Famine, The Great Irish

Source: The National Archives, Immigration of Russians to the United States of America, 1845-51 (machine readable record). Records of the Center for Immigration Research.

Over 32,000 available records.

A free e-book. "The History of the Great Irish Famine of 1847" (3rd ed.) (1902) by Rev. John O'Rourke.

The Great Famine imposed a severe strain on the Irish government. The National Archives.ie discussed the various offices and boards affected.

The Lender Family Special Collection is one of the most extensive collections of art and literature in America devoted to Ireland’s Great Famine. The An Gorta Mor collection includes nearly 700 volumes regarding the famine and related events. Some of these volumes are extremely rare and were written at or close to the time of the famine itself.

If you could imagine Doon in the early 1800's, a rural community with little, if any conveniences or comforts. The type and size of the houses varied within the parish from the large gentleman's residences to smaller farm-houses and for the majority, one roomed cabins, made from mud, sods and stones.

"British Prime Minister Tony Blair apologized for doing "too little" in response to the Irish Potato Famine of the 19th century that killed one million people and brought about the emigration of millions more. But in fact, the English government was guilty of doing too much." Article by Mark Thornton for the Ludwig von Mises Institute.

A large international research team has decoded the genome of the notorious organism that triggered the Irish potato famine in the mid-19th century and now threatens this season's tomato and potato crops across much of the US.

Stories of coffin-ships, famine emigration experiences, and "Black '47", the worst year of the famine.

1800s reaction to the Great Famine: quotes, art, experiences, and newspaper reaction, especially the Cork Examiner and Illustrated London News.

From Bishinik, The Official Publication of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, June 1995.

"Those who governed in London at the time failed their people through standing by while a crop failure turned into a massive human tragedy. We must not forget such a dreadful event." - Tony Blair, British Prime Minister

County Mayo was one of the counties to suffer most and in commemoration the following article was included in a report from Mayo County Council. The first reports of blight appeared in September 1845. For one third of the country's population, the potato was the sole article of diet. In County Mayo it was estimated that nine tenths of the population depended on it.

The people of Ireland in 1851 proved to be 1,622,739 less numerous than in 1841, a diminution commonly attributed to the famine consequent on the potato failure in 1845 and subsequent years.

Why is it important? Why is it controversial? What happened? Why did so many people die? Was the famine genocide? Any references? Where can I find other points of view?

Covering topics such as the Poor laws, the Great Famine, fisheries, war, and photography.

A million people are said to have died of hunger in Ireland in the late 1840s, on the doorstep of the world's richest nation. Ideology helped the ruling class avoid grappling with the problem of mass starvation. Jim Donnelly describes how.

Although workhouses had existed in Ireland before the system created by the Irish Poor Law Act of 1838, their use was on a much smaller scale than was the case in England and Wales. In 1703 an Act of the Irish Parliament provided for the setting up of a House of Industry in Dublin "for the employment and maintaining the poor thereof".

Quebec, the 9th June 1847.

Extracts from the Boston Pilot regarding the Great Irish Famine.

Canada’s largest family history website, Ancestry.ca, will offer free access to records that outline in vivid and gruesome fashion the devastating effects of the Great Potato Famine of Ireland, which began in 1845.

Godfrey Massy (1803-1852), Church of Ireland Vicar of Bruff, was an outspoken and controversial character, indefatigable in the cause of Protestantism and hostile to the practice of Roman Catholicism, a man of strong and deep convictions and a great humanitarian. His memoirs, from which these extracts are taken, were published in 1855, edited and annotated by his brother, Rev. Dawson Massy,(l) and a summary account of his life was published in this journal (.pdf).

In 1995 the Thurles Church of Ireland community kindly donated one third of St Mary’s Church to create a Famine Museum to commemorate the many Irish people who lost their lives through disease and starvation during the Great Famine in Ireland of 1845-1849. The Famine and War museums are designed to be as informative and interesting as possible.

Irish artists did not paint their history because of a perception (so widely held that it was not always documented) that such work would not be acceptable to the establishment.

A census showed that the Irish population had fallen from 8,175,124 people to 6,552,385 from 1841 as a result of mortality and emigration. It was estimated that if the famine had not occurred, the number of people living in Ireland would have been more than nine million. The census takers commented that 'the results of the Irish census of 1851 are, on the whole, satisfactory, demonstrating as they do the general advancement of the country'.

Absentee landlords were common in Ireland and for many landlord's the main interest was income rather than the conditions of their tenants. Many landlords realized that they could get a higher income by turning their properties to pasture than to continue with the old practice of collecting rents from tenant farmers. Evictions was the most common way of getting rid of unwanted tenants.

Emancipation, famine and religion: Ireland under the Union, 1815–70.

The Irish political and academic establishment are playing down any commemoration of the Irish famine which began 150 years ago. Pat Stack argues that this story of ruling class greed and bigotry is an important one to remember. Issue 189 of Socialist Review, published September 1995.

Irish History by American.edu.

"Potato blight, "phytophthora infestans", did spread from America to Europe in 1844, to England and then Ireland in 1845 but it didn't cause famine anywhere. Ireland did not starve for potatoes; it starved for food."

Written by Cormac Ó Gráda, University College Dublin. The proximate cause of the Great Irish Famine (1846-52) was the fungus phythophtera infestans (or potato blight), which reached Ireland in the fall of 1845. The fungus destroyed about one-third of that year's crop, and nearly all that of 1846. After a season's remission, it also ruined most of the 1848 harvest.

This paper examines the writings produced by a selection of travellers from England and the US during the Great Famine. The authors surveyed spent a period of time journeying throughout the country reporting their findings on the progress of the Famine. The accounts covered different areas and times, but together provide a thorough and detailed picture of conditions in Ireland in 1845-1850. The results are interesting because of physical descriptions and the insights offered into contemporary perceptions of the political and ideological arguments of the day.

The following records of young girls sent to Australia between October, 1848 and August, 1850, are taken from Irish Famine Orphans in Australia by Valda Strauss, published 1993 in Volume 11 of the Mallow Field Club Journal.

This database identifies 604,596 persons who arrived in the Port of New York, from 1846-1851. Despite the name of the records, approximately 30 percent of the passengers list their native country as other than Ireland.

This prodigious collection in excess of 15,000 gravestone transcriptions is the outgrowth of a twenty-year labor of love by Mr. and Mrs. Murphy to preserve and record the inscriptions found upon the tombstones of Potato Famine era (1846-1851) Irish immigrants buried throughout the state of Vermont.

The Australian Monument to the Great Irish Famine (1845-1848) is located at the Hyde Park Barracks, on Macquarie Street, Sydney, Australia. The monument was inspired by the arrival in Australia of over 4,000 single young women, most of whom were orphans. They arrived under a special emigration scheme designed to resettle destitute girls from the workhouses of Ireland during the Great Famine. The Great Irish Famine Commemoration Committee (GIFCC) have broadened their activities to commemorate all who left their homes seeking a new life in the colonies and states of Australia but the historical focus remains with the workhouse orphan girls.

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Article in PDF format and size of 3.32 MB.

"Ireland is in your hands, in your power. If you do not save her, she cannot save herself. I solemnly call upon you to recollect that I predict with the sincerest conviction that a quarter of her population will perish unless you come to her relief." Daniel O'Connell to the British House of Commons, 1847.

The Protestant Church of St. Mary’s in Thurles is the site of the official Pre-Reformation Church of Thurles. The original structure was built by the Normans, in the 12th century, to provide them with a separate and more exclusive place of worship. Some time after the erection of St. Mary’s church, it, together with the native church and those of Rahealty, Shyan and Athnid were given into the custody of the Abbot of Abbington, head of the Cistercian monastery which had been founded by Theobald Butler. The Abbot became the Rector of these churches. He also received the associated glebelands and tithe revenues. As was the practice, the Abbot paid a vicar or vicars, appointed by the Archbishop of Cashel, to perform the spiritual duties of these local churches.

Since we wrote last, we have had a more accurate and general invesigation in reference to the condition of this crop, in the gardens within a few miles round the city; and the intelligent and every way competent gentleman to whom the task has been entrusted, gives it as his opinion that there is no trace whatever of disease-- and that in no one instance has he been able to discover a symptom of the last years' blight. We have equally good accounts from Carrigaline, a great potato-growing country; also, from Whitechurch; from Fermoy, and a number of other localities.

From 1848 - 1950 over 6 million adults and children emigrated from Ireland - over 2.5 million departed from Cobh, making it the single most important port of emigration.

The most controversial relief of the Castlecomer Lordship was that of emigration assistance which was carried out immediately before the building of Castlecomer Workhouse. The Guardians of the Union were empowered to grant assistance for emigration and a small number got assistance from that source before and after the setting up the Workhouse - 4,854 individuals have been assisted to migrate - however, to get the assistance they had to give up their leases, many held from the 1700s and the lease could not be given to their heirs/relatives which proved most controversial.

At first, the potato seemed heaven-sent. It thrived in the damp Irish climate, was easy to grow and produced a high yield per acre. In the period from 1780 to 1845 it helped double the Irish population from 4 to 8 million. However, with this population explosion came an increased demand for land. The only solution was to divide the available parcels into ever smaller plots for each succeeding generation. Soon, the diminished size of these plots dictated the planting of potatoes as it was the only crop that could produce a sufficient yield of food on such limited acreage. By 1840, fully 1/3 of Ireland's population was totally dependent on the potato for its nourishment. It was a dependency that teetered on the brink of starvation and created a time bomb that needed only the slightest spark to explode.

Nicholson, Asenath, 1792-1855. Annals of the famine in Ireland, in 1847, 1848, and 1849. E. French, 1851. 336 p.

This is a list of people from the parish who died during 1847 at the height of the Famine in Ireland. It has not been edited.

The year 1847 was a unique year for emigration. Famine in Ireland leads the list of reasons for the increase in the number of emigrants in that year. However, if one reads newspapers of the day other facts soon come to light.

Donaghmore Famine Workhouse Museum is a unique attraction in Co. Laois, Ireland and aims to tell the story of the families who lived and died within the Famine Workhouse walls before, during and after the Great Famine.

A series of audio podcasts on Irish history, from the Celts and St. Patrick to the Vikings & Boru, to the 17th century devastations and then the Great Famine and immigration. From the Irish Roots Cafe. Hosted by Peter Reilly Adams and Mike O'Laughlin.

William petty estimated in his demographic survey of Ireland in the 1650s that the war of 1641–53 had resulted in the death or exile of over 600,000 people, or around one third of Ireland's pre-war population.

The Irish Famine Curriculum was approved in September 1996 by the New Jersey Commission for inclusion in the Holocaust and Genocide Curriculum at the secondary school level. That year the New York legislature also passed an amendment "with enthusiastic bipartisan support", for an appropriation bill supporting the development of a Great Irish Famine curriculum in that state.

Records for passengers who arrived at the Port of New York during the Irish Famine, created, 1977 - 1989, documenting the period 1/12/1846 - 12/31/1851 - Collection CIR.

A list of all of the Workhouses in existance in Ireland during the 19th and early part of the 20th Century, together with details of who you should contact for further information as to the whereabouts of Original Workhouse Registers.

Castlecomer was one of the new Poor Law Unions created in Ireland between 1848 and 1850.

There were many "Voices in the Wilderness" risking all to stop the genocide. For example; Wexford-born Jane Wilde, mother of Oscar and poetess, wrote under the nom de plume "Speranza," in the United Irishman newspaper the following (verses 1 and 6 printed here) during the depths of 1847 re the British genocidists and the innocents they were exterminating.

In 1847, Gerald Keegan crossed the Atlantic in from County Sligo, Ireland to Grosse Ile, Quebec, Canada, which at that time was still part of Great Britain.

Includes diary entries and newspaper articles.

An array of statistics relating to the famine of Ireland.

Throughout the Famine years, nearly a million Irish arrived in the United States. Famine immigrants were the first big wave of poor refugees ever to arrive in the U.S. and Americans were simply overwhelmed.

The Australian Monument to the Great Irish Famine (1845-1848) is located at the Hyde Park Barracks, on Macquarie Street, Sydney, Australia.

This database identifies 604,596 persons who arrived in the Port of New York, from 1846-1851. Despite the name of the records, approximately 30 percent of the passengers list their native country as other than Ireland.

Including maps of Irish counties, detailed maps of Ireland, maps highlighting Poor Law Unions, Public Works, and Cholera maps of the 1800s.

In 1798, inspired by the American and French revolutions, the Irish staged a major rebellion against British rule. Widespread hangings and floggings soon followed as the rebellion was brutally squashed.

Located in downtown Boston, the park is sited along the city's Freedom Trail, and is visited annually by over three million people.

Although most of us tend to think of the famine in Ireland as occurring about 1848, contributing factors began long before that date.

Records for passengers who arrived at the Port of New York during the Irish Famine, created 1977-89, documenting the period 12/01/1846 to 31/12/1851.

Poor Law Unions of Carrickmacross, Castleblayney, Clogher, Clones, Cootehill, Dundalk, and Monaghan, were established in the 1830s to deal with the effects of the famine.

The Internet Modern History Sourcebook now contains thousands of sources and the previous index pages were so large that they were crashing many browsers.

A treasure chest of records and articles relating to Co. Mayo genealogy.

The following is a copy of an address from the Irish prelates in acknowledgement of the contributions which have been raised in England for the relief of the distressed poor in Ireland.

Gravestone records, Gravestone photographs, 1901 Census records, 1911 Census records, 1931 Trade Directory records, Birth records, Marriage records, Death records, Lewis' Topographical records, Griffith's Valuation records, and much more.

Gravestone records, Gravestone photographs, 1901 Census records, 1911 Census records, 1931 Trade Directory records, Birth records, Marriage records, Death records, Lewis' Topographical records, Griffith's Valuation records, and much more.

Gravestone records, Gravestone photographs, 1901 Census records, 1911 Census records, 1931 Trade Directory records, Birth records, Marriage records, Death records, Lewis' Topographical records, Griffith's Valuation records, and much more.