Studied by 3 people
What were absentee landlords?
own the land but live in Britain
What was a middleman?
MC protestant who paid rent to the absentee landlord but could set the rent at any point they wanted according to demand, smaller plots of land means number of people paying rent was maximised
What were cottiers?
poorest who pay for their land with their labour, and give most of their produce to tenant farmers
What was subsistence farming?
farmers who are barely able to feed themselves and their family
What is a monoculture?
small plots of land meant it was hard to diversify crops, potatoes produce high yield and were easy to grow, high in vitamin c which prevented scurvy, high starch very filling
How did high demand cause potatoes to already be in a bad place?
no time out in the winter for the fields to fallow and recover nutrients
How long was the average long-term lease?
21 years
What percentage mortality was there in Cavan?
42.7%
What percentage of landholdings in Connacht were less than 5 acres?
64%
Who was the most affected by the famine and why?
cottiers- relied on small plots, often became homeless or travelled to find food/work
How many acres of potatoes were lost?
3/4 million
What diseases were caused by the famine?
relapsing fever, typhus, scurvy, xerophthalmia
When was the worst year of the famine?
black ‘47
What fraction of potato crops failed 1846-51?
3/4
How many died by 1951?
1 million- 20% population
How many emigrated to the US/UK in 1851?
1 million
What ideas were the Whigs influenced by?
Smith’s belief of Laissez-faire, Malthus’ idea of natural depopulation
What did Peel create in 1845 to investigate the causes of the blight?
scientific commission led by Dr Playfair
What did the scientific commission created by Peel discover?
falsely believed it was a disease of the potato itself leading to ineffective treatments such as sprinkling seeds with hydrochloric acid
How much Indian Corn did Peel supply for Ireland in 1845?
£100,000
What was wrong with Peel’s supply of maize?
not accustomed to eating it so was undercooked, lacked vC causing scurvy and was insufficient
How many potatoes were lost?
£3,500,000
When did Peel set up a Relief Comission?
1845
How many people were employed by the Relief Commission in 1845?
140,000
What was wrong with the Relief Commission?
concentrated on long-term, designed to protect food market by encouraging people to buy rather than receive handouts
What laws did Peel repeal in 1846?
corn laws- tariffs to protect English corn
Why did Peel want to repeal the corn laws?
open up market to Irish corn to support recovery of agriculture
Why did Peel’s attempt to repeal the corn laws fail?
caused uproar in England and ended his gov, insufficient money in Ire to establish corn trade
Why did Lord John Russell not want to buy in more grain?
laissez faire
What Act did Russell pass to provide soup kitchens?
Temporary Relief Destitute Persons Act 1847
What was the Temporary Relief Destitute Persons Act 1847 inspired by?
successful organisation of soup kitchens by Quakers in 1846, giving to 600 people by the end of the year
How many gallons of soup were provided in soup kitchens for £1?
100
What was the Irish Poor Law Extension Act and Irish Poor Law Amendment Act 1847?
All Irish people had right to relief, relief provided outside workhouse if full, Irish Poor Law Commission, Gregory Clause
How many were in workhouses in 1849?
932,000
What was the Gregory Clause?
relief only given to those who had less than 1/4 acre of land or they had to give it up
What was the impact of placing relief in Irish taxpayer hands through the Irish Poor Law Commission?
cost led to landowners evicting tenants who had more than a quarter of acre of land
How much did relief cost the Irish taxpayer in 1847?
£1.7 million
How many tenants were forcibly evicted in Galway and what did the landlord do with the land?
300- converted for grazing
How many vessels left with food cargo in 1847?
4000
How many livestock were transported 1846-50?
3 million
What did Russell reverse in the heart of the crisis?
stopped buying in Indian corn
What did Russell fail to regulate?
food market- Irish traders sold goods abroad to benefit from higher profits
Why did Russell’s Under-Secretary to the Treasury, Charles Trevelyan have a bad reputation?
championed gov non-interventionism- set wages below local levels, refused public works to anyone who could find agricultural work, paid labourers by task not day
How many Gaelic speakers were there in 1845?
3-4 million
How many Gaelic speakers were there in 1851?
1.8 million
Where did the majority of Gaelic speakers live?
western rural counties
How many cottiers were there in 1845?
300,000
How many cottiers were there by 1851?
62,000
What was the impact of the decrease of cottiers?
decrease in age of marriage- reduced amount of children born
What happened with religion in the 1840s?
move to formalise worship and strengthen the position of the clergy, loss of pagan religious faith associated with nomadic cottier communities
How many firkins of butter were imported to Liverpool in 1847 and what did this show>
34,852- move away from tillage farming
How did eviction of tenant farmers in favour of livestock improve the economy>
led to immediate improvement after 1850 as world food markets picked up once more and farmers did not have the same labour costs
How did the Gregory clause facilitate a move to grazing>
allowed landowners to reclaim more land
By how much had farmers’ incomes increased 25 years after the famine?
2/3
What fraction of Irish lost during the famine emigrated?
1/2
What event did emigration give rise to?
1867 IRB rebellion
How much did the passage to North America cost?
£2-5
How long did the journey take?
40 days
What were conditions on coffin ships like?
tightly packed and disease ridden
Where would ships be quarantined on arrival?
Quebec
What ratio of passengers on coffin ships died during the trip?
1 in 5
How many used coffin ships to get to Canada?
100,000
Give an example of a landlord assisted emigration scheme?
Lord Palmerton chartered 9 ships to carry 2000 tenants to Canada
Why did landlords assist emigration?
1847 had to pay relief for tenants
How many small plots were reclaimed during the late 1840s?
200,000
Why was the Encumbered Estates Act 1849 passed?
encourage sales of landed estates that had become insolvent due to bankrupt owners and inject new money into Irish agriculture
What was the Encumbered Estates Act 1849?
gave legal justification to eviction and sale of lands to more successful landowners, established Encumbered Estates Court
What was the Encumbered Estates Court?
three commissioners empowered to enforce a sale through auction of any land with debts exceeding its income, proceeds distributed among creditors and clear title of deed granted to new owner
How many millions of acres worth what were sold through the Encumbered Estates Court in 1859?
5 million worth £21 million
Was the Encumbered Estates Act 1849 successful?
became a prominent means for the ongoing process of land consolidation- many were established landowners already so increased their hlolding
How many families did John Gerrard in Galway evict in 1853?
42
Who was John Mitchel?
nationalist who blamed the British for the famine, called for armed insurrection and influenced the 1848 YI uprising
How much did Britain spend on the famine?
£10 million
What limited Britain’s response to the famine?
transport system- resources could not be transferred quickly enough
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Flashcard (23)