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‘A Source of Sad Annoyance’: The Irish and Crime in South Wales, 1841–81

This study seeks to explore the concept of the Irish ‘Other’ by reference to a range of hitherto little-used records from petty sessions, priests and police in Glamorgan in order to expose the limitations of the stereotype of ‘the criminal Irish’. In particular, it examines the perceptions and realities surrounding the Irish threat to property, persons and the community in Victorian South Wales. By examining contemporary attitudes through each stage of the legal process, this essay not only highlights the significance of deploying an additional identifying label in the study of the relationship between overwhelmingly poor Irish migrants and crime, that of the Roman Catholic criminal, but also offers a specifically Welsh perspective on the subject.