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THE IRISH FAMINE,
1846-1850
UK PERSPECTIVES
MTRA. CARMEN TATAY FERNÁNDEZ
LMI | 1216
FLL-UAQ
INTRODUCTION
• THE GREAT FAMINE, ALSO CALLED IRISH POTATO FAMINE, GREAT IRISH FAMINE,
OR FAMINE OF 1845–49, FAMINE THAT OCCURRED IN IRELAND IN 1845–49 WHEN THE
POTATO CROP FAILED IN SUCCESSIVE YEARS.
• THE IRISH FAMINE WAS THE WORST TO OCCUR IN EUROPE IN THE 19TH CENTURY.
• THE IRISH FAMINE WAS WITHOUT DOUBT THE WORST HUMANITARIAN CRISIS TO HIT THE
VICTORIAN WORLD.
• OVER A MILLION PEOPLE STARVED TO DEATH WHILST TWO MILLION MORE FLED THE IRISH
SHORES FOREVER CREATING THE BEGINNINGS OF THE HUGE IRISH DIASPORAS WHICH STILL
EXIST IN TODAY NORTH AMERICA, CANADA, AUSTRALIA AND ALSO, OF COURSE, LONDON.
AN GORTA MÓR OR
“THE GREAT HUNGER”
THIS SIGN, ALONG A
ROAD IN BELFAST
(NORTHERN
IRELAND), REMINDS
VIEWERS OF THE
IRISH POTATO
FAMINE, WHICH THE
IRISH PEOPLE REFER
TO AS AN GORTA
MÓR ("THE GREAT
HUNGER").
WHAT, IN THE NAME OF HEAVEN,
IS TO BECOME OF US? WHAT ARE
WE TO DO? THE COUNTRY IS GONE!
THE TIMES
MAY 23, 1849
A LAND OF POVERTY
• THE DIET OF THESE PEOPLE, WHO SPOKE GAELIC AND WORSHIPPED A CATHOLIC
GOD, CONSISTED ALMOST SOLELY OF POTATOES WITH A TINY BIT OF MILK, BUTTERMILK OR SOMETIMES FISH AS THEIR ONLY OTHER SOURCE OF
NOURISHMENT.
• IT WAS ESTIMATED THAT THE AVERAGE COTTIER OR LABOURER ATE AROUND
TWELVE TO FOURTEEN POUNDS OF POTATOES A DAY.
• THE DIET WAS BORING BUT IT WAS ALSO FILLING AND NUTRITIOUS, AND UNTIL
THE 1840S, RELIABLE BUT THEN BLIGHT ARRIVED ON IRISH SHORES HAVING
ALREADY SWEPT ACROSS EUROPE DEVASTATING POTATO CROPS IN ITS WAKE
THE BLIGHT
• HISTORIANS AREN’T CERTAIN WHERE THE BLIGHT THAT CAUSED THE IRISH FAMINE CAME FROM BUT IT’S
BELIEVED THIS NEW FUNGUS PROBABLY ARRIVED ON SHIPS FROM PERU OR EVEN NORTH AMERICA.
• THE CAUSATIVE AGENT OF LATE BLIGHT IS THE WATER MOLD – PHYTOPHTHORA INFESTANS – GREW ON
THE UNDER SURFACE OF THE POTATO LEAVES AND CONSISTED OF AN EXTREMELY FINE FILAMENT
ENDING IN THOUSANDS OF MINUTE SPORES.
• THE CROP FAILURES WERE CAUSED BY LATE BLIGHT, A DISEASE THAT DESTROYS BOTH THE LEAVES AND
THE EDIBLE ROOTS, OR TUBERS, OF THE POTATO PLANT.
• IRELAND’S CLIMATE OF ENDLESS RAINS AND STRONG WINDS, MEANT THE FUNGUS WAS ABLE TO SPREAD
EXTREMELY RAPIDLY DEVASTATING THE POTATO CROPS, SEASON AFTER SEASON, CAUSING A
HUMANITARIAN CATASTROPHE ON AN EPIC SCALE.
• BUT ITS EFFECTS WERE SEVERELY WORSENED BY THE ACTIONS (OR PERHAPS WE SHOULD SAY,
INACTIONS) OF THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT, HEADED BY LORD JOHN RUSSELL, IN THE CRUCIAL YEARS
FROM 1846 TO 1852.
A BLEAK WINTER
• THE WINTER OF 1846-47 BECAME THE WORST IN LIVING MEMORY.
• DURING THIS WINTER, HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF DESPERATE PEOPLE SOUGHT WORK ON PUBLIC
WORKS PROGRAMMES IN RETURN FOR SOME FORM OF SUSTENANCE.
• OLD MEN, WOMEN AND EVEN CHILDREN FOUND THEMSELVES BREAKING STONES BY HAND TO BUILD
ROADS GOING NOWHERE. THE PROGRAMMES THEMSELVES WERE COMPLETELY POINTLESS AND MANY
OF THE WORKERS WEAKENED BY FEVER FAINTED OR EVEN DROPPED DEAD ON THE SPOT.
• ONE QUAKER ENGLISHMAN OBSERVED THAT CHILDREN HAD BECOME “LIKE SKELETONS, THEIR
FEATURES SHARPENED WITH HUNGER AND THEIR LIMBS WASTED, SO THAT LITTLE WAS LEFT BUT BONES,
THEIR HANDS AND ARMS, IN PARTICULAR, BEING MUCH EMACIATED, AND THE HAPPY EXPRESSION OF
INFANCY GONE FROM THEIR FACES, LEAVING BEHIND THE ANXIOUS LOOK OF PREMATURE OLD AGE.”
LAISSEZ-FAIRE POLICY
• THIS WAS THE TIME OF LAISSEZ-FAIRE. AN IDEOLOGY HELD BY THE BRITISH ELITE
WHICH BELIEVED IN AS LITTLE GOVERNMENT INTERFERENCE IN ECONOMIC
MATTERS AS POSSIBLE, WHICH STRONGLY WORKED AGAINST THE IDEA OF OUTSIDE
HELP.
• IRELAND IN THE 1840S – UNDER THE CONTROL OF BRITISH LANDOWNERS –
PRODUCED GRAIN FOR EXPORT (IT WASN’T EATEN AS PART OF THE IRISH DIET AND
THERE WERE FEW MILL STONES IN IRELAND TO PRODUCE FLOUR) BUT THERE ARE
THERE ARE MANY HISTORIANS WHO ARGUE THAT IF BRITAIN HAD HALTED THE
EXPORT OF GRAIN FROM IRELAND AND FED ITS POPULATION INSTEAD, THE FAMINE
MIGHT HAVE BEEN AVOIDED.
• BUT THE IDEA OF STOPPING THE EXPORT OF IRISH GRAIN WAS AN UNACCEPTABLE
AND IT WAS THEREFORE FIRMLY REJECTED IN LONDON BY THE WHIG
GOVERNMENT.
WITNESS ACCOUNTS
• NICHOLAS CUMMINS, THE MAGISTRATE OF CORK, SAID OF A REMOTE PLACE IN SOUTH WEST IRELAND HE
VISITED:
“I ENTERED SOME OF THE HOVELS AND THE SCENES WHICH PRESENTED THEMSELVES WERE SUCH AS NO
TONGUE OR PEN CAN CONVEY THE SLIGHTEST IDEA OF. IN THE FIRST, SIX FAMISHED AND GHASTLY
SKELETONS, TO ALL APPEARANCES DEAD, WERE HUDDLED IN A CORNER ON SOME FILTHY STRAW, THEIR
SOLE COVERING WHAT SEEMED A RAGGED HORSECLOTH, THEIR WRETCHED LEGS HANGING ABOUT,
NAKED ABOVE THE KNEES. I APPROACHED WITH HORROR, AND FOUND BY A LOW MOANING THEY WERE
ALIVE — THEY WERE IN FEVER, FOUR CHILDREN, A WOMAN AND WHAT HAD ONCE BEEN A MAN. IT IS
IMPOSSIBLE TO GO THROUGH THE DETAIL. SUFFICE IT TO SAY, THAT IN A FEW MINUTES I WAS SURROUNDED
BY AT LEAST 200 SUCH PHANTOMS, SUCH FRIGHTFUL SPECTRES AS NO WORDS CAN DESCRIBE…THEIR
DEMONIAC YELLS ARE STILL RINGING IN MY EARS, AND THEIR HORRIBLE IMAGES ARE FIXED UPON MY
BRAIN.”
DIVINE JUDGMENT
• BUT DESPITE ALL THIS HORROR AND APPALLING SUFFERING, THE IDEA OF LAISSEZ-
FAIR PREVAILED.
• THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT BELIEVED THAT THE IRISH WERE A FECKLESS PEOPLE
ANYWAY AND THAT THEY SHOULD BE FORCED INTO GREATER SELF-RELIANCE.
• INDEED, THERE WAS A VERY WIDESPREAD BELIEF THAT IN MANY WAYS THE FAMINE
WAS A DIVINE JUDGMENT AGAINST THE IRISH PEOPLE FOR THEIR SINS.
• SIR CHARLES TREVELYAN, THE BRITISH CIVIL SERVANT CHIEFLY RESPONSIBLE FOR
ADMINISTERING IRISH RELIEF POLICY, DESCRIBED THE FAMINE AS ‘A DIRECT STROKE OF
AN ALL-WISE AND ALL-MERCIFUL PROVIDENCE.’
DRUNK AND FECKLESS
• ENGLISH ATTITUDES TO THE IRISH DURING THE VICTORIAN PERIOD WERE DEEPLY BIGOTED. CARTOONS OF
THUGGISH LOOKING IRISH PEASANTS APPEARED REGULARLY IN THE TIMES AND PUNCH MAGAZINE AND THE
GENERAL VIEW WAS THAT THE IRISH WERE LAZY, FECKLESS AND DRUNK.
• HERE’S A NINETEENTH CENTURY DIARIST TALKING IN 1855 WHICH SUMS UP A WIDELY HELD ATTITUDE:
• TURN WHICHEVER WAY YOU WILL, THE SAME “WILD, MILESIAN FEATURES, LOOKING FALSE INGENUITY,
RESTLESSNESS, MISERY, AND MOCKERY, SALUTE YOU” ON EVERY SIDE. GLANCE DOWN THESE NARROW
COURTS AND FILTHY ALLEYS THAT OPEN UPON YOU AT EVERY STEP, AND AGAIN AND AGAIN YOU
RECOGNISE THE RACE; “THERE ABIDES HE IN HIS SQUALOR AND UNREASON, IN HIS FALSITY AND DRUNKEN
VIOLENCE, AS THE READY-MADE NUCLEUS OF DEGRADATION AND DISORDER.”
• OTHER VICTORIAN GENTLEMEN, INCLUDING ONE CHARLES KINGSLEY THOUGHT OF THE IRISH AS THE “MISSING
LINK” BETWEEN MAN AND APE:
• I AM HAUNTED BY THE HUMAN CHIMPANZEES I SAW [IN IRELAND] . . . I DON’T BELIEVE THEY ARE OUR
FAULT. . . . BUT TO SEE WHITE CHIMPANZEES IS DREADFUL; IF THEY WERE BLACK, ONE WOULD NOT FEEL IT
SO MUCH. . . .”
ONE MILLION DEAD,
ANOTHER TWO MILLION FLED
• THE IRISH FAMINE SAW A MILLION PEOPLE IN IRELAND DYING OF STARVATION OR RELATED DISEASES
LIKE THE “THE BLOODY FLUX” BETWEEN 1846 AND 1851, AND SOME TWO MILLION MORE IRISH
EMIGRATING, SOME BY THEIR OWN CHOICE BUT WITH MANY MORE FORCED OUT OF THEIR COTTAGES AND
OFF THE LAND ONTO THE NOTORIOUS “COFFIN SHIPS” BY THEIR BRITISH LANDOWNERS.
• SOME UNSCRUPULOUS LANDOWNERS SAW THE FAMINE AS AN OPPORTUNITY TO RID THEIR FARMS OF
TROUBLESOME IRISH AND THE “TUMBLING” AS IT WAS CALLED, WAS DONE BY ORGANISED GANGS WHO
OFTEN SET THE COTTAGES ALIGHT TO DRIVE THE DESPERATE PEOPLE AWAY.
• MANY IRISH IN THE COUNTRYSIDE BECAME SO HUNGRY THEY TRIED TO LIVE OFF WILD BLACKBERRIES,
NETTLES, SEAWEED, GRASS OR EVEN WEEDS. THE HOMELESS DUG DOWN INTO BOG HOLES
OR SCALPEENS FOR THEIR ONLY FORM OF SHELTER AND TO HIDE FROM THE DOGS AND GANGS.
STARVING IRISH PEOPLE RAIDING A
GOVERNMENT POTATO STORE;
WOOD ENGRAVING FROM
THE ILLUSTRATED LONDON NEWS,
JUNE 1842
VICTIMS OF THE IRISH POTATO FAMINE
ARRIVING IN LIVERPOOL, ENG.;
ILLUSTRATION IN THE ILLUSTRATED
LONDON NEWS,
JULY 6, 1850
POPULATION CHANGES IN IRELAND FROM 1841 TO 1851
AS A RESULT OF THE GREAT POTATO FAMINE
ANTI-IRISH PREJUDICES
• THESE DEEP-ROOTED ANTI-IRISH (AND ANTI-CATHOLIC) PREJUDICES
CONTRIBUTED TO RAPID CHARITY FATIGUE AND UNDERMINED ANY EFFORTS
OVER THE LONG TERM TO COMBAT THE IRISH FAMINE.
• THE RESULT OF THIS FAILURE TO HELP THE IRISH IN THEIR HOUR OF NEED WAS
TO SOW THE SEEDS OF HATRED IN IRISH HEARTS AGAINST THEIR ENEMIES –
“THE BLOODY BRITS” – FOR GENERATIONS TO COME.
• THE NINETEENTH CENTURY WAS ALSO THE PERIOD WHICH WITNESSED THE
BIRTH OF IRISH NATIONALISM, THE RISE OF THE FENIANS AND THE IRISH
NATIONAL BROTHERHOOD.
BRITISH ASSISTANCE
• ALTHOUGH THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT DID MAKE SOME ATTEMPT TO BRING FAMINE
RELIEF TO IRELAND, AND THERE WERE A NUMBER OF CHARITABLE VENTURES BY GROUPS
SUCH AS THE QUAKERS AND ENGLISH CATHOLICS TO BRING EMERGENCY FOOD INTO
THE COUNTRY, THE INFRASTRUCTURE IN NINETEENTH CENTURY IRELAND – SUCH AS
ROADS OR RAILWAYS LINES – WAS ALMOST NONE EXISTENT MAKING IT VERY DIFFICULT TO
REACH PEOPLE LIVING IN REMOTE AREAS AND IN THE END, IT WAS A CASE OF TOO LITTLE
TOO LATE.
• SOUP KITCHENS AND OTHER RELIEF PROGRAMMES WERE ALSO WOUND DOWN TOO
EARLY IN A FUTILE ATTEMPT BY THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT TO FORCE THE IRISH TO
“STAND ON THEIR OWN TWO FEET”.
ECONOMIC IMPACT
• IT BEGAN WITH A BLIGHT OF THE POTATO CROP THAT LEFT ACRE
UPON ACRE OF IRISH FARMLAND COVERED WITH BLACK ROT.
• AS HARVESTS ACROSS EUROPE FAILED, THE PRICE OF FOOD
SOARED.
• SUBSISTENCE-LEVEL IRISH FARMERS FOUND THEIR FOOD STORES
ROTTING IN THEIR CELLARS, THE CROPS THEY RELIED ON TO PAY
THE RENT TO THEIR BRITISH AND PROTESTANT LANDLORDS
DESTROYED.
POTATOES AS FOOD AND CASH
• TO IRISH POTATO-GROWING LAND RENTERS, THE POTATO WAS BOTH FOOD AND CASH.
• PART OF THE CROP WAS SOLD TO PAY THE RENT AND BUY WHAT FAMILIES NEEDED. THE REST OF
THE CROP FED THE FAMILY.
• TENANT FARMERS HAD LITTLE, IF ANY, CROP DIVERSITY.
• A PLANT DISEASE, CALLED “LATE POTATO BLIGHT,” RUINS POTATO CROPS EVERY YEAR AND
SEVERELY IMPACTED THE IRISH POTATO CROP IN 1845. ONLY POTATOES WERE ADVERSELY
AFFECTED, BUT FAMINE BECAME WIDESPREAD.
• NEWS OF THE CROP FAILURE WAS FIRST REPORTED ON SEPTEMBER 9, 1845. NO ONE COULD HAVE
PREDICTED THAT REPORT WAS JUST THE FIRST EPISODE IN A YEARS-LONG TALE OF NATIONAL
MISERY.
LAND OWNERSHIP
• IRELAND BY THE MIDDLE OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY WAS A LAND OF TENANT FARMERS,
AGRICULTURAL LABOURERS AND SMALL HOLDERS KNOWN AS COTTIERS.
• MANY COTTIERS WERE “BOUND” TENANT FARMERS, WHO IN RETURN FOR WORKING OTHER
FARMS, WOULD BE “PAID” BY BEING ALLOWED TO GROW POTATOES ON TINY STRIPS OF LAND
KNOWN AS CONACRES.• IN 1845, PEOPLE IN IRELAND NO LONGER OWNED MOST OF THEIR LAND.
• THE IRISH COUNTRYSIDE, WITH ITS GREEN PASTURES AND WONDERFUL FARMLAND, HAD BEEN
TURNED INTO ENGLISH PLANTATIONS.
• LAND-OWNING IRISHMEN, WHO WORKED FOR THEMSELVES, HAD BECOME ENGLISH TENANTS.
• “PENAL LAWS,” WHICH GOVERNED THE CONDUCT OF IRISH CATHOLICS, RESTRICTED A MAN’S
ABILITY TO MANAGE HIS FAMILY’S AFFAIRS.
DEPOPULATION
• THE IRISH FAMINE OF 1846-50 TOOK AS MANY AS ONE MILLION LIVES
FROM HUNGER AND DISEASE, AND CHANGED THE SOCIAL AND CULTURAL
STRUCTURE OF IRELAND IN PROFOUND WAYS.
• THE COMBINED FORCES OF FAMINE, DISEASE AND EMIGRATION
DEPOPULATED THE ISLAND; IRELAND'S POPULATION DROPPED FROM 8
MILLION BEFORE THE FAMINE TO 5 MILLION YEARS AFTER.
• THE FAMINE ALSO SPURRED NEW WAVES OF IMMIGRATION, THUS SHAPING
THE HISTORIES OF THE UNITED STATES AND BRITAIN AS WELL.
IRISH RURAL EXODUS
• UNABLE TO PAY RENT, THOUSANDS OF FAMILIES WERE
EVICTED FROM THEIR DWELLINGS.
• POOR HOUSES WERE FILLED BEYOND CAPACITY.
• MANSIONS OF THE WEALTHY WERE FLOODED WITH
NEEDY, STARVING, HOMELESS FAMILIES.
• SOME OF THE EVICTED, WITH NO PLACE TO GO AND
LITTLE TO EAT, TRIED TO SHELTER THEIR FAMILIES BY
LIVING IN HOLES DUG IN THE IRISH BOG.
• OTHERS CONSTRUCTED SCALPEEN INSIDE
ABANDONED, ROOFLESS HOUSES.
• MILLIONS OF PEOPLE DIED OR FLED THE COUNTRY.
IRISH EMIGRATION
• LANDLORDS EVICTED HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF PEASANTS, WHO THEN CROWDED
INTO DISEASE-INFESTED WORKHOUSES.
• OTHER LANDLORDS PAID FOR THEIR TENANTS TO EMIGRATE, SENDING HUNDREDS OF
THOUSANDS OF IRISH TO AMERICA AND OTHER ENGLISH-SPEAKING COUNTRIES.
• BUT EVEN EMIGRATION WAS NO PANACEA – SHIP OWNERS OFTEN CROWDED HUNDREDS
OF DESPERATE IRISH ONTO RICKETY VESSELS LABELED "COFFIN SHIPS."
• IN MANY CASES, THESE SHIPS REACHED PORT ONLY AFTER LOSING A THIRD OF THEIR
PASSENGERS TO DISEASE, HUNGER AND OTHER CAUSES.
• WHILE BRITAIN PROVIDED MUCH RELIEF FOR IRELAND'S STARVING POPULACE, MANY
IRISH CRITICIZED BRITAIN'S DELAYED RESPONSE -- AND FURTHER BLAMED CENTURIES OF
BRITISH POLITICAL OPPRESSION ON THE UNDERLYING CAUSES OF THE FAMINE.
VICTIMS OF IRELAND’S GREAT FAMINE (1845–1849)
IMMIGRATING TO NORTH AMERICA BY SHIP;
WOOD ENGRAVING C. 1890
ILLNESS AND DEATH
• PEASANTS WHO ATE THE ROTTEN PRODUCE
SICKENED AND ENTIRE VILLAGES WERE CONSUMED
WITH CHOLERA AND TYPHUS.
• PARISH PRIESTS DESPERATE TO PROVIDE FOR THEIR
CONGREGATIONS WERE FORCED TO FORSAKE
BUYING COFFINS IN ORDER TO FEED STARVING
FAMILIES, WITH THE DEAD GOING UNBURIED OR
BURIED ONLY IN THE CLOTHES THEY WORE WHEN
THEY DIED.
IRISH NATIONALISM
• IF IRISH NATIONALISM WAS DORMANT FOR THE FIRST HALF OF THE
NINETEENTH-CENTURY, THE FAMINE CONVINCED IRISH CITIZENS
AND IRISH-AMERICANS OF THE URGENT NEED FOR POLITICAL
CHANGE.
• THE FAMINE ALSO CHANGED CENTURIES-OLD AGRICULTURAL
PRACTICES, HASTENING THE END OF THE DIVISION OF FAMILY
ESTATES INTO TINY LOTS CAPABLE OF SUSTAINING LIFE ONLY WITH A
POTATO CROP.
IMAGES OF FAMINE
A POPULOUS IRISH VILLAGE,
GWEEDORE, COUNTY DONEGAL
A STARVING IRISH FAMILY FROM CARRAROE,
COUNTY GALWAY, DURING THE FAMINE.
SOURCE: NATIONAL LIBRARY OF IRELAND.
“THE DAY AFTER THE EJECTMENT.”
FROM THE ILLUSTRATED LONDON NEWS,
DECEMBER 16, 1848EVICTION SCENE FROM
THE ILLUSTRATED LONDON NEWS
OF DECEMBER 16, 1848• THE FAMINE-ERA SCENES ILLUSTRATES THE PLIGHT OF IRISH FAMILIES
MADE HOMELESS DURING THE FAMINE, DESCRIBED BY BISHOP
THOMAS NULTY OF COUNTY MEATH, WHO CALCUATED THAT CLOSE
TO 30,000 HOMES WERE LEVELED IN MEATH BETWEEN 1843-71.
• NULTY DESCRIBED EVICTIONS IN HIS WRITING. "THE SPEECHLESS
AGONY OF MEN, THE PITEOUS WAILINGS OF WOMEN, THE TERROR
AND CONSTERNATION OF CHILDREN, AS THEIR HOUSES ARE PULLED
DOWN, THEIR HOMES DEMOLISHED, AND THEMSELVES SET ADRIFT ON
THE WORLD -- ALL CONTRIBUTE TO MAKE UP A HORRIBLE SCENE
THAT . . . CAN NEVER BE FORGOTTEN THROUGHOUT THE LENGTH
AND BREADTH OF THE LOCALITY IN WHICH IT OCCURRED." (ALFRED
P. SMYTH, FAITH, FAMINE AND FATHERLAND IN THE IRISH
MIDLANDS: PERCEPTIONS OF A PRIEST AND HISTORIAN ANTHONY
COGAN, 1826-1872. DUBLIN: COLOUR BOOKS LTD., 1992.)
BOOKS ABOUT THE FAMINE
D.E. MEREDITH AUTHOR OF THE HATTON AND ROUMANDE MYSTERIES
• THE SECOND IN THE HATTON AND ROUMANDE SERIES TAKE US INTO THE HEART OF THE ROOKERIES IN
LONDON, TEN YEARS AFTER THE FAMINE, WHERE THOUSANDS OF IRISH PEOPLE, THE POOREST OF THE
POOR IN THE CITY, LIVED IN SQUALOR. FORENSIC SCIENTIST ADOLPHUS HATTON AND HIS TRUSTY
ASSISTANT ALBERT ROUMANDE ARE DEALING WITH A MORGUE FULL OF CHOLERA VICTIMS, AND A CITY
BUBBLING UNDER THE SUMMER HEAT AND RISING TENSION. WHEN A LEADING POLITICIAN OF THE IRISH
UNIONIST MOVEMENT IS MURDERED, HATTON AND ROUMANDE FIND THEMSELVES TRACKING A SERIES
OF MURDERS CONNECTED BY THE SAME MACABRE CALLING CARD – A GREEN RIBBON. AMIDST THE
GROWING UNREST, DOCKSIDE STRIKES, BOMB BLASTS AND VIOLENT RETRIBUTION, THEY TRY TO HUNT
DOWN THE KILLER AND AT THE SAME TIME STOP A BOMBING CAMPAIGN, FUELLED BY AN AGITATOR
PRIEST AND A GROUP OF WOULD-BE TERRORISTS
• www.demeredith.com https://twitter.com/DE_Meredith
OTHER TITTLES
• THE GREAT HUNGER – CECIL WOODHAM-SMITH
• THE GREAT IRISH POTATO FAMINE – CORMAC O’GRADA
• THE DEVIL’S RIBBON BY D. E. MEREDITH
REFERENCES
• See more at:
http://www.historyinanhour.com/2013/03/17/the-
irish-famine-summary/#sthash.8i9BZSZx.dpuf
• https://www.awesomestories.com/asset/view/Irish
-Potato-Famine-The-Great-Hunger
FAMINE (1997),
COMMEMORATING THE GREAT FAMINE,
SCULPTURE BY ROWAN GILLESPIE IN DUBLIN