This is an excerpt from an article titled The Navvy by Neil Storey in April's Family Tree Magazine:
Irish or English?
A popular misconception is that the navvies were predominantly of Irish stock but a study of 19th-century British railway contracts, which coincided with census returns (The Railway Navvy: 'That Despicable Race of Men'. by David Brooke, David & Charles, 1983), suggests the majority of navvies working in Britain were actually English. This may have been true, but Irish workers were never keen on any type of official registration or records, so the actual numbers at work in Britain cannot be accurately asecrtained. I think Brooke's remark that 'only the ubiquitous Irish can be regarded as a truly international force in railway constrcution' is true and is one of the few certain statements we can make about these workers.
Also Irish workers tended to stand out - Irish voices could be heard wherever navvies were found and, because they were more noticeable, they were oftenb blamed for disturbances and minor riots. Mix this with anti-Irish feelings and fears among the British populace throughout the 19th century and it's hardly surprising that navvies were all tarred with the same brush.
Railway engineer Peter Lecount said of navvies in 1831: 'These banditti, known in some parts of England by the name of "Navvies" or "Navigators", and in others that of "Bankers", are generally the terror of the surrounding country: they are as complete a class by themselves as the Gipsies. Possessed of all the daring recklessness of the Smuggler, without any of his redeeming qualities, their ferocious behaviour can only be equalled by the brutality of their language. It may be truly said, their hand is against every man, and before they have been long located, every man's hand is against them.'
www.family-tree.co.uk
Irish or English?
A popular misconception is that the navvies were predominantly of Irish stock but a study of 19th-century British railway contracts, which coincided with census returns (The Railway Navvy: 'That Despicable Race of Men'. by David Brooke, David & Charles, 1983), suggests the majority of navvies working in Britain were actually English. This may have been true, but Irish workers were never keen on any type of official registration or records, so the actual numbers at work in Britain cannot be accurately asecrtained. I think Brooke's remark that 'only the ubiquitous Irish can be regarded as a truly international force in railway constrcution' is true and is one of the few certain statements we can make about these workers.
Also Irish workers tended to stand out - Irish voices could be heard wherever navvies were found and, because they were more noticeable, they were oftenb blamed for disturbances and minor riots. Mix this with anti-Irish feelings and fears among the British populace throughout the 19th century and it's hardly surprising that navvies were all tarred with the same brush.
Railway engineer Peter Lecount said of navvies in 1831: 'These banditti, known in some parts of England by the name of "Navvies" or "Navigators", and in others that of "Bankers", are generally the terror of the surrounding country: they are as complete a class by themselves as the Gipsies. Possessed of all the daring recklessness of the Smuggler, without any of his redeeming qualities, their ferocious behaviour can only be equalled by the brutality of their language. It may be truly said, their hand is against every man, and before they have been long located, every man's hand is against them.'
www.family-tree.co.uk
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