Booklet 4 The Irish Famine - Ireland in Schools

Ireland in Schools Nottingham Pilot Scheme School of Education, U. of Nottingham 

Ireland 1801-1921 

Lesson plans, worksheets & other resources 

Unit 2 

Booklet 4 The Irish Famine 

Lesson 9 What caused Ireland to suffer between 1845 & 1850? 

Lesson 10 How did different groups respond to the Irish Famine? 

Lesson 11 How did the Nationalists react to the Famine? 

Lesson 12 What effect did the Great Famine have on the Irish? 

By 

Gary Hillyard 

Ashfield School, Kirkby-in-Ashfield

Topic title: The Great Famine 

Lesson 9 

Lesson 10 

Lesson 11 

Lesson 12 

Homework 

Lesson title 

What caused Ireland to suffer 

between 1845 and 1850? 

Aims: 

•To examine the causes of the 

Great Famine. 

•To analyse picture sources for 

meaning. 

Lesson title 

How did different groups 

respond to the Great Famine? 

Aims: 

•To examine how the British 

Government reacted. 

•To look at the activities of 

the Nationalist movement. 

Lesson title 

How did the nationalists react 

to the famine? 

Aims: 

•To examine the nationalist 

reaction. 

•To assess whether or not that 

was a continuation of previous 

aims and methods. 

Lesson title 

What effect did the Great 

Famine have on the Irish? 

Aims: 

•To examine the short and 

long-term impact of the Irish 

Famine. 

Starter 

Read through the Graphic 

story of the Irish famine – 

pick out the causes, the 

short-term impact and the 

long term effects. 

Starter 

Place the 5 sources around 

the room. Assign small groups 

to each source. They have to 

write how it makes them feel 

around the edge. Then rotate 

the groups until all groups 

have seen all of the sources. 

Starter 

Get students to fill out the 

section of their worksheet on 

what they think the reaction 

of the nationalists would be. 

Feedback suggestions. 

Starter 

Start with a freeze-frame. 

Ask for volunteers. They are 

to create a mock image of 

what they see in the picture. 

The rest of the class can then 

ask them questions and they 

have to answer in character. 

Main Activities 

Give out the source sheet. Students study the 

sources and use them to add information to the five 

boxes on the worksheet. 

Then they must create a concept map – they draw 

links between the five causes explaining how they 

worked together to cause the famine. 


Feedback on the words used. Hopefully, there will 

be a sense of sympathy. This should later be 

juxtaposed to the actual actions taken by the 

British government. 

Work your way through the problem solving 

exercise. In each scenario students have to decide 

what the English would have done at that time. 


Use pages 64-66 of the textbook to fill out the 

final section of the worksheet. 


Go through the PowerPoint. Students have to 

decide whether the information is a short-term or 

long-term impact on the Irish. Some of the 

information is deliberately ambiguous. 

Students must write this into an essay for 

homework. 

Lesson 10 – Read through the extract from Under the Hawthorn Tree and the review of it and the Horrible Histories picture. 

Lesson 12 – Write up essay. Use the markscheme on the following page to mark it. 

Plenary 

Show the OHT of The 

Famine by Roisin Hambly. 

How does it make them 

feel? How does the 

narrator feel? 

Plenary 

Feedback on the correct 

answers. 

Stress that the British 

government spent around £8 

million on relief for the poor 

during the famine. 

Plenary 

Discuss how the aims and 

methods compare to those 

used during the 

Emancipation and Repeal 

crises. 

Plenary 

Just a minute – students 

have to talk about a topic 

without repetition, 

hesitation etc. 

Use the topics: 

The Great Famine 

British Responses. 

Materials 

•Graphic History of the Famine. 1 

•w/s Causes of the Great Famine 

Sources 

•OHT – ‘The Famine’ by Roisin 

Hambly. 

•w/s The causes of the Great 

Famine 

Materials 

•5 Sources 

•w/s Responses to the Great 


•PPT – Response problem solving. 

•Homework sources 

Under the Hawthorn Tree 2 - 

extract and review 

‘Famine Farm’ from Horrible 

Histories .3 

Materials 

•w/s Irish Nationalist response to 

the Great Famine. 

•Textbook 

Materials 

•Freeze-frame image 

•PPT – Impact of the Irish famine. 

•w/s What effect did the Great 

Famine have on the Irish? 

•Christine Kinealy, ‘The Famine’. 4 

•Sean Lang, ‘The Poor Laws and the 

Irish Famine’. 5 

1 by M. Llywelyn & M. Scott, Element, 1996, 1-85230-627-0, ch 10; 2 by Marita Conlon-McKenna, O’Brien Press, 0-86278-206-6, pp 21-5; 3 Horrible Histories Collection 57: The Irate Irish by Terry 

Deary, Eaglemoss, 2005; 4 Modern History Review, September 1995, pp 18-21; 5 Modern History Review, April 2004, pp 20-1. 

Hillyard, Ireland 1800-1921: L 9, 10, 11 & 12, 2

PowerPoint overview: lesson 9 

What caused Ireland to suffer 

between 1845 and 1850? 

Aims 

• To examine the causes of the Great 


• To analyse picture evidence for 

meaning. 

The Graphic Story – what are the causes, 

the short term and long term effects of 

the Famine? 

See below for text of ‘The Famine’. 


Causes of the Great Famine Lessons 9 w/s 1 

Source 1 

Population of Ireland 

1801 5.2 million 



Source 2 

Population growth was higher in some parts of Ireland than others, putting great 

pressure on land. A common practice, especially in the West, was for tenants to 

divide their land among their sons. Sub-division created many small farms in Ireland 

as the sons themselves also sub-divided land. Many thousands of families thus had 

to exist on smaller and smaller plots of land. 

Source 3 

The potato blight, a fungal disease which rots the potato in the ground, struck 

Ireland in September 1845, spreading rapidly in an exceptionally wet autumn, and 

becoming more widespread in 1846…Epidemics of typhus in 1847 and cholera in 1849 

aggravated the situation, ravaging a population already weakened by hunger. 

Source 4 

For about a century and a half, the potato has been the only food of the peasantry 

of Ireland. A very limited portion of land, a few days labour, and a small amount of 

manure will create a stock upon which a family may exist for twelve months…Nearly 

every soil sill produce potatoes; they have been seen growing from almost barren 

rock on the side of a mountain, and in the bog where the foot would sink many inches 

in the soil. 

Source 5 

The quantity of food consumed by the labouring poor 

Area Gender Breakfast Dinner 

Limerick 

Men 

Women 

4½ lbs potatoes; 1 pint skimmed milk 

The same 



Thurles 

Men 

Women 

3-5 lbs potatoes, 1-2 pints skimmed milk 

3-3½ lbs potatoes, 1 pint skimmed milk 




Small farms 

Lesson 9 - w/s 2 

The staple crop was potato 

Population 

Causes of the Great Famine 

Causes of the Great Famine 

People ate lots of potatoes 

Disease - human & plant 


The Famine by Roisin Hambly 

Lesson 9 - OHT 

In the Spring of ’45 

I planted my potato crop, 

But when I dug them up in Winter 

They were black and brown from rot. 

There were seven in my family, 

Four children under five, 

I had to find some food for them, 

To keep them all alive. 

It wasn’t too bad to start with, 

But by Autumn ’47, 

Two members of my family 

Had died and gone to Heaven. 

That Winter it was long and cold 

And every thing was bare, 

Then when my lovely wife passed on 

I thought it so unfair. 

My family were now so thin, 

Their faces were so hollow 

They decided to emigrate 

But foolishly I didn’t follow. 

I saw a soldier selling corn, 

No one was around, 

I took this opportunity 

To knock him to the ground. 

I robbed him of his food and money 

And quickly ran away, 

But sadly I was caught and killed 

And left there to decay. 



How did different groups respond 

to the Famine? 

Aims 

•To examine how the British government 

reacted. 

•To look at the activities of the 

Nationalist movement. 

Responses to the Great Famine 

Scenarios 1 & 2 - see below for texts. 




Scenarios 3 & 4, correct answers - see 

below for texts. 

Task 1: 

You are going to be given one minute at 

each of the sources spread around the 

room. Around the outside of the picture 

you must write words or phrases to 

describe how it makes you feel. 









Homework: 

Read through the extract from Under the 

Hawthorn Tree and the review of it, as 

well as the Horrible Histories section. Use 

these to answer the questions on the 

worksheet. 


The Famine - 5 sources Lesson 10 



Lesson 10 - w/s 1 - for use with following Ppt 

Scenario Your chosen option Reasons for your choice Correct answer & 

reason/explanation 

1. The Famine began in 1845. By 

July 1846 the position of the 

Irish was so bad. The potato 

crop had failed and the Irish 

were running out of food. Peel, a 

Conservative, was the Prime 

Minister of the Great Britain. 

In his position should he… 

2. There is still a shortage of 

foodstuffs. Some corn is dripping 

through from the mainland but it 

is not enough for the Irish to 

survive. 

If you were Peel do you… 

3. The corn is still not solving the 

problem, although it is making life 

slightly better. The Irish poor 

still had to work for landlords. 

If you were Peel… 


Scenario Your chosen option Reasons for your choice Correct answer & 

reason/explanation 

4. The price of grain is increasing 

massively. The Irish Boards of 

Work continue to employ men to 

carry out public works schemes 

such as road repairs and road 

building. By 1847 750,000 men 

worked for the Boards. 

The Boards of Work had a 

decision to make, though… 

5. The Labour Act was passed in 

1846 which further worked on 

landlords to provide work, 

punishing them if they did not by 

forcing them to pay a 'labour 

rate'. However, by the spring of 

1847 the situation was worsening. 

If you were Russell (PM after 

Peel) would you… 

6. From late 1847 the Poor Relief 

system (allowing the poorest 

people to go to workhouses to be 

looked after) was failing. 

c.200,000 people were sheltered 

in workhouses, double the number 

they should have held. Conditions 

were appalling and the unions 

which ran them were bankrupt. 

Should Russell… 


Responses to the Famine - problem-solving 

Lesson 10 - Ppt for w/s 1- slides 

Scenario 1 

The Famine began in 1845. By July 1846 the 

position of the Irish was so bad. The potato 

crop had failed and the Irish were running 

out of food. Peel, a Conservative, was the 

Prime Minister of the Great Britain. In his 

position should he… 

a) Send across new potato seeds in order for 

Irish farmers to grow new potato crops? 

b) Overturn the Corn Laws which taxed 

foreign grain and made it more expensive? 

c) Do nothing – the problem has only been 

going on for a few months and may well just 

die down? 

Scenario 3 

The corn is still not solving the problem, 

although it is making life slightly better. 

The Irish poor still had to work for 

landlords. 

If you were Peel… 

a) Would you try to encourage the landlords 

to farm the land themselves? 

b)Would you encourage the landlords to 

organise together and raise money for those 

effected and to provide work? 

c) Would you tell the landlords to sell up 

while they still can? 

Scenario 5 

The Labour Act was passed in 1846 which 

further worked on landlords to provide work, 

punishing them if they did not by forcing 

them to pay a ‘labour rate’. However, by the 

spring of 1847 the situation was worsening. 

If you were Russell (PM after Peel) would 

you… 

a) Begin freely distributing food through 

soup kitchens, like the Quakers had done? 

b) Double the ‘labour rate’ – find work for 

the poor or go bankrupt? 

c) Do nothing. You have already done 

enough? 

Scenario 2 

There is still a shortage of foodstuffs. 

Some corn is dripping through from the 

mainland but it is not enough for the Irish to 

survive. If you were Peel do you… 

a) Try and import more grain from abroad, 

particularly America. This can then be sold 

cheaply? 

b) Ask Parliament for extra cash to give 

money to the famine victims? 

c) Encourage the Irish to ration the food 

that they eat to ensure that there is enough 

corn to go round? 

Scenario 4 

The price of grain is increasing massively. 

The Irish Boards of Work continue to 

employ men to carry out public works 

schemes such as road repairs and road 

building. By 1847 750,000 men worked for 

the Boards. 

The Boards of Work had a decision to make, 

though… 

a) Should they pay them at subsistence level 

– enough money to get by? 

b) Should they pay them above subsistence 

level allowing them to prosper? 

c) Should they pay them below subsistence 

level otherwise everyone would want to work 

for the Boards? 

Scenario 6 

From late 1847 the Poor Relief system 

(allowing the poorest people to go to 

workhouses to be looked after) was failing. 

c.200,000 people were sheltered in 

workhouses, double the number they should 

have held. Conditions were appalling and the 

unions which ran them were bankrupt. 

Should Russell… 

a) Build more workhouses to cope with the 

problem? 

b) Begin giving relief to the poor still living 

at home – outdoor relief? 

c) Expand the public works schemes? 


Scenario 1 

Correct Answer 

b) Overturn the Corn Laws which taxed 

foreign grain and made it more expensive. 

This would make grain much cheaper for the 

Irish to import. 

Scenario 3 


b) Would you encourage the landlords to 

organise together and raise money for those 

effected and to provide work? 

The government believed in the policy of 

laissez-faire – that it should not interfere in 

local affairs. Hence, its reliance on 

landlords to organise relief. 

Scenario 5 


a) Begin freely distributing food through 

soup kitchens, like the Quakers had done. 

Volunteer and religious groups like the 

Quakers had already begun distributing food 

in this way. Once again, the scheme was 

chosen because of the laissez-faire 

approach - it was paid for through local 

rates. By August, 3 million + were fed this 

way. Scheme ended in September 1847. 

Scenario 2 


a) Try and import more grain from abroad, 

particularly America. This can then be sold 

cheaply. 

This would make more corn readily available 

to the Irish and would put less pressure on 

the British to provide corn. 

Scenario 4 


c) Should they pay them below subsistence 

level otherwise everyone would want to work 

for the Boards? 

The Government were unwilling to push 

public works schemes as they felt that they 

should not be used to allow individuals to 

prosper. Hence, the low wage ensured the 

poor did not rely on these schemes to 

improve their lot. 

Scenario 6 


b) Begin giving relief to the poor still living 

at home – outdoor relief. 

Around 800,000 people were given aid in 

their home. Building workhouses would have 

been too much involvement and public work 

schemes were dropped in 1847. 


Famine - results & sources 

Lesson 10 - w/s 2 - Homework 

Questions 

Read through the extract, the review and the picture from Horrible Histories. 

1. List the results of the Famine on people’s lives 

2. How useful are these sources as evidence for historians studying the potato 

famine of 1845-50 


Under the Hawthorn Tree - extract 

by Marita Conlon-McKenna, O'Brien Press, 0-86278-206-6, pp 21-5 

Lesson 10 - Homework 

They pushed in the door. Mother was dozing with Bridget in 

the chair near the fire. She looked tired and they could tell she 

had been crying. 

Quiet as mice, they reheated some leftover oatmeal and 

water. They were all tired out, and glad to fall into bed. With 

arms and shoulders aching, they scarcely had time to notice the 

normal rumbling hunger pains that came before sleep. 

At some time during the night they became aware of their 

mother’s sobs and of Bridget coughing and trying to breathe. 

Michael came and lay down in the bed beside the girls. They 

held hands and prayed - every prayer they had ever learned. 

‘God help us, please help us, God,’ they whispered. 

No one slept. It was the early hours of the morning before 

the coughing stopped. Then there was a sudden silence. 

Mother was kissing the baby’s face and each little finger one 

by one. 

‘God let the sun come up soon and let this terrible night 

end,’ the children begged. 

Suddenly they became aware of their mother’s silence. They 

got up and went over to her. Large tears slid down her cheeks. 

‘She’s gone. My own little darling is gone.’ Peggy started to 

cry. ‘I want Bridget back,’ she wailed. ‘I want her.’ 

‘It’s all right, pet,’ assured Mother. ‘She was too weak to 

stay in this hard world any longer. Look at her. Isn’t she a 

grand little girl, now she’s at rest.’ 

The baby lay still, as if she were just dozing. Mother told 

them to kiss her, and one by one they kissed the soft cheek and 

forehead of Bridget, the little sister they hardly knew. 

Mother seemed strangely calm and made them go back to 

bed. ‘At first light, Michael, you must run to Dan Collins and 

ask him to get Father Doyle. I’ll just sit and mind my darling 

girl for a little while yet.’ 

Later, Michael set off, his face pale and his eyes redrimmed. 

The chill of the early morning made him shiver as he 

pulled his light jacket around him. 

Mother had heated some water and with a cloth she gently 

washed Bridget, and brushed and brushed the soft blond curls. 

Eily pulled the old wooden chest from under Mother and 

Father’s bed. As instructed, she opened it. There wasn’t that 

much in it, so she soon found the lace christening robe which 

her great-grandmother had made. The lace was yellow and old. 

It was only ten months since Bridget had worn the robe - 

before, but her little body was so thin and wasted it still fitted 

her. Dressed in it she looked like a little pale angel, though 

Eily couldn’t help but remember a porcelain French doll she 

had seen in a shop window in the town once. It stood stiff in a 

white lace dress with a starched petticoat and long curling real 

hair. How she had wanted to hold and have that doll. Now she 

felt the same longing, but much worse. She ached to hold 

Bridget and never let her go. 

Michael came home. They all had a sup of milk and tidied 

themselves and the cottage as best they could. Dan Collins 

would get the priest. Father Doyle was a nice man - he and 

Father were very friendly and sometimes he would drop in for 

a chat and a bit of company. Father used to say that being a 

priest was grand, but it was a lonely life Mid-morning they 

were all surprised when Dan Collins and his wife Kitty arrived. 

Kitty ran straight to Mother and kissed her. Their eyes were 

full of tears and unspoken words. 

‘Margaret, we are so sorry. Poor little Bridget,’ whispered 

Kitty. 

Dan Collins cleared his throat and shifted uneasily. ‘There 

is more bad news, God spare us. Father Doyle is gone down 

with the sickness himself and will not be able to bury the wee 

lassie. Already in the village a few have died of the sickness - 

Seamus Fadden, the coffin maker, being one - so there are no 

proper funerals ...‘ He stopped. 

Mother let out a high wailing cry. ‘What will become of us, 

what are we to do?’ The air hung heavy. 

‘We’ll bury her decently in her own place,’ said Dan. 

The three children stared at Mother, waiting for her reply. 

She nodded her head silently. 

‘Under the hawthorn tree in the back field,’ she whispered. 

‘The children always played there and its blossom will shelter 

her now.’ 

Dan motioned to Michael and they left the cottage and 

disappeared up to the field carrying a spade. 

‘We’ve no coffin;’ said Mother hoarsely. 

Kitty looked around the cottage and begged Eily to help 

her. Eily cleared her throat. ‘What about using grandmother’s 

wooden chest?’ 

Kitty and Eily pulled it out from under the old bed and 

lifted it onto the blanket. Mother walked over and nodded 

silently. Kitty began to take out the family treasures and lay 

them to one side. 

Kitty and Mother started to get everything ready. Eily and 

Peggy, sensing they were not wanted, ran outside and pulled 

bluebells and wild flowers. They sucked in deep breaths of air 

to try and calm their hearts. 

Dan came back down the field and went inside. In a few 

minutes the three adults emerged, Kitty holding Mother’s arm 

and Dan carrying the carved wooden chest. 

A light breeze blew and the blossom bowed and waved in 

welcome. There was a clear blue sky. A family of bluetits sat 

on the branch of the tree, helping to keep vigil. 

Dan and Kitty led them in the prayers and they all 

remembered the words of Jesus, ‘Suffer the little children to 

come unto me’. They prayed too that they would ‘meet again 

in Paradise’. 

Eily and Michael gently placed the flowers beside the chest. 

Peggy clung to Mother as huge sobs racked her body. Mother 

stroked her hair. They all sang a favourite hymn of Father 

Doyle’s, then Kitty led them back to the house. She had 

brought some tea and made a mug for the adults. She made 

Mother sit down near the fire as she warmed some leftover 

potato cakes. 

For the next few days, Mother stayed in her shift with the 

shawl wrapped around her, and barely bothered to do anything. 


Eily and Michael fetched the water, swept out the cottage and 

searched for food. They wished that Father would come back. 

Eily was scared. How long would it last? 

Under the Hawthorn Tree - review 

by S. Churney, King David High School, Liverpool 


The Great Famine of Ireland is arguably the most tragic and 

horrific famine ever to strike in the post. It was both one of the 

most lethal famines in modern history and o watershed in the 

development of modern Ireland. It has in itself created a 

longlasting effect in the world of Ireland, even to this day, 

killing more than one million people of its population. The 

number of souls decreased considerably throughout the 

disastrous years of labour and hardship and has never risen 

since this dreadful incident. 

The unbalanced diet of potatoes and milk had long been the 

main food in Ireland. It kept people strong and healthy, 

working in the fresh air and eating this nutritious food. 

Another reason for planting potatoes was that with the 

subdivision of land regime, potatoes could be grown in small 

amounts of land. An acre of potatoes would have fed a family 

of five for a year, whereas on acre of wheat would feed one or 

two people. However, it was intensely dangerous to depend on 

one type of food crop. The crop could fail if o particular year 

was damp and frigid. Food shortages were not unique to 

Ireland after 1845, although famine was. 

In the summer of 1845, a greatly hazardous disease struck the 

country as a surprise - POTATO BLIGHT! The potato failure 

impacted a country that was familiar with periodic shortages. 

From then on, ordinary people's lives were turned upside down 

in the struggle to survive without their desired food- potato. 

Famine hod arrived, which would hount the people involved 

for years to come. Hope for the future was all they had left to 

keep on living. 

‘Under the Hawthorn Tree’ written by Morita Conlon- 

McKenna is a deeply moving story of the children of the 

famine, expressing the hope, courage and suffering of young 

children subjected to the jeopardy of the famine. 

The three children in the novel, Eily, Michael and Peggy 

symbolise the exhilaration and optimism with regard to the 

famine and the courage children and even adults took to 

survive in the dire shortage of food in their country. 

Eily, Michael and Peggy ore left alone, surrounded by disaster. 

In danger of being sent to the workhouse, they escape, and set 

out on a long and challenging journey to find the great-aunts 

they have heard about in their mother's stories, their mother 

having gone !n ca desperate search of their father. 

The story demonstrates how the Famine profoundly affected 

many aspects of Irish life including the separation of family life 

and the deaths, which affected the psychological minds of the 

Irish. 

The ‘Hawthorn Tree’ also represents the hope of a better life 

and is in contrast to the disastrous blight of the potatoes. 

Whenever this Hawthorn tree is described in the book, a 

miracle happens of the children's disbelief. 

Throughout the book many important aspects of the famine 

come up to play a vital port within the book and I feel it is 

important to mention them in the act of writing my essay. 

On pages 44-47, a threatening feeling comes to the children 

when the landlord of their house threatens to evict them from 

it, as their mother has gone in search of their father, feeling it 

best to leave them behind. 

‘There is no work for anyone now. I am ordered to check all 

the cottages and send those to the workhouse that hove no 

means of keeping themselves ... if she [their mother] has 

disappeared you can't stay on your own, and will have to make 

ready for the journey.’ 

Many Irish families suffered eviction throughout the course of 

the famine. These evictions led to further suffering among the 

poor and the starving. The quote from the book above 

exemplifies this point as the reader immediately sympathises 

with the children having to leave their home for the 

workhouse. It also describes how cruel and callous landlords 

were to those in need. The indiscriminate evictions that 

intensified after 1847 were a recurrent grievance by tenants, 

although proprietors blamed evictions on the high level of poor 

rate. Briefly, poor rate was the money the Irish had to pay to 

stay in their house. It comes from the Poor low that was 

introduced in 1838. Relief was only provided, in Ireland, 

within the confines of a workhouse. The differences between 

the Poor Low in England and the one in Ireland made it clear 

that the poverty in Ireland was to be treated more harshly than 

elsewhere. Inevitably this attitude shaped responses during the 


Workhouses ore another issue raised within the book as the 

children are sent to them by their landlord, forcing them out of 

their childhood village. Chapter five entitled ‘The Road to the 

Workhouse’ describes the poor who went to the workhouse. 

They are portrayed in a depressing and disease stricken way, 

expressing some people ‘so weak they could hardly walk.’ It 

was true that the ill and the dying were sent to the workhouse 

in order to work for food. However, in some cases it was too 

late. Until the famine, people avoided the workhouses as much 

as they could. However when the famine did arrive, they had 


no choice. By January 1847, there were 111,000 people in the 

workhouse built to accommodate 100, 000. These numbers 

describe the overcrowding of the place and this just added to 

the problems of disease. Famine fever became widespread and 

more people died of the spreading of this disease than of 

hunger. I feel that from the information above, the suffering 

and hardship of the Irish was immense and more should hove 

been done to save them. Landlords ought to have been more 

considerate with the poor Irish and let them stay within their 

own environment of their house. 

The Quakers gave money to the local people to set up soup 

kitchens where free or cheap food was given to the hungry 

people. Soup kitchens run by such charities saved many lives 

during the famine. Chapter Seven of the book describes such 

kitchens from a child's point of view. 

‘Eily could not believe the crowds when they reached the 

village. Hundreds of ragged starving people thronged the small 

main street. They queued desperate for food.’ This describes 

the amount of starving people who come from all parts of the 

area to soothe their hunger. It must have been terrible to watch 

and experience this occurrence, as the poor depended on this 

kitchen to survive their life. 

‘The faces- the faces- she would never forget them. They all 

hod the some look. The cheeks were sunken, the eyes wide and 

staring with deep circles underneath, the lips narrow and tight, 

and in some the skin had a yellow tinge.’ This vividly explains 

the appearance of the poor, making them out to be near 

skeletons. ‘They all had the some look’ conveys a feeling of a 

diseased and afflictive atmosphere within the kitchen. 

The landlords did not wish to encourage the use of these soup 

kitchens, because they had to pay for them, so they made them 

as unattractive as possible. This is evident in the chapter: 

‘This must be hell, thought Eily, for once terrified’ 

Throughout the book, ‘yellow meal’ is described frequently. 

This meal was bought by the Prime Minister, Sir Robert Peel 

for £100,000 and was the common name for the Indian maize. 

Its original planting was done in America and he had bought 

it to Ireland. Many people disliked the maize and called it 

‘Peel's Brimstone’ To prevent starvation they were forced to eat 

it. 

Fortunately for the children, their dangerous and tiring journey 

had not been wasted as they found their Great Aunts, Nano and 

lens. Their hope and optimism kept their will power going, 

until their greatest feelings came to life when they saw their 

aunts. However not oil stories of the famine ended up as 

contented and fortunate as this, intact, some cases proved quite 

the opposite. Weak government, parsimonious administrators, 

entrenched financial interests; anti-Catholic, anti-poor and 

anti-Irish sentiments produced a particularly lethal 

combination of misguided intervention and injudicious nonintervention. 

The immediate consequence was the unnecessary 

deaths of over one million people. 

I thoroughly appreciated reading and analysing the book, as it 

has expanded and widened my mind to the suffering humanity 

caused by horrifying, intolerable famine. The long-term legacy 

of the Famine not only changed Ireland, but also continued to 

influence British politics after the passage of 150 years. 

The ‘soup’ was a kind of porridge called ‘stirabout’ and each 

person was to get one pound per day. In general, these soup 

kitchens worked well. 

The thirteenth chapter- ‘Peggy's Fever’- outlines the common 

disease which was around in Ireland ‘Famine Fever.’ This 

fever broke out among the people who were weakened by 

hunger. One of the children in the story, Peggy, catches this 

awful disease whilst on journey trying to find her aunts. ‘She 

touched Peggy's forehead. It was burning. The skin on her 

shoulders and legs and everywhere was hot to touch. She was 

burning up with a fever.’This distinctly describes the common 

effects of the fever, burning up everywhere and ‘tossed and 

turned and sometimes cried out in pain’ The fever was 

prevalent among the weakened and dying Irish and was the 

consequence of the tremendous hunger. 



Horrible Histories Collection 57: The Irate Irish by Terry Deary, Eaglemoss, 2005 


Irish Nationalist response to the Great Famine Lesson 11 - w/s 1 

What do you think the reaction of Irish Nationalists 

would have been to the British response to the Famine? 

The actual reaction. 

Young Ireland Rebellion 

Aims: 

Methods: 

Tenant right movement 

Aims: 

Methods: 


A potato dinner, 28 February 1846 

Lesson 12 - freeze-frame- Ppt 



What effect did the Great Famine 

have on the Irish? 

Aims 

•To examine the short and long-term impact 

of the Irish famine. 

Land 

•Cottiers (small land 

owners) were 

destroyed and their 

population fell 

dramatically. 

•c.200,000 smaller 

farms were lost. 

•10% of the old 

landlord class went 

bankrupt. 

•Encumbered Estates 

Act was passed in 

1849 to speed up the 

sale of land. 

•1850s – c.3,000 

estates sold. 

•But – most were 

brought by 

speculators or 

existing members of 

the landlord class. 

Population 

•c.1 million men, 

women and children 

died between 

1845-50. 

•Irish population 

declined from c.8 

million in 1841 to 

c.6m in 1851. 

•By 1900 the Irish 

population was ½ the 

size it was in 1845. 

Farming & living 

standards 

•There was less 

concentration on 

potato farming and 

more concentration 

on dairy and 

exporting cattle. 

•Living standards 

improved because 

wages increased. 

•Housing standards 

improved as did 

literacy – due to 

urbanisation. 

•The m-c farmer 

became the centre 

of Irish countryside 

– there was a 77% 

increase in farmers’ 

income and many 

farmers got the vote 

in 1850. 


Emigration 

•1815-45 – 1.5 million 

emigrated. 

•1845-50 – 1.5 million 

people emigrated. 

•1850-1910 – 4.5-5 

million emigrated. 

•¼ went to England and 

Scotland; majority 

went to America. 

•Before the famine, it 

was mainly single, 

landless men who 

emigrated. 

•Early years of the 

Famine – mainly 

cottiers and 

labourers, plus some 

richer people 

emigrated. 

•After 1850 it was only 

smallholders and 

labourers. Whole 

families now went too. 

•Emigration was hard. 

Use the information you have gathered 

over the last four lessons and the 

articles to plan and write an answer to 

the question: 

What effect did the Great Famine have 

on the Irish? 

Just a minute… 

The aim is to speak about the topic given 

to you by your teacher for 1 minute 

without hesitating, repeating or 

diverging. 


What effect did the Great Famine have on Ireland? Lesson 12 - w/s 1 

Introduction - explain why the question is being asked in the first place. 

POINT - 

Short-term 

effects 

Give an EXAMPLE 

of the effect. 

EXPLAIN why it 

had a short-term 

impact on Ireland. 

POINT - 

Long-term effects 

Give an EXAMPLE 

of the effect. 

EXPLAIN why it 

had a long-term 

impact on Ireland. 

Conclusion - give your final answer to the question.

Booklet 4 The Irish Famine - Ireland in Schools

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