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Transatlantic steerage fares, British and Irish migration, and return migration, 1815–60

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  • John Killick

Abstract

type="main"> This article argues that the massive increase in transatlantic British and Irish emigration after 1840 was enabled by declining fares and ocean travel costs. New series of transatlantic steerage fares drawn from the unique Cope Line records at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania (HSP) show westward fares fell rapidly from 1830. Adjusted for British and US manual wages, westward travel costs, including provisions, almost halved between 1847 and 1851–3, when Irish migration peaked. Hence although the Irish had to leave Ireland, they might not otherwise have gone so extensively to North America. Eastward travel costs also fell after 1830, encouraging an unexpectedly large return migration to Britain in the late1850s, and maybe earlier.

Suggested Citation

  • John Killick, 2014. "Transatlantic steerage fares, British and Irish migration, and return migration, 1815–60," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 67(1), pages 170-191, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ehsrev:v:67:y:2014:i:1:p:170-191
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/1468-0289.12014
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Brandon Dupont & Alka Gandhi & Thomas Weiss, 2012. "The long‐term rise in overseas travel by Americans, 1820–2000," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 65(1), pages 144-167, February.
    2. Grubb, Farley, 1994. "The End of European Immigrant Servitude in the United States: An Economic Analysis of Market Collapse, 1772–1835," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 54(4), pages 794-824, December.
    3. Simon Kuznets & Ernest Rubin, 1954. "Immigration and the Foreign Born," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number kuzn54-1, May.
    4. Cohn,Raymond L., 2009. "Mass Migration under Sail," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521513227.
    5. Simon Kuznets & Ernest Rubin, 1954. "Appendices to "Immigration and the Foreign Born"," NBER Chapters, in: Immigration and the Foreign Born, pages 85-107, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
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    Cited by:

    1. Brandon Dupont & Drew Keeling & Thomas Weiss, 2017. "First Cabin Fares from New York to the British Isles, 1826–1914," Research in Economic History, in: Research in Economic History, volume 33, pages 19-63, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    2. Cormac Ó Gráda, 2018. "The Next World and the New World: Relief, Migration, and the Great Irish Famine," Working Papers 201821, School of Economics, University College Dublin.
    3. Hatton, Timothy J., 2023. "Emigrant Voyages from the UK to North America and Australasia, 1853-1913," IZA Discussion Papers 16281, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. George Deltas & Richard Sicotte, 2017. "Cartel Organization, Price Discrimination, and Selection of Transatlantic Migrants: 1899–1911," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 83(3), pages 668-704, January.
    5. Hatton, Timothy J., 2023. "Time on the Crossing: Emigrant Voyages across the Atlantic, 1853 to 1913," IZA Discussion Papers 16274, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

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