Reports of Messrs. Kane, Lindley and Playfair, Commissioners, on the Potatoe [SIC] 1 Disease (1845)

The failure of the potato crop in 1845 and, more extensively, in 1846, resulted in the reconvening of a number of private relief committees that had come into existence during earlier periods of shortages. This was the case with the Mansion House Relief Committee in Dublin, which had first been convoked during the crisis of 1822 and reconstituted in 1831. The origins of the new Mansion House Committee lay in a public meeting convened in Dublin on 31 October 1845. The name of the committee derived from the meeting place, the Mansion House on Dawson Street, the official home of John Arabin, the Lord Mayor. The purpose of the committee was threefold: to collect information from the localities about the potato loss; to recommend appropriate responses, and to raise and distribute donations.