Abstract
Mid-Victorian British characterizations of Ireland and much of its population blamed race and “moral character” for the widespread poverty on the island. The Irish poor were portrayed as a “race apart” whose inherent failings were at least partly to blame for the mortality they suffered during the Great Famine of 1845–1852. Recent excavations at Kilkenny workhouse and Spike Island convict prison have produced skeletal assemblages from this critical period. These collections have enabled bioarchaeological analysis of parameters mentioned by the Victorians as indicative of the distinctiveness of the Irish poor: stature, interpersonal violence, and tobacco use. Bioarchaeological data indicate that the differences between Irish and British populations in stature and risk of violence were exaggerated. Such characterizations, we argue, were part of a strategy of “Othering” that served to legitimize colonial domination. This exertion of power did not go uncontested, as the pattern of tobacco use may be indicative of forms of passive resistance.
Highlights
Whether or not Ireland can be viewed as a colony has been the matter of debate among historians (McDonough 2005; Howe 2008)
While most definitions of colonial enterprises place an emphasis on economic and political relationships, usually in the context of the settlement of a group of people in a new location, Orser noted how the operation of colonialism can be considered at multiple levels
When comparing social class—as determined from burial contexts—there was no significant difference in violence-related injuries (VRIs) rates, with the exception of nasal fractures, which were more common in high-status individuals interred in crypts
Summary
Whether or not Ireland can be viewed as a colony has been the matter of debate among historians (McDonough 2005; Howe 2008). To investigate whether there was a height discrepancy between Irish and English populations during the 19th century, femoral lengths (as a proxy for stature) from the Kilkenny Union Workhouse and Spike Island samples were compared with 19th-century human skeletal samples (n=263) from London (Wellcome Osteological Research Database 2016) The latter samples derive from the lower social-status burial grounds of St. Bride Lower on Farringdon Street and Crossbones in Southwark, and Chelsea Old Church in Chelsea, which was used by the middle to upper social classes (Table 2). Cranial-vault blunt-force trauma was present in 6.3% (12/190) of the Kilkenny males and 5.1% (9/175) of the females, a difference which was not statistically significant (χ2=0.231, df=1, p=0.631) This is an interesting observation, as it runs contrary to the commonly perceived pattern of violence in human skeletal samples (Novak 2017), but perhaps reveals aspects of gender relations among the poor in mid-19thcentury Ireland. For those who left Ireland in the 19th century, the continuous use of the clay pipe in their country of adoption could have been a means of expressing their national identity (Cook 1997; Reckner and Brighton 1999)
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