Saving the Irish Poor: Charity and the Great Famine

The Great Hunger (An Gorta Mór) was one of the most devastating humanitarian disasters of the nineteenth century. In a period of only five years, Ireland lost approximately one-quarter of her population through a combination of death and emigration. Yet this tragedy occurred at the heart of the vast, and resource-rich, British Empire. The imperial government, however, chose not to use its resources to come to the aid of the Irish poor. Historians continue to debate the extent to which the British government was culpable for this tragedy. This article examines a lesser-known aspect of the Great Hunger, that is, the extent to which people throughout the world mobilized to provide money, food and clothing to assist the starving Irish. Helped by developments in transport and communications, newspapers throughout the world reported on the suffering in Ireland. This prompted fund-raising on an unprecedented scale, which cut across religious, ethnic, social and gender distinctions, with donations coming from as far away as Australia, China, India and South America. Many who gave so generously had no direct connection with Ireland. This paper will explore the private relief given to Ireland during these tragic years, which one volunteer described as ‘a labour of love’. The ideological context in which both charity and poor relief existed will also be briefly examine