Chapter 13 - The Irish Famine, 1845-50

Question 1

Order of land ownership/labour?

Answer 1

1. Penal laws (Catholics not allowed own land) repealed in 1839s, but in mid-1800s most of agri land still in control of around 20,000 wealthy landlords (‘Protestant Ascendancy’)
2. Tenant farmers rented from landlord, some rich + had farms of 10+ acres, most great poverty (subsistence) - main crop was potato but also ate meat + veg
3. Cottiers worked for tentent farmers, rented conacre (small land patch) from them - kept secret from landlord (no extra rent)
   - diet relied on potato, increased by pop explosion in first half of century
   - use of lazybeds common in west bc poor soil (laying potato seed along piece of turf, covering it with another layer of turf)

Question 2

Why did the spread of the blight cause widespread famine?

Answer 2

• many were v. poor + potato was staple food

- over-reliance on the potato bc highly nutritious, can be grown in small land patch + suited damp Irish climate

Question 3

Why were many evicted?

Answer 3

• paid rent in potatoes, many landlords not understanding, forced to live in hovels on side of road

Question 4

How did the British government respond to the famine?

Answer 4

1. Responsible for Irish affairs since Act of Union (1801), slow reaction but made some moves to alleviate suffering
2. Work schemes set up; those who had no food did hard labour building roads to earn money for food
3. Workhouses set up, meant to clear roads of poor + starving (evicted/left homes for food)
4. Indian maize imported to distribute on orders of PM Robert Peel, but no instructions on how to cook - people starved —> Peel’s Brimstone

Question 5

Results of the famine

Answer 5

1. Population halved - around 1mil died + 3mil emigrated by 1860 (mainly to Britain + US) - ‘coffin ships’
2. Emigrants faced many problems in these places - cities like Bos, NY, Glas, LPL overwhelmed by influx of starving, diseases Irish
   - housing conditions poor, forced to live in slums areas like Hell’s Kitchen, NY
   - discrimination also experience bc of poverty + Catholicism
3. Use of Irish language greatly reduced, famine worst affected West, where language had been at strongest
4. Increase in political activism - many Irish angry at British response to famine, led to calls for republic + setting up of IRB
5. Subdivision came to end - land left to oldest instead of divided, let to emigration of lots of younger sons for work