The Irish Famine memorial in downtown Boston, Massachusetts

The Harp is backing a call for a sculpture to honour the contribution of the Irish to Birmingham since the 1820s. Professor Carl Chinn, consultant editor to the Harp and the author of a ground-breaking book on the Birmingham Irish, believes that the Irish Quarter City should boast a dynamic, imaginative and moving piece of public art that brings to the fore the lives of Irishmen and women in the history of the City.

He states that in the later eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, the total of the Irish in Birmingham was never more than a few score. However, from about 1826 there was an upsurge in the Irish locally as migrant labourers from Roscommon, Mayo and Galway arrived to fetch in the harvest. Crucially many of these spalpeens did not return home. They settled in Birmingham and became crucial figures, especially but not exclusively in the building of the homes and factories that were so essential for a rapidly expanding town that was thrusting itself on to the world stage as a pre-eminent manufacturing centre.

‘As Birmingham moves forward into the post-industrial world of the 21st century it is important that the contribution of all those who made it “the city of a 1,000 trades” should be recognised. Birmingham could not have gained that title without the input of Irishmen and women from the West of Ireland and elsewhere and they began to settle here 180 years ago this year’, explained Professor Chinn.

‘This city had a significant Irish population before the terrible years of the Great Hunger in the mid-1840s, and those folk were essential in giving food and shelter to those forced out of Ireland by the Famine and foreign landlords’, he added.

‘And whilst the majority of the nineteenth-century Irish were from Connacht there was a notable minority from Dublin. Wherever they were from and whatever their standing, the Irish were valuable citizens - and those who followed them in the twentieth century had as positive an effect on Birmingham. They were essential in the post-Second World War rebuilding of the City, in the hospitals, on the buses, and in the cultural life of Birmingham.’

Professor Chinn drew to the fore key local figures such as John Frederick Feeney, the Sligoman who founded the Birmingham Post in 1857, and Clare Short, the MP for Ladywood, who is a second generation Irish Brummie. He emphasised that they were two amongst many and argued that whilst rightly there are memorials to the victims of the Great Hunger in New York, Boston, Sligo, Liverpool and elsewhere, he is not aware of a memorial that embraces all the Irish who settled in a particular place and which highlights their distinctive and vital contribution.

‘Any sculpture or public art should be alert to the ongoing impact made by the Irish from 1826 until today. We are fortunate in this city to have an active Birmingham Irish Heritage Group and any plans for a memorial should be led by this Group and the Birmingham Irish Community Forum’, he proposed, ‘and it would also be good to bring in Irish elders such as those who meet at the Tuesday Club at the Irish Club.’

The Harp has contacted several leading Irish Brummies who back Professor Chinn’s call. This is what they had to say:

Pat O’Neil of the Birmingham Irish Forum – “It is a fantastic idea, I would love to see something marking the generations of Irish that helped to build this city. It would be a welcome attraction for businesses and visitors alike. There is so much of historical interest from the Irish influence that is not immediately recognisable to the public. A specific memorial would seal the history and the Irish roots would not be lost.”

Monsignor Fallon from St Francis Church in Handsworth, Birmingham – “What a marvellous idea. It would immortalise the Anglo Irish who made a difference to Birmingham. I am in full support and hope to be able to contribute towards the landmark.”

Retired councillor Hugh McCallion – “A memorial would be absolutely significant. I would like to see something that covers the whole of the Irish input and phases over the years from every aspect. We have many buildings and streets that represent this but not a special feature or landmark. Now is the time to work on this project so it becomes a part of the planning process. The whole idea is timely, important, and it should happen.”

When Michael Walsh of the Birmingham Irish Heritage Society spoke of his personal feelings towards the memorial he said – “I am very much in support of the idea. I know of a plaque in partial memory within St. Martin’s church, apart from that there is little else to acknowledge the Irish whom helped shape Birmingham. I personally am 100% in support of the idea”

Patsy O’Brien from the Carlow Association said – “I would appreciate a token of remembrance in aid of the memory of the Irish who built Digbeth. It’s a sad fact that we have a lack of communication between each other today on certain aspects even given our current access to technology, what will it be like for our future generations if we don’t act now?”

Former lord mayor of Birmingham Mike Nangle – “Why not? It would take a considerable amount of thought and planning to perfect a symbol that was fitting and of good class. I wouldn’t like to see anything made of plastic or caricature like. A serious sculpture for a serious era.”

John Fitzgerald, Proprietor of Minstrel Music Shop – “It would be a nice thought for the future, but we need to develop an Irish quarter first. There needs to be a solid square that is easily identifiable as the Irish quarter, and then make plans”.

What are your views?
How do you feel about having a permanent memorial dedicated to the Irish that helped to build the Birmingham we know today?
What would you like to see as a fitting tribute to the hard work of generations gone before us?
Send in your thoughts/ideas to The Harp and we will publish them in the October edition.
The Harp (Midlands) Ltd., 17 Glenavon Road, Kings Heath, Birmingham B14 5DD or email: office@theharpnews.com.