Between 1847 and 1856,  Lord William Fitzwilliam removed  6,000 men, women and children from his 80,000 acre Coolattin Estate,and arranged passage to Canada. Most were sent to Quebec to travel onward to settlements in Ontario and one group was shipped to St. Andrews in order for the men to work on a new railway line.

Surplus People - The Fitzwilliam Clearances 1847-1856  is the end result of four years of research and writing by Arklow historian Jim Rees, coupled with the contributions of archivists and historians in Ireland, New Brunswick, Quebec and Ontario, and details the story of thousands of famine refugees from County Wicklow.

Coolatin House, home of Lord Fitzwilliam

                               Surplus People by Jim Rees