STUDIES IN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL HISTORY This series, specially commissioned by the Economic History Society, provides a guide to the current interpretations of the key themes of economic and social history in which advances have recently been made or in which there has been significant debate. Originally entitled 'Studies in Economic History' , in 1974 the series had its scope extended to include topics in social history, and the new se ries title, 'Studies in Economic and Social History', signalises this development. The series gives readers access to the best work done, helps them to draw their own conclusions in major fields of study, and by means of the critical bibliography in each book guides them in the selection offurtherreading. The aim is to prövide aspringboard to further work rather than a set of pre-packaged conclusions or short-cuts. ECONOMIC HISTORY SOCIETY The Economic History Society, which numbers around 3000 members, publishes the Economic History Review four times a year (free to members) and holds an annual conference. Enquiries about membership should be addressed to the Assistant Secretary, Economic History Society, PO Box 190, 1 Greville Road, Cambridge CB1 3QG. Full-time students may join at special rates. STUDIES IN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL HISTORY Edited Jor the Economic Histmy Society lJy L.A. Clarkson PUBLISHED B. WE. Alford British Economic Performance since 1945 B. WE. AlfonJ, Depression and Recovery? British Economic Growth, 1918-1939 J.L. Anderson Explaining Long-Term Economic Change Michael Anderson Approaches to the History of the Western Family, 1500-1914 Dudley Baines Emigration from Europe, 1815-1930 P J. Cain Economic Foundations of British Overseas Expansion, 1815-1914 S.D. Chapman The Cotton Industry in the Industrial Revolution Neil Charlesworth British Rule and the Indian Economy, 1800-1914 RA. Church The Great Victorian Boom, 1850-1873 L.A. Clarkson Proto-Industrialization: The First Phase ofIndustrialization? D.G. Coleman Industry in Tudor and Stuart England P.L. CottrellBritish Overseas Investment in the Nineteenth Century M.A. CrowtherSocial Policy in Britain, 1914-1939 [an M. Drummond The Gold Standard and the International Monetary System, 1900-1939 AlanDyerDecline and Growth in English Towns, 1400-1640 M.E. Falkus The Industrialisation of Russia, 1700-1914 Peter Fearon The Origins and Nature of the Great Slump, 1929-1932 T.R Gourvish Railways and the British Eco.nomy, 1830-1914 J.R HamsThe British Iron Industry, 1700-1850 John HatcherPlague, Population and the English Economy, 1348-1530 J.R HayThe Origins ofthe Liberal Welfare Reforms, 1906-1914 RH. Hilton The Decline of Serfdom in Medieval England RA. Hauston The Population History of Britain and Ireland E.L. Jones The Development of English Agriculture, 1815-1973 John LovellBritish Trade Unions, 1875-1933 WJ. Macpherson The Economic Development ofJapan, c. 1868-1941 Donald N. McCloskey Econometric History Hugh Mcleod Religion and the Working Class in Nineteenth-Century Britain Alan S. Milward The Economic Effects of the Two World Wars on Britain G.E. Mingay Enclosure and the Small Farmer in the Age of the Industrial Revolution RJ. Morris Class and Class Consciousness in the Industrial Revolution, 1780-1850 J. Forbes Munro Britail} in Tropical Mrica, 1870-1960 Cormac 0 Grtida The Great Irish Famine RB. Outhwaite Inflation in Tudor and Early Stuart England RJ. Overy The Nazi Economic Recovery, 1932-1938 P.L. Payne British Entrepreneurship in the Nineteenth Century Roy Porter Disease, Medicine and Society in England, 1550-1860 lüchard Rodger Nineteenth-century Housing, 1780-1914 MichaelE. RoseThe Relief ofPoverty, 1834-1914 Michael Sanderson Education, Economic Change and Society in England, 1780-1870, Second Edition S.B. SaulThe Myth of the Great Depression, 1873-1896 Peler Temin Causal Factors in American Economic Growth in the Nineteenth Century Joan Thirsk England's Agricultural Regions and Agrarian History, 1500-1750 Michael Turner Enclosures in Britain, 1750-1830 J.R Ward Poverty and Progress in the Caribbean, 1800-1960 OTHER TITLES ARE IN PREPARATION The Great Irish Famine Prepared for The Economic History Sociery by CORMAC 6 CRADA Statutory Lecturer in Economics Universiry College Dublin M MACMILLAN © The Economic History Society 1989 All rights reserved. !\Io reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. !\Io paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London WIP 9HE. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. First published 1989 by l\1AC~nLlA!\I EDUCATION LTD Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 2XS and London Companies and representatives throughout the world ISBN 978-0-333-39883-8 ISBN 978-1-349-08269-8 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-08269-8 A catalogue record for this book is available from thc British Library. Reprinted 1992 Series Standing Order If you would like to receive future titles in this series as they are published, you can make use of our standing order facility. To place a standing order please contact your bookseller or, in case of difficulty, write to us at the address below with vour name and address and the name of the series. Please state with which title you wish to begin your standing order. (Ifyou live outside the l'nited Kingdom we may not have the rights for your area, in which case we will forward your order to the publisher concerned.) Customer Sen'ices Departrnent, Macmillan Distribution Ltd, Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire, RG21 2XS, England. Contents Preface 6 Editor's Preface 7 Acknowledgement 8 Introduction 9 Population and Potatoes: the Pre-Famine Context 12 2 The Great Hunger 1845-1850 39 3 Aftermath: Ireland after 1850 65 Conclusion 76 Select Bibliography 77 Glossary 84 Index 86 Preface This book follows the format of other works in this series, with two small differences. The Great Irish Famine is a 'big' topic, a landmark in Irish and world history. Its causes are controversial, its consequences important wherever the ensuing Irish diaspora reached. The relevant literature is very large. And so my efforts at keeping the bibliography within bounds made the number of footnotes grow and grow. In addition, the Famine is a multidiscipli nary subject, featuring research by economists, political scientists, demographers, and historians of diet and agriculture. I have tried to keep the amount of specialist jargon to aminimum, but some inevitably has crept in. In order to keep the account accessible, but without losing all the subtlety of specialized work, I have added a short glossary of technical terms. I would like to thank the following for reading earlier drafts of this work, and for their criticisms and advice: Michael Anderson, Frank Barry, Leslie Clarkson, Louis Cullen, F ergus D' Arcy, David Dickson, David Fitzpatrick, Liam Kennedy, Michael Laffan, Joel Mokyr, Peter Solar, Brendan Walsh, Ron Weir, and Tony Wrigley. Remaining mi stakes are mine alone. St Patrick's Day 1988 Dublin CORMAC 6 GRADA 6 Editor's Preface When this series was established in 1968 the first editor, the late Professor M. W. Flinn, laid down three guiding principles. The books should be concerned with important fields of economic his tory; they should be surveys of the current state of scholarship rather than a vehicle for the specialist views of the authors; and, above all, they were to be introductions to their subject and not 'a set of pre-packaged conclusions'. These aims were admirably fulfilled by Professor Flinn and by his successor, Professor T. C. Smout, who took over the series in 1977. As it passes to its third editor and approach es its third decade, the principles remain the same. Nevertheless, times change, even though principles do not. The series was launched when the study of economic his tory was burgeoning and new findings and fresh interpretations were threatening to overwhelm students - and sometimes their teachers. The series has expanded its scope, particularly in the area of social his tory - although the distinction between 'economic' and 'social' is sometimes hard to recognise and even more difficult to sustain. It has also extended geographically; its roots remain firmly British, but an increasing number of tides is concerned with the economic and social history of the wider world. However, some of the early tides can no longer claim to be introductions to the current state of scholarship; and the discipline as a whole lacks the heady growth of the 1960s and early 1970s. To overcome the first problem a number of new editions, or entirely new works, have been commissioned - some have already appeared. To deal with the second, the aim remains to publish up-to-date introductions to important areas of debate. If the series can demonstrate to students and their teachers the importance of the discipline of economic and social history and excite its further study, it will continue the task so ably begun by its first two editors. L.A. CLARKSON Editor 7 Acknowledgement The cover illustration, a soup-kitchen notice, County Tyrone, December 1846, is reproduced by courtesy ofthe National Archives, Dublin. 8 Introduction History provides many examples of famines that cost more human lives than the Great Irish Famine. Reliable evidence on famine casualties tends to be skimpy, but fine comparisons are not called for: enough to note that in northern China in 1877-8 a famine accounted for 9 to 13 million deaths, and in 1932-3 in the Ukraine another for probably at least 3 million; or that, by arecent reckoning, the dreadful Bengali famine of 1940--3 carried off lO millions. In this league of doom the cost of Ireland's misfortune - about one million lives - may seem sm all. Measured in proportionate terms, however, the Irish famine's toll exceeded these others, though even in Ireland itself, a lesser-known famine in 1740--1 may have killed a high er share of the people. Still, the 'Great Hunger' has gained wider and more lasting notoriety than most famines. There are several reasons for this. The first is its popularity as a case study in Malthusian exegesis. The price paid by the reckless Irish for their high nuptiality and their large families - both widely noted at the time - is often singled out as a particularly stark instance of the 'principle of population' in action. Second, to students of economics everywhere the Famine recalls an example, however dubious, of that elusive phenomenon, the 'Giffen' good (*).1 The Irish poor, so it was c1aimed, in desperation flouted the law of demand by demanding more potatoes as their price rose. Third, to proponents of an old-time, nationalist version of Irish history, the Famine is central. It is the historical wrong that sealed the fate of the unhappy Union between Britain and Ireland: a partner so uncaring in time of need deserved no loyalty from Irishmen. Yet another reason for the Famine's notoriety is its lateness and context. Famine had effectively disappeared from England by 1600 and from most of Scotland by 1700. EIsewhere in western Europe, the crises de subsistence of the eighteenth century were minor affairs by comparison. Far worse, at least in relative terms, than the misnamed 'last great subsistence crisis of the western world' - the famine affecting much of Europe in 1816-19 - the Great Irish Famine struck in what was, after all, the back garden of 'the 1 Asterisked terms are explained in the glossary. 9