Canadian Association of Irish Studies Canadian Journal of Irish Studies Sources for Further Research: Irish Female Domestics in Canada: Evidence from the 1901 Census Sample Author(s): Kevin James Source: The Canadian Journal of Irish Studies, Vol. 31, No. 1, Irish-Canadian Connections / Les liens irlando-canadiens (Spring, 2005), pp. 86-89 Published by: Canadian Association of Irish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25515563 Accessed: 18-06-2015 17:26 UTC
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Kevin JAMES
Further
for
Sources
from the
Evidence
servants occupy a prominent place
in studies of female immigration to America and Canada in studies
of
social
as
prevalent
broader
in the
later
of
face
changing
and
economic
social,
domestic
was
intersection
the
what
of
female
domestic
are
the
Table
1
of
the
Place
of Birth of Female
cultural
implications in late-Victorian
service
8 percent
were
servants,
in
greater
number than all of the other districts of the United Kingdom combined (the overall English-born population of Canada in 1901 was 3.8 percent).
servant
Irish
if not,
and,
century
in
gendered
stereotyping1, and the
and migration2, and labour.3 But
ethnicity
gender,
ethnic
a focus
become
have
They
mobility,
work
of
experiences of
century.
Sample
1901 Census
Irishgeneral domestic
the mid-nineteenth
in Canada
Domestics
Female
Irish
Research:
Canada?
preliminary research seeks to locate Irish female domestic servants in Canada in 1901, highlighting the utility
1901 Census
Servants
and Maids
(n.=4,281)
Sample
This of
one
of
continuing
These the
opened
and
social
demographic,
of
with
detailed
domestic
on
draws
research
a national
in Canada
service
samples into
Place of BirthPercent Canada
78.7
Ontario
have
studies
Nova
which
girls
servants
Irish-born
place
alongside at the service
can more
in domestic
engaged in turn
women
other turn
of
can our of advance the help understanding in Canada, Irish migrant and the experiences ethnic of the largest recorded female changing complexion most of the nineteenth and category occupational through centuries. early-twentieth
This
character
of
Considerable
are noticeable
1870s.7 There
proportion from
grouping. numbers
records
sample of
Ireland
on
data
following from the 4,281
percent
and
patterns
immigration
paid
domestic
female
servants
data were
suggest
second-largest 4 percent of
that
in 1901, most
largest those
the
recorded
in domestic
86 JAMES
Irish Female Domestics
2.2 percent
service
were
U.K.
of
immigrant
the English,
0.1
"Keewatin"
0.02
"Canada"
1.7
8.4
England Ireland
3.9
2.2
Scodand U.S.A.
2.0
Newfoundland
0.9 0.7
Germany Iceland
0.6
Other*
2.2
0.3
Unknown/Illegible/None * In no
case
is any birth
than 0.4 percent
While
who
domestic
of
in this category
place the sample.
claimed
more
by
female
work
the Irish-born clearly did not predominate such
service,
occupation those who
none-Canadian-born
represented
substantial
North-West
Alberta
in the 5 the
their total, sample were double 1.9 percent the of the country's that was Irish-born. 1.6 percent Scots, who were
population of the population domestics. The
1.2 0.1
are drawn
servants
Canadian-born:
the
about
service
in Canada.
servants
female
of
female
the
in the complexion
conditions
Irish-born
1901.8 The
to
reflect broader changes in
economic
from
were
At
been
changes
in 1901 which
of the workforce The
already
level of Irish females in domestic
disproportionate in the
has
attention
0.2
Manitoba
and
the century.
5.3
2.0
British Colunbia
closely examine a trend which Marilyn Barber identified as the disappearance of the Irish Bridget by the Great War6 and
Brunswick
P.E.I.
reconstruct
we
So doing,
8.1
Scotia
New
service in 1871,4 to
39.2 21.1
Quebec
the
nineteenth
urban
sample
in 1901.5
(and
are
of Canadian
inquiries of history
have illuminated Canadian urban domestic this
been
micro-data
economic
In contrast
Canada.
have
by a consortium
public-use to a range
door
that
samples
to be) developed
universities.
century
census
several
related
for
to
of such workers was
sample lower than
Irish-born an
recorded
was
work
the
females. occupation household
personal
principal 34.7
Indeed, in the
The
higher those who
that
were
of
Scottish-born
born
cohort at over
inCanada
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in
England
some
proportion
in the Irish-born female population than
of
percent listed
sample
service.
in
recorded
females, and
in the but
inWales.9
2
Table
a
as
Servants
Various
of
Proportion
of the U.K.,
Countries
Country of Birth
45
England Ireland Scodand over
#
Females
Wales
Just
half
Female
of
Immigrants
1901 Census
Sample
Servants per 100
of Servants
English Irish 21.1
24.0
Scottish
17.5
6.5
1,902
4.9 were
Catholic,
followed by Episcopalians and Presbyterians. This is further evidence that the stereotype of the Irish Catholic "biddy" which dominates American scholarship cannot easily be to
applied shown Irish
that
the
periodisation related differences
Irish
of
experience
features
Irish
have
the Canadian of
America's The
century.
to the two
immigrants,
two
does
not,
dominated by
Table 3 of
Irish-born
Female
Proportion of Female Servant (%)
in the
servant
domestic
was
Irish
by "tribal
female or
servants,
racial"
outnumbered
there was though servants who
colleagues, Canadian-born
claimed Irish ethnic origins. Indeed, English
origins were followed
by
origin.
4
Ethnic
Origins of Female Servants 1901 Census Sample (n.=4,281)
6.1
Other*
4.6
service
domestic
and Maids
Irish-born
if we analyse (1) and
life-cycle
links
and
this
centuries. There early-twentieth the age structure of immigrant domestic
paid and
ageing,
was
period
in
labour
were
in Canada
and between
the Irish a very
expressing the
raising
population
living and working
immigrants and the Irish from
arrived
emigrant marked of
domestic
life-cycle,
Irish-born
young
ports
service women
by the markedly servants,
English-born
for
Irish-born
especially
as
on
their
of
to 25,692
historically
a much
Scots
linked
smaller
pool fell. This is
numbers
higher average ages of in
total
Between
female domestic
compared
drew
in the
points
proportion to Canada.
Kingdom
54,396 English
at ocean
the
at other
than
a smaller
the United
during
preference
in Canada. Overall numbers
lower
were
for instance,
1904-14, servants
age
were
the Irish-born cohort
structure
America,12
Irish
service:11
Irish
to Canadian
comparison
counterparts:
6
of Domestic Average Ages of Birth, Places By Selected
Country
Servants 1901
(n.=4,258)
AverageAge
Ireland 42 Scotland
35
U.S.A.
29
England Canada
30 27
Wales
27 Other1 24 Newfoundland
23
Percent
28.3 English French 22.0 Irish Scottish 16.6 German
later-nineteenth strong
and
and English-born by Canadiana much of higher proportion
Only those records with ages recorded have been calculated in these averages. * The "other those servants and maids for category" comprises a whom place of birth was specified.
21.2
in domestic service was Employment historically highly correlated to age, with periods of such paid work usually
1.2
Unknown/Illegible/None** *
paid
between
of
position
sample.
amongst females of all ethnic origins and places of birth; and (2) the broader contours of Irish irnrnigration to Canada
Table
claimed
the
than 0.83%of
the relationship
to
1.2
commonly and then French,
to understand
begin
more
service workforce
0.6
most
by
females in the domestic
confirmed
female
claimed
and only 8,983 Irish.13As an occupation
0.6
(Race/Tribe"
can
We
domestic
Irish-born
Table
* In no case is any one origin
of
Movement
1.3
Unknown/Illegible/None
immigrants
1.8
Congregationalist
The
2.9
century,
Presbyterian 13.0 Methodist 7.1
Quaker
Other*
Servants
(n.=169)
Sample
Denomination Roman Catholic 53.8 Church of England 21.9
Holiness
6.0
of
1901 Census
Baptist
German
cohorts
scholarship.
Denominations
27.1
were
populations.10
servants
a historiography
and
countries,
for
regions in the
immigrant
therefore, fit neady within American
of that
nineteenth
immigration in source
to distinctive
contributed
the
studies
Indeed
complexion contrasted with in
points of
The
confessional cohort
immigrant at many
Irish
Canada.
turn-of-the-century
Servants & Maids
Percent
8.6
94 servants
"
'RaceI Tribe French
4,206 2,591
Irish-born
Table 5 Ethnic Origins of Can.-born Female 1901 Census Sample (n.= 3,371)
offemale pop.
817.8 361 169
the
from
In no case is any one origin claimed ** one "FRE Includes (SCOT)"
by more
preceding than
.07% of
marriage.
After
marriage
many
women
withdrew
sample CJIS/RCfil
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31:1 87
service. In 1901, 86.6 percent of the
from paid domestic of
sample
and
widowed,
6 percent
was
servants
domestic
female
married.14
7.2 percent single, the Irish a much
Amongst
(17.9 percent) and high proportion were both widowed married (10.7 percent). As Irish immigration to Canada slowed, the bulk of women who had participated in domestic in their
earlier
service and were
not
from
Irish-born
by replaced Irish-born females
Those
numbers.
lives had withdrawn
such work, in
immigrants
who
remained
in domestic
employment were drawn in relatively high proportions women
in more
Table
advanced
the
of
stages
equal
from
life-cycle.
7
1st Quartile 1864 1881
Median 1883 1890
England
1884
1890
of records which
The
number
291
for England
3rdQuartile 1892 1896
this data was
1 See, for instance, Maureen of the Irish Servant Girl
and Biddy: 1880-1890"
Murphy, "Bridget in Puck Cartoons,
on the Irish ed. Charles Perspectives Diaspora, Fanning Southern Illinois University 152-75. Press, 2000), Barber's
have
studies in Canada.
service
illuminated
See,
for
in Canada
Servants
(Ottawa: Canadian Ontario Welcomed:
"The Women
Images in New
(Carbondale:
the
of experience Immigrant Domestic
instance,
Historical
Association,
1991); for
Domestics
Immigrant
Ontario
in The Neglected Majority: Essays in Homes, 1870-1930," Canadian Women's History no\. 2, eds. Alison Prentice and Susan Mann Trofimenkoff and Stewart 102-21; (Toronto: McClelland 1987),
for British Girls, inLooking intoMy Sisters 1900-30" "Sunny Ontario inWomen's History, ed. Jean Burnet (Toronto: Eyes: An Exploration Multicultural of Ontario, "The 55-73; History 1986), Society Women Ontario Welcomed: Domestics for Ontario Immigrant
1896
included
I am grateful for the Ireland-Canada Foundation's University support of this research, and to Dr. Kris Inwood and team members in the 1891 census digitisation of Guelph project at the University for advice on this piece. Data in this analysis is drawn from the 1901 census Families Project. by The Canadian sample developed
2 Marilyn domestic
Quartiles forYear of Immigration of Female Servants and Maids from Ireland, Scotland and England, 1901 Census Country Ireland Scodand
Notes:
117 for Ireland,
Homes,
Ontario History,
1870-1930,"
Lorna
and 69 for Scodand.
R. McLean
and Marilyn
Barber,
72:3
(1980): "In Search
148-72.
See also
of Comfort
and
Irish Immigrant Domestic Servants Encounter the inNineteenth-Century in Sisters Courts, Jails, and Asylums Ontario," or Strangers? Immigrant, Ethnic, andRaciaUyed Women in Canadian History, Independence:
There are a number of agenda for which census
of
exploration to what extent were
overall
this preliminary
a foundation.
data features
provides of the domestic
One
servant
asks cohort
to
influences. We know that immigrant regional as we move the different westward15; given of in the Canada's composition population regions,
subject
numbers
increased
ethnic
we might find that the Irish-born occupy different positions in workforces.16 regional servants had a propensity constituted
they
5.8
of
populations
1,000
We
also
to work
that
while
Irish-born
centres:
servants
of
percent or more,
know in urban
in 1901,
in centres
with servants
Canadian-born
stood at 74.3 percent. The varied complexion of populations and
domestic
service
in
workforces
these
diverse
us that the study of such servants' work a of a "Canadian" narrative homogenizing experience. are also to draw and contrasts interesting comparisons
environments resists There with
remind
servants
domestic
America: States
as Australia in places such and to the United female immigration
Irish certainly remained much higher
affording opportunities there is a set of Last,
in the
for
later nineteenth
cultural
and
social
century,
study with
comparative
around the dissolution of the Irish biddy as the archetype of service. Did domestic immigrant contemporaries recognize the of the workforce, and did images changing complexion and discourses that surrounded servant the Irish girl, and servants domestic The generally, change? pronounced
contrast between servants have
which
examined
now
be
these
Claudette Barber, Marilyn in earlier decades and
in Canada
numbers
explored
place
by
the turn
using
of
birth,
of
new
this us
It allows
questions.
between
the high proportions
to
ethnicity,
the
of
structures
in years
of
base
empirical
declining
Minister
of
and others
Ontario,
1850-1930,
Irish Female Domestics
in Canada
(Toronto:
Shepard 71-125. 3
In histories
debates
of
have
to answer
the
relationship and work and will
Irish
and Canadian immigration.
in Canada,
1987).
See
also Genevieve in Women
1880-1920,"
eds. Janice Acton, Penny Goldsmith Canadian Women's Educational
Irish
revolved
servants immigrant around motivations
Leslie, and Work:
and Bonnie Press,
in the United behind
1974),
States,
key
independent whether the
female migration and paid domestic was motive great economic primary
labour, especially and promise of independence Erin's Daughters inAmerica: Irish Immigrant
(Hasia R. Diner, prosperity Women in theNineteenth Century
Press, [Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Ourselves 1983]) or expanded marriage opportunities (Janet Nolan, Alone: Women's Emigration 1885-1920 from Ireland, [Lexington: Press of Kentucky, are debates University 1989]). These neady summarised Kelleher,
in Kerby '"For Love
A. Miller, with David N. and Patricia Doyle and Liberty': Irish Women, and Migration
in Ireland and America, in The Irish World 1815-1920," Domesticity Wide: History, Heritage, Identity, vol. 4, Irish Women and Irish Migration, ed. Patrick O'Sullivan Press, 1995), (Leicester: Leicester University 41-65. of
Diane
M. Hotten-Somers
domestic
service
to
has proposed between relationships
to extend mistress
the study and maid
and how these operated within of powerful gender ideologies see "Moral Maids and Materialistic Mistresses: Irish domesticity; Domestic Servants and their American in 1850-1920," Employers, Walsh
Oonagh
Politics (Dublin:
and Professions Four Courts
in theNineteenth Press
2003),
Century, 108-118.
ed.
4
See Marilyn Barber's studies above; Lacelle, op. cit:,Courtney Harris, "Irish Women in Mid-Nineteenth Toronto: Century Image and of Guelph. thesis, University Experience" (unpublished M.A. 1999). 5 The
Canadian
Baskerville 88 JAMES
the Environment, Service
"Domestic
Ireland Abroad:
yield new insight into female immigration labour
Irish
modest relatively can twentieth century
examine gender
female
Lacelle
and Frances Swyripa (Toronto: Epp, Franca Iacovetta of Toronto Press, 2004), 133-60. Early works which drew University on local urban census from 1871 included Claudette manuscripts Urban Domestic Servants in 19th-century Canada Lacelle, (Ottawa:
Canada.
that revolve
questions
eds. Marlene
microdata
Families headed Project by Eric at the of Victoria have University enumeration sample from the Canadian
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Sager
and Peter
developed of 1901.
this
6 Barber,
Immigrant Domestic
in Canada,
Servants
11
9.
See B. W.
Melbourne 7 Lacelle, 8 This
op. cit., 76-7.
12 See Eric
data uses
the occupational by the Canadian coding developed in team to identify in Canada those engaged Project with all in Households": records Service hence,
Families "Personal
codes
occupational
beginning
with
"614"
are
employed
in this
survey. 9 At
sample profile
the number
45,
of
is low. Without
females more
returned
robust
of Canada's Welsh-born
10 See, for instance, and Canadian of Toronto
Cecil
J.Houston
Settlement Patterns, Links, Press,
^^^^^^^^^^L*
data,
population
as Welsh-born conclusions
in this about
J(Bl |y^TSi|jB^^^^^^^^^^B[
"A group of Irish maids."
Britannia's
2004),
13 Barber,
and Ireland
since
remainder
status,
recorded.
(Melbourne:
58.
Children: 1600
Emigration from England, Hambledon and
(London:
210-14.
Immigrant Domestic
14 The
15 Barber,
Smyth, Irish Emigration andEetters (Toronto: University
1990).
Richards,
in Australia
Service
2002),
of
in Canada,
Servants
the 4,281
females
had
2.
another,
or no, marital
the
are tenuous.
and WJ.
Press,
Scotland, Wales London,
Domestic
Higman,
University
16 Higman, proportion nineteenth-
Immigrant Domestic
Servants
in Canada,
8
in the variations regional op. cit., found significant servants the domestic of Australian-born throughout and early-twentieth
^^^^^m
From Hasia Diner's Erin's Daughters
centuries
Hill
of America
(61-3).
^H -r-*^iS^8ll^^^^^^^^^^^Bfc__
(1983), 87.
CJIS/RC?l31:l
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89
