Out of Mayo, Into Little Ireland: The Unvarnished Documentary Truth of the Southport Regans

When researching working-class family history, lazy online algorithms and automated genealogy websites are the enemy of truth. Just as third-party hints once tried to invent a fictional background for my maternal grandfather, Eugene Gshwinder, commercial memorial databases have spread flat-out falsehoods about my paternal grandfather, Private Patrick Regan, claiming he was "born in Widnes, Lancashire, in 1891."

I don't rely on best guesses or automated tree-stitching. I work on certified ink, original census enumerators' books, parish registers, and contemporary press reports. When you lay the actual primary documents side by side, a far more powerful story emerges. It is an unbroken chain proving that our family fled County Mayo during the Great Famine, settled in Southport's Little Ireland at the top of Fleetwood Road by 1851, ran local trades, endured the brutal 1890s Hesketh estate clearances—which the contemporary press openly called "wiping out the Irish colony"—and fought for Britain in the First World War.

Here is the documented paper trail, step by step.

1. From County Mayo to Back Vicar Street, Preston (1847–1851)

My great-great-grandparents, James Regan and Sarah "Sally" Kerrigan (spelled variously as Keregan and Kerigan by Victorian clerks), came out of County Mayo, Ireland, during the height of the Great Famine.

By 30 March 1851, the Public Record Office census (H.O. 107/2267, Schedule 113) records the family lodging at 6 Back Vicar Street, Preston—a dense terraced court in the heart of Preston's own Victorian Irish quarter, long since demolished. That single census sheet also captures their first foothold on English soil after crossing the Irish Sea:

• James Regan. Age 40, Labourer, born Ireland.
• Sally Regan. Age 40, born Ireland.
• Bridget Regan. Age 14, born Ireland.
• Mary Regan. Age 12, born Ireland.
• Mark Regan. Age 10, born Ireland (my great-grandfather).
• Patrick Regan. Age 4, explicitly recorded in the birthplace column as Cheshire, Chester—proving James and Sally passed through Chester around 1846–1847 before moving north to Preston, and that they named a younger son after him when this first Patrick died in childhood (a lead I am currently cross-checking against original Chester parish registers).

Above:  Original 1851 Census return (H.O. 107/2267) showing James and Sally Regan with their children Bridget, Mary, Mark (10), and four-year-old Patrick (recorded as born in Chester, Cheshire) at 6 Back Vicar Street, Preston.

2. Arrival on the Southport Coast (September 1851)

The family did not stay in Preston's cotton district for long. Just over five months after the Preston census was taken, James Regan and Sarah Regan (née Keregan) stood at the font of St. Marie's on the Sands in Southport on 14 September 1851 to baptise their newborn daughter Sarah (born 4 September 1851, with sponsors John Garry and Ann Brohony).

That single parish register entry pins down the exact summer of 1851 when our family relocated across the Ribble estuary to North Meols. They put down roots in Marshside over forty years before the 1893 eviction orders were ever signed.

Above: St. Marie's on the Sands baptismal record confirming the birth of Sarah Regan to James Regan and Sarah née Keregan in Southport on 4 September 1851.

3. Building a Community in Little Ireland (1861–1881)

While Victorian civic leaders and wealthy landowners sneered at the sandhill cottages at the northern end of Fleetwood Road as a "dark spot" on the town, the original census books prove that our family were hardworking, self-reliant pillars of the settlement.

• The 1861 Census (RG 9/2760, Page 12, Schedule 58). Enumerated at New Ireland, North Meols, James (50, Agricultural Labourer) and Sarah (50, Washerwoman) live alongside their 19-year-old son Mark Regan (Agricultural Labourer), married daughter Bridget and son-in-law John Kerrigan, and 14-year-old daughter Sarah.
• The 1870 Marriage Certificate. On 24 December 1870, Mark Regan (Labourer of Little Ireland, son of James Regan, Labourer) married Ellen Wilkinson (of Manchester Road, Windermere-born daughter of William Wilkinson, Blacksmith) at St. Marie's on the Sands. Both bride and groom signed their names clearly in ink.
• The 1871 Census (RG 10/3873, Folio 82, Page 17, Schedule 86). Now officially written in the margin as Little Ireland, the enumerator explicitly recorded Ireland, County Mayo as the birthplace for James (60), Sarah (60), and Mark (28). They lived alongside Mark's new wife Ellen (20, Seamstress), with fellow Mayo kinsmen Patrick and Grace Kerigan living two doors down at Schedule 88.
• The 1881 Census (RG11/3747, Folio 112, Pages 17 & 18). After James Regan died at Little Ireland on 30 December 1878 (aged 69, certified on his death certificate as a Licensed Hawker), the 1881 census shows his widow Sarah Regan (aged 75, born Connaught, Ireland) running her own business as a Shopkeeper in Little Ireland. She lived directly next door to Mark Regan (36, Bricklayer's Labourer), Ellen (30), and their growing young family (John, William, Annie, and baby James).

Above: Four consecutive primary records tracking James, Sarah, Mark, and Ellen Regan inside Little Ireland between 1861 and 1881.

Above: Early-1900s postcard ("Cockle Gatherers at Southport") showing the Marshside shore trade—raking and washing cockles by horse and cart—worked for decades by the families of Little Ireland, the exact local produce that a Licensed Hawker like my great-great-grandfather James Regan sold across town.

• The 1874 St. Marie's Latin Baptismal Register. Original church microfiche records from St. Marie's on the Sands confirm that on 15 February 1874, Father Henry Cooke baptised Maria (Mary) Regan (born 11 February 1874), daughter of Mark Regan (Marci Regan) and Ellen Regan, formerly Wilkinson (Eleanoræ Regan olim Wilkinson), with Simon Howard and Winifred O'Hara standing as godparents. Tragically, parish burial records show baby Mary passed away just eight months later in October 1874—a quiet reminder of the infant loss endured by Little Ireland families behind the official census lines.

Above: Original Latin baptismal register microfiche from St. Marie's on the Sands recording the birth (11 February 1874) and baptism (15 February 1874) of Maria (Mary) Regan, daughter of Mark Regan and Ellen née Wilkinson.

Four years later, on 22 September 1878, Father Henry Cooke baptised their daughter Anna (Annie) Regan (born 9 September 1878, written phonetically in the Latin register by the priest's ear as Ryan and Watkinson, with fellow Mayo relatives Marcus and Anna Garvey standing as godparents)—matching three-year-old Annie Regan on our 1881 Little Ireland census.

Above: Original Latin baptismal register microfiche from St. Marie's on the Sands recording the birth (9 September 1878) and baptism (22 September 1878) of Anna (Annie) Regan, daughter of Mark Regan and Ellen née Wilkinson.

4. Exposing the "Widnes, 1891" Lie: The Birth of Patrick Regan (1890)

Online memorial profiles for my grandfather, Private Patrick Regan, state that he was "born in Widnes, Lancashire, in 1891." That is completely false. It is a classic example of automated genealogy software stitching the wrong family onto a soldier's record.

I hold his certified General Register Office birth certificate (Entry No. 84, Ormskirk Registration District, North Meols Sub-District), and the official ink leaves zero room for argument.

• Date of Birth. 26 September 1890.
• Place of Birth. Little Ireland, Southport U.S.D.
• Father. Mark Regan, Plasterer's Labourer.
• Mother. Ellen Regan, formerly Wilkinson (who registered the birth herself as a resident at Little Ireland on 7 November 1890).

My grandfather was born and raised right inside Little Ireland.

He grew up there as the youngest child in Mark and Ellen Regan's close-knit Little Ireland household alongside his older brothers John, William, James, and Martin, and his sister Annie (following the earlier loss of two infant sisters, Mary in 1874 and Sarah in 1889).

• John Regan (born c. 1871–1872). The eldest son, he worked as a plasterer alongside his father, Mark, by 1891.
• Maria / Mary Regan (born 11 February 1874 – died October 1874). Baptised at St. Marie's on the Sands, passing away in infancy at eight months old.
• William Regan (born c. 1875–1876). Working as an errand boy in Southport at age 15 in 1891.
• Anna / Annie Regan (born 9 September 1878). Baptised at St. Marie's with Mayo godparents Marcus and Anna Garvey, and recorded as a 13-year-old scholar in 1891.
• James Regan (born c. 1880–1881). Named after his County Mayo grandfather James Regan, listed as an infant on the 1881 census and a 10-year-old scholar in 1891.
• Martin Regan (born c. 1882–1883). Later a Southport window cleaner living on Kew Road and Stamford Road, right down the street from Patrick's widow Rhoda.
• Sarah Regan (born 22 November 1887 – died August 1889). Named after her grandmother Sarah Kerrigan, baptised at St. Marie's, and lost in early childhood.
• Patrick J. Regan (born 26 September 1890 – died 21 May 1917). My grandfather, the youngest child of the family, was born in Little Ireland before serving in the 14th King's Liverpool Regiment.

Above: Certified GRO Birth Certificate (Entry No. 84, Ormskirk District) proving Patrick Regan was born at Little Ireland, Southport, on 26 September 1890 to Mark Regan and Ellen Wilkinson.

5. "Wiping Out the Irish Colony": Anti-Irish Prejudice and the 1893 Clearances

In September 1893, Southport magistrates and the Hesketh estate moved to clear Little Ireland rather than invest in basic drainage, turning the community's land over to the expansion of Hesketh Golf Club. That clearance did not happen in a vacuum. Across Victorian Britain—and sharply in a fashionable resort town like Southport—anti-Irish hostility was woven into everyday life, local policing, and municipal politics. For over forty years, the estate collected weekly rents from Little Ireland without providing basic sanitation, yet the Irish tenants were treated with open contempt and stigmatised in the press as a "dark spot" on the town.

Contemporary newspapers did not disguise the double standard. On Monday, 11 September 1893, the Northern Daily Telegraph ran the headline "WIPING OUT THE IRISH COLONY AT SOUTHPORT", reporting:

"To-day the Southport magistrates granted ejectment orders against 24 persons occupying cottages at Little Ireland, Southport, yielding a gross rent of £2 14s a week, the owner being Mrs Hesketh, the lady of the manor. The Irish colony will now be nearly wiped out. Several tenants said they could not find houses for their families, one of them adding that he had also twelve pigs."

Above: Residents outside their stone cottages in Little Ireland alongside the 11 September 1893 Northern Daily Telegraph report ("Wiping Out the Irish Colony at Southport").

When those 24 ejectment orders were handed down in September 1893, my grandfather Patrick Regan was a toddler of nearly three. My great-great-grandmother Sarah Regan refused to be driven out easily. Her certified death certificate (Entry No. 3, Ormskirk District) proves that she lived and died right inside Little Ireland, Southport, on 27 March 1898 at the age of 84, with her daughter-in-law Ellen Regan (also still residing at Little Ireland) at her bedside. Both James (1878) and Sarah (1898) received their funeral rites through St. Marie's on the Sands and were laid to rest in Southport's Roman Catholic burial ground.

Above: Certified GRO death records and St. Marie's parish burial entries confirming both James Regan (1878) and Sarah Regan (1898) died at Little Ireland, Southport.

Scorched Earth Eviction Policy on the Sandhills: How Little Ireland's Irish Community Was Erased

What happened at the top end of Fleetwood Road between 1893 and 1904 was not compassionate slum clearance—it was the systematic erasure of a settled Irish working-class community to make way for elite leisure.

For over forty years, the Hesketh estate collected weekly rents from nearly fifty cottages without installing basic drainage or privies. When civic authorities finally moved in under the Public Health Act, the estate refused to spend a penny improving the homes of its Irish tenants. Instead, magistrates issued mass ejectment orders in September 1893, offering zero alternative housing to families who pleaded in court that they had nowhere else to go.

Even then, stubborn residents like my great-great-grandmother Sarah Regan held out inside Little Ireland until her death in March 1898.

To ensure the displaced families could never return, the remaining empty cottages were ordered to be burned to the ground under police supervision in 1902, with the final rubble cleared by 1904. Only a single stone building was spared from the flames: the tiny cottage that had served as St. Patrick's Roman Catholic school, which was repurposed as the greenkeeper's lodge for Hesketh Golf Club. Where fifty Irish families once raised their children, tended livestock, and worked the Ribble cockle beds, wealthy golfers now teed off over the ashes.

 

The Original Homeland on Paper. This Victorian Ordnance Survey map (above) captures the real community of Little Ireland nestled in the Marshside sandhills beside New Inn, Bank Nook, and Knob Hall Lane—showing the exact cottages and School (the original St. Patrick's chapel-school) where our County Mayo families lived and worked for decades.

Erased for the Golf Elite. Every dwelling marked around Little Ireland on this map was systematically cleared, burned, and wiped off the landscape by the Hesketh estate between 1893 and 1904 so Southport's privileged golf fraternity could tee off across the fairways of Hesketh Golf Club, forcing the displaced community to rebuild further inland down Marshside Road.  

Above: Site of Little Ireland today and the surviving whitewashed schoolhouse (now Hesketh Golf Club's greenkeeper's lodge), marked on the golf course side of Fleetwood Road directly opposite Fleetwood Hall.

6. Beneath the Hesketh Fairways: From Little Ireland to Salonika (1911–1917)

In the June Quarter of 1911 (registered in Ormskirk, Vol. 8b, Page 1357 / Lancashire BMD RM/54/190), Patrick J. Regan married Rhoda Howard (born 7 May 1890 at Shaftesbury Road, Birkdale, to Carter John Howard and Margaret Rimmer). When the First World War erupted, the boy born in Little Ireland enlisted in Southport as Private 13560 in the 14th (Service) Battalion, The King's (Liverpool Regiment), a battalion raised at Seaforth in October 1914 and deployed to the Macedonian front in November 1915.

Think of the bitter irony of what followed. While Southport's comfortable elite enjoyed peaceful rounds of golf across the expanded fairways of Hesketh Golf Club—built directly on top of the demolished cottages of Little Ireland—a young man born in that very "wiped out" Irish community was bleeding to death for their King and Empire. 

Above: Rhoda's Birth certificate and my grandfather, Patrick Regan, along with his war grave in Salonika. 

Following heavy fighting against Bulgarian forces during the Battles of Doiran in April and May 1917, official Commonwealth War Graves Commission records confirm that Private Patrick Regan died of wounds on Monday, 21 May 1917, aged 26, leaving Rhoda a war widow at 80 Stamford Road, Birkdale. He lies in Grave 10 at Salonika (Lembet Road) Military Cemetery in Greece.

Like John Carpenter's The Fog, a buried injustice never truly stays silent beneath the turf.

Today, the cottages of Little Ireland are gone, with only the old schoolhouse surviving as Hesketh Golf Club's greenkeeper's lodge. 

Complacent local history may prefer to gloss over how an entire Irish community was driven out for a golf course, but the certified paper trail survives. It stands as permanent proof of who our family were, the sacrifice my grandfather made, and the community they built on the Marshside sands.

My work is not finished yet. Having tracked their lives across every census and certificate, I am now actively hunting down the exact burial plots of my great-great-grandparents James Regan (died 1878) and Sarah "Sally" Regan (died 1898) in the Roman Catholic ground of Southport's Duke Street Cemetery—to make sure their resting place is never forgotten.

And to the many other Southport and Marshside families whose ancestors once called Little Ireland their home—the Kerrigans, Gannons, Sweeneys, O'Haras, McGraths, Calligans, Flemings, Horans, and more—do not let misleading automated websites or polite local myths - fashioned out of deep-seated Victorian prejudice-  rewrite your history. 

Did your family also suffer from this brutal ethnic cleansing posing as social righteousness? Dig out your certificates, share your family's truth, and let's make sure the 'real' story of Little Ireland is heard and never forgotten!