History of Ireland

How many people died in the Irish potato famine?

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2015-07-16 19:26:19


from hunger and disease, and changed the social and cultural

structure of Ireland in profound ways. The Famine also spurred new

waves of immigration, thus shaping the histories of the United

States and Britain as well.

I have read disturbing evidence that as many as 5 million died

in what was not a famine as such but a holocaust - there was no

shortage of food, but the british sent in troops of soldiers to

take the crops and bacon, etc., and these were sent to Britain -

exports of food actually increased! The census for 1841 was over 10

million people - and that of 1851 just over 6 million. Allowing for

natural increase, it means that 6 million have gone missing - and

the victims must number about 5 million. Thomas Carlisle made it

clear that the genocide of the Irish (which he supported) was the

secret agenda - and that efforts to alleviate the sufferings of the

starving were a mere cosmetic exercise. I think there needs to be

an international tribunal to establish the facts about this and

other aspects of the British terror regime in Ireland.

I'm Irish, born and bred in Ireland. All I can say about this is

that we learned at school that the population was approx 8 million

before the famine, and about half that after. However many people

left the country aboard the coffin ships for America, or fled to

England. It's impossible to say exactly how many died and how many

left. Like I said that's just what they're teaching us in school


I would just like to follow on to a comment above by James

Hussey that Gladstone had sent 100,000 pounds worth of U.S. grain

for famine relief. To put his concern into perspective, in the same

period the same sum -100,000 pounds - was allocated to the upkeep

of Richmond Park/ Gardens in London. This to me indicates a serious

lack of any panic in England about the pain and suffering in


It is a fact easily verified through economic reports that

productivity in agriculture other than in potatoes increased during

that time. In fact, Ireland regularly outproduced Britain in terms

of food production. We were their breadbasket.

Food was transported to the ports under armed guard as people

lay dying on the roadsides with green stains around their mouths

from eating grass.

There were many Landlords and English who worked very hard to

alleviate the situation. The Quakers in particular did incredible

work. However the British Government official policy prevented any

real relief from happening. Today it would be considered a

deliberate attempt to inflict genocide on the people of

