Irish language outside Ireland

The Irish language originated in Ireland and has historically been the dominant language of the Irish people. Since the Early Middle Ages, it spread to a number of other countries; in Scotland and on the Isle of Man it gave rise to Scottish Gaelic and Manx, respectively. Irish was the language that a large number of emigrants took with them from the 17th century (when large-scale emigration, forced or otherwise, became noticeable) to the 19th century, when emigration reached new levels.

By the 19th century, English became dominant in Ireland, but Irish speakers had already shown their ability to deal with modern political and social changes through their own language at a time when emigration was strongest.

The Irish diaspora mainly settled in English-speaking countries, chiefly Britain and North America (US and Canada). In some instances the Irish language was retained for several generations. Argentina was the only non-English-speaking country to which the Irish went in large numbers, and those emigrants came in the 19th century from areas where Irish was already in retreat.

An interest in the language has persisted among a minority in the diaspora countries, and even in countries where there was never a significant Irish presence. This has been shown in the founding of language classes (including some at tertiary level), in the use of the Internet, and in contributions to journalism and literature.

Irish speakers of all social classes were to be found in early modern Britain. Irish beggars were common in 16th century England, and from the late 16th century many unskilled Irish labourers settled in Liverpool, Bristol and London. Aristocratic Irish speakers included the Nugent brothers, members of Ireland's "Old English" community: Christopher Nugent, 9th Baron Delvin, who wrote an Irish-language primer for Elizabeth I, and William Nugent, an Irish language poet who is known to have been at Oxford in 1571. Shakespeare's plays contain one line in Irish, "Caleno custore me" in Act IV Scene 4 of Henry V. This was the title of a traditional song in Irish, Is Cailín ó Chois tSiúre mé ("I'm a young girl from the bank of the Suir").

Irish speakers were among the troops brought over from Ireland during the English Civil War. Language and cultural differences were partly responsible for the great hostility they encountered in England. Among them were troops commanded by Murrough O'Brien, 1st Earl of Inchiquin and who followed him when he later sided with Parliament.

Large-scale Irish immigration, including many Irish speakers, began with the building of canals from the 1780s and of railways in the nineteenth century. More Irish settled in industrial towns in Lancashire in the late eighteenth century than in any other county. Many Irish were attracted to Birmingham in the mid-1820s by rapid industrial expansion. The city had large households of Irish speakers, often from the same parts of counties Mayo, Roscommon, Galway and Sligo. In Manchester a sixth of the family heads were Irish by 1835. By the 1830s Irish speakers were to be found in Manchester, Glasgow and the larger towns of South Wales. Friedrich Engels heard Irish being spoken in the most crowded areas of Manchester in 1842. Irish speakers from counties Roscommon, Galway and Mayo were also to be found in Stafford from the 1830s.

The Great Famine of the later 1840s brought an influx of Irish speakers to England, Wales and Scotland. Many arrived from such counties as Mayo, Cork, Waterford and Limerick to Liverpool, Bristol, and the towns of South Wales and Lancashire, and often moved on to London. Navvies found work on the South Wales Railway. There are reports of Irish-speaking communities in some quarters of Liverpool in the Famine years (1845–52). Irish speakers from Munster were common among London immigrants, with many women speaking little or no English. Around 100,000 Irish had arrived in London by 1851. The Irish Nationalist politician and lawyer A.M. Sullivan described an 1856 visit to the industrial "Black Country" of the West Midlands where "in very many of the houses not one of the women could speak English, and I doubt that in a single house the Irish was not the prevalent language".