BOOK REVIEW: "Irish, The Remarkable Story of a Nation and a City," by John BURROWS (Mainstream Publishing) ISBN 1-84018-685-2, h/b, is a 2003 book that tells the story of post Famine emigration from Ireland to the Scottish city of Glasgow. It begins with an account of a hellish sea voyage long faded from the pages of history. The small ships sailing to Scotland were grossly overcrowded,i.e.,'the whole length and breadth of the steerage presented a mass of human beings literally packed together...in fact the appearance of that vessel was that of a shipload of heads and faces.' No one could move, had there been an emergency. On 1 Dec 1848, the "Londonderry" sailed for Glasgow out of Sligo into a raging sea, her deck packed with people. As the storm worsened, they were forced down into the ship's hold to avoid being washed overboard. The hatches were sealed against their frantic protests. When the ship sheltered in Derry harbour it was discovered that 72 souls had suffocated out of the estimated 200 forced below the deck. Other ships carried thousands of Irish to the haven of the city on the "Clyde." The story of the Irish in Scotland is not easy to tell. There was a famous riot, the Battle of Patrick's Cross, in which no one died, nor were fires lit, nor barricades erected. There were gawkers, knockers and mockers, navvies and skivvies, Orange and Green. And there were the amazing adventures of Hannah, the story of an Irish girl in Glasgow which ran for months as a serial in the Glasgow Catholic Observer a century ago. Glasgow, however, was not overcome by poverty, plague and popery as some dreaded it might be. There are still unpleasing local eruptions, generally connected with football. The Irish immigrant, survivors of the most harrowing experiences in the most wretched of times permanently changed the face of the city which became their home. Perhaps you can find a copy of this book if the subject interests you.

Re the subject book "Irish, The Remarkable Story of a Nation and a City" by John Burrows, is there a volume which might describe the emigration from County Galway to Liverpool in the early 1800's? My ancestor JOHN THORNTON (bn 1799) left Ireland with four children sometime before 1830. His son, JOHN THORNTON, my great grandfather was born in Ormskirk, Lancashire in 1830. Both JOHN, the father and his wife Ann, died within a month of each other in December/January, 1839/40 of typhus fever. The Irish born children survived as, hawkers, labourers and female servants. John, the son moved to the northeast of England and seemed to do better. I am curious as to why they would leave Ireland to live in such poverty in England? Veronica Thornton Hagin