paperback edition of this seminal work is highly desirable.

Roger Swift
University College Chester
Chester
England

This review originally appeared in Irish Historical Studies, XXIX, 114 (November, 1994), 264-5, and appears here with the permission of Roger Swift.