The History of the Irish Famine

Volume I: The Great Irish Famine

Christine Kinealy, Christine Kinealy

• Editorial: Routledge
• Año: 2018
• ISBN:
  9781315513799
• Edición: 1
• Categoría: History
• Categoría: World History

The Great Irish Famine remains one of the most lethal famines in modern world history and a watershed moment in the development of modern Ireland – socially, politically, demographically and culturally. In the space of only four years, Ireland lost twenty-five per cent of its population as a consequence of starvation, disease and large-scale emigration. Certain aspects of the Famine remain contested and controversial, for example the issue of the British government's culpability, proselytism, and the reception of emigrants. However, recent historiographical focus on this famine has overshadowed the impact of other periods of subsistence crisis, both before 1845 and after 1852.

This first volume addresses the questions: when did the famine begin and end; to what extent is the British government after 1846 culpable for the suffering and mortality; how important was philanthropy in alleviating the distress; what was the role and responsibility of Irish elites; is the word famine appropriate given that Ireland continued to export large amounts of food.

Part I

Poverty and perspectives

Ireland before 1845

1

George Nicholls Esq., Poor Laws – Ireland. Three reports by George Nicholls, Esq., to her Majesty’s principal Secretary of State for the Home Department (British Parliamentary Papers, 1836–1838)

The debates that led to the passing of Irish Poor Law legislation in 1838 provide a valuable insight into how the Irish poor were regarded by politicians and political economists. Until that year, Ireland, unlike England, Wales and Scotland, did not possess a national system of relief. However, the writings of political economists, including the influential Thomas Malthus,¹ had created a perception that too generous a system of poor relief not only perpetuated poverty, but encouraged the recipients to breed.² A consensus formed, therefore, that the existing poor relief systems needed to be reformed or, in the case of Ireland, created with due caution. An enquiry into poverty and poor relief in England in the early 1830s led to the introduction of the ‘new’ Poor Law of 1834, which sought to eliminate outdoor relief.³ It also provided an impetus for a similar investigation to be held in Ireland. Consequently, a nine-man team, chaired by Richard Whately, Anglican Archbishop of Dublin, was created in 1833. Daniel Murray, the Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, was also a member.⁴ The resulting enquiry took three years to complete during which time an intensive and comprehensive survey was carried out in all parts of the island. The final report, based on a series of interim reports, was completed in 1836.⁵ The recommendations were comprehensive and went beyond suggesting ways in which poverty could be relieved, to proposing projects that would assist in the longer-term economic development of the country. The Commissioners estimated that almost two-and-a-half million people a year would require some sort of support and they believed that a Poor Law alone, based on the English model, could not cope with such extensive demands. Instead, they recommended that the system of relief should be supplemented with public works and assisted emigration.⁶ Such a comprehensive, practical and sympathetic approach to Irish poverty was beyond the ideological and financial limits of what the British government had expected or wanted. They responded by asking George Nicholls, an English Poor Law Commissioner, to undertake a visit to Ireland and report on the suitability of the English system of relief to Ireland.

George Nicholls been born in Cornwall in the south of England.⁷ His first career was as a naval officer, he commanding his own ship before he was 30. In 1815, he left the Navy and moved to Nottinghamshire where he became a Poor Law administrator. He immediately proved skillful at bringing down costs, but his principal ambition was to end outdoor relief, that is, the relief that the poor received while still living in their own homes, which he regarded as both expensive and demoralizing. Nicholls published his recommendations, initially in a local newspaper, but shortly afterwards as a pamphlet.⁸ Nicholls’ career then took a different path as he undertook a number of entrepreneurial projects, before settling on banking. However, his achievements when working as a Poor Law overseer meant that he was consulted during the enquiry into the working of the English Poor Law. Its findings led to the introduction of the ‘new’ Poor Law of 1834, which sought to eliminate outdoor relief.⁹ Nicholls was invited to be one of three new Commissioners, a position that he accepted. The new, more stringent Poor Law, was disliked by the poor and by progressives. Its cruelty was captured in Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist, which was published in serial form between 1837 and 1839 in the magazine Bentley’s Miscellany.¹⁰ Nonetheless, when a Poor Law for Ireland was being considered, Nicholls was considered an obvious choice to report on its suitability.

In late summer 1836, Nicholls undertook a six-week tour of Ireland that did not include the north-east on the grounds that he believed it was similar to England. He was an unsympathetic observer of Irish poverty and, unsurprisingly, he concluded at the end of his whirlwind trip that the English Poor Law, based on the workhouse system, was suited to Ireland. Moreover, his estimate for the numbers requiring relief was only 80,000, he achieving this lower figure by making a distinction between poverty and destitution. While the Commissioners had sought to eliminate poverty in Ireland, Nicholls simply sought to relieve the most desperate.

The death of William IV in June 1837 meant that parliament was prorogued and so passing a Poor Law Act was delayed. In the interim, Nicholls visited Ireland again. This time he included the north of the country. Although he modified some of his initial views, partly to answer earlier criticisms, he remained committed to the belief that the English Poor Law was suited to Ireland. Unsurprisingly, his recommendations were welcomed by the government, although they divided opinion in Ireland.¹¹ Opponents of Nicholls included the Irish political economist, Isaac Butt.¹²

The Irish Poor Law was passed in 1838. The country was divided into 130 Poor law unions, each with a workhouse. The unions were also the unit of a new system of local taxation, known as poor rates. Although this was modelled on the English legislation, from the outset it was clear that the Irish poor were to be treated more harshly than the poor in other parts of the United Kingdom. Consequently, in Ireland no outdoor relief was permitted and no right to relief existed. This meant that if a workhouse became full, there was no obligation to provide alternative relief. In a country with a small industrial base and intermittent subsistence crises, a rigid system of Poor Law relief was not suited to the needs of the Irish poor. This was apparent in 1839, 1842 and after 1845 when additional relief measures were introduced to alleviate the food shortages.¹³ In 1847, moreover, an extended Poor Law was made responsible for all relief in Ireland. George Nicholls had warned that ‘where the land has ceased to be reproductive, the necessary means of relief can no longer be obtained from it, and a Poor Law will no longer be operative’.¹⁴ His words, in this instance, were ignored, with disastrous consequences.

In April 1848, Nicholls was knighted. Charles Trevelyan of the Treasury was also honoured at this time. Nicholls retired due to ill health in 1851. However, he went on to publish separate histories of the English (1854), Scottish (1856) and Irish Poor Laws (1856). In total three reports on Irish Poor Laws were submitted by Nicholls – the first on 22 August 1836, the second on 3 November 1837 and the third on 5 May 1838. The final account included a report on the relief of the poor in Holland and Belgium. Only the first report is reprinted below.

POOR LAWS — IRELAND. FIRST REPORT BY GEORGE NICHOLLS, ESQ., TO HER MAJESTY’S PRINCIPAL SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT (LONDON: W. CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET, FOR HER MAJESTY’S STATIONERY OFFICE, 1838)

FIRST REPORT OF GEORGE NICHOLLS, ESQ. DATED 22nd AUGUST, 1836.

Lord John Russell’s Letter of Instructions.

POOR LAWS (IRELAND). TO GEORGE NICHOLLS, ESQ., &c. &c. &c.

Sir,

Whitehall, August 22nd, 1836.

In order to arrive at a practical conclusion with respect to any measures to be introduced into Parliament during the ensuing Session, for the benefit of the Poor in Ireland, it is most desirable that a person well acquainted with the operation of the past and present system of Poor Laws in England, should visit that part of the United Kingdom.

There is no one to whom I can intrust such a duty, more able to perform it with judgment and diligence, than yourself. You will, therefore, proceed to Ireland in the first week in September, taking with you the Report of the Commissioners of Poor Inquiry in Ireland.

The chief objects to which your attention will be directed are,—that part of the Report which relates to the Relief of the poor by Money payments, and the resource of Emigration.

You will examine how far it is judicious or practicable to offer relief to whole classes, whether of the Sick, the Infirm, or Orphan children.

You will consider whether such relief may not have the effect of promoting imposture, without destroying Mendicity; and whether the condition of the great bulk of the poorer classes will be improved by such a measure.

You will carefully weigh the important question—whether a rate, limited in its amount rather than its application to particular classes, might be usefully directed to the erection and maintenance of Workhouses for all those who sought relief as Paupers. With a view to this question, you will inquire whether any kind of Workhouse can be established which shall not, in point of food, clothing, and warmth, give its inmates a superior degree of comfort to the common lot of the independent labourer.

You will ask the opinion of experienced men, whether the restraint of a Workhouse would be an effectual check to applications for admission; and whether, if the system were once established, the inmates would not resist, by force, the restraints which would be necessary.

Supposing the Workhouse system not to be advisable, you will consider in what other mode a national or local rate might be beneficially applied.

You will examine the policy of establishing depots where candidates for Emigration might resort; and you will ascertain by what method it is proposed to avoid the evil, said to be likely to flow from the establishment of Workhouses, and which might arise in like manner from the formation of depots for Emigration.

You will specially direct your attention to the machinery by which any rates for the relief of the Poor might be raised and expended; the formation and constitution of a Central Board, of Local Boards, of District Unions, and of Parochial Vestries.

Your attention need not be very specially given to the plans for the general improvement of Ireland, contained in the Report of the Commissioners of Inquiry: but you will generally remark upon those, or any other plans, which may lead to an increased demand for labour.

You will also inquire whether, under the direction either of companies or individuals, the capital applied to the improvement of land, and reclaiming bogs and wastes, is perceptibly or notoriously increasing or diminishing.

You will also carefully read the Bills which have been brought into the House of Commons on this subject during the present year.

Lastly, I call your attention to the draft of a Bill prepared by one of the Commissioners of Inquiry, in conformity with their Report.

The Lord Lieutenant and Lord Morpeth will render you every assistance in their power.

I have the honour to be, Sir,
Your obedient servant,
J. RUSSELL.

FIRST REPORT.

TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE LORD JOHN RUSSELL, HIS MAJESTY’S PRINCIPAL SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT.

London, November 15th, 1836.

My Lord,

1. I proceeded to Ireland in conformity with your Lordship’s instructions, bearing date the 22nd of August, and, after having had an interview with His Excellency the Lord Lieutenant and Lord Morpeth, and having carefully inspected the House of Industry and the Mendicity Institution in Dublin, and obtained such other information there as seemed necessary, I proceeded to visit Carlow, Kilkenny, Thurles, Cashel, Tipperary, Clonmel, Cork, Killarney, Limerick, Galway, Connemara, Westport, Castlebar, Ballina, Sligo, Enniskillen, Armagh, and Newry,—everywhere examining and inquiring, in the several towns and districts through which I passed, as to the condition and habits of the people, their character and wants; and endeavouring to ascertain whether, and how far, the system established in England for the relief of the destitute, is applicable to the present state of Ireland.

2. The above route appeared to be most eligible, with reference to this inquiry, because the inhabitants of the manufacturing and commercial districts of the north and the east approximate more nearly to the English than those of the south, west, and central parts of Ireland. To the latter, therefore, it seemed advisable to direct my attention in the first instance; for, if the English system of Poor Laws should be found applicable to them, there can be no doubt of its applicability to the northern and eastern parts of the country.

3. I have not failed to attend likewise to the other points adverted to in your Lordship’s instructions; and I have carefully considered the several Reports of Committees of Parliament on the state of Ireland, as well as the Reports of the late Commissioners of Irish Poor Inquiry, and the evidence collected by them. This evidence establishes so conclusively the existence of a state of poverty throughout Ireland, amounting in numerous cases to actual destitution, that I feel it unnecessary to exhibit any additional proof of the fact. It is enough to state, as the result of my own investigations, that the misery now prevalent among the labouring classes in Ireland, appears to be of a nature and intensity calculated to produce great demoralization and danger.

4. I propose to divide the observations which I have to submit to your Lordship’s consideration into three parts:

I.—The first will exhibit the general result of my inquiries into the condition of the country, and the habits and feelings of the people; together with such observations as have occurred to me with reference to the introduction of a system of Poor Laws into Ireland.

II.—The second division will have for its object, to ascertain whether the Workhouse system can be safely established in Ireland, and how far the Workhouse may be there relied upon as a test of destitution, and a measure of the relief to be afforded; and, also, whether the means of forming Unions, and creating an efficient machinery for their management, exist in Ireland.

III.—In the third place, supposing these questions to be answered affirmatively, I shall submit to your Lordship in detail what appear to me to be the essential points requiring attention, in framing enactments for establishing a system of Poor Laws for Ireland.

5. It will be convenient to consider the two portions comprised in this division of the subject separately, and

I.—In the first place,—As to the present condition of the country, and the habits and, feelings of the Irish people.

I soon became satisfied, that it is only by a personal inspection that the condition of the Irish people can be accurately known. A general, and a tolerably correct notion of the state of the country may be gained, by the examination of Reports and Evidence; and deductions, pretty accurate in the main, may be drawn from them; but to arrive at definite and practical views, a personal inspection of the country is, I think, necessary.

6. The investigations and inquiries in which I have now been engaged, have led me to the conviction that the Condition of Ireland has, on the whole, during the last thirty years, been progressively improving. It is impossible to pass through the country without being struck with the evidence of increasing wealth, which is everywhere apparent, although, of course, it is more easily traced in towns than in the open country. Great as has been the improvement in England within the same period, that in Ireland, I believe, has been equal. There are towns and districts there, as there are towns and districts in England, in which little, if any, improvement is visible, or which, owing to peculiar circumstances, may even have retrograded; but the general advance is certain, and the improvement in the condition, and increase in the capital of the country, are still, I think, steadily progressive.

7. If it be asked how this accords with the apparent increase of misery and destitution among a large portion of the people, the answer I think is obvious. The capital of the country has increased, but the increase of the population has been still greater; and it therefore does not follow that there is an increase of capital or comfort in the possession of each individual, or even of the majority. The reverse is unhappily the fact.—Towns, exhibiting every sign of increased wealth, are encircled by suburbs composed of miserable hovels, sheltering a wretched population of mendicants. In the country, evidence of the extreme subdivision of land everywhere appears, and, as a consequence, the soil, fertile as it naturally is, becomes exhausted by continual cropping; for the cottier tenant, too often reduced to a level little above that of the mendicant, is unable to provide manure for his land, and has no other mode of restoring its vigour but by subjecting it to a long and profitless fallow.

8. Farmers of three hundred acres, or even of two or one hundred, except in the grazing districts, have become almost extinct in Ireland. A variety of circumstances seem to have contributed to bring about this change. In some instances the proprietor h...