Ag freastal ar an Dúnagus Ard Mhacha Theas

Serving Downand South Armagh

The Great Famine By 1845 the population of Ireland had risen to around 8.5 million people. This was due to a number of reasons including economic prosperity in response to new overseas markets, sub-division of land, over-reliance on the potato as a foodstuff and a fall in mortality due to better systems of healthcare.

Although there had been famines in Ireland previously, the Great Famine (1845–50) had a severe and lasting impact due to the failure of the potato crop in successive years.

The response to the famine by the British Government has been viewed as inadequate by historians. The reasons for the government’s response are complex, and were not only due to lack of political

will, but to the prevailing ideologies of the time. Principal amongst these was the doctrine of laissez-faire, which meant that the government did not intervene in the internal market or in the export of agricultural produce.

Over a million people died in Ireland either of starvation or due to the illnesses associated with hunger because of the famine and around 1,800,000 people emigrated.

Trevor Hill, Newry, 1829 Print by T.M. Baynes. Newry and Mourne Museum Collection

Newry was a commercial and industrial centre on the eve of the famine, with an educated class ranging from lawyers, clergy, merchants and business people with an interest in politics and welfare.

Bessbrook Mill, c. 1880sNewry and Mourne Museum Collection

John Grubb Richardson’s linen-spinning enterprise was established at Bessbrook, near Newry in 1845. Like most other Irish Quakers, the Richardson family were involved in famine relief. By January 1847, there was ‘lamentable destitution’ in Forkhill’, and Newry Workhouse was ‘closed for the admission of paupers’.

Regulations for Trevor Corry Charity, 1823 Newry and Mourne Museum Collection

In the early 19th century private charities were often the only source of help in times of hardship. The Corry Charity arose from a bequest left by Sir Trevor Corry of Newry.

Ag freastal ar an Dúnagus Ard Mhacha Theas

Serving Downand South Armagh

For over half the population of Ireland the potato was the main or only source of food. By the 1840s, sub-division of land was widespread among the poorest people and some farms became so small that potatoes were the only crop that could be grown in sufficient quantities to feed a family.

Outbreak of potato blight

Potato blight, a fungal infection, was first noticed in Ireland in early September 1845. It had travelled from continental Europe to Ireland, and the damp, sunless summer of that year quickly spread the disease. It rotted the potato crop making approximately a third unfit for human consumption.

Potato blight was recorded by a member of the Newtownhamilton Relief Committee in south

Armagh in October 1845. The Downpatrick Recorder reported blight in early November of the same year.

By December 1845 county Armagh had lost one fifth of the crop and county Down one quarter. The following year blight destroyed around three-quarters of the Irish potato crop. In 1847 not enough potato seed had survived to plant, and yield was meagre. Failures occurred again in 1848 and 1849.

Map of Lower Ballyholland, Newry, 1813 Newry and Mourne Museum Collection

Extract from a Kilmorey estate map showing the plots held by ‘cottiers’ in the townland of Ballyholland in 1813. Cottiers were often paid in land rather than cash for labouring on tenant farmers’ land, and used these small plots to grow potatoes.

James Harshaw (1797–1867)Photograph courtesy of the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland

James Harshaw of Donaghmore, Newry, kept a diary from the 1830s to the 1860s in which he recorded the appearance of potato blight in the locality. The diaries are held in the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland.

Kilkeel Workhouse, pictured in the 1970s Courtesy of Myrtle Irvine

Due to the severe distress caused by the total failure of the potato crop, Kilkeel Board of Guardians decided in October 1846 to provide a meal in the workhouse to families from Kilkeel, Mourne Park, Greencastle, Ballykeel and Mullartown.

Ag freastal ar an Dúnagus Ard Mhacha Theas

Serving Downand South Armagh

Famine ReliefThe Irish Poor Law of 1838 had set up mechanisms for helping poor people including the establishment of workhouses, with 130 built in Ireland. However, poor relief legislation was not designed to cope with a prolonged famine. A Relief Commission was formed in November 1845 to oversee relief efforts which included public work schemes and outdoor relief such as soup kitchens.

Criticisms were levelled at the public work schemes as people were often weakened by starvation or disease and unable to work. Forkhill Relief Committee complained in January 1847 that only one tenth of the district’s 1,220 labourers had been employed in public works.

By 1847 soup kitchens had been opened in Downpatrick, Saul, Killough, Seaforde, Saintfield and Ballee in county Down. In 1847 Newry Relief Committee was feeding over 1,100 people from their soup kitchens.

In Crossgar, county Down, The Downpatrick Recorder dated 30 January 1847 drew attention to the consequence of ‘patchy’ relief schemes:

‘There are about 240 persons in this village in an utterly destitute state... A benevolent gentleman in the neighbourhood made an effort to establish a soup kitchen there, but in vain. He wrote to the proprietor of the town, and also to the several owners of property adjacent, and just two had the common civility to reply... The gentleman... finding his efforts unavailing, returned the money to the donors... ’

John Waring Maxwell (1788–1869)Down County Museum

Dr. Michael Blake (1775–1860)Newry and Mourne Museum Collection

John Waring Maxwell of Finnebrogue, Downpatrick contributed to the Ballee Relief Fund. A farmer and landlord, he was chairman of Down Protestant Association and Conservative MP for Downpatrick. The Ballee Relief Fund, established in January 1847, provided relief for about 600 individuals before it closed in August 1847.

The Catholic Bishop of Dromore, Dr. Blake helped with famine relief in Newry in the harsh winter of 1846/1847. A newspaper account of 5 December 1846 reported that ‘… every morning the benevolent prelate supplies a great number of destitute children with breakfast – their sole support…’.

Famine relief ticketCourtesy of Libraries Northern Ireland

In an effort to alleviate the poverty and distress of local families in Donaghmore, near Newry, a local relief committee was formed in December 1846. This relief ticket was issued to Betty Carr of Ardkeragh and her four children, who are listed as destitute.

Ag freastal ar an Dúnagus Ard Mhacha Theas

Serving Downand South Armagh

The famine gave rise to a significant increase in emigration. Emigrants from south Ulster and north Leinster left Warrenpoint for St John’s, New Brunswick in Canada, New York, or Liverpool. Known as ‘coffin ships’, emigrant ships were often overcrowded, inadequately provided with food or clean water and became synonymous with sickness and disease. Many emigrants died on the voyage.

Townland: Lisdrumliska Date: May 1849Tenant: Isaac C. Cowan

‘Grazing of this lot let for £9.10.0 for the season. The tenant, after disposing of his crop, abandoned his wife and four children and fled to America. It was supposed another tenant would have offered for the farm and paid the arrears, £48 having been given by Cowan for it, but owing to the depressed state of the times, no one would do so. Rent and arrears lost.’

Townland: LisdrumgullionDate: May 1850Tenant: Samuel Glenny

‘Arrear due by Samuel Glenny lost £3.1.8. who in October 1848 went to reside in Liverpool and since became a bankrupt.’

Townland: BallynacraigDate: November 1851Tenant: Arthur Atkinson

‘Arrear lost due by former tenant who has emigrated to Australia’.

Extracts from the Kilmorey Estate rentals

EmigrationSome emigrants had better experiences than others. Newspaper accounts describe the good accommodation on board ships owned by Francis Carvill. A letter written on behalf of the passengers on board his ship, the ‘Brothers’, which arrived in New York on 31 May 1849, thanked Captain Sullivan for their safe passage.

Particularly appalling was the experience of emigrants on board the

‘Hannah’ which sailed from Warrenpoint to Quebec, Canada. Approximately 170 people were on board, most of whom were from Forkhill in south Armagh. After hitting an iceberg in the Gulf of St. Lawrence on 29 April 1849, the ship sank with the loss of forty-nine lives. Contemporary accounts attach blame to Captain Shaw who abandoned the passengers and made his way to the life-boat.

Plan showing Warrenpoint docks, 1840s Newry and Mourne Museum Collection

Warrenpoint was the deep water port for Newry. During the famine emigrants bought their tickets in Newry and travelled to Warrenpoint. Thom’s Directory recorded that a total of 1,947 emigrated to the United States and Canada from Newry in 1847: many more travelled to Liverpool and from there onwards to North America or Australia.

Local merchants such as Francis Carvill, based in Newry, acted as emigration agents for those able to escape the effects of the famine. The ‘Lady Caroline’ arrived at St. John, New Brunswick on Friday 23rd July 1847 with 103 passengers. A letter written to the Emigration Office at St. John noted that ‘… neither sickness or death occurred on board this vessel during the voyage…’.

Poster advertising the sailing of the ‘Lady Caroline’ from Warrenpoint to New Brunswick, Canada, 1847Newry and Mourne Museum Collection

Ag freastal ar an Dúnagus Ard Mhacha Theas

Serving Downand South Armagh

The famine left Ireland changed unrecognisably, socially and economically, with the population never again reaching pre-famine levels. No part of Ireland was unscathed.

In Ulster, the famine years coincided with the decline of the domestic linen industry and a downturn in the linen trade, leaving many families vulnerable. Census figures for 1851 reveal that the population of Ulster dropped by 340,000 or 15.7%.

Locally, the population of the area administered by the Downpatrick Poor Law Union declined by about 14,000 between 1841 and 1851. Most of this population loss was due to emigration.

Aftermath

In Forkill Civil Parish, south Armagh, the population, in 1841, was 7,805 and, by 1851, this had declined to 5,743.

The famine and potato blight began to show signs of waning in 1850–51, but by then death and emigration had irrevocably changed the social structure of Irish society and the agricultural landscape. Mass evictions had seen families forced from their holdings: ‘cottier’ and landless labourer classes were decimated and estates burdened by debt were sold. The famine left a legacy of continuous emigration and accelerated the decline of the Irish language.

The famine was a key event in John Mitchel’s career and his political views were radicalised by worsening conditions suffered by people during the winter of 1847–8. His publications argue that the famine was not primarily a natural disaster but a deliberate attempt to exterminate the Irish peasantry to ensure that Ireland would be easier to govern. His writings have had a deep resonance with Irish Nationalism.

John Mitchel (1815–1875)Courtesy of the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland

Thomas Seaver (1789–1848)Courtesy of Armagh County Museum

Lack of government leadership in dealing with the effects of the famine lead some to call for a repeal of the Act of Union with Britain. A local landlord, Captain Thomas Seaver of Heath Hall, Killeavy, south Armagh, presided at a Repeal meeting held in Newry in March 1848. He was also Chairman of the Jonesborough and Killeavy Relief Committee, and died of typhoid fever after visiting Newry Workhouse.

In the years following the famine, large landed estates were often burdened with debt and were sold by the Encumbered Estates Commissions. Title page for the sale of the Ross Estate, Rostrevor, county Down.

Encumbered Estates Rental, 1850Newry and Mourne Museum Collection