1849 - 1850 AD

                                                                                                                                        "The Worst of the Great Famine" / Tenant Rights

1849 AD This was to be the "Worst Year Of All," for the population in Ireland, as the people were by now even more desperate to survive and even bled the Land Lords' cattle mixing the blood with any other meal type they could find to try and survive, and they also cut off the "bullocks' tails" and roasted them, stole ducks, geese, grass, sheep and any other livestock, consumed the birds of the air, the cats, the dogs, the frogs, the nettles, the seaweed and any type of weed generally, while "no fish" or other types of seafood were allowed to be utilized by the starving population in Ireland, as most of these were now on the Land Lord Estates. Food "riots" were also common around the "barges" and the numerous boats that were always "exporting" the Grain and the Livestock out of Ireland, also around the "Corn Stores" and the mills, while the "speculators and the merchants" came under "attack" for charging their "excessive" prices.  

    The first "Irish Tenant Protection Society," was established at Callan in Co. Kilkenny in the south - west of Southern Leinster.

   Co. Clare and Co. Limerick in the north - west of the Munster Province, Co. Galway in Southern Connacht, and Co. Offaly in the north - west of Southern Leinster were to have the "highest death rates" during this year.

     Sir John Russell was to remain the British Imperial Whig Conservative Prime Minister in England until 1852 AD, who also had confiscated Estates in Ireland, and under the "Immoral Union" he was to "totally abandon" all of those people who continued to be "total" in distress in Ireland altogether, and Thomas Wyse was now also to be  a Minister in his Government possibly hoping to somehow influence him to do something constructive to ease their distress.

      Lord John Russell was personally to state the following, "The great difficulty in respect to Ireland, is one which does not spring from Charles Trevelyan or Charles Wood / Lord Halifax, but lies deep in the breasts of the British people and it is this, we have granted, lent, subscribed, worked, visited, and clothed the population of Ireland amounting to millions of pounds worth of money, with years of debate, and our only return is calumny / slander and rebellion, let us "not grant," or clothe them any more and see what they will do."  

    The 3 non - denominational Queen's Universities in Belfast, Cork and Galway, were finally opened up to students in Ireland.

August: Thomas Marmion, a land "agent" for the Ascendancy Church of England / Ireland minister, the Rev. Maurice F. Townsend, presided over the great number of "evictions" on his personal confiscated Estate in Co. Cork in Southern Munster, when 154 tenant farmers there along with their families, involving all up a total of 350 people near Skibbereen, were to be removed from the Estate over a two year period and no official record of any of the previous "tenant evictions" from the Land Lords' Estates in Ireland, were kept until this year.

     This year there was to be the same number of "emigrants" leaving Ireland as there were in 1846 AD.

    A British Imperial Government Law was now also passed in the Westminster Parliament, to allow another way out for the Land Lords who had Estates in Ireland, who were suffering from "Encumbrance" (debt).

   Agricultural products were to decline further, from 25% to 30 %, especially in relation to young cattle and butter.  

  The British Imperial Conservative Government "transported " another 600 people out of Ireland in the first 3 months of this year, with "riots and overall total desperation" now occurring everywhere in Ireland.

   The only good thing that was to happen in Ireland this year was that all of this terrible ongoing turmoil was to finally bring about "tenant rent" reductions of 20 - 25 %.  

    The "Great Famine" was still as bad as the ones in 1846 AD and 1847 AD, and by now it had spread out all over Ireland, except for the north - east in the Ulster Province, where they were "protected" by the strong growth of the "Linen Trade," and where they were violently "opposed" to paying any rate to "alleviate" the distress of the population anywhere else in Ireland, while the general population of Ireland was now also suffering from Typhus and Relapsing Fever, which was carried by body louse in the "filthy conditions" that were the Union Workhouses, and also in the so called hospitals there, with dysentery, scurvy, and dropsy now rampant. Also the "voluntary" contributions for relief in Ireland had dwindled away as it had gone on for "so long" and the British Imperial Whig Conservative Government still under Sir John Russell, " Considered that the population in Ireland were now "irresponsible, ungrateful, treacherous and unfit to govern themselves," let alone be allowed to enjoy the same rights as the rest of the United Kingdom," although they were still under the restrictions and control of the "Immoral Union" by England, with "no say" in their "destiny" or any right or hope of ever governing themselves anyway.

August: Victoria, the German Hanoverian British Queen, visited Ireland and the Irish name for the city of Cobh in Co. Cork in Southern Munster was changed to Queenstown at this time, but it would be changed back to its original Irish name after the "Anglo - Irish War" was to end in 1922 AD when the population in Ireland were to regain back by "armed" struggle and the forfeiture of many of their "lives," the control of 26 of the 32 Counties in Ireland from the British Imperial Government. ,

       From now on in Ireland any "popular" movements that made a show of trying to acheive "Irish Independence" were to be very "short lived" under the British Imperial Governments and their ongoing interpretation of the "Immorial Union."

September 16th: James Fintan Lalor, along with 3 other Irish compatriots in desperation decided to try and to do something"physically," to draw attention to the "terrible conditions" and the overall plight of the general population in Ireland, and to this end they started another "Irish Uprising" in Co. Tipperary, and the adjoining County to the south - west, in Co. Waterford in the Munster Province, but due to the terrible conditions that were still prevailing they received no support and it was "abandoned" after they first attacked a police barracks at Cappoquin and one of them was "killed" along with an RIC constable, and their leader went off to America, while James Fintan Lalor returned to Dublin.

    Thomas Clarke Luby, was to be among those who were "imprisoned" and he later went off to Australia, while Charles Gavan Duffy, the future Premier of Victoria in Australia, who was still for "democratic" reform only, was released from "prison."

   From now on up until 1879 AD," emigration" to Australia was to be assisted by a few of the Land Lords, including Fitz William in Co. Wicklow in the south - east of Southern Leinster, and Colonel Wyndham in Co. Clare in the north - west of the Munster Province, who also purchased land in America for some of their "tenants."

   The "potato" crop was now to suffer only a "partial" attack of The Blight, and it seemed the worst of the "Great Famine" was now over, and remittance money was also coming into Ireland from those "relatives" who had left Ireland earlier, for their remaining relatives in Ireland to also join them in "exile."

     Another Encumbered Land Act was bought in by Sir John Russell, the British Imperial Whig Prime Minister, to increase the "release" of further encumbered Land Lord Estates in Ireland, under a Commission who would be able to "sell" the Estates for these Land Lords who had a British legal claim on the property in Ireland, to pay off their "debts," and give clear title to the new owner and the Encumbered Estates Commission, was to receive 23,000 pounds over 10 years, to buy back the encumbered land in Ireland from these "particular" Land Lords. The anti - Irish London Times newspaper in England released an article stating, "That in a few years a Celtic Irishman will be hard to find" in expectation of all of the land in Ireland to be once again taken over by Englishmen, who were men of means.

      At this time, Ireland still had 12,000 teachers, 4,321 schools and 500,000 pupils, and Father Theobold Mathew had also extended his Temperance Reform over to America.    

   James Clarence Mangan (18012 - 1849) died, who was to have a bust erected in his memory in St. Stephen's Green in Dublin.

December 27th: James Fintan Lalor, the 'Gaelic Miesian Irian Irish "leader" from Co. Offaly in the north - west of Southern Leinster, died, who was to be the father of Peter Lalor of Eureka Stockade fame in Australia.

1849 AD - 1851 AD During this period, there was to be no change to the overall "rural" situation existing in Ireland, with the "Potato Blight" striking again, but the Grain crop was maintained, except for wheat, while the price of sheep and pigs fell, and cattle numbers were up as well as butter.  

1850 AD This year, 200 tenant farmers in Ireland and their families were "evicted" by the agents O Neill and Webb from the Estate of Sir Riggs Falkiner at Kilbarry.

   20,000 Pounds was now also set aside by the British Imperial Conservative Government to "buy" back land from the "speculators" and the "solvent" Land Lords who still held confiscated Estates in Ireland. 

     The best laid plans of mice and men now went astray, when the Irish Franchise Act, giving "certain" members of the Irish population the "right to vote," was bought in by the British Westminster Parliament, with the proviso that to obtain this democratic right, you must "own land in Ireland" to the value now of 12 Pounds in the Counties, and 8 Pounds in the Boroughs an Act brought in by the British Imperial Conservative Government with the express purpose of "excluding the poorer" Irish families once again and the "marginal" voters, and to "increase" the County electorate, while "decreasing" the Borough electorate. Despite this "wilful negative" intention, the actual result was that the Irish electorate "vote" was "increased" from 61,000 to 165,000 voters with 135,000 of these in the "Counties" and this in turn then brought in "40" newly elected Irish M.P.s to the Westminster Parliament in England, who would only "support" any British Government that would bring in the basics of William Crawford's previous "Ulster Tenants Bill," which was based on the principles of the "Irish Tenant's League."    

     Since the arrival of Archbishop Paul Cullen the Catholic Irish position had gained in strength, as there was now 1 priest for every 2,100 of the people and 1 nun for every 3,400 of the people and from now up until 1900 AD the National Schools would double, and a Catholic Irish Synod was to be held at Thurles in Co. Tipperary in the north - east of the Munster Province for the first time since the 12th Century AD, after the Anglo - Norman Invasion. The "educated" Catholic Irish priests were now beginning to enter the "political" arena in support of the population and a motion was taken to condemn the introduction of non - denominational colleges previously set up by Sir Robert "Orange" Peel the previous British Tory Conservative Prime Minister as dangerous to their faith and morals due to their "lack of any religious education" being involved. Despite the improvements the Catholic Irish population at Moneen in Co. Clare in the north - west of Munster were still "refused" permission to obtain "land" there on which to build a "church," so they developed a mobile one instead.

     The 3 Queen's Universities were now linked together, and had low fees, generous scholarships, and were much easier to attend, but they came under attack from the Ascendancy Church of England / Ireland clergy and the Presbyterian clergy for also being "Godless.| Mac Hale, the previous Irish Catholic Archbishop of Tuam in Co. Galway in Southern Connacht, who was also against the National Board, had previously warned Sir Robert "Orange" Peel against bringing in Secular Universities, and had then been backed up by Daniel O Connell - the Liberator. Despite the debate the Queen's College in Belfast in Co. Antrim in the north - east of the Ulster Province, which was predominately being attended by Presbyterians, was operating quite "successfully", and some half - hearted attempts were to be made in this decade to meet the grievances of the Catholic University, whose "degrees" were still "not recognized," but nothing was to come of it.

     John Gray, the editor of the "Freeman's Journal," and Charles Gavan Duffy, (the future Premier of Victoria), who was the editor of "The Nation," were now the only "Young Irelanders" who were still active in Irish politics at this time.

August: Frederick Lucas, the editor of "The Tablet" newspaper, who was an Englishman, who had become a Catholic, called an "Irish National Tenant Rights Conference" to be held in Dublin, which was to lead on to the foundation of the "Irish Tenant League" as 50,000 Irish families had by now been "evicted" from off of the Land Lord's Estates, and the "Irish Tenant League" had been initially founded to bring in legislation to "legalise" the rights of the "tenants," as to the customs being carried out in the Ulster Province and it was to spread out all over Ireland, and they were to put forward their "own candidates" for political seats in the British Westminster Parliament. Also formed, due to the continuing "tenant evictions" from the Land Lords' Estates in Ireland, were 20 Irish "Secret Societies" in the south and the west of Ireland, who were to be followed by "others" being formed elsewhere to try and bring in "fair rents" by impartial valuation. During this time the "tenants" in Ulster, who previously were not so subject to the "hardships" meted out in the "south" and the "west" of Ireland, were now also forced to begin to "defend" their own "tenant rights" there also, against the ongoing growing greed of the Land Lords and this once again, created a "common cause, and need" placed on all of the "tenant farmers" in Ireland, and the possibility of an "Irish National Tenant" movement, as even the Presbyterian General Assembly was to be eventually forced to "petition" the British Westminster Parliament to bring in legislation to ensure the continuance of the previous "rights" of the "tenants" in Ulster. 

     The Tara Brooch, that had been created in the 7th Century AD, was found this year on the seashore by a child at the mouth of the River Boyne at Betaghstown in Co. Meath in the south - east of Northern Leinster, and it was then sold in Drogheda in Co. Louth in the north - east of Northern Leinster by the mother of the children who found it.

    The sixth Duke of Devonshire restored Lismore Castle in Co. Cork in Southern Munster, and Killyleagh Castle in Co. Down in the south - east of the Ulster Province was also rebuilt.

   Maria Edgeworth who was born in 1767 AD died this year, who had been the author of the first Irish novel, "Castle Rack Rent," that had been published in 1800 AD describing the "irresponsibility" of the Landed Gentry in Ireland.

   A Canal was built to create work during the continuing "Great Famine" between Loch Corrib in Co. Galway and Loch Mask at Cong, the isthmus in Co. Mayo in the mid - west of the Connacht Province, which was connected by an underground river, but the water simply disappeared into the porous limestone. 

    314,000 tons of Cereals were once again "exported" this year from out of Ireland to Britain.

   In the later part of the 1850's "emigration" from Ireland became a "torrent of landless labourers" and farm "servants."

   4 acres were now needed "per cow," just to survive.

   1850 AD - 1860's. During this period 25% of the population of Co. Cork in Southern Munster alone, would "emigrate," which this time involved more "women" then men, as all of the Irish families who were remaining continued to suffer from the ongoing "rural crisis."

     In the 21st Century AD, Tony Blair, the British Labour Prime Minister, would comment on "The Great Famine." "That "one million people" should have "died," in what was then the part of the "richest, most powerful nation in the World," is something that still causes pain, as we reflect on it today. Those who governed in London at that time "failed" their people, by standing by, while a crop failure turned into a "massive human tragedy." We must "not forget" such a dreadful event. It is right that we should pay tribute to the ways in which the Irish people have triumphed in the face of this catastrophe."  

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