Edgeworthstown's poor during the Great Famine
A Sketch of Edgeworthstown's poor during the Great Famine. This was taken as they assembled for soup in February 1847.
Edgeworthstown's poor during the Great Famine
A Sketch of Edgeworthstown's poor during the Great Famine. This was taken as they assembled for soup in February 1847.
In 1845 Ireland's primary agricultural export was grain and as tillage farming is labour intensive, labour was in high demand at this time. Landless labourers were generally not paid in cash, but given a potato plot instead. Potatoes were popular with Ireland's poor as they yielded more per acre than other foods and were nutritious. This provided subsistence level food, just enough to feed their families. By 1845 the Irish population had reached approximately 8 million people. In September 1845, The potato blight struck in Wexford/Waterford. In 1846 the blight hit again and the disease spread. In addition, the winter of 1846 - 7 was one of the worst in living memory. Despite there being no blight in 1847, the number of people requiring aide rose until 1851. During this time over 1million people emigrated from Ireland and one million died.