The viral Irishman joke of 1847 - The Irishman's Cat

Oh, Irishman jokes. They've been doing the rounds for more than a century, like this little nugget about 'The Irishman's Cat.'

Published in the North Wales Chronicle in August 1847, supposedly as a true report of court events, it made its way to the South Australia Register in January 1848 in the format below.

That makes it one of the oldest viral jokes we've ever read – though we're sure there were plenty of 'Paddy Irishman' jokes in that era!

The Irishman's Cat

A short time ago a poor Irishman applied at the churchwarden's office at Manchester for relief, an, upon some doubt being expressed as to whether he was a proper person for parochial charity, enforced his suit with much earnestness.

'Ooh, your honour,' said he, 'sure I'd be starved long since but for my cat.' 'But for what?' asked his astonished interrogator. 'My cat,' rejoined the Irishman. 'Your cat! How so?'

'Sure, your honour, I sold her eleven times for sixpence a time, and she was always at home before I'd get there myself.'

Hat-tip to the folks at FindMyPast.ie, who posted the North Wales Chronicle report on their Facebook page this morning.

Categories: Ireland, UK, Australia, Newspaper, Archive, History