Tag: An Gorta Mór

Ireland 1845–52

02/04/2023.Reading time 1 minute.

Thomas Gallagher “A boy dying on the floor could not be helped because those around him were too close to his own weakened condition to stand. Yet the father walked, or tried to walk, in his bare feet 6 to 10 miles to public work in order to obtain the necessary food to keep his […]

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Ireland 1850

15/03/2023.Reading time less than 1 minute.

Moritz Hartmann “In Kilkenny I noticed with fascinated disgust, a local mother had picked up a goose skin which a fellow traveller had spit out of the Stagecoach, carefully placing it in the mouth of her child.” Taken from ‘The Truth Behind The Irish Famine, 100 Images, 474 eyewitness quotes. signed copies here: http://www.jerrymulvihill.com

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Ireland 1848

28/02/2023.Reading time 1 minute.

Hermann Von Puckler Muskau “I visited a house and found it built of unhewn stones from the fields with the crevices stuffed with moss, and a roof made of staves covered half by straw and half by sods. The floor consisted of bare earth, and there was no ceiling under the above-mentioned semi-transparent roof. Chimneys […]

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Ireland 1847

17/02/2023.Reading time 1 minute.

“The Government’s programme of public works proved to be a tragic error, especially in the bitter winters of 1846–47 and 1847–48. Workers were, by law, paid on piece-work, and bad weather reduced their income further. Piece-work also penalised the weak, the elderly, and the undernourished who were not able to labour effectively. Workers were poorly […]

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Ireland 1845–52

10/10/2022.Reading time less than 1 minute.

Asenath Nicholson: “The police were called after a man in an emaciated condition was found in a barnyard eating turf. He died shortly afterwards. If you have never seen a starving human being, may you never!” Taken from the book ‘The Truth Behind The Irish Famine’, 72 Paintings, 472 eye witness quotes. Signed copies: http://www.jerrymulvihill.com

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Cork Examiner 1846

07/08/2022.Reading time less than 1 minute.

“Dead bodies of children flung into holes hastily scratched in the earth, without shroud or coffin – wives travelling 10 miles to beg the charity of a coffin for a dead husband, and bearing it back that weary distance, every field becoming a grave and the land a wilderness.” Taken from The Truth Behind The […]

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An Irish Labourer on the Public Works | 1845–52

30/07/2022.Reading time less than 1 minute.

Accounts describe workers spending their final moments crawling along the roadside in the direction of their homes. Far from having their wants relieved, thousands of labourers had been effectively worked to death and the health of tens of thousands gravely affected. Taken from the book The Truth Behind The Irish Famine:72 paintings, 472 eyewitness quotes […]

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Ireland 1849 | An Gorta Mór

22/07/2022.Reading time less than 1 minute.

Sidney Osborne, English travel writer “We overtook two children, boys I should suppose, from 10 to 12 years of age; one, himself very far from strong, was supporting the staggering steps of the other, evidently sinking in the last stage of famine. I know not how far he had to go, before he found a […]

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Irish Emigrants in New York 1847 | Ciarán Ó Murchadha – Historian

11/07/2022.Reading time less than 1 minute.

These shy, gullible people were stunned and overwhelmed by their new surroundings, terrified by the great roaring cities in which they found themselves. This bewilderment is evident in some of the contemporary prints which show them crouched along the quayside, meagre possessions piled up protectively about them.”Taken from The Truth Behind The Irish Famine, 100 […]

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