Blight Infection

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Lore & Background

The proximate cause of the famine was the infection of potato crops by blight throughout Europe. The impact of blight on food supply caused 100,000 deaths outside Ireland, and influenced much of the unrest that culminated in European Revolutions of 1848. Longer-term reasons for the scale of the famine's impact included the system of absentee landlordism and single-crop dependence. Initial government actions to alleviate famine distress, which were constructive but limited, were ended by a new Whig administration in London that pursued a laissez-faire economic doctrine. Additionally, some members of the British government believed that the famine was divine judgement or that the Irish lacked moral character. Aid resumed only to some degree at a later stage. Large quantities of food were exported from Ireland during the famine, and the refusal of London to bar such exports, as had been done on previous occasions, was an immediate and continuing source of controversy.

In Their Own Story

The population of Ireland on the eve of the famine was approximately 8.5 million; by 1901, it was 4.4 million. During the Great Hunger, roughly one million people died and over one million more emigrated, causing the country's population to fall by 20–25% between 1841 and 1871, with some towns' populations falling by as much as 67%. Between 1845 and 1855, at least 2.1 million people left Ireland, one of the greatest exoduses from a single island in history. The famine indirectly resulted in the eviction of tens of thousands of households, a situation exacerbated by a provision that forbade access to workhouse aid for those possessing more than one-quarter acre of land. When the potato blight returned to Ireland in the 1879 famine, the Land League boycotted "notorious landlords", and its members physically blocked the evictions of farmers. The resulting reduction in homelessness and house demolitions led to a significant decrease in the number of deaths.

Reader's Guide

The famine is considered a defining moment in the history of Ireland. Its effects permanently changed the island's demographic, political, and cultural landscape, producing an estimated 2 million refugees and spurring a century-long population decline. For both the native Irish and those in the resulting diaspora, the famine became part of folk memory. Strained relations between many Irish people and the then ruling British government worsened further because of the famine, heightening ethnic and sectarian tensions and boosting nationalism and republicanism both in Ireland and among Irish emigrants around the world. This controversy contributed to the exacerbation of the Irish issue in British politics, the intensification of anti-British sentiment, the intensification of Irish nationalism and the campaign for independence.

Did You Know?

• The worst year of the famine was 1847, which became known as 'Black '47'.
• Between 1845 and 1855, at least 2.1 million people left Ireland, one of the greatest exoduses from a single island in history.
• The impact of blight on food supply caused 100,000 deaths outside Ireland.
• Large quantities of food were exported from Ireland during the famine, and the refusal of London to bar such exports was an immediate and continuing source of controversy.
• When the potato blight returned in 1879, the Land League boycotted 'notorious landlords' and physically blocked evictions, leading to a significant decrease in deaths.