Famine on the Faithful

This blog post will be a bit more experimental. The purpose of this is to see the individual perspectives on the great famine. In the last blog post, I wrote by myself and, though the input of this group was invaluable, their wording was sadly lost.
That said, there will be obvious differences between this blog and the last.  One such difference being the greater use of pictures and another being the rich voices of the brilliant individuals in this group. The hope is that through these varying sections written by these different members you will be able to see a broad picture of life in the great famine years.

We will begin with a poem from Sam. It is reflective of the great famine and the things that were endured by the Irish Catholics during that time.

"Hunger and depression

Disease and recession 

Filled this land 

with utmost oppression 

Ships were filled 

Houses were emptied 

Naked and chilled

Plague was plenty

The ghost of the past 

Looms in this place

The memories will last 

Of the potato disgrace."

Here is also a photo taken by our group photographer, Amanda. Those tiny squares of stone walls stretching off into the distance are the lawns of Catholic families that numbered sometimes up to twelve people. Their tiny huts would sit in one of these squares and they would have to grow food to feed their family with that little piece of land. Beneath all that green, only down a few inches in some places, is solid rock.

During this period, millions of the Irish immigrated from the country.  And now to talk more on that is the charming Miss Nicole Walker.

"Our first stop on our travels to Cork and Killarney brought us to the Queenstown museum.  This exhibit was full of information about the famine ships and villages in Ireland in the nineteenth century.

In the late 1700s the population of Ireland increased over 60%.  This population increase made the country even more dependent on the potato crop.  When the potato crop failed there was mass chaos.  Total dependence on the potato and the lack of a structured landholding system led to starvation and death.  Many native Irish felt that they only way to escape death was to emigrate.

Between the years 1845 and 1851 around 1,500,000 people immigrated to countries including America, Australia, and Britain.  The 4-6 week voyage was filled with storms and sickness.  Many people leaving the country would never return or see their families again."

The conditions on the immigration ships were often deplorable. Talking about the replica ship, Dunbrody, and conditions there and on other ships, is the talented writer Kaitlyn Jameson.

"The Dunbrody is a recreated famine ship, used in the mid 1800’s to transport immigrants out of Ireland. Only one of hundreds, these ships were often called ‘coffin ships’ because of their tendency to sink and the huge number of people who died aboard due to disease and hunger. The famine ships were usually ships that were secondhand and generally in bad condition. People were crowded on, as many as two hundred in the small ship. Food rations were minimal, and whatever people could bring on board with them quickly ran out. The steerage, or lower class, passengers were only allowed on deck for half an hour, when they were allowed to cook over small fires and have fresh air. In such close quarters, and in such disgusting conditions, disease ran unchecked. The upper class passengers had it only slightly better. By paying more, they secured their own room for a family and had slightly better food. Still, it was a dangerous journey with only the slightest promise of a better life. The decision to stay or leave was a difficult one."

And here is a picture taken by Kaitlyn of the Dunbrody replica ship:

But not everybody during the famine had to suffer a shortage of food and money. There were many wealthy families and one such family even undertook the building of a mansion near Killarney called Muckross House.  Katie Marvel will be elaborating on this.

"The Muckross house provides quite a contrast to everything we have been learning about the famine. While most people were struggling to get by, there were some who lived in luxury. The Muckross house was built in 1843 with sixty-five rooms. A lot of the furniture used is still there today. The beds they made back then were shorter than ours today because they slept sitting up. They believed that it was better for their respiratory systems to be in an upright position. We also learned that in the 1850’s the house went through extensive preparation for a visit from Queen Victoria in 1861. They spent six years getting ready for her two day visit. It was interesting to see the comfort that the families lived in while they were there and the extravagance of the house and the property. It was very different from the families who were affected by the famine."

It is clearly evident that during the famine years there was immense hardship for the majority of Ireland and yet immense wealth for the minority. It seems that this is the way with all nations at some point in history, particularly nations under another nation's rule. Hopefully this blog has provided a broad picture of what it was like during the great famine.