The Great Hunger: Ireland: 1845-1849The Irish potato famine of the 1840s, perhaps the most appalling event of the Victorian era, killed over a million people and drove as many more to emigrate to America. It may not have been the result of deliberate government policy, yet British ‘obtuseness, short-sightedness and ignorance’ – and stubborn commitment to laissez-faire ‘solutions’ – largely caused the disaster and prevented any serious efforts to relieve suffering. The continuing impact on Anglo-Irish relations was incalculable, the immediate human cost almost inconceivable. In this vivid and disturbing book Cecil Woodham-Smith provides the definitive account. ‘A moving and terrible book. It combines great literary power with great learning. It explains much in modern Ireland – and in modern America’ D.W. Brogan. |
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April August Ballina became blight Boston British Government Captain Catholic Charles Wood Clare Clarendon Papers Comm Commissariat officer Cork Corr County Clare County Mayo crowd December December 12 depots destitute distress districts Dublin Duffy England epidemic evicted failure famine February fever Freeman's Journal fungus Galway Grosse Isle Hansard hospital House Ibid Indian corn Inspector Irish Poor Law James Hack Tuke January July June labourers land landlords letter Limerick Liverpool Lord John Russell Lord-Lieutenant March Mayo meal Montreal November October passengers Peel persons police Poor Law Commissioners population potato crop quarantine Quebec Queen refused Relief Committee rent Repeal Routh to Trevelyan Russell to Clarendon sent September ships Skibbereen Sligo Society of Friends soup kitchens starvation starving streets supplies tenants told Trevelyan Treasury Trevelyan to Routh Tuke Twisleton typhus Union Westport William Smith O'Brien workhouse wrote York Young Ireland