#OTD in 1846 – Cork Examiner reports death by starvation.

30/10/2023.Reading time 5 minutes.

‘A Coroners inquest was held on the lands of Redwood, in the Parish of Lorha, on yesterday, the 24th, on the body of Daniel Hayes, who for several days subsisted almost on the refuse of vegetables, and went out on Friday morning in quest of something in the shape of food, but he had not […]

#OTD in 1847 – In an irate letter published in the Cork Examiner, “A.D.F.” condemns the proselytising (soul-jobbing) of starving Catholics.

24/10/2023.Reading time 2 minutes.

“I just now want to draw public attention to a disgraceful practice that was carried on during the period of awful distress, when nothing should sway people from relieving the destitute, the practice of proselytising, a new accompaniment of famine. The duties that devolved on the priest were indeed laborious, inasmuch as they had to […]

An Gorta Mór | Diaspóra na Gael

22/10/2023.Reading time 6 minutes.

The potato is a tuberous vegetable that is native to the Andes of South America. Following the Spanish exploration and exploitation of the South American Indians, the potato was introduced to Europe where it had a profound, beneficial effect on diets of Europeans from Ireland well into Russia. It grew well all over Western Europe […]

#OTD in 1847 – Choctaw Indians collect money to donate to starving Irish Hunger victims.

23/03/2023.Reading time 7 minutes.

Moved by news of starvation in Ireland, a group of Choctaws gathered in Scullyville, Ok, to raise a relief fund. Despite their meager resources, they collected $170 and forwarded it to a U.S. famine relief organisation. The Choctaw Indians may have seen echoes of their own fate in that of the Irish. Just 16 years […]