ABSTRACT
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 volume seeks to counterbalance the recent historiographical focus on the Great Irish Famine which has overshadowed the impact of other periods of subsistence crisis, both before 1845 and after 1852. As occurred during the Great Famine, they often resulted in increased levels of evictions, emigration, disease and death, although the scale was lower. While the Great Famine brought major economic, social and demographic changes, large areas of the country retained pre-famine structures with many communities continuing to have a subsistence existence and, consequently, regular crop failures and famines. These lesser known famines are examined in this volume along with the causes and why they did not achieve the scale of the Great Famine.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part I|9 pages
The Crises of the Late 1720s
part II|22 pages
The Famine of 1740 to 1741: ‘The Year of Slaughter'
part III|9 pages
The Famine of 1816 and 1817
part IV|17 pages
The Famine of 1822 to 1823: British and Irish Philanthropy (1822 and 1823)
part V|13 pages
Famine in the 1830s
part VI|77 pages
The Crises of the 1860s
part VII|10 pages
Distress in the West in 1867 and 1869
part VIII|143 pages
The ‘Forgotten Famine' of 1879–81
part IX|69 pages
The Crises of the 1880s and 1890s