ABSTRACT
The notion of Catholics in Ireland on the eve of the Famine unacquainted with the discipline of Tridentine conformism will be a familiar one to those who have fallowed the unfolding debate upon the evolution of modern Irish society. Irish immigration into England and Wales showed a slow but steady rise throughout the first two decades of the nineteenth century, but was given a savage boost after the end of hostilities with France. The majority of Irish emigrants to London before 1830 hailed from Leinster, but in the decade before the Famine the main area of origin was Munster. Standards of religious observance among baptized Catholics on the British mainland during the century of Catholic expansion in the wake of the 1791 Relief Act have never been submitted to profound investigation. The notion of widespread Irish abstention from Catholic ritual in England is one that has remained very much on the dark side of the moon.
