Irish immigration to Mexico

Irish Mexicans (Spanish: Irlandés-mexicano or Hibernomexicano; Irish: Gael-Meicsiceach) are inhabitants of Mexico that are immigrants from or descendants of immigrants from Ireland. The majority of Irish immigrants to Mexico were Catholic.

Irish Mexican

Total population
446 Republic of Ireland-born residents (2015)[1] Unknown number of Mexicans of Irish descent
Languages
Mexican Spanish, English, Irish
Religion
Roman Catholicism
Related ethnic groups
other Irish diasporas

History

Tribute to the Irish soldiers who switched sides during the Mexican–American War at the Museo Nacional de las Intervenciones

During the colonial era, a few ethnic Irish entered Mexico. Notable among them were Governor of Yucatán and Texas Hugo Oconór and the last Viceroy of New Spain, Juan O'Donojú.

A few Mexican Irish communities existed in Mexican Texas until the Texas Revolution. Many Irish then sided with Catholic Mexico against Protestant pro-U.S. elements.[2] The Batallón de San Patricio was a largely (ethnically) Irish battalion of U.S. troops who deserted and fought alongside the Mexican Army against the United States in the Mexican–American War of 1846 to 1848.[3] In some cases, Irish immigrants or Americans left from California (the Irish Confederate army of Fort Yuma, Arizona during the American Civil War in 1861) and blended into Mexican society instead.[4]

Álvaro Obregón (O'Brien) was president of Mexico during 1920–1924 and Ciudad Obregón and its airport are named in his honor. Actor Anthony Quinn is another famous Mexican of Irish descent. There are also monuments in Mexico City paying tribute to those Irish who fought for Mexico in the 1800s.[5]

Notable Irish Mexicans

• Anthony Quinn, actor[6]
• Saul Alvarez, Mexican boxer who is a four-division world champion.
• William Lamport, the real-life Zorro
• Álvaro Obregón, president of Mexico during 1920–1924.
• Ignacio Comonfort, President of Mexico in 1855.[7]
• Juan O'Donojú, viceroy of New Spain
• Rómulo O'Farril, founder of newspaper Novedades
• Juan O'Gorman, architect[8]
• Edmundo O'Gorman, writer[9]
• Hugo Oconór, Spanish governor of Texas from 1767 to 1770
• Alejo Bay, governor of Sonora from 1923 to 1927
• Michael Wadding, Jesuit priest and missionary
• Judith Grace, television hostess
• Cristina Fink, retired high jumper of Spanish, Dutch, Irish, and German descent
• Margo, Mexican actress and dancer of Irish descent
• Pablo O'Higgins, American-Mexican artist, muralist and illustrator of Irish descent
• Carlos Gallardo, Mexican actor, producer and occasional screenwriter and director to a Mexican father and an Irish mother
• Tomas O'Horan, Mexican lawyer, magistrate and senator of Irish descent
• Jon Riley, born-Ireland, Mexican Army and founder Saint Patrick's Battalion for Mexico.
• Justo Sierra O'Reilly, Mexican novelist and historian of Irish descent
• John Holloway, Irish-born Mexican lawyer, Marxist-oriented sociologist and philosopher currently living in Mexico
• Sara Ramirez, Mexican singer and actress (mother of Irish-American descent)
• Álvaro Obregón Tapia, Mexican politician of Irish descent
• Dolores Creel Miranda, Mexican artist of Irish descent
• Daniel Chavez Moran, Mexican businessman of Irish descent
• Aarón Díaz Spencer, Mexican actor, singer, and model to Irish-American mother.
• Philip Crosthwaite, born in Ireland, was an early settler of San Diego, California and Rosarito, Baja California
• Luis Humberto Crosthwaite, Mexican writer of Irish-American descent
• Louis CK, American-born comedian and actor, mother was Irish American, father was Mexican/Hungarian. CK (Szekely) was partially raised in Mexico City.[10]
• Santiago Creel, Mexican politician of Irish descent
• Grey Griffin, American-born actress of mixed Irish-Mexican descent
• Guillermo Sheridan, Mexican writer of irish descent.

See also

• Alvarez Kelly, a Western film about an Irish Mexican in the American Civil War.
• Ireland–Mexico relations

References

Coogan, Tim Pat (2002). Wherever Green is Worn. Arrow Books. ISBN 0-09-995850-3.

1. "Población inmigrante residente en México según país de nacimiento, 2015". Consejo Nacional de Población. Retrieved 11 July 2016.
2. Marshall, Tom (2010-06-17). "World Cup 2010: France are the common enemy for Mexico and Ireland". The Guardian. London.
3. Coogan page 609
4. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2009-10-08. Retrieved 2010-06-20.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
5. "Beneath an Emerald Green Flag: The Story of Irish Soldiers in Mexico". Society for Irish Latin American Studies. September 2005. Retrieved 13 July 2008.
6. "Actor Anthony Quinn Dies". Wired. Reuters. June 3, 2001. Retrieved 2009-06-19. Anthony Rudolph Oaxaca Quinn was born on April 21, 1915, in Chihuahua, Mexico, where his half-Irish father Francisco (Frank) Quinn had married a Mexican girl of Aztec Indian ancestry, Manuela, while fighting for revolutionary leader Pancho Villa.
7. "12 DE MARZO DE 1812. NATALICIO DE IGNACIO COMONFORT". Archived from the original on 2015-04-02. Retrieved 2015-07-17.
8. "Rediscovering our man in Mexico City". The Irish Times. June 6, 2007. Retrieved 2009-06-20. Few Irish people know the work of Mexican architect Juan O'Gorman - despite his Irish heritage. Gary Quinnwent to Mexico City to see the home he built for Mexico's most famous artists, Diego Rivera and Frida KahloIT'S incredible how successful the offspring of our diaspora can be without the Irish batting an eyelid. One of Mexico's most famous architects, Juan O'Gorman, was the eldest son of an Irishman, Cecil Crawford O'Gorman, who had moved to Mexico from Ireland in the late 1890s. ...
9. "Edmundo and Juan O'Gorman". Society for Irish Latin American Studies. Retrieved 2009-06-19. Historian Edmundo O'Gorman (1906–1995) and architect Juan O'Gorman (1905-1982) were sons of the painter and mining engineer Cecil Crawford O'Gorman (1874–1943), who arrived in Mexico from Ireland in 1895, and Encarnación O'Gorman. Cecil was the grandson of Charles O'Gorman, who in the 1820s was the first British consul to Mexico city. Charles O'Gorman and his Mexican wife returned to the British Isles with their son John, who was to attend Eton and to go back to Mexico.
10. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2013-04-16. Retrieved 2013-05-22.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

External links

• The Irish in Mexico: An annotated bibliography at the Irish diaspora site.
• Murray, Edmundo "The Irish in Latin America and Iberia: A Bibliography - Mexico and Hispanic North America"
• Murray, Edmundo "The San Patricio Battalion: A Bibliography"
• History of Mexico: The Irish Presence at the Houston Institute for Culture.
• The legend of Zorro was an Irishman (William Lamport).
• The O'Brien clan in Mexico.
• Primary and secondary sources relating to the Irish in Mexico (Sources database for Irish research)