Ireland is a small and relatively poor country, so it’s no surprise to find that emigration is a consistent feature of its history. Today’s post is about the Great Irish Famine, caused by potato blight of the mid-nineteenth century. The Hunger, as it is often called, depleted Ireland’s population by about 25% over the course of eight years.
A little bit of background: the population in Ireland in the early 19th century was growing, and by the middle third of the century it was about 8 million. The vast majority of Irish were Catholic farmers who didn’t work their own land. In order to make ends meet, and to feed their families, it made sense for them to grow only potatoes. Lumper potatoes, to be specific, which were exceptionally nutritious. It could all have been grand, but then blight attacked them. This happened in 1845, and it happened all over Europe, but the British exacerbated the situation by continuing to export food from Ireland, and by refusing to give food to the starving. (The famine elsewhere was significantly less serious.)
The famine lasted until about 1852. About 1.5 million people died, and another 1 million left Ireland for anywhere they thought might be better. Of that 1 million, an estimated 20% died along the way, mostly in transit to the Americas, crammed on ships in unspeakable conditions: no air, little food, no sanitation. Families sent their best bread-winner over first to try to make a new life. And sometimes, land-owners evicted their tenants from the land, so they had no choice at all. The ships were often called ‘coffin ships’ because of the deaths that occurred on them.
None of this sounds like a fun story to tell the kids. But the Jeanie Johnston, a replica ship moored in the Liffey, does an impressive job of focusing on the positive. That’s mostly because this ship was a bit different. Like other ships that made the journey, the Jeanie Johnston was a timber ship. But the captain refit it to have removable bunks. What’s more, thanks to an enlightened doctor, owner, and captain, the passengers spent time on deck, aired out their bedding, and emptied their chamber pots over the side. The Jeanie Johnston made sixteen crossings of the Atlantic, carrying about 300 passengers each time. Not a one of them died. In fact, there was a birth on one of the crossings! We spent some time on the ship recently, and it was a highlight of our time in Dublin!
Among those emigrants, on the Jeanie Johnston and others, were many of the ancestors of Irish-Americans and Irish-Canadians who now come back to Ireland in search of their family history. Lots of them end up at the EPIC museum (which we don’t recommend, unfortunately; it’s an overwhelming jumble of exhibits focused mainly on all the famous people in the world with Irish ancestry).
The story of the famine, and those who helped the Irish to get through it (including several native American peoples and the Ottoman sultan) is not far below the surface. Most Irish people will talk about it with you at the drop of a hat. We certainly don’t want to minimize the trauma of the famine and those who suffered through it. On the other hand, it did spread Ireland’s sense of humour and love of storytelling around the world!
