Irish Famine Memorials

While the Irish were reluctant for years to remember their Great Famine, there are now in excess of ninety memorials to those terrible days in the country and around the world, including Boston, New York, Toronto and Sydney.

There were a succession of regional famines in Ireland, especially in the west, culminating in the Great Famine of 1845-49. The population of the country had increased from about four million in 1800 to over eight million by 1841, which put huge pressure on the subsistence agrarian economy of the time. Destitution was already a fact of life for many and evictions became regular occurrences in the Irish countryside. Most of the impoverished population depended on the potato as their staple food, but disaster struck in September/October 1845, when a killer fungus (later identified as phytophthora infestans) started to destroy the crop. The green stalks of potato ridges became blighted and within a short time the rotting crop was producing a putrid smell. About a third of the national potato crop was destroyed that year, and an almost complete failure the following year led to a catastrophe for the remainder of the decade. By 'black forty-seven', people were dying in their thousands from malnutrition and starvation-related diseases like fever, dysentery and scurvy.

All of Ireland was then part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and initially the Tory Government of Sir Robert Peel tried to alleviate the situation in November 1845 by providing Indian meal (maize). In March 1846, legislation was enacted providing for the establishment of public works, chiefly road construction. A Whig Government, led by Lord John Russell, came to power in June 1846 and enthusiastically followed the prevailing economic orthodoxy of laissez-faire that the State should not interfere with market forces in the economy. Some additional Indian meal was provided but the distress was aggravated by increased food prices. However, before long, various relief schemes were organised, funded by local taxation, in effect paid for by landlords, but as the situation deteriorated, soup kitchens were provided to supply soup and food for those in need. By the end of 1847, it is estimated that forty per cent of the population were being fed by public works.

The workhouses, built in the early 1840s to relieve appalling poverty, were unable to cope with the numbers seeking admission as the number of evictions increased. This process of 'clearance' (as it was called) was aided by the 'quarter-acre clause' in the Poor Law Extension Act 1847 which excluded from relief anyone who had more than a quarter acre of land. Any such unfortunate person who was starving had to abandon his holding and go to the workhouse if he and his family wanted a chance to survive. Conditions became worse in 1848 and 1849 with various reports at the time recording dead bodies everywhere. People were dying and emigrating in their thousands. It is estimated that around one million people died from starvation in Ireland during the Great Famine and that a similar number went into exile..

The numbers emigrating to the USA soared to an estimated 1.7 million between 1840 and 1860, with about 300,0000 going to Canada. Some economic refugees entered the United States through Canadian ports, as the fare was cheaper and entry conditions less restrictive. The Great Famine left a legacy of bitter memories that shaped the later history of the country.

A few thousand Irish emigrants died of a fever in a quarantine station on Grosse Ile, a small island in the St. Lawrence river, 46 km north-east of Québec. Their mass graves can be seen there in the Irish Memorial National Historic Site, the most poignant monument in the world to the Irish diaspora of the famine period. In addition, there are about ninety Irish famine monuments outside Ireland alone.

The Irish National Famine Memorial, a sculpture of a coffin ship with haunting depictions of famine victims by John Behan, is located at Murrisk, at the foot of Croagh Patrick in County Mayo, beside Clew Bay, overlooking one of the most pleasant stretches of marine scenery in the country. It was unveiled on July 20, 1997, by President Mary Robinson. There is a poignant famine memorial beside the river Liffey at Custom House Quay in Dublin depicting starving people walking towards the docks into exile and the hope of a better future. The Galway Famine Ship Memorial, to remember the many captains and crews of famine/rescue ships which carried emigrants to the USA, was unveiled in the Celia Griffin Memorial Park ( named after of a victim of the Great Famine in 2009) on USA Independence Day, July 4, 2012..

Another famine sculpture by John Behan was unveiled in November 2000 beside the United Nations Building in New York, depicting those immigrants that survived the voyage to America. There is also a reconstructed cottage from the famine era in Battery Park in New York (2002), which was transported from Attymass, County Mayo. These and all the others recall the last big famine in Europe.

Bernard O'Hara's latest book entitled Killasser: Heritage of a Mayo Parish can be obtained as an eBook from the Apple iBookstore (for reading on iPad and iPhone), from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk (Kindle & Kindle Fire) and from Barnesandnoble.com (Nook tablet and eReader)..

Just look for Killasser: Heritage of a Mayo Parish by Bernard O’Hara.