‘Famine in a Fertile Land'; Reports in the Newspapers (1831)

Food shortages occurred periodically in Ireland throughout the 1830s, particularly along the western seaboard. They coincided with debates taking place in Westminster about poverty and how it should be alleviated, which led to major changes in the English and Welsh Poor Law (1834) and to the introduction of an Irish Poor Law (1838). Overall, the new legislation indicated a harshening of attitudes towards the poor, and a stringency in the way in which relief was provided. ¹ The decade opened with a poor harvest. In 1830, the potato crop failed in many parts of Ireland, with the resultant distress in 1831 being most severe in the west, notably counties Galway, Mayo and Donegal. As in any period of shortages, external charity intervened to save the lives of the poor. London and Dublin took the lead with the formation of the Western Committee for the relief of the Irish Poor, the Irish Distress Committee (both in London) and the Sackville Street Committee in Ireland. The committees co-operated with each other, the two London committees benefiting from the expertise and knowledge of the Irish group. ² Subsidiary committees were established in the most distressed parts of the country.