Ireland 1800-1925

Act of union (1800) brought britain and ireland together. Ireland could send 100 MP's (protestant)
1. Ireland was ruled by the westminster parliament in London
2. Britain had 2 reps in Ireland - Viceroy (in place of the king), Chief secretary(police, army, tax)
Causes of the famine
1. Population Growth - population in 1845 grew to over 8 million & most people lived in rural areas and depended on farming for a living
2. Subdivision of farms - farmers divided their lang amongst their sons and their sons etc. soon people were living on 1 or 2 acres of land each.
3. They couldn't grwo a variety of crops and the only crops that could keep them alive were potatoes. If one potato caught the blight, the whole crop failed.
Time line of the famine
1. 1845 - 1/3 of crop caught the blight
  1. 1846 - blight struck again and the whole crop failed. Death was widespread.
    1. 1847 - harvest was good but smaller than usual
      1. 1848 - blight struck again
        1850 - famine came to an end
Relief measures
1. Workouses - split up families, men broke stones, women had to knit or spin wool, 2 meaks a day oatmeal/potatoes+buttermilk, overcrowded, disease spread fast, gov didnt want people to depend on them for money
2. Soup Kitchens - landlords had to provide food for the starving, only people with 1/4 acre of land, it was a porridge called 'stirrabout', 1 pound per day, unnatractive, poor food and always ready made
3. Public Works - gov employed people to build roads, canals, walls etc., hours were long and workerks often collapsed, pay was minimal and often did not come,men left their families and farms contributing to food shortages, gov didnt want people to become lazy
4. Private Charity - Quakers gave grants which were ditributed through priests and ministers, e.g fishing tackle, seeds, farm tools, 15 died of disease/exhaustion, irishmen in indian army gave £50,000, quees vic gave £2,000, americans helped
Results Of The Famine
1. Population Decline - (2million), 1million died, 1million emigrated
2. Emmigration - British mainland= work in new factories in glasgow, liverpool, ediburgh,london, USA/Canada = 3 months on 'coffin ships', only rich could use the deck, very overcrowded, most died from disease and food was poor
3. Consolidation Of Farms - with less population, the farms previously subdivided were joined back together so farmers could grow a variety of crops
4. Change in marriage patterns - only the oldest son could inherit all the land and only after his father's death= later marriage+decline in birth rate, other sons and daughters considered emigration
5. Growth of anti-British feeling - Irish blamed British for the famine+desired that Britain should no longer rule Ireland
What did the gov do to help?
1. Sir Robert Peel - prime minister in 1845, imported £100,000 worth of corn from America. The irish didnt like it and found it difficult to cook and digest but nobody died from starvation.
2. Lord John Russel - Stopped importing corn and applied 'laissez-faire'. He thought that importing corn will cause prices of it to fall for irish merchants

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Ireland 1800-1925

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	Created by Laura Łoboda almost 11 years ago