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.

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. Other foods were grown by the English landlords but even at the height of the famine this was exported to England.

What did the government do to help people during the famine?

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 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 a few families, but most people had no money to buy it. This corn was so hard it became known as “Peel’s Brimstone”.

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.

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.

Finally – Emigration

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.

Overall effects of the famine

• 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.