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The Famine in Waterford, 1845-1850: Teacht na bPrátaí Dubha

Des Cowman (Editor),

Donald Brady (Associate Editor),

Eugene Broderick (Contributor),

Jack Burtchaell (Contributor),

Rita Byrne (Contributor),

Thomas Gregory Fewer (Contributor),

William Fraher (Contributor),

John M. Hearne (Contributor),

more…

4.33 · Rating details · 3 ratings · 1 review

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Hardcover, 344 pages

Published 1995 by Geography Publications

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Sep 08, 2007 Greg rated it really liked it

Shelves: contributed-to, history, irish-history

This is not really a review but rather an overview of a book to which I have contributed. It is adapted from a portmanteau abstract I wrote for the book, of which a much shorter version (focusing on the chapters of greater interest to archaeologists) appeared as abstract 96/652 in British Archaeological Bibliography, 5(1), 1996 (http://www.biab.ac.uk/issues/5186).

As part of its contribution to commemorating the 150th anniversary of the Great Irish Famine, Waterford County Council commissioned t This is not really a review but rather an overview of a book to which I have contributed. It is adapted from a portmanteau abstract I wrote for the book, of which a much shorter version (focusing on the chapters of greater interest to archaeologists) appeared as abstract 96/652 in British Archaeological Bibliography, 5(1), 1996 (http://www.biab.ac.uk/issues/5186).

As part of its contribution to commemorating the 150th anniversary of the Great Irish Famine, Waterford County Council commissioned this collection of mainly historical essays about the famine’s impact on this south-eastern county of Ireland. Jean Kennedy Smith (the then US ambassador to Ireland) opens the book with a 'Foreword' (pp. vi-viii [unpaginated]), after which one of the book’s editors, Des Cowman, contributes the 'Preface' (pp. xi-xv [unpaginated]).

While Donnchadh Ó Ceallacháin discusses conditions in 'Waterford on the eve of the Famine' (pp. 1-24), Jack Burtchaell offers an 'Overview of the Famine in Waterford' (pp. 25-32). The Irish administration's initial response to the potato crop's failure in 1845 and the establishment of relief works to tackle the problem in County Waterford into 1846 is then considered in Ted O'Regan's paper, 'First responses to blight' (pp. 33-9). John M. Hearne looks at the statistics of various aspects of the relief programmes: from the money raised, through the number of people employed on public works, to the levels of mortality from fever centring on the period 1846-7 in 'The official view of the Famine: Waterford, a regional dimension' (pp. 41-67). He tabulates this data throughout the text and in an appendix. T. G. Fewer (myself) then assesses the relief offered by the agent of County Waterford's largest absentee landlord following the closure of the public works schemes in the spring of 1847 in 'Poverty and patronage: responses to the Famine on the Duke of Devonshire's Lismore estate' (pp. 69-99).

A few chapters, which should prove of interest to archaeologists as well as historians of the period, deal with County Waterford’s workhouse system and its soup kitchens. They give details about the architecture and layout of the stone-built workhouses and the wooden fever hospitals (the latter no longer survive) as well as what conditions were like within them. They include Tom Nolan’s 'The Lismore Poor Law Union and the famine' (pp. 101-18), Rita Byrne’s 'The workhouse in Waterford city, 1847-49' (pp. 119-36), William Fraher's recounting of 'The Dungarvan disturbances of 1846 and sequels' (pp. 137-52), and Joan Johnson’s 'The Quaker relief effort in Waterford' (pp. 215-38).

Among the other contributions, Eugene Broderick analyses contemporary journalistic coverage in 'The famine in Waterford as reported in the local newspapers' (pp. 153-213); Des Cowman looks at 'Some local responses to the famine, 1846-48' (pp. 239-62); and Jack Burtchaell assesses 'The demographic impact of the famine in County Waterford' (pp. 263-89), with much data tabulated in two appendices. Dermot Power then looks at the political disturbances in the county and city at a time of widespread revolution throughout Europe in 'The politicisation of the people? Strange episodes in 1848-49' (pp. 291-310).

Donald Brady closes the book with an extensive 'Bibliography' (pp. 311-36), which includes not only secondary works (books, articles and theses) on the theme of the Famine in Ireland, but also manuscripts, Parliamentary papers and other contemporary publications, newspapers, and creative writing. ...more

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