Arrival of Ford was a beacon of hope for Cork during a period of poverty

The importance of the Ford Marina plant in the life of 20th century Cork cannot be overstated, writes Liam Cullinane, a graduate of the History Department at UCC.

Prior to the establishment of Henry Ford and Sons Ltd in 1917, Cork city was an economic backwater with almost nothing in the way of modern industry. As one contemporary put it: “Butter, milk, fowls, eggs, and above all other things cattle, are the exports of Cork.”

With an economy largely dependent on trade and agriculture, prospects for the city’s proletariat were bleak. Henry Ford himself, after visiting the birthplace of his maternal grandfather on the northside of Cork in 1912, recounted that he had found a “city of casual labour and extreme poverty” with little industry of any importance.