This collection of ten essays, most of which were presented in nascent form at a conference in Bordeaux in 2017 by scholars from Ireland, France and the United States, explores the formation, composition and commercial activity of the Irish community within the ‘British colony’ in Bordeaux during the long eighteenth century (1689–1815). While this community has been researched extensively, as the editor Charles C. Ludington acknowledges, this publication builds upon and advances scholarship on the subject and is the first to cover the entire period in which that community was at its strongest. Particularly welcome is the reflection of the methodological shift in commercial history away from political frameworks and narratives towards individual and family experiences, and the adoption of a commodity-based investigative approach.

In his elegantly-written introduction, the editor provides a useful overview of the broad contexts, contours, mixed composition, varied motives and fortunes of members of the Bordeaux-Irish colony which was the largest of any foreign community in the port between c.1735 and 1765. His exposition of the major ‘push’ and ‘pull’ factors that determined the pattern of Irish migration to the French port, illustrated with examples of individuals and families who achieved business success, landownership, ennoblement and access to leadership positions in Bordeaux society, is clear and systematic, drawing significantly on scholarship of recent decades. Ludington’s critical reflection of Nicholas Canny’s profile of the Irish community in eighteenth-century Bordeaux makes a convincing case for scholars to pursue further research to present a more nuanced picture of that population.

The organisation of the volume in three evenly-divided sections around themes of ‘contexts’, ‘relations’ and ‘commodities’ lends real coherence to the examination of the Irish community. Section 1, ‘Emigration, demography, and trade’, features three essays by leading scholars in the field of early modern Irish migration studies (Louis M. Cullen, Jean-Pierre Poussou and Thomas M. Truxes), which set out the European and Atlantic contexts for the development of the Irish community in Bordeaux and trends in Bordeaux-Irish trade. Cullen provides a magisterial overview of the context of Bordeaux’s eighteenth-century trade with Ireland and Britain, tracing its rise, evolution, social and commercial structures, and shows that it was not until the 1730s that Bordeaux became home to the largest Irish trading community. Poussou offers the most definitive list to date of the number, and in many instances names, of the Irish community in the port during the long eighteenth century. Having identified the waves of Irish migration to Bordeaux, he assesses the impact of war on that movement and devotes some attention to how the Irish community compared with other foreign merchant communities in the port and in other ports in France and Spain. In his essay, Thomas M. Truxes mines the Bordeaux-Dublin letters (1757) to shed light on the experiences of various groups within the Irish community in the mid eighteenth century (merchants, servants and clerics), discussing their daily lives, concerns and the impact of war on their travel and livelihoods.

Section 2, ‘Between two worlds? The relationship of the Bordeaux-Irish to Bordeaux and France’, moves from the broad and general towards the more specific, delving deeper into questions of identity and the process of assimilation as experienced by Irish migrants who settled in Bordeaux. Using the case of the Mitchell family from Dublin who made their fortune in Bordeaux through glass manufacturing, Philippe Loupè shows how this and other Irish families in the port lived within and between two linguistic and cultural worlds with great ease. Patrick Clarke de Dromantin presents a history of his own Irish ancestors, outlining the family’s connections to and business relations with Irish families in Bordeaux, and highlighting the strategies they adopted to assimilate into French society. Diarmaid Ó Catháin presents the first complete history of the Irish College in Bordeaux to date which makes particularly significant contributions in reconstructing clerical networks and exploring the importance of language, an angle also highlighted in Loupè’s essay.

The third and final section, ‘Commodities that made the trade: their meaning and production’, shifts the focus again to examine the items exchanged in Bordeaux-Ireland trade, notably salt-beef and wine. Bertie Mandelblatt’s excellent study of Irish salt-beef in the French Atlantic world trade is groundbreaking for its methodological approach and its findings, shedding fresh light on the evolving Bordeaux–Irish commercial relationship and explaining the significance of that product for enslaved workers in the context of the French colonies in the Caribbean. Tara McConnell’s essay shows how claret became a key element of the gastronomic and social register of Ireland’s Georgian elite. In the last essay in this section and in the volume, Ludington explains how the Irish merchants’ practice of blending enhanced the quality of Bordeaux’s wine and gave the region an international reputation for vinous excellence.

In several key respects, this collection challenges assumptions about the Irish in Bordeaux and other destinations in early modern Europe. For example, traditional impressions about the confessional composition of the Irish community are contradicted, notably in essays by Ludington and Jean-Pierre Poussou. In his introductory essay, Ludington clearly highlights the importance of cross-confessional connections in that community, citing how Protestants and Catholics in Bordeaux entered business partnerships, socialised together and formed close friendships to an extent that would have been very usual back in Ireland. Longstanding assumptions about the impact of war on trade are also jettisoned by contributors to this volume, notably Jean-Pierre Poussou, Thomas M. Truxes and Patrick Clarke de Dromantin, whose essays show that conflicts, notably the Seven Years’ War (1756–63), shaped rather than destroyed trade.

Inevitably, there are some lacunae in coverage. One would, for example, have liked to see more comparisons drawn with other groups within the ‘British’ colony in Bordeaux that have featured in recent scholarship as this may calibrate the representation of the Irish as a significant group within that larger community. Certain readers may have reservations about the use of concepts such as ‘colony’. These quibbles aside, this volume points to exciting new methodologies and avenues for further research on Irish commercial activity in Bordeaux, and involvement in Atlantic trade, particularly in the Caribbean, in the early modern period which will be of interest to researchers, students and general readers.