Ireland in the 19th century
Ireland in the early 1800s was made up of many small farms. Most of the lands were rented to tenants by landlords. The landlords owned a large amount of land but often they did not live on their property. Some families, who had no land themselves, made their living by doing some small amounts of work as labourers. In the early nineteenth century, many Irish families depended almost totally on the potato to feed themselves and their families. Potatoes would grow even on very poor soil and they were very nutritious. However, sometimes the potato crop failed.The Great Famine - An Gorta Mór
A famine is when there is a very severe shortage or lack of food for a large number of people. During a famine, there is hunger, malnutrition, starvation and often death among the people. Ireland had its worst famine in 1845 when a famine called the Great Famine occured. It lasted until about 1850 but the worst years were between 1845 and 1849. It is estimated that almost one million people died and another million Irish people emigrated by the end of the famine. Ireland’s population was over 8 million in 1841 but by 1851 it was reduced to about 6 .5 million.
Digging for potatoes during the Great Irish Famine
This type of illustration shows the hardship caused by the Irish Famine.Courtesy of Carlow County Library
One of the causes of the Great Irish Famine was a disease called blight which destroyed the potato crop. The potato was the only food available to the majority of the people in Ireland at the time. The poorer people were cottiers and labourers who did not own their own land. They grew potatoes on small plots of ground and had no money to buy any other foods.
The poorest groups suffered most during the famine because they had no other food to eat except the potato. When the blight destroyed the potato crops every year from 1845, the people faced starvation and death.
Ireland was under English rule at the time of the famine and the parliament was in London. When the potato blight ruined the first potato crop in 1845, Sir Robert Peel was the prime minister. He knew that most Irish people would have nothing to eat. In 1846, he shipped some Indian corn to Ireland and arranged for it to be sold in different parts of the country for a cheap price. This helped some families, however the poorest people had no money to buy it. The corn was also difficult to get to some of the most remote places where the famine was worst and where the roads were bad. Another problem was that people had to cook the corn, however they often did not know how to cook it as they had never eaten it before. This corn was so hard it became known as “Peel’s Brimstone”.
Robert Peel also set up relief work where people were paid to work. The government paid poor people wages to do work such as building roads or piers. However, the money they were paid was very low and the food prices were high. The wages did not allow the workers to buy much food for themselves and their families. However, it did help to feed many people and during 1845 no one died of famine. Peel also set up relief committees in each area to collect money from wealthier people by collecting taxes.
Second failure of crops in 1846
In 1846, the second crop of potatoes failed in July and August. People who had managed to survive the first crop failure of 1845 were now in terrible conditions. A new prime minister called Lord John Russell took charge of the government in England. He reduced the sale of cheap food and thought instead that giving employment was the best thing to do. Public works began again in October 1846. The government thought that this employment would help the poor to buy food. However, poor people were often too weak from lack of food to be able to work very hard and wages were often not paid on time.
By February 1847, there was huge snowdrifts and the poor had no warm clothes to work outdoors in cold and wet weather. When the father of a family became sick or died after working on the public works, the women or children in the family tried to take over the work but it was very hard and involved carrying heavy loads or digging. This type of work was not useful in helping the people who were starving.
Soup Kitchens
In the summer of 1847, the government set up some soup kitchens to give the starving people hot soup. A group called the Society of Friend, or the Quakers, did a lot of work to feed the poor. They bought huge boilers in which to cook the soup. By August 1847, about 3 million people were being fed each day in total. However, in the Autumn of 1847, the government shut down the soup kitchens. They expected that the next crop of potatoes might be good and told poor people that they could go to the workhouses for help.
Workhouses
Workhouses were places where the very poor, known as paupers, could go to live. Once they entered the workhouse, people had to wear a uniform and were given a very basic diet. The main food they were given was called stirabout, which was similar to a weak oatmeal porridge. Families were split up once inside. Men, women, girls and boys were all forced to stay in different parts of the building.
There were strict rules in the workhouse such as keeping silence at certain times. Inmates were not allowed to play cards, disobey orders or try to escape from the workhouse.
People were often ill when they entered the workhouse and this meant that many inmates died of diseases, which spread quickly in the workhouses. The main diseases were typhus, cholera and dysentery.
When did the workhouses begin in Ireland?
The Irish workhouses for the poor first began when a law was passed in the parliament in London in 1838. The law said that the workhouses should be built as places to keep very poor people who applied for help.
By August 1846, there were about 128 workhouses built. When the famine occurred, and especially by 1847, the workhouses were overcrowded and could not keep all the poor people who came looking for help. For example, a work house in Fermoy, County Cork built for 800 people, actually kept 1,800 people in very bad conditions. Diseases spread very quickly in overcrowded spaces. By the end of the famine, there were 163 workhouses in Ireland.
Evictions
When tenants could not pay their rent, they were usually evicted. Some landlords tried their best to help their tenants and did not charge them rent. A number of these landlords went broke because of this. However, huge numbers of people were also evicted from their homes by their landlords during the famine.
Eviction scenes in Crossmolina
Ref. no.Royal 22,383.
National Library of Ireland
Battering ram
Use of a battering ram in an eviction for non-payment of rent
Courtesy of the National Library of Ireland
Famine Emigration
The Departure
This is an engraving that was used in The Illustrated London News in July 1850. It shows the departure of one of the many famine ships setting sail for the United States and the British Colonies in 1850. Hundreds of people gathered at the docks to catch a glimpse of their loved ones as they set sail. For many it would be the last time that they saw their family and friends. Courtesy of the Views of the Famine website: http://vassun.vassar.edu/ ~sttaylor/FAMINE/Large numbers of Irish people emigrated to countries such as England, America, Canada and Australia because of the famine. From 1845 to 1850, about one and a half million people left Ireland.
- People have estimated that about a million people died during the worst famine years between 1845 and 1849.
- About a million people emigrated to America , Canada , Australia or Britain . People continued to leave Ireland in large numbers for many years after the famine.
- The Irish language began to die out. Many of those who died or emigrated were from the western parts of Ireland and had spoken Irish.
- Some people were very angry that the English government had not done more to prevent the famine. This caused a lot of anger against Britain and lasted for a long time.
- A group called the Young Ireland party, or Young Irelanders, wanted Ireland to have its own government. They began a small rebellion in 1848. However, this rising failed because it happened in the middle of the Great Famine.
The effect of the famine
Courtesy of Sligo County Council.
Courtesy of Sligo County Council.
Today, there are many memorials in Ireland to the people who emigrated and died during famine. In the dockland area of Dublin along the quay, you can see sculptures of very thin people in memory of all the emigrants who left Ireland from Dublin port during the famine years. The sculptures seem to show people walking towards the ships along the quayside
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