Irish Famine (1879)
| Irish Famine (1879) an Gorta Beag | |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland |
| Location | Ireland, mainly Connacht |
| Period | 1879 |
| Causes | The Long Depression, inclement climate, potato blight, cholera among chickens |
| Relief | Home Rule League, Land League and clergy successfully campaigned for British Crown relief. Aid raised in the United States, including over 3000 barrels of food sent aboard USS Constellation. |
| Consequences | Increased emigration and urbanisation (often temporary). Religious revival, including Marian apparition in Knock. Helped incite the Land War of the late 1870s and early 1880s. |
| Preceded by | Great Famine (1845–1852) (an Gorta Mór) |
The Irish famine of 1879 was the last main famine in Ireland. Unlike the earlier Great Famines of 1740–1741 and 1845–1852, the 1879 famine (sometimes called the "mini-famine" or an Gorta Beag) caused hunger rather than mass deaths and was largely focused in the west of Ireland.
The famine is in part attributed to the economic effects of the Long Depression (1873–1879/1899). The most severely affected area was the province of Connacht. By the end of 1879, newspapers were reporting severe distress amongst tenants in all parts of Ireland traditionally dependent on the potato, with only 1.4 tons produced per statute acre (3.5 tons per hectare) in County Mayo, the lowest in a decade and under half the previous year's harvest. Despite the relatively small scale of this famine, its appearance caused widespread panic among the Irish people. Many of the adults of the period had experienced the Great Famine of 1845–1852 as children and were terrified that their families faced a repeat of the widespread deaths, and in particular a repeat of "Black '47". An increase in emigration occurred, as did a move from foodless parts of rural Ireland into major cities and towns. However, the population moves proved temporary. With the re-appearance of the harvest in 1880, many of those who had fled to urban centres repopulated the areas they had left.
The famine caused relatively few deaths due to the efforts at famine relief. The politicians Charles Stewart Parnell of the Home Rule League and Michael Davitt of the Irish National Land League, along with some Irish clergy, notably Bishop Logue of Raphoe, were actively involved in campaigning to put pressure on the British government and in the distribution of aid. Since the famine of the 1840s a railway system had been built, allowing food to be transported to the west of Ireland in days instead of weeks. In addition, aid arrived from the United States. The Department of the Navy dispatched USS Constellation in March 1880, with over 3,300 barrels of food aboard, along with clothing. Similarly, $200,000 was collected by the New York Herald by late February 1880.