Christine Kinealy

The Irish famine of 1845-52 was the most decisive event in the history of modern Ireland and the last great sustenance crises in European history. In a country of eight million people, it caused the deaths of one million and the forced emigration of another million.

The Irish Famine, 1845-52

This Great Calamity

The Great Irish Famine of 1845-51 was both one of the most lethal famines in modern history and a watershed in the development of modern Ireland. This book - based on a wide range of little-used sources - demonstrates how the Famine profoundly affected many aspects of Irish life: the relationship between the churches; the nationalist movement; and the relationship with the monarchy. In addition to looking at the role of the government, Kinealy shows the importance of private charity in saving lives. One of the most challenging aspects of the publication is the chapter on food supply, in which Kinealy concludes that, despite the potato blight, Ireland was still producing enough food to feed its people. The long-term impact of the tragedy, notably the way in which it has been remembered and commemorated, is also examined.

Impact, Ideology and Rebellion

The Great Irish Famine

The Great Irish Famine was one of the most devastating humanitarian disasters of the nineteenth century. In a period of only five years, Ireland lost approximately 25% of its population through a combination of death and emigration. How could such a tragedy have occurred at the heart of the vast, and resource-rich, British Empire? Charity and the Great Hunger in Ireland explores this question by focusing on a particular, and lesser-known, aspect of the Famine: that being the extent to which people throughout the world mobilized to provide money, food and clothing to assist the starving Irish. This book considers how, helped by developments in transport and communications, newspapers throughout the world reported on the suffering in Ireland, prompting funds to be raised globally on an unprecedented scale. Donations came from as far away as Australia, China, India and South America and contributors emerged from across the various religious, ethnic, social and gender divides. Charity and the Great Hunger in Ireland traces the story of this international aid effort and uses it to reveal previously unconsidered elements in the history of the Famine in Ireland.

The Kindness of Strangers

Charity and the Great Hunger in Ireland

Jason King

Gerard Moran

The tragedy that struck Ireland between 1845 and 1852 is often viewed through the lens of cold-hearted bureaucrats, greedy merchants or indifferent landlords who put profit, principles of political economy, and prejudice against the Irish poor, above the need to save lives. This ground-breaking volume examines the contributions of the numerous men and women who risked their lives?and sometimes their livelihoods?in caring for the sick and the starving. This publication examines the uplifting contributions of numerous individuals who combatted hunger, famine and disease in the mid-nineteenth century in order to save the lives of strangers. At a time that the world is struggling with the deadly COVID pandemic and its aftermath, these stories are a tribute to all forgotten or nameless caregivers and front-line workers. Despite these generous interventions, over one million died in Ireland from disease and starvation, another 2.1 million left Ireland between 1845 and 1855, more than had emigrated from Ireland over the previous two-and-a-half centuries. While some names might be familiar due to the large body of research undertaken on the Great Famine since 1995, a number will be less so. Individually and collectively, their contributions to saving the people from starvation and death and giving them hope cannot be understated, nor should the personal and professional sacrifice that they made on behalf of the Irish poor be forgotten.

Heroes of Ireland's Great Hunger

Frederick Douglass spent four months in Ireland at the end of 1845 that proved to be, in his own words, ‘transformative’. He reported that for the first time in his life he felt like a man, and not a chattel. Whilst in residence, he became a spokesperson for the abolition movement, but by the time he left the country in early January 1846, he believed that the cause of the slave was the cause of the oppressed everywhere. This book adds new insight into Frederick Douglass and his time in Ireland. Contemporary newspaper accounts of the lectures that Douglass gave during his tour of Ireland (in Dublin, Wexford, Waterford, Cork, Limerick, and Belfast) have been located and transcribed. The speeches are annotated and accompanied by letters written by Douglass during his stay. In this way, for the first time, we hear Douglass in his own words. This unique approach allows us to follow the journey of the young man who, while in Ireland, discovered his own voice.

In His Own Words

Frederick Douglass and Ireland

Michael Partridge

Carla King

Michael De Nie

Nancy LoPatin-Lummis

David Stack

Lives of Victorian Political Figures II

Trevor Parkhill

Ulster Historical Foundation

This volume corrects that distortion "the Famine didn't happen in Ulster." Ulster was indeed spared what a local newspaper called "the horrors of Skibereen," but nonetheless, the severity of the famine, particularly in the winter 1846-7, is all too apparent in each of the nine counties. 95 inmates of Lurgan Workhouse died in one week in February 1847; and 351 people queued to get into Enniskillen Workhouse in one day. What was done to limit the tragedy? Contentious issues such as the effectiveness of government relief measures, the response of local landlords, and the role of the churches are all assessed.

The Regional Impact

The Famine in Ulster

King Jason

In any sustained period of food hunger and famine, children are one of the most vulnerable groups in terms of disease and mortality. The Great Hunger that occurred in Ireland between 1845 and 1852 is no exception. This publication explores the impact of famine on children and young adults through a multi-disciplinary approach. It includes research from some of the leading scholars in the field.Children and the Great Hunger in Ireland breaks new ground in its emphasis on the experiences of children during the Irish Famine. It features a diverse range of sources and eyewitness accounts, together with new methodologies, that attest to the Famine's devastating impact on young people. This book asks: how did children experience--and survive--the tragedy that unfolded in Ireland between 1845 and 1852? Children and the Great Hunger in Ireland brings together the work of some of the leading researchers in Irish studies, with new scholarship, methodologies and perspectives. This book takes a major step toward advancing our understanding of the Great Hunger.

Children and the Great Hunger in Ireland

This essay provides an overview of the devastating period in Irish history that is simply remembered as the 'Great Hunger'. Christine Kinealy provides a chronology of the Famine, examines the causes and consequences of this tragedy, and asks how could a famine of this magnitude occur at the center of the British Empire? Why did Ireland starve?--back cover.

The Great Hunger in Ireland

Apparitions of Death and Disease

The story of the anti-slavery movement in Ireland is little known, yet when Frederick Douglass visited the country in 1845, he described Irish abolitionists as the most ‘ardent’ that he had ever encountered. Moreover, their involvement proved to be an important factor in ending the slave trade, and later slavery, in both the British Empire and in America. While Frederick Douglass remains the most renowned black abolitionist to visit Ireland, he was not the only one. This publication traces the stories of ten black abolitionists, including Douglass, who travelled to Ireland in the decades before the American Civil War, to win support for their cause. It opens with former slave, Olaudah Equiano, kidnapped as a boy from his home in Africa, and who was hosted by the United Irishmen in the 1790s; it closes with the redoubtable Sarah Parker Remond, who visited Ireland in 1859 and chose never to return to America. The stories of these ten men and women, and their interactions with Ireland, are diverse and remarkable.

Black Abolitionists in Ireland

The Great Famine of 1845-52 caused the deaths of approximately one million Irish people. This work contains details about the interpretation of motives behind the London governments' responses, and the confrontation.

The Irish Famine 1845-52

Examines the historiography of the Irish Famine and its relevance now, in the context of the longer-term relationship between England and Ireland.

A Death-Dealing Famine

Frederick Douglass spent four months in Ireland at the end of 1845 that proved to be, in his own words, ‘transformative’. He reported that for the first time in his life he felt like a man, and not a chattel. Whilst in residence, he became a spokesperson for the abolition movement, but by the time he left the country in early January 1846, he believed that the cause of the slave was the cause of the oppressed everywhere. This book adds new insight into Frederick Douglass and his time in Ireland. Contemporary newspaper accounts of the lectures that Douglass gave during his tour of Ireland (in Dublin, Wexford, Waterford, Cork, Limerick, and Belfast) have been located and transcribed. The speeches are annotated and accompanied by letters written by Douglass during his stay. In this way, for the first time, we hear Douglass in his own words.

Christine Kinealy

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