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In year 1845, the Great Famine started which lasted 7 years it gave potatoes a thing called blight. When people were starving from the crop failure and the potato blight, the British government gave some food to the Irish but then stopped because they could not afford it.  In 1846 they made Irish Land owners responsible for soup kitchens and relief and many chose to do nothing.

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Starving children digging for potatoes with their bare hands

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Starving children digging for potatoes with their bare hands

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Starving children digging for potatoes with their bare hands

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The Potato Famine had lasted between the time period of 1845-1852. During this period about one million people had died from a range of different  circumstances including starvation, typhus and other famine-related diseases to name only a few. More than one million people had been emigrated to countries including United States of America, Canada and Australia to name only a few countries that had been involved during this time.

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Over 1.5 million people died from the great famine in Ireland. Ireland was effectively governed by Britain. Most of the population of Ireland were Catholic and not allowed to own or lease land. They had to work as tenant farmers to pay the rent to the landowners of Great Britain.  The potato, called Irish Lumpers soon became a staple food of the poor. When the crop failed thousands died from starvations, and hundreds of thousands more died from disease and malnutrition.

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When the potatoes got blight they failed to grow and became mushy and inedible.  It first appeared in America in 1844 then France and finally Britain and Ireland from 1845-1849.

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Large numbers of Irish people emigrated to countries such as England, America, Canada and Australia because of the famine. From 1845 to 1850, about one and a half million people left Ireland.

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By the summer of 1847, the line of coffin ships had grown several miles long. Many people had died on board the coffin ships which resulted in hundreds of bodies being dumped overboard into the St. Lawrence.

Others, half-alive, were placed in small boats and left on the beach of Grosse Isle in Canada, to crawl to the hospital on their hands and knees if they could manage. Those who couldn't get into a hospital died along the roadsides. In one case, an orphaned Irish boy who had been walking along the road with other boys had sat down for a moment under a tree to rest and sadly had died on the spot from what he had encounted throughtout his journey on the coffin ship.

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The population of Ireland had exploded from 2.8 million to 8.5 million In 1845. The staple food of the majority of the population was the potato. The Blight began in 1845 as leaves on the potato plants suddenly turned black and curled, then rotted. One million people died of hunger and disease during the crisis and more than one million people emigrated to the United States. They travelled in ships which became known as " Coffin Ships" so called because so many people dies because of the terrible conditions of the crossing. By the end of the famine there were 6.5 million people in Ireland.

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This is a sketch of a starving family

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The Ballymoney Workhouse was completed in 1843 and was managed by a Board of Guardians, elected by local rate-payers.
Families were separated and given a cold bath to de-louse them. Men, women and children were confined to their own dormitories. During the day, they followed a strict regime and were expected to perform manual labour.

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This is a sketch of a family being evicted from their home during the famine.

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Landlords used two methods to remove poor tennents from their home's usually by throwing the men in jail and putting the women and children on the streets and the second was to put them on ships to America, Canada and Australia. These ships were known as coffin ships. These ships were usually carrying sick passengers, The first coffin ships set sail for Quebec Canada. The journey would take up to three months depending on the weather conditions and the captain's skill.

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In the spring of 1847, the first shipload of fevered Irish arrived in Quebec, Canada after a 3 thousand mile journey which took up to 3 months. By June, 40 vessels containing 14,000 Irish.

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During the Famine an estimated half-million Irish were evicted from their cottages. Many landlords made false promises of money, food and clothing when they reached Canada, Australia and America. They packed the half-naked people in overcrowded British sailing ships, poorly built and often unseaworthy, that became known as coffin ships as many didn't survive the journey.

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The Irish Poor Law of 1838 introduced a relief system for poor, sick and destitute people. Ireland was divided into 130 poor law unions with a workhouse established in each. The Ballymoney workhouse was completed in 1843.At one point it became vastly overcrowded with 870 inmates.

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In England, religious-minded social reformers viewed the blight as a heaven-sent 'blessing' that would finally provide an opportunity to transform Ireland, ending the cycle of poverty resulting from the people's mistaken dependence on the potato.

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The famine was from September 1845 until 1852. In Ireland there was over 8 million in 1841 but it was reduced to about 6.5 million by 1851. Potato was the only food available for them to eat and they had expected a good harvest in 1845. When it came to digging the potatoes all they got was a black and gooey mess potatoes. There was a 50% loss of the potatoes in this year it was very bad. Each of the family’s grew only what they needed for the year. In the summer it was mild but it was very wet in Britain and it was almost the perfect weather conditions for the blight to spread.

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Queen Victoria had some sympathy for the Irish people effected by the famine and donated £2,000 from her personal funds.

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Evictions                                When tenants could not pay their rent, they were usually evicted. Some landlords tried their best to help their tenants and did not charge them but A number of these landlords went broke because of this. However, huge numbers of people were also evicted from their homes by their landlords during the famine.

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Evictions                                When tenants could not pay their rent, they were usually evicted. Some landlords tried their best to help their tenants and did not charge them but A number of these landlords went broke because of this. However, huge numbers of people were also evicted from their homes by their landlords during the famine.

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It's estimated that half a million Irish were evicted from their cottages during the famine.  The first involved applying for a legal judgment,the Lord John Russell he would go against the male head of a family owing back-rent. After the local barrister pronounced judgment, the man would be thrown in jail and his wife and children dumped out on the streets.

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The British government made an effort to help the famine. Conservative Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel wasn't able to persuade his party to repeal the Corn Laws in 1845, but he did authorise the import of corn maize from the United States. This helped a little – but not enough

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Hundreds of men, women and children died of hunger and disease during the crisis and more than one million emigrated, mainly to United States often in the notorious coffin ships so-called. Many people died because of the terrible conditions during the crossing.

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The famine caused a significant downfall in Ireland's population of almost 8.4 million in 1844 had fallen to 6.6 million by 1851. The number of Agricultural laborers and smallholders dramatically declined.

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Irish society was shaped by the system of Landownership. The majority of people in Ireland were Catholic and were not allowed to own the land.  This meant that they were tenant farmers who had to pay rent to the Landlords.  The best way to make money to pay the rent was to grow potatoes which would give a good crop to have a surplus to sell.  People also subdivided their plots to give a patch to their family members.  This led to a dangerous dependence in the potato. By 1845 the Irish population had expanded from 2.5 million to 8 million. The Catholics grew at a much faster rate than the protestant community. With so many people dependent on one crop, it meant that crop failure would have catastrophic consequences.

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Andrew mccreadie

The great famine happened in Ireland in 1845-49. In the early 1840s almost half Irish population had to depend on the potato for their diet. In 1845 a disease caused the potato crop to fail and by 1849 the potatoes was almost complete ruined by the blight. The British government efforts to provide relief were inadequate. The Prime Minister Sir Robert peel tried to do what he could to provide relief by giving them corn to eat but the new government stopped giving them corn. Since they needed food, they were sent to workhouses. Three million people were receiving food at the soup kitchen in 1847.

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The British government had a slow reaction and many suggested the problem should be left to run its course. To make some matters even worse some of the landlords began to evict those tenants they could not pay their rents sending them to search for food. America sent two ships full of supplies to help the starving people of Ireland. Robert Peel believed the workhouses did not have enough room or resources to provide for the people. He set up a temporary Relief Commission to organise help for the public. It organised the supply of food at a cheaper price, though many still had to sell belongings to buy it. At the start, many of the people didn’t like the charity, but in the end many needed the help. He made lots of work schemes which gave 140,000 people jobs. Robert Peel’s efforts helped 700,000 people and helped keep the amount of deaths low in 1845.