Migration and Medical Education

Irish-born individuals made up a small but important proportion of the medical students attending the University of Glasgow's medical school in the second half of the nineteenth century. They in turn constituted a key part of the largely ignored middle-class Irish migration to Victorian Britain. This paper examines the origins, experiences and later careers of these individuals in Glasgow and beyond. It argues that they came to Glasgow for economic, social and academic reasons. They saw a Scottish education as better equipping them for a medical career and advancement in the profession. Also, underlying their actions may well have been a realisation that personal and professional progress would always necessitate emigration out of Ireland.