1. The Irish at Work Lesson starter:
Name three areas of Scotland the Irish settled in and their reasons for doing so.
(3 marks)

2. Today we will… Understand the jobs that Irish settlers did
Understand their working conditions

3. Most Irish took any job they could get due to their poverty
Some Irish had useful skills e.g. those who had worked in textile industries
The work was often extremely dangerous
Hours were long
Wages were low
Men – weavers and labourers mainly
Women – cotton mills or steam looms
New Lanark cotton mill village

4. Comments on Irish workers – what do they tell us?
‘in any farm, you will find most of the men at work are Irish’
‘Irish at work in the coal mine are more obedient than natives… we could not do without them’
‘Lothian is invaded by numbers of Irish each year’
‘a few have raised themselves to the rank of shopkeepers…a few keep whisky shops’

5. Success Stories Most Irish workers did hard work for low wages
Some did very well
Sir Thomas Lipton