Irish women prior to the famine years of the 1840s demonstrated considerable regional variation in their height. Women in the rural southern and western provinces of Munster and Connaught endured the lowest nutritional levels and their stature declined. In the northern province of Ulster, however, the nutritional standard of living for women improved over time. Ulster’s economy competed more successfully with imports from England following the Napoleonic Wars; in addition, higher levels of investment led to industrialization but in a manner that avoided the health-related perils of rapid urbanization. Ulster’s economic advantages extended across its population, and the gap in height between Catholic and Protestant women narrowed as Catholics enjoyed improved living standards.
