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The Great Famine in Ireland began as a natural catastrophe of extraordinary magnitude, but its effects were severely worsened by the actions

and inactions of the Whig government, headed by Lord John Russell in the crucial years from

1846 to 1852.

Altogether, about a million people in Ireland are reliably estimated to have died of starvation and epidemic disease between 1846 and 1851, and

some two million emigrated in a period of a little more than a decade (1845-55).

Comparison with other modern and contemporary famines establishes beyond any doubt that the

Irish famine of the late 1840s, which killed nearly one-eighth of the entire population, was

proportionally much more destructive of human life than the vast majority of famines in modern times.

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In most famines in the contemporary world, only a small fraction of the population of a given country or region is exposed to the dangers of death from starvation or infectious diseases, and then typically for

only one or two seasons.

But in the Irish famine of the late 1840s, successive blasts of potato blight - or to give it its proper name, the fungus Phytophthora infestans - robbed more than one-third of the population of their

usual means of subsistence for four or five years in a row

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1845/47 – the potato blight

It is a disease  that destroyed both leaves and the edible roots of the potato plant.

The fungus affected the potato plants, producing black spots and white mould on

the leaves, so the potato would soon rot into a pulp. 

Potato late blight, caused by the fungus Phytophthora infestans, is one of the most important potato diseases in the world.

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Native to South America and cultivated by Native Americans for thousands of years, the potato plant was introduced to Europe by the Spaniards in the mid-1500s. Although it was probably already carrying milder forms of the late blight fungus, it was not until 1844 that the virulent strain (speculated to be a single clonal genotype of

P. infestans) arrived in Ostend, Belgium via a shipment of infected seed potatoes from the United States.

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Its spores carried by wind, rain and insects came to Ireland from Britain and the rest of the European continent. Within two years, potato crops in continental Europe, as well as in Ireland, were ravaged. Disease outbreaks are caused by vegetative reproduction (self-cloning) of the fungus and require cool temperatures and moist conditions. Controlling the fungus is difficult because it has a complicated life cycle with distinct and strikingly different spore forms.

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As occurred in 1845 in Ireland, blight can overwinter in unharvested potatoes and release its airborne spores the next season as the new potato stalks grow.

Controlling the fungus is difficult because it has a complicated life cycle with distinct and strikingly different spore forms.

Digging for potatoes" from the London Illustrated News, 1849:

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Potato blight triggered mass deaths and flight: In the 1840s, a mostly Protestant British aristocracy ruled over a mostly poor Irish Catholic population. The latter group was growing at an alarming rate, and relied almost completely on one staple for its survival: the potato.

Potato blight, which struck first in 1845 and was at its

worst in 1847.

British government policy at the time made grain

available but at prices most could not afford. As many as

2 million died from starvation and disease as

crops failed again and again. Severe winter weather also

took its toll.

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The potato failed but all other crops, the wheat the barley and oats, thrived, but Irish food was exported mainly to English markets, and

from there found its way to many parts of the world, to be consumed by the expanding workforce of the industrial boom in England or by its

army overseas.

Even during the famine Irish food was taken away usually at gunpoint and escorted to the ports under military guard. It was then carried away

on ships leaving misery and starvation behind.

Attack on a poatato store

The country suffered numerous food shortages and famines

after the 1840’s one in 1877/8 and again in 79. 1879 was of a

disastrous nature. It failed again in 1885 and once again in the west in 1889and1890

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The British have often accused the Irish of laziness. This was mainly due to a lack of meaningful work or opportunities of gainful

employment. This was the result of deliberate policies implemented by successive English governments, which destroyed the commerce, trade and industry of the country. By the eve of the famine Ireland’s industries were decimated and her people reduced to a total state of

beggary and impoverishment.The Irish worked hard to cultivate impossible patches of ground, they

carried seaweed up hills and mountains to prepare ground for potatoes. They travelled great distances for seasonal work just to earn a

pittance to help them pay exorbitant rents at home. They harvested and planted the farms in England and Scotland

providing cheap labour for farmers there.

When they emigrated and were given opportunities and independence they became very successful captains of industry, educators, miners

and hard working labourers. They willingly took on the work that others would not do, building canals, great bridges railways, and worked in

dangerous conditions in steel mills, coal mines, factories and the sweatshops of the cities.

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During the famine nearly one million died of malnutrition and cholera, dysentery and typhus and beginning in 1847 three million people were dependent on food supplied by the government, though not sufficient at all.

Poor farmers evicted by police from their modest home

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Irish smallholders were evicted by land owners and tenants from their modest homes and died of hunger and malnutrition.

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Starving Irish family from Carraroe, County Galway, during the Famine.

Source: National Library of Ireland

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“The village of Killard …

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“… The village was mostly inhabited by fishermen, who united with their occupation on the waters the cultivation of potatoes. When the latter failed, boats and lines were

sold for present subsistence, and to the failure of potatoes was added the abandonment of the fisheries.

The rent dwindled to nothing, and then came the Great Leveller. What has become of this 6850 souls? Gone for ever. Not ten houses remain of the whole village; all that remains of their abodes are a few mouldering walls, and

piles of thatch turning into manure.

Killard is an epitome of half Ireland. The houses are swept away like the people, and not a monument remains

of a multitude.”

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The Irish Poor Law, enacted by the British Government in 1837, gave authority to Boards of Guardians to strike a poor rate (a form of local taxation). The money

raised was used to take care of paupers in specially built workhouses. People in need would only receive help if they entered the workhouse.

During the famine years these workhouses became so overcrowded, despite the appallingly high death rate, that the only way to deal with the excess was to

encourage emigration.

At the gate of a workhouse

But so many clamoured to go - some even

entering the workhouse for that sole purpose -

that the option of emigration was

restricted to those who had been

inmates for at least two years.

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Eventually, it was accepted that 'outdoor relief' should also be granted. This meant that paupers did not necessarily need to go into the workhouse

but could nevertheless receive aid - including assistance to emigrate. Powers were granted to the Boards of Guardians enabling them to

contribute towards the cost of emigration, including providing outfits and paying the passage of any family that could prove it needed help.

Between 1849 and 1906 nearly 45,000 emigrants were assisted in this manner.

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In the years after the Famine, government aid to Irish peasants concentrated mainly on the 'Congested Districts'. These were areas of special

need, mainly concentrated on the western fringes of Ireland that had high population levels coupled with low employment opportunities.

Between 1883 and 1891, approximately 25,000 'westerners' received assistance to emigrate.

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Charity and Remittances Many lives were saved by charitable efforts. The Society of Friends distributed over 200,000 worth of food and clothing. Irish charities were responsible for over 300,000 of relief. The British associations handled over 400,000 but were used by government to prop up bankrupt unions (mostly donated be Irish people in the colonial services and the military). Remittances from relatives and friends living abroad saved many from starvation by providing money for food or emigration.

The amount of food shared by neighbours is incalculable and must run into millions. In a lot of cases the charitable relief was only temporary and just postponed the moment of death.

A soup kitchen, many were organized by Quakers

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Robert PeelHe was in power at the beginning of the tragedy, with a little effort he could have saved the population and the structures before they broke down. The potato blight of 1845, although serious, was partial and not widespread. He used the potato loss to force the Corn Laws, which were of little benefit to Ireland, through parliament. The results were cheap food for England while lessening the return for Ireland’s agricultural produce. So Irish farmers had to export more food to pay their rents. He did however buy $100,000 worth of Indian meal to relieve pressure on the market during times of shortages but this has to be measured against a potato loss worth 10 million. Most people during that first year had to spend all their savings to buy food and seed to provide for the future and see them over the crisis until harvest. A harvest that was disastrous because the potato totally failed all over the country’

Prime Minister, Tory,

1834-1835

and 1841-1846

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1792-1878, Prime Minister, Whig, 1846-1852 et 1865-1866],

Lord John RussellHe was disastrous for Ireland and the lives and suffering of millions must be charged to his name. He could have at least followed the example of Peel and brought in a substitute to relieve the market, instead he presided over a policy of free trade. He had his soldiers shoot down hunger maddened peasants who were trying to prevent their food from leaving the land. He bankrupted the landowners and farmers by wasting there money on useless schemes. At the height of the famine he closed the public works to phase in soup kitchens and left thousands of families to starve during the period of transition. The Society of Friends forewarned him of the devastation it would cause but he chose to ignore them. He wasted Irish money on providing and supporting extra police and military, not for the people’s protection but to subdue and force them to submit to starvation. When the people fought back he disarmed them proclaimed whole districts and made them prisoners in there own homes.

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He increased the fares for steerage passenger to England to prevent the hungry poor from escaping there and made Ireland a prison for them, without food.

He presided over the mass exodus of her people to North America that was unprecedented at the time. Forced in many cases to take sub standard ships under provisioned and unfit for human transportation.

He refused to provide money and assistance to help the government of Canada cope with the huge influx of sick and dying flung on their shores. He watched as millions starved to death without helping. He gave a deaf ear to the cries of children. It was unknown in the world to put people through such agonising torture over such a long period of time.

Some of his own officials described it as a policy of extermination and it is very difficult to see it otherwise.

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Landlord sponsored emigration - often depicted as the cruel eviction of defenceless peasants - was accepted

with gratitude, with the demand for assistance usually outstripping the supply.

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During these years 1.5 million people emigrated to the USA and Canada. Most of them under

conditions which caused the deaths of an unknown number of Irish emigrants on board

the rightly called coffin-ships.

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Desperate to survive, hundreds of thousands crowded into ports to head for the New World. Those that did make it to America, Canada or Australia in the 1840s often faced conditions not much better than those they had left. And many

who boarded ships did not survive the voyage.

The U.S. government at the time refused any official aid for Ireland. Congress rushed through laws to try to curtail the influx of poor Irish to America's cities.

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Many people left Ireland to start new lives abroad, particularly in America.  

London News, July 6, 1850. 

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From The Illustrated London News, July 6, 1850. "The Embarkation, Waterloo Docks, Liverpool."

Many emigrants arrived in the Americas in a state of dire poverty and need. The Canadian authorities criticised the British landlords for

'The shovelling of helpless paupers' off their estates. They also described the assisted emigrants from Lord Palmerston's Sligo estates

as especially impoverished and miserable. However, those who survived quarantine had earned enough in

twelve months to remit nearly 2,000 pounds to relatives at home.

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Money and food aid from Irish already in the U.S. did, however, flow back to Ireland, and the money kept coming for many years. Much of it went to pay the

price of a ship's passage for friends and relatives.

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When they emigrated and were given opportunities and independence they became very successful captains of industry, educators, miners and hard working labourers. They willingly took on the work that others would not do, building canals, great bridges railways, and worked in dangerous conditions in steel mills, coal mines, factories and the sweatshops of the cities.

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Modern monuments commemorating the event

(left) Detail of The Irish Memorial – at the foundry, Colorado, U.S.A.

(above) Quinnipiac University's, Hamden, CT, U.S.A.

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The Irish Memorial – at the foundry, Colorado, U.S.A.

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This memorial to the Great Irish Famine (1845-1848) is part of the southern wall of the Hyde Park Barracks, Sydney. It shows us that Australia has a long history of welcoming refugees and asylum seekers from other countries.

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GLENNAGOODACRE IRISH MEMORIAL MAQUETTE

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Dublin in memory of the native Irish who were forced into emigration during the 1840’s. The

departure point with their possessions was the nearby Dublin Docks, from where the steam

boats to Liverpool departed.

From there many travelled on to New York to seek a new beginning in the United States.

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Murrisk, Co. Mayo (Ireland)National Famine Memorial: 'Coffin Ship' by John BehanCommission by Irish Government Unveiled 1997

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Manhattan, New York City*Irish Hunger Memorial

Battery Park CityDesigned by Brian TolleUnveiled July 2002

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(below) Ardsley, New York Great Hunger Memorial, by Eamonn O'Doherty Commissioned by Westchester County - Unveiled June 2001

(above) Cambridge, Massachusetts*, Cambridge CommonSculpture by Maurice Harron, Commissioned by Cambridge Irish Famine Memorial Committee Text: An Gorta Mor ~ The Great Famine, Ireland 1845 – 1850Dedicated by the President of Ireland, Mary Robinson, July 23, 1997

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It is called the Famine Cemetery because many of those buried here are presumed to have fled Ireland during the Potato Famine. All but one person buried here were Irish.

All the stones face east - towards Ireland.

Its real name is "Old Mount Carmel Cemetery," Astoria, Queens, in the Brooklyn Diocese, next to the grounds of the first Catholic church in Queens, established largely to serve the Irish community.

Today it is referred to as the Irish Potato Famine Cemetery, the Famine Cemetery, the Irish Cemetery, and probably other variations.

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