The repercussions of this can still be seen today, and is shown by many Irish-Americans taking an interest in political events in Ireland. In fact the Irish Republican Brotherhood was formed simultaneously in Dublin and New York in 1858.
Marriage patterns also changed in the decades following the Great Famine. There were fewer and later marriages due to the end of the sub-division of land which meant that the inheritor of the farm had to postpone marriage until the parental farm became available. This subsequently led to a decline in the birth rate in Ireland. The number of births per 1000 of the population fell from over 35 before the Famine to 28 by 1870.
The Irish language was another to decline in the post-Famine years. It had already been in decline at the start of the Famine but it definitely accelerated the process. Those who died or emigrated in the Famine were mostly Irish speakers, mainly because the Famine hit rural areas hardest and that was where the language had survived the longest. In 1861, the number of Irish speakers fell to just 24%.
The decline in population led to a rise in average living standards. Labourers' wages rose, housing standards improved and Ireland became a more literate and urbanised society. This was a result of the building of more schools, railways, police stations and the growth of Irish towns.
The aftermath of the Great Famine saw the emergence of a more balanced farming system concentrating on pastoral farming especially in the form of dairy farming and the export of live cattle. By 1870, the acreage devoted to grain and potato had halved compared with pre-Famine days whereas cattle numbers doubled from 2.7 million in 1848 to 5 million in 1914.
The Famine had an impact on Irish Catholic religious practice, leading a shift towards a more formal and rigorous Catholicism with higher attendances at mass during the post-Famine period and with an enhancement of the social and political authority of the priesthood. Catholic Emancipation in 1849 brought Roman Catholics to the British Parliament, they brought much sympathy with the Great Famine of 1845-50 fresh in their minds they focused their attention for a solution to the Land Question.
The old landlord class were badly economically affected by the famine. The difficulty in collecting rents together with mortgages, rates and debts meant that around ten percent went bankrupt and were forced to evict their tenants. An estimated 500,000 people were evicted by the end of the Famine. It was the small farmers that virtually vanished in the years following the Famine, farms under five acres accounted for 45% of all farms in 1841, but only 15% a decade later. Many of those who had been evicted emigrated or became paid labourers for other farmers. Many other farms were purchased by large scale farmers. As a result, one farm out of every four disappeared, which meant that instead of one-third of farms being over 15 acres in size in 1845, about one-half were in 1851. Only a few Landlords survived by diversifying away from potato-growing tenancies and rented out land to graziers. The strong farmer therefore became the ultimate beneficiary of the Famine as they were able to acquire lands due to the weakening of both the small farmers and the Landlords.
The burden of debt among the landed classes grew to the extent that the government saw the need for the Encumbered Estates Act of 1849 which allowed land which was in financial difficulty especially after the Great Famine, to be sold on at rock bottom prices. Between 1849 and 1857 there were 3000 sales under the terms of the Act and by 1914, two-thirds of Irish tenants owned their own land. These tenant farmers made up seventy percent of the Irish population. Their incomes rose due to the changes in farming by around seventy seven percent. They also got the vote in 1850 with the Reform Act. All of these convinced the British Government in the need for an alliance with the tenant farmer. This made the Land Question the most important theme in Irish politics in the 1850s. In response to some evictions these larger farmers exercised their new found power by joining Irish tenant leagues. These leagues were popular and demanded the Ulster custom of tenant rights these were the three Fs which were fair rent, fixity of tenure and free sale. The objectives of the Irish Tenant League were to protect the tenants from being unjustly evicted and to eventually make them owners of their farms. These tenant leagues combined to form All-Ireland Tenant League in 1850. They gained support politically from the ‘Independent Irish Party’ however social and religious differences between Ulster Protestants and the rest of Ireland coupled with a slump in farming prices in 1859 brought the tenants’ movement to an end.
“And thought the Irish Tenant League swiftly withered, it survived long enough to spur the creation of an independent Irish Parliamentary party dedicated, in part, to the cause of tenant right.” (Curtis 1994, p88)
The failed Repeal Campaign and the death of Daniel O'Connell during the Famine in 1847 led to the re-emergence of the extreme nationalist group the Fenians. The Fenians were a new way of tackling the Irish Question and gaining publicity through the actions in the form of rebellion. The Fenians elevated the Irish Question in British politics as they feared the possibility of a revolution. Gladstone believed that the Fenians assisted in making reforms in Ireland easier to secure politically in Britain. This led to Gladstone declaring that his mission was to ‘pacify Ireland‘.
The first of Gladstone's Irish Reforms was the Irish Church Act in 1869. This disestablished the Anglican Church in Ireland and destroyed its privileged status and united various strands of Irish opinion, including the Dissenters and Catholics as well as Gladstone’s own party. The second Irish Reform was the first Irish Land Act in 1870, which limited Landlords' rights over their tenants and prevented evictions. This inspired Irish Nationalism and paved the way for Parnell and Home Rule because the third of the Irish Reforms, the Universities Bill of 1873 failed and led to the Liberals’ downfall in the 1874 election. This indicated that the Irish Reforms were having an impact on the make-up of the British Government.
The Great Famine also led to Ireland realising that the Act of Union had not lived up to its promises - and decided to be independent.
“it was the inescapable answer to that question which, among other later influences was to lead them in the end towards an inescapable political conclusion: that Ireland should in the future, one way or another, run her own affairs.” (Kee 1980, p101)
The Irish Parliamentary Party, emerged at this time with Charles Parnell, who was Protestant, as its leader. They fought to secure land reform. From the very beginning it organised popular demonstrations against evictions, including the use of the tactic of refusing to rent land from which a farmer had evicted which is now known as “boycotting”. The Irish Parliamentary Party’s second aim was to obtain independence from Britain.
This led to the first Home Rule Bill being presented to Prime Minister Gladstone in 1886, to provide a separate legislature for Ireland, though it did not make it through the House of Commons. The rejection of this first Home Rule Bill triggered gory riots in Ireland between celebrating Protestants and disappointed Catholics, thus emphasising the religion problem in Ireland. In 1893, the second Home Rule Bill was submitted by Gladstone proposing an Irish Legislation for local matters and Irish representation in the British Parliament in Ireland related issues, but the House of Lords crushed it with an overwhelming majority of 419 against 41. After two rejected Home Rule Bills, the Irish people got impatient. Confidence in parliamentary organisations was on the wane and the support for more extremist nationalist groups increased. Finally, the third Home Rule Bill, proposing control of the police to Ireland, with the support of the Irish Nationalist Mps, successfully passed through the House of Commons in 1912, though it was rejected by the House of Lords. But this time, because of the 1911 Parliament Act they were only able to hold up the Bill for two years. It became law in 1914, but ironically was immediately suspended with the outbreak of the First World War.
The impact of the Great Famine was immense. However, despite the extreme devastation to the country, the Irish have proven to be survivors. Ireland was brought to its knees during the Great Famine, but the resilience and spirit of the Irish people ensured that they never gave up. Today, Ireland is a strong country in Europe - socially, economically and politically, but as a nation we will always remember the Black Days.
Sources:
Curtis, L. (1994). The Cause of Ireland
Published by Beyond the Pale Publications
Kee, R. (1980). Ireland, A History
Published by Widened & Nicholson Ltd
Johnston, W. (2001). The Famine 1. Potato Blight
(5th May 2009)
Wikipedia (last modified on 5th May 2009). Article on The Irish diaspora
(5th May 2009)
