Passenger list - Irish leaving Ireland to Liverpool

[Brenshaw]

I know some of my ancestors fled Ireland and migrated to other parts of the world.  I'm seeking to know what the major ports they departed from - is there and such list available.  I am looking for the period 1855 to 1863.   

[Elwyn Soutter]

There were never any passenger lists for journeys from Ireland to Britain. Until 1922 it was a short domestic journey and not one that officialdom had any need to collect passenger information on. (Generally, only collected on intercontinental journeys).

Main routes from Ireland to Liverpool were from Belfast & Dublin, but in the period you specify, Cork/Queenstown, Dundalk, Waterford, Sligo and Londonderry/Derry had passenger services too.

[Brenshaw]

Would there be any passenger lists for those that went to Ireland from Liverpool during the period 1841 to 1854 ?   so if my ancestors traveled to Liverpool from Mayo they would have done so by overland - horse and cart or by foot.  Did many leave via the port of Galway 

[Elwyn Soutter]

No, there have never been any passenger records on that sort of ferry route. It was a short domestic journey and officialdom had no interest in who was travelling (in either direction).

Yes people did sail to America from Galway though the numbers of ships diminished throughout the 1800s. Galway is not the biggest or deepest harbour and as the transatlantic ships got bigger, many could not fit in the harbour.

Liverpool was by far the biggest departure point for emigrants to North America and the rest of the world. In addition to migrants from Britain and Ireland, hundreds of thousands from all over Europe headed there too. So Liverpool was a sort of clearing house for migrants from all over Europe. Far more Irish left from Liverpool than did from Ireland itself. There were often 2 or 3 sailings a day from Liverpool whereas there might only be 5 or 6 a month from Ireland. Plus the shipping agents often threw the cost of the ferry from Ireland to Liverpool and a couple of nights in a seedy Boarding House in free as part of the package.

[Brenshaw]

My Great Grandfather and his brother came to Australia in 1863 departing from Liverpool on the boat Rockhampton.  I'm trying to figure out if they were assisted passengers from Ireland or Liverpool - is there a list or Agents and their listings   

[Elwyn Soutter]

As far as I can tell the only comprehensive information about migrants to Australia was gathered on arrival in Oz. Shipping agents in the UK and Ireland rarely kept records (or none that have survived). There must have been hundreds of agents in business judging by the number advertising in the papers. I have a random page from the Liverpool Daily Post for 29th April 1863 (which I can send you if you want) and most of the page is devoted to adverts for ships to Oz, New York, New Brunswick, Glasgow, Le Havre, Boston, Auckland. You name it!

In addition to adverts in the newspapers, most towns in Britain and Ireland had shipping agents who were often folk like the Postmaster or a Hotel owner, who got a little commission for taking bookings. Sort of early travel agents.