Chapter 12 - The Great Famine And The Irish Diaspora

Question 1

By 1841, what population did Ireland reach?

Answer 1

By 1841 the population of Ireland had reached 8.2 million, up from 5.5 million in 1801.

Question 2

Briefly explain life in Belfast and Dublin in the 1800s.

Answer 2

Life was difficult for the poorest people in Dublin and Belfast (and other Irish cities).
• Overcrowding became a serious problem, leading to one, and sometimes two, families living in just one room.
• Diseases such as typhoid, cholera, smallpox, scarlet fever and tuberculosis were common in cities and towns. Death rates amongst infants were particularly high.

Question 3

Briefly explain why Ireland’s population had doubled in under a century.

Answer 3

• The Irish tended to marry young and have large families.
• Enclosure and other improvements to farming methods arrived in Ireland, as in Britain, and the new machinery produced more food than before.

Question 4

Most farmers in Ireland were tenant farmers. What were the two types?

Answer 4

• Large farmers were farmers who rented more than 30 acres.
• Small farmers were farmers who rented between 5 and 30 acres.

Question 5

What were cottiers?

Answer 5

Cottiers were labourers who rented one acre from a farmer.

Question 6

Briefly explain the Act of Union.

Answer 6

When the Act of Union came into force in 1801, the parliament in Dublin was abolished. Ireland now sent 100 MPs to the House of Commons in Westminster and was represented by 32 peers in the House of Lords. Laws passed in London applied to Ireland.

Question 7

What was the biggest political issue in Ireland in the 1800s? Explain.

Answer 7

The biggest political issue in Ireland at this time was ‘the Catholic Question’. Many Catholics had supported the Act of Union in 1800. The British government had promised that the last of the Penal Laws would be abolished and full Catholic emancipation would be granted.

Question 8

What was Catholic emancipation?

Answer 8

Catholic emancipation was the goal for Catholics: that they be allowed to sit in parliament.

Question 9

What is parliamentary tradition?

Answer 9

Parliamentary tradition is the use of peaceful political means to achieve political change.

Question 10

What was the Great Famine?

Answer 10

The Great Famine happened across Ireland between 1845 and 1850. The potato crop had failed and people were quickly dying of starvation and disease.

Question 11

What were the causes for the Great Famine?

Answer 11

Most Irish people were dependent on farming. With the steep rise in population, people had to survive on smaller plots of land. Most cottiers worked in exchange for their rent and didn’t receive money payments, so they had no cash to buy any other food if their potato crop failed.
This dependence on farming and the potato made the poor vulnerable, so when potato blight struck, they were immediately out of options.

Question 12

Explain the course of the Great Famine.

Answer 12

In 1845, only some areas were affected and luckily most people had potatoes stored from past harvests meaning few people died.
In 1846,two thirds of the crop was lost to blight.The poorest began to starve and weakened immune systems caused people to die of things like tuberculosis and scarlet fever.
In 1847, there was virtually no blight. The lack of seeds meant that the crop was incredibly small.
1848-1850: Starvation and disease worsened. Some 40,000 more people died in 1850 than died in 1846.

Question 13

What were coffin ships?

Answer 13

The unsuitable ships were nicknamed coffin ships because of how many people died on them.

Question 14

What is eviction?

Answer 14

Eviction is when someone is forced out of their home.

Question 15

What is potato blight?

Answer 15

Potato blight is a fungus that spreads in damp and humid weather and destroys potato crops.

Question 16

What was a Laissez-faire?

Answer 16

Laissez-faire is the attitude that a government should not interfere in the economy, as it would correct itself eventually.

Question 17

What did the British government do in order to help those affected by the famine in Ireland.

Answer 17

In November 1845 Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel sent aid in the form of maize. He sent enough to feed one million people for one month.

Question 18

What was a workhouse?

Answer 18

workhouse was a large building where people worked in return for basic accommodation and food. Some workhouses held 200,000 people - double what they were meant to hold. Diseases spread quickly.

Question 19

What were soup kitchens?

Answer 19

Soup kitchens gave soup to starving people who were not in workhouses.

Question 20

What were public work schemes?

Answer 20

Public works schemes were set up for people to earn money by building roads, walls or bridges. By 1846, 400,000 people were involved in these schemes. This was hard, physical work for people who were weak with hunger.

Question 21

Explain 3 impacts of the famine in Ireland.

Answer 21

1. Fall in population:
The 1841 census showed that there were over eight million people on the island of Ireland. Between 1845 and 1850, the population dropped by two million. Roughly one million died from disease and starvation, while one million emigrated.

2. Decline of the Irish language:
The predominantly Irish-speaking areas of the west and south-west of Ireland were the worst hit by both death and emigration. Over time, people began to favour English over Irish because it would help them find work elsewhere if they needed to emigrate.

3. New emigration trends:
In the 1881 census, the Irish population had fallen by over three million since 1841. This shows the continuation of emigration. The USA and Britain were the main destinations for the Irish. Those who found steady work often paid for the rest of their family to follow them, so that entire families left Ireland for good (Chain migration).

Question 22

What was the Irish diaspora?

Answer 22

Irish diaspora was the scattering of Irish migrants and their descendants across the world.

Question 23

Explain who Daniel O’Connell was.

Answer 23

Born in Cahirciveen, Co. Kerry in 1775. He was a Catholic, from a wealthy middle- class family. Went to a hedge school and was sent to France, to get a university education. He experienced some of the most violent episodes of the French Revolution and came back to Ireland with a hatred of violence. He supported the aims of the United Irishmen in 1798, but disagreed with their violent means.

O’Connell became a barrister in 1811 and founded the Catholic Association in 1823. Its aims were to campaign for Catholic Emancipation, an end of tithe payments and for the rights of tenant farmers. In 1828, O’Connell stood in Clare for election to Westminster. He won the seat easily but refused to take the parliamentary oath and so was unable to take his seat. The British Prime Minister, the Duke of Wellington (the only British Prime Minister to have been born in Ireland), feared another rebellion in Ireland if emancipation was not granted. Westminster passed the Emancipation Act in 1829 and O’Connell took his seat. It was O’Connell’s greatest achievement and led to him being known as ‘the Liberator’.