CLEFS CONCOURS

ANGLAIS - CIVILISATION

Frank Rynne et Adam Pole (dirs)

Co-directeurs de louvrage
Frank Rynne et Adam Pole

La grande famine
en Irlande
La collection Clefs concours Anglais - Civilisation est dirige par
Charles Giry-Deloison.
Direction scientifique des Clefs-concours : Philippe Lemarchand.
dition : Andra Davoust.

Atlande, 2015 Tous droits rservs

ISBN : 978-2-35030-279-9

Les auteurs

Brian Casey wrote The Great Famine, 1845-47 and Reorganised Ireland :
After the Famine in this volume. He holds a PhD from Maynooth University where
his doctoral supervisor was Prof. Terence Dooley. He teaches at the School
of History and Archives, University College Dublin. His research interests centre
on rural history, social radicalism and the land question in provincial Ireland,
and the Fenian, Land Leaguer and MP, Matt Harris. He is the editor of Defying
the law of the land : agrarian radicals in Irish history (2013).
Aine Foley wrote Medieval Ireland, 1034-1534 in this volume. She completed
her PhD in 2010 on the royal manors of medieval Dublin at Trinity College Dublin.
She is author of The royal manors of medieval Co. Dublin Crown and community
(2013) and is currently researching the medieval Irish gentry and county administrators, with a particular emphasis on elite violence and conflict in Ireland during
the fourteenth century. She is Honorary Secretary of the Friends of Medieval Dublin.
John Gibney wrote Early Modern Ireland in this volume. He holds a PhD from
Trinity College Dublin. He is the author of The shadow of a year : the 1641 rebellion
in Irish history and memory (2013).
Christophe Gillissen wrote the Introduction to this volume. He is a Professor of
Irish Studies at the University of Caen. He has published several articles on Irish
foreign policy, on Franco-Irish relations, and on Irish policy at the United Nations.
He has also worked on the Great Famine of 1845-51.
Ian Miller wrote Impact : Population, Mortality and Emigration in this volume
and is a Wellcome Trust Research Fellow at the Centre for the History of Medicine
in Ireland, University of Ulster. He has published extensively on nineteenth- and
twentieth-century medical history in Britain and Ireland. His publications include
A Modern History of the Stomach : Gastric Illness, Medicine and British Society,
1800-1950 (2011), Reforming Food in Post-Famine Ireland : Medicine, Science
and Improvement, 1845-1922 (2014), Drinking Water : A Global History (2015) and
co-edited with David Durnin Medicine, Health and Irish Experiences of Conflict,
1914-45 (2015).

Maureen O. Murphy wrote The Great Irish Famine and the Arts in this volume
and is the Joseph L. Dionne Professor of Teacher Education at Hofstra University.
She is the author of Compassionate Stranger Asenath Nicholson and The Great Irish
Famine (2015) and the editor of Asenath Nicholsons Annals of The Famine in
Ireland (1998) and Irelands Welcome to the Stranger (2002). She was the Director
of the awarding-winning New York State Great Irish Famine Curriculum and the
historian of the Irish Hunger Memorial in Battery Park City. She is the Past President
of the American Conference for Irish Studies and the Past Chair of the International
Association for the Study of Irish Literatures.
Adam Pole is co-editor of this volume and wrote the chapters Landlords and
Tenants, Relief Responses to the Famine, The Great Irish Famine, 1847-52 and
co-authored with Frank Rynne The Famine in Memory and Legislation :
The Legacy and Consequences of the Great Famine. He is a lecturer in the
Department of History at the University of Windsor (Canada). His publications
include contributions to Irish Historical Studies, the Dictionary of Irish Biography,
and to Lawyers, the law, and history, (2013) ed. Felix M. Larkin & N.M. Dawson.
Frank Rynne co-edited this volume and wrote the chapters Historiography,
Politics, 1780-1852, and co-authored with Adam Pole The Famine in Memory
and Legislation : The Legacy and Consequences of the Great Famine. He teaches
at the Universit Paris 2, Panthon-Assas and holds a BA (Hons.) and PhD from
Trinity College Dublin where his doctoral supervisor was W.E. Vaughan. He has
contributed to the Revue franaise de civilisation britannique, vol. XIX, n(2), 2014,
La grande famine en Irlande, to La grande famine en Irlande : 1845-1850, histoire
et reprsentation dun dsastre humanitaire (2014) ed. Y. Bvant, to Defying the Law
of the Land, Agrarian Radicals in Irish History (2013) ed. B. Casey, McConnel,
to The Black Hand of Republicanism (2009), and to History Ireland, Irish Literary
Supplement, The Guardian, The Irish Times and The Independent (UK).

CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
CONTEXT
MEDIEVAL IRELAND . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
PRE-INVASION IRELAND . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
THE ENGLISH INVASION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
THE ENGLISH CROWN AND IRELAND . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
THE EXPANSION OF THE COLONY IN THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY . . . . . . . 40
ABSENTEEISM AND THE BREAKUP OF THE GREAT LORDSHIPS . . . . . . . . . 41
THE BRUCE INVASION, FAMINE AND PLAGUE:
THE CONTRACTION OF THE COLONY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
THE STATUTES OF KILKENNY AND THE GAELIC RESURGENCE:
TWO NATIONS? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
A PATCHWORK OF LORDSHIPS: THE RISE OF THE ANGLO-IRISH
AND GAELIC ARISTOCRACY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY: THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE PALE
AND THE KILDARE ASCENDENCY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
EARLY MODERN IRELAND . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
TUDOR REFORM? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
REFORMATION AND COUNTER-REFORMATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
TUDOR CONQUEST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
PLANTATION AND COLONISATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
THE WARS OF THE THREE KINGDOMS AND THE RESTORATION . . . . . . . . 51
PROTESTANT ASCENDANCY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
HIDDEN IRELANDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
IRELAND IN 1780:
CULTURAL, ECONOMICAND SOCIAL TRANSFORMATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
POLITICS, 1780-1852 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
GRATTANS PARLIAMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
THE UNITED IRISHMEN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
AGRARIAN AND SECTARIAN SECRET SOCIETIES
AND THE FOUNDING OF THE ORANGE ORDER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
THE 1798 RISING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
THE ACTS OF UNION 1800 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
10

THE RISE OF DANIEL OCONNELL AND CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION . . . . 61

THE REPEAL MOVEMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
YOUNG IRELAND . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
JAMES FINTAN LALOR, JOHN MITCHEL AND THE 1848 REBELLION . . . . 67
THE GREAT FAMINE, 1845-47 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
PRELUDE TO THE CRISIS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
THE POTATO AS SUBSISTENCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
RESPONSES TO THE CRISIS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
ASSISTED EMIGRATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
WHIG ACTIONS AND CONCLUSION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
THE GREAT IRISH FAMINE, 1847-52 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
LANDLORDS AND TENANTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
CRIME AND REBELLION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
EMIGRATION AND MORTALITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
CONCLUSION: THE END OF THE FAMINE? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
REORGANISED IRELAND: AFTER THE FAMINE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
POST-FAMINE INNOVATIONS AND THE LAND QUESTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
RISING POLITICAL CONSCIOUSNESS,
THE FENIANS AND THE LANDLORD CLASS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
THE CATHOLIC CHURCH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
CONCLUSION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
THEMES
LANDLORDS AND TENANTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
HISTORICAL REPUTATION OF IRISH LANDLORDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
THE LAND SYSTEM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
RENTS, RATES AND EMIGRATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
EVICTIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
ENCUMBERED ESTATES COURT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
ASSESSMENT OF LANDLORDS AND THE FAMINE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
RELIEF RESPONSES TO THE FAMINE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
UNDERSTANDING THE PROBLEM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
GOVERNMENT RELIEF RESPONSES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Relief committees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Public works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Soup kitchens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
The 1847 Poor Relief Act . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
NON-GOVERNMENTAL RELIEF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
11

IMPACT: POPULATION, MORTALITY AND EMIGRATION . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

MORTALITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Starvation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Gender and age . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
Diseases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Relief provision schemes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
EMIGRATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Crossing the Irish Sea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Emigrate to where? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Discrimination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
CONCLUSION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
PERSPECTIVES
THE FAMINE IN MEMORY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
FOOD IN THE FAMINE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
RELIEF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
DISEASE, DEATH, AND BURIAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
EPILOGUE:
LANDLORDS AND TENANTS IN THE LEGACY OF THE FAMINE . . . . . . . . 159
THE GREAT IRISH FAMINE AND THE ARTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
THE ARTS PRODUCED BEFORE THE FAMINE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
THE ARTS PRODUCED DURING THE GREAT IRISH FAMINE DECADE
(1845-52) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
IMMEDIATE POST-FAMINE REPRESENTATIONS (1850-1900) . . . . . . . . . 169
THE GREAT IRISH FAMINE AND THE ARTS IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 172
CONTEMPORARY ART AND THE GREAT IRISH FAMINE . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
LEGISLATION: THE LEGACY AND CONSEQUENCES
OF THE GREAT FAMINE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
CORN LAW REPEAL (1846) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
POOR RELIEF ACT (1847) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
PREVENTION OF CRIME AND OUTRAGE (1848) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
TREASON FELONY ACT (1848) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
ENCUMBERED ESTATES ACT (1849) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
PARTY PROCESSIONS (IRELAND) ACT 1850 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
HISTORIOGRAPHY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
REVISIONISM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
POST-REVISIONISM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
REVISIONISM CHALLENGED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
12

TOOLBOX
APPPENDICES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
1. Lady Sligo to Hildebrand. Clontarf, near Dublin,
December 4, 1845 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
2. Sir Robert Peels House of Commons speeches on the Corn Laws
(January 27 and February 16, 1846). Hansard. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
3. Commissary-General W. Heweston to Charles Trevelyan,
February 24, 1846 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
4. Sale of government maize in Cork (Illustrated London News,
April 4, 1846) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
5. Food Riots in Ireland (The Pictorial Times, April 25, 1846) . . . 211
6. William Gregorys speech on the quarter-acre clause
of the Poor Law Amendment Bill in the House of Commons
(March 29, 1847). Hansard. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
7. The murder of Major Denis Mahon
(The Times, November 5, 1847) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
8. James Fintan Lalor, A New Nation: Proposal for an Agricultural
Association between the Landowners and Occupiers (1847) . . . . 215
9. Charles Trevelyan, The Irish Crisis (1848) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
10. James Hack Tuke, A Visit to Connaught in the Autumn (1848) . 219
11. Bridget ODonnell and her children
(Illustrated London News, December 22, 1849) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
12. The Depopulation of Ireland
(Illustrated London News, May 10, 1851) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
13. John Mitchel, The Last Conquest of Ireland (Perhaps) (1860) 223
TABLES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
MAPS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
CHRONOLOGY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
BIOGRAPHIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
GLOSSARY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266

13