THE IRISH FAMINE,

1846-1850

UK PERSPECTIVES

MTRA. CARMEN TATAY FERNÁNDEZ

LMI | 1216

FLL-UAQ

INTRODUCTION

• THE GREAT FAMINE, ALSO CALLED IRISH POTATO FAMINE, GREAT IRISH FAMINE,

OR FAMINE OF 1845–49, FAMINE THAT OCCURRED IN IRELAND IN 1845–49 WHEN THE

POTATO CROP FAILED IN SUCCESSIVE YEARS.

• THE IRISH FAMINE WAS THE WORST TO OCCUR IN EUROPE IN THE 19TH CENTURY.

• THE IRISH FAMINE WAS WITHOUT DOUBT THE WORST HUMANITARIAN CRISIS TO HIT THE

VICTORIAN WORLD.

• OVER A MILLION PEOPLE STARVED TO DEATH WHILST TWO MILLION MORE FLED THE IRISH

SHORES FOREVER CREATING THE BEGINNINGS OF THE HUGE IRISH DIASPORAS WHICH STILL

EXIST IN TODAY NORTH AMERICA, CANADA, AUSTRALIA AND ALSO, OF COURSE, LONDON.

AN GORTA MÓR OR

“THE GREAT HUNGER”

THIS SIGN, ALONG A

ROAD IN BELFAST

(NORTHERN

IRELAND), REMINDS

VIEWERS OF THE

IRISH POTATO

FAMINE, WHICH THE

IRISH PEOPLE REFER

TO AS AN GORTA

MÓR ("THE GREAT

HUNGER").

WHAT, IN THE NAME OF HEAVEN,

IS TO BECOME OF US? WHAT ARE

WE TO DO? THE COUNTRY IS GONE!

THE TIMES

MAY 23, 1849

A LAND OF POVERTY

• THE DIET OF THESE PEOPLE, WHO SPOKE GAELIC AND WORSHIPPED A CATHOLIC

GOD, CONSISTED ALMOST SOLELY OF POTATOES WITH A TINY BIT OF MILK, BUTTERMILK OR SOMETIMES FISH AS THEIR ONLY OTHER SOURCE OF

NOURISHMENT.

• IT WAS ESTIMATED THAT THE AVERAGE COTTIER OR LABOURER ATE AROUND

TWELVE TO FOURTEEN POUNDS OF POTATOES A DAY.

• THE DIET WAS BORING BUT IT WAS ALSO FILLING AND NUTRITIOUS, AND UNTIL

THE 1840S, RELIABLE BUT THEN BLIGHT ARRIVED ON IRISH SHORES HAVING

ALREADY SWEPT ACROSS EUROPE DEVASTATING POTATO CROPS IN ITS WAKE

THE BLIGHT

• HISTORIANS AREN’T CERTAIN WHERE THE BLIGHT THAT CAUSED THE IRISH FAMINE CAME FROM BUT IT’S

BELIEVED THIS NEW FUNGUS PROBABLY ARRIVED ON SHIPS FROM PERU OR EVEN NORTH AMERICA.

• THE CAUSATIVE AGENT OF LATE BLIGHT IS THE WATER MOLD – PHYTOPHTHORA INFESTANS – GREW ON

THE UNDER SURFACE OF THE POTATO LEAVES AND CONSISTED OF AN EXTREMELY FINE FILAMENT

ENDING IN THOUSANDS OF MINUTE SPORES.

• THE CROP FAILURES WERE CAUSED BY LATE BLIGHT, A DISEASE THAT DESTROYS BOTH THE LEAVES AND

THE EDIBLE ROOTS, OR TUBERS, OF THE POTATO PLANT.

• IRELAND’S CLIMATE OF ENDLESS RAINS AND STRONG WINDS, MEANT THE FUNGUS WAS ABLE TO SPREAD

EXTREMELY RAPIDLY DEVASTATING THE POTATO CROPS, SEASON AFTER SEASON, CAUSING A

HUMANITARIAN CATASTROPHE ON AN EPIC SCALE.

• BUT ITS EFFECTS WERE SEVERELY WORSENED BY THE ACTIONS (OR PERHAPS WE SHOULD SAY,

INACTIONS) OF THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT, HEADED BY LORD JOHN RUSSELL, IN THE CRUCIAL YEARS

FROM 1846 TO 1852.

A BLEAK WINTER

• THE WINTER OF 1846-47 BECAME THE WORST IN LIVING MEMORY.

• DURING THIS WINTER, HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF DESPERATE PEOPLE SOUGHT WORK ON PUBLIC

WORKS PROGRAMMES IN RETURN FOR SOME FORM OF SUSTENANCE.

• OLD MEN, WOMEN AND EVEN CHILDREN FOUND THEMSELVES BREAKING STONES BY HAND TO BUILD

ROADS GOING NOWHERE. THE PROGRAMMES THEMSELVES WERE COMPLETELY POINTLESS AND MANY

OF THE WORKERS WEAKENED BY FEVER FAINTED OR EVEN DROPPED DEAD ON THE SPOT.

• ONE QUAKER ENGLISHMAN OBSERVED THAT CHILDREN HAD BECOME “LIKE SKELETONS, THEIR

FEATURES SHARPENED WITH HUNGER AND THEIR LIMBS WASTED, SO THAT LITTLE WAS LEFT BUT BONES,

THEIR HANDS AND ARMS, IN PARTICULAR, BEING MUCH EMACIATED, AND THE HAPPY EXPRESSION OF

INFANCY GONE FROM THEIR FACES, LEAVING BEHIND THE ANXIOUS LOOK OF PREMATURE OLD AGE.”

LAISSEZ-FAIRE POLICY

• THIS WAS THE TIME OF LAISSEZ-FAIRE. AN IDEOLOGY HELD BY THE BRITISH ELITE

WHICH BELIEVED IN AS LITTLE GOVERNMENT INTERFERENCE IN ECONOMIC

MATTERS AS POSSIBLE, WHICH STRONGLY WORKED AGAINST THE IDEA OF OUTSIDE

HELP.

• IRELAND IN THE 1840S – UNDER THE CONTROL OF BRITISH LANDOWNERS –

PRODUCED GRAIN FOR EXPORT (IT WASN’T EATEN AS PART OF THE IRISH DIET AND

THERE WERE FEW MILL STONES IN IRELAND TO PRODUCE FLOUR) BUT THERE ARE

THERE ARE MANY HISTORIANS WHO ARGUE THAT IF BRITAIN HAD HALTED THE

EXPORT OF GRAIN FROM IRELAND AND FED ITS POPULATION INSTEAD, THE FAMINE

MIGHT HAVE BEEN AVOIDED.

• BUT THE IDEA OF STOPPING THE EXPORT OF IRISH GRAIN WAS AN UNACCEPTABLE

AND IT WAS THEREFORE FIRMLY REJECTED IN LONDON BY THE WHIG

GOVERNMENT.

WITNESS ACCOUNTS

• NICHOLAS CUMMINS, THE MAGISTRATE OF CORK, SAID OF A REMOTE PLACE IN SOUTH WEST IRELAND HE

VISITED:

“I ENTERED SOME OF THE HOVELS AND THE SCENES WHICH PRESENTED THEMSELVES WERE SUCH AS NO

TONGUE OR PEN CAN CONVEY THE SLIGHTEST IDEA OF. IN THE FIRST, SIX FAMISHED AND GHASTLY

SKELETONS, TO ALL APPEARANCES DEAD, WERE HUDDLED IN A CORNER ON SOME FILTHY STRAW, THEIR

SOLE COVERING WHAT SEEMED A RAGGED HORSECLOTH, THEIR WRETCHED LEGS HANGING ABOUT,

NAKED ABOVE THE KNEES. I APPROACHED WITH HORROR, AND FOUND BY A LOW MOANING THEY WERE

ALIVE — THEY WERE IN FEVER, FOUR CHILDREN, A WOMAN AND WHAT HAD ONCE BEEN A MAN. IT IS

IMPOSSIBLE TO GO THROUGH THE DETAIL. SUFFICE IT TO SAY, THAT IN A FEW MINUTES I WAS SURROUNDED

BY AT LEAST 200 SUCH PHANTOMS, SUCH FRIGHTFUL SPECTRES AS NO WORDS CAN DESCRIBE…THEIR

DEMONIAC YELLS ARE STILL RINGING IN MY EARS, AND THEIR HORRIBLE IMAGES ARE FIXED UPON MY

BRAIN.”

DIVINE JUDGMENT

• BUT DESPITE ALL THIS HORROR AND APPALLING SUFFERING, THE IDEA OF LAISSEZ-

FAIR PREVAILED.

• THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT BELIEVED THAT THE IRISH WERE A FECKLESS PEOPLE

ANYWAY AND THAT THEY SHOULD BE FORCED INTO GREATER SELF-RELIANCE.

• INDEED, THERE WAS A VERY WIDESPREAD BELIEF THAT IN MANY WAYS THE FAMINE

WAS A DIVINE JUDGMENT AGAINST THE IRISH PEOPLE FOR THEIR SINS.

• SIR CHARLES TREVELYAN, THE BRITISH CIVIL SERVANT CHIEFLY RESPONSIBLE FOR

ADMINISTERING IRISH RELIEF POLICY, DESCRIBED THE FAMINE AS ‘A DIRECT STROKE OF

AN ALL-WISE AND ALL-MERCIFUL PROVIDENCE.’

DRUNK AND FECKLESS

• ENGLISH ATTITUDES TO THE IRISH DURING THE VICTORIAN PERIOD WERE DEEPLY BIGOTED. CARTOONS OF

THUGGISH LOOKING IRISH PEASANTS APPEARED REGULARLY IN THE TIMES AND PUNCH MAGAZINE AND THE

GENERAL VIEW WAS THAT THE IRISH WERE LAZY, FECKLESS AND DRUNK.

• HERE’S A NINETEENTH CENTURY DIARIST TALKING IN 1855 WHICH SUMS UP A WIDELY HELD ATTITUDE:

• TURN WHICHEVER WAY YOU WILL, THE SAME “WILD, MILESIAN FEATURES, LOOKING FALSE INGENUITY,

RESTLESSNESS, MISERY, AND MOCKERY, SALUTE YOU” ON EVERY SIDE. GLANCE DOWN THESE NARROW

COURTS AND FILTHY ALLEYS THAT OPEN UPON YOU AT EVERY STEP, AND AGAIN AND AGAIN YOU

RECOGNISE THE RACE; “THERE ABIDES HE IN HIS SQUALOR AND UNREASON, IN HIS FALSITY AND DRUNKEN

VIOLENCE, AS THE READY-MADE NUCLEUS OF DEGRADATION AND DISORDER.”

• OTHER VICTORIAN GENTLEMEN, INCLUDING ONE CHARLES KINGSLEY THOUGHT OF THE IRISH AS THE “MISSING

LINK” BETWEEN MAN AND APE:

• I AM HAUNTED BY THE HUMAN CHIMPANZEES I SAW [IN IRELAND] . . . I DON’T BELIEVE THEY ARE OUR

FAULT. . . . BUT TO SEE WHITE CHIMPANZEES IS DREADFUL; IF THEY WERE BLACK, ONE WOULD NOT FEEL IT

SO MUCH. . . .”

ONE MILLION DEAD,

ANOTHER TWO MILLION FLED

• THE IRISH FAMINE SAW A MILLION PEOPLE IN IRELAND DYING OF STARVATION OR RELATED DISEASES

LIKE THE “THE BLOODY FLUX” BETWEEN 1846 AND 1851, AND SOME TWO MILLION MORE IRISH

EMIGRATING, SOME BY THEIR OWN CHOICE BUT WITH MANY MORE FORCED OUT OF THEIR COTTAGES AND

OFF THE LAND ONTO THE NOTORIOUS “COFFIN SHIPS” BY THEIR BRITISH LANDOWNERS.

• SOME UNSCRUPULOUS LANDOWNERS SAW THE FAMINE AS AN OPPORTUNITY TO RID THEIR FARMS OF

TROUBLESOME IRISH AND THE “TUMBLING” AS IT WAS CALLED, WAS DONE BY ORGANISED GANGS WHO

OFTEN SET THE COTTAGES ALIGHT TO DRIVE THE DESPERATE PEOPLE AWAY.

• MANY IRISH IN THE COUNTRYSIDE BECAME SO HUNGRY THEY TRIED TO LIVE OFF WILD BLACKBERRIES,

NETTLES, SEAWEED, GRASS OR EVEN WEEDS. THE HOMELESS DUG DOWN INTO BOG HOLES

OR SCALPEENS FOR THEIR ONLY FORM OF SHELTER AND TO HIDE FROM THE DOGS AND GANGS.

STARVING IRISH PEOPLE RAIDING A

GOVERNMENT POTATO STORE;

WOOD ENGRAVING FROM

THE ILLUSTRATED LONDON NEWS,

JUNE 1842

VICTIMS OF THE IRISH POTATO FAMINE

ARRIVING IN LIVERPOOL, ENG.;

ILLUSTRATION IN THE ILLUSTRATED

LONDON NEWS,

JULY 6, 1850

POPULATION CHANGES IN IRELAND FROM 1841 TO 1851

AS A RESULT OF THE GREAT POTATO FAMINE

ANTI-IRISH PREJUDICES

• THESE DEEP-ROOTED ANTI-IRISH (AND ANTI-CATHOLIC) PREJUDICES

CONTRIBUTED TO RAPID CHARITY FATIGUE AND UNDERMINED ANY EFFORTS

OVER THE LONG TERM TO COMBAT THE IRISH FAMINE.

• THE RESULT OF THIS FAILURE TO HELP THE IRISH IN THEIR HOUR OF NEED WAS

TO SOW THE SEEDS OF HATRED IN IRISH HEARTS AGAINST THEIR ENEMIES –

“THE BLOODY BRITS” – FOR GENERATIONS TO COME.

• THE NINETEENTH CENTURY WAS ALSO THE PERIOD WHICH WITNESSED THE

BIRTH OF IRISH NATIONALISM, THE RISE OF THE FENIANS AND THE IRISH

NATIONAL BROTHERHOOD.

BRITISH ASSISTANCE

• ALTHOUGH THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT DID MAKE SOME ATTEMPT TO BRING FAMINE

RELIEF TO IRELAND, AND THERE WERE A NUMBER OF CHARITABLE VENTURES BY GROUPS

SUCH AS THE QUAKERS AND ENGLISH CATHOLICS TO BRING EMERGENCY FOOD INTO

THE COUNTRY, THE INFRASTRUCTURE IN NINETEENTH CENTURY IRELAND – SUCH AS

ROADS OR RAILWAYS LINES – WAS ALMOST NONE EXISTENT MAKING IT VERY DIFFICULT TO

REACH PEOPLE LIVING IN REMOTE AREAS AND IN THE END, IT WAS A CASE OF TOO LITTLE

TOO LATE.

• SOUP KITCHENS AND OTHER RELIEF PROGRAMMES WERE ALSO WOUND DOWN TOO

EARLY IN A FUTILE ATTEMPT BY THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT TO FORCE THE IRISH TO

“STAND ON THEIR OWN TWO FEET”.

ECONOMIC IMPACT

• IT BEGAN WITH A BLIGHT OF THE POTATO CROP THAT LEFT ACRE

UPON ACRE OF IRISH FARMLAND COVERED WITH BLACK ROT.

• AS HARVESTS ACROSS EUROPE FAILED, THE PRICE OF FOOD

SOARED.

• SUBSISTENCE-LEVEL IRISH FARMERS FOUND THEIR FOOD STORES

ROTTING IN THEIR CELLARS, THE CROPS THEY RELIED ON TO PAY

THE RENT TO THEIR BRITISH AND PROTESTANT LANDLORDS

DESTROYED.

POTATOES AS FOOD AND CASH

• TO IRISH POTATO-GROWING LAND RENTERS, THE POTATO WAS BOTH FOOD AND CASH.

• PART OF THE CROP WAS SOLD TO PAY THE RENT AND BUY WHAT FAMILIES NEEDED. THE REST OF

THE CROP FED THE FAMILY.

• TENANT FARMERS HAD LITTLE, IF ANY, CROP DIVERSITY.

• A PLANT DISEASE, CALLED “LATE POTATO BLIGHT,” RUINS POTATO CROPS EVERY YEAR AND

SEVERELY IMPACTED THE IRISH POTATO CROP IN 1845. ONLY POTATOES WERE ADVERSELY

AFFECTED, BUT FAMINE BECAME WIDESPREAD.

• NEWS OF THE CROP FAILURE WAS FIRST REPORTED ON SEPTEMBER 9, 1845. NO ONE COULD HAVE

PREDICTED THAT REPORT WAS JUST THE FIRST EPISODE IN A YEARS-LONG TALE OF NATIONAL

MISERY.

LAND OWNERSHIP

• IRELAND BY THE MIDDLE OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY WAS A LAND OF TENANT FARMERS,

AGRICULTURAL LABOURERS AND SMALL HOLDERS KNOWN AS COTTIERS.

• MANY COTTIERS WERE “BOUND” TENANT FARMERS, WHO IN RETURN FOR WORKING OTHER

FARMS, WOULD BE “PAID” BY BEING ALLOWED TO GROW POTATOES ON TINY STRIPS OF LAND

KNOWN AS CONACRES.• IN 1845, PEOPLE IN IRELAND NO LONGER OWNED MOST OF THEIR LAND.

• THE IRISH COUNTRYSIDE, WITH ITS GREEN PASTURES AND WONDERFUL FARMLAND, HAD BEEN

TURNED INTO ENGLISH PLANTATIONS.

• LAND-OWNING IRISHMEN, WHO WORKED FOR THEMSELVES, HAD BECOME ENGLISH TENANTS.

• “PENAL LAWS,” WHICH GOVERNED THE CONDUCT OF IRISH CATHOLICS, RESTRICTED A MAN’S

ABILITY TO MANAGE HIS FAMILY’S AFFAIRS.

DEPOPULATION

• THE IRISH FAMINE OF 1846-50 TOOK AS MANY AS ONE MILLION LIVES

FROM HUNGER AND DISEASE, AND CHANGED THE SOCIAL AND CULTURAL

STRUCTURE OF IRELAND IN PROFOUND WAYS.

• THE COMBINED FORCES OF FAMINE, DISEASE AND EMIGRATION

DEPOPULATED THE ISLAND; IRELAND'S POPULATION DROPPED FROM 8

MILLION BEFORE THE FAMINE TO 5 MILLION YEARS AFTER.

• THE FAMINE ALSO SPURRED NEW WAVES OF IMMIGRATION, THUS SHAPING

THE HISTORIES OF THE UNITED STATES AND BRITAIN AS WELL.

IRISH RURAL EXODUS

• UNABLE TO PAY RENT, THOUSANDS OF FAMILIES WERE

EVICTED FROM THEIR DWELLINGS.

• POOR HOUSES WERE FILLED BEYOND CAPACITY.

• MANSIONS OF THE WEALTHY WERE FLOODED WITH

NEEDY, STARVING, HOMELESS FAMILIES.

• SOME OF THE EVICTED, WITH NO PLACE TO GO AND

LITTLE TO EAT, TRIED TO SHELTER THEIR FAMILIES BY

LIVING IN HOLES DUG IN THE IRISH BOG.

• OTHERS CONSTRUCTED SCALPEEN INSIDE

ABANDONED, ROOFLESS HOUSES.

• MILLIONS OF PEOPLE DIED OR FLED THE COUNTRY.

IRISH EMIGRATION

• LANDLORDS EVICTED HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF PEASANTS, WHO THEN CROWDED

INTO DISEASE-INFESTED WORKHOUSES.

• OTHER LANDLORDS PAID FOR THEIR TENANTS TO EMIGRATE, SENDING HUNDREDS OF

THOUSANDS OF IRISH TO AMERICA AND OTHER ENGLISH-SPEAKING COUNTRIES.

• BUT EVEN EMIGRATION WAS NO PANACEA – SHIP OWNERS OFTEN CROWDED HUNDREDS

OF DESPERATE IRISH ONTO RICKETY VESSELS LABELED "COFFIN SHIPS."

• IN MANY CASES, THESE SHIPS REACHED PORT ONLY AFTER LOSING A THIRD OF THEIR

PASSENGERS TO DISEASE, HUNGER AND OTHER CAUSES.

• WHILE BRITAIN PROVIDED MUCH RELIEF FOR IRELAND'S STARVING POPULACE, MANY

IRISH CRITICIZED BRITAIN'S DELAYED RESPONSE -- AND FURTHER BLAMED CENTURIES OF

BRITISH POLITICAL OPPRESSION ON THE UNDERLYING CAUSES OF THE FAMINE.

VICTIMS OF IRELAND’S GREAT FAMINE (1845–1849)

IMMIGRATING TO NORTH AMERICA BY SHIP;

WOOD ENGRAVING C. 1890

ILLNESS AND DEATH

• PEASANTS WHO ATE THE ROTTEN PRODUCE

SICKENED AND ENTIRE VILLAGES WERE CONSUMED

WITH CHOLERA AND TYPHUS.

• PARISH PRIESTS DESPERATE TO PROVIDE FOR THEIR

CONGREGATIONS WERE FORCED TO FORSAKE

BUYING COFFINS IN ORDER TO FEED STARVING

FAMILIES, WITH THE DEAD GOING UNBURIED OR

BURIED ONLY IN THE CLOTHES THEY WORE WHEN

THEY DIED.

IRISH NATIONALISM

• IF IRISH NATIONALISM WAS DORMANT FOR THE FIRST HALF OF THE

NINETEENTH-CENTURY, THE FAMINE CONVINCED IRISH CITIZENS

AND IRISH-AMERICANS OF THE URGENT NEED FOR POLITICAL

CHANGE.

• THE FAMINE ALSO CHANGED CENTURIES-OLD AGRICULTURAL

PRACTICES, HASTENING THE END OF THE DIVISION OF FAMILY

ESTATES INTO TINY LOTS CAPABLE OF SUSTAINING LIFE ONLY WITH A

POTATO CROP.

IMAGES OF FAMINE

A POPULOUS IRISH VILLAGE,

GWEEDORE, COUNTY DONEGAL

A STARVING IRISH FAMILY FROM CARRAROE,

COUNTY GALWAY, DURING THE FAMINE.

SOURCE: NATIONAL LIBRARY OF IRELAND.

“THE DAY AFTER THE EJECTMENT.”

FROM THE ILLUSTRATED LONDON NEWS,

DECEMBER 16, 1848EVICTION SCENE FROM

THE ILLUSTRATED LONDON NEWS

OF DECEMBER 16, 1848• THE FAMINE-ERA SCENES ILLUSTRATES THE PLIGHT OF IRISH FAMILIES

MADE HOMELESS DURING THE FAMINE, DESCRIBED BY BISHOP

THOMAS NULTY OF COUNTY MEATH, WHO CALCUATED THAT CLOSE

TO 30,000 HOMES WERE LEVELED IN MEATH BETWEEN 1843-71.

• NULTY DESCRIBED EVICTIONS IN HIS WRITING. "THE SPEECHLESS

AGONY OF MEN, THE PITEOUS WAILINGS OF WOMEN, THE TERROR

AND CONSTERNATION OF CHILDREN, AS THEIR HOUSES ARE PULLED

DOWN, THEIR HOMES DEMOLISHED, AND THEMSELVES SET ADRIFT ON

THE WORLD -- ALL CONTRIBUTE TO MAKE UP A HORRIBLE SCENE

THAT . . . CAN NEVER BE FORGOTTEN THROUGHOUT THE LENGTH

AND BREADTH OF THE LOCALITY IN WHICH IT OCCURRED." (ALFRED

P. SMYTH, FAITH, FAMINE AND FATHERLAND IN THE IRISH

MIDLANDS: PERCEPTIONS OF A PRIEST AND HISTORIAN ANTHONY

COGAN, 1826-1872. DUBLIN: COLOUR BOOKS LTD., 1992.)

BOOKS ABOUT THE FAMINE

D.E. MEREDITH AUTHOR OF THE HATTON AND ROUMANDE MYSTERIES

• THE SECOND IN THE HATTON AND ROUMANDE SERIES TAKE US INTO THE HEART OF THE ROOKERIES IN

LONDON, TEN YEARS AFTER THE FAMINE, WHERE THOUSANDS OF IRISH PEOPLE, THE POOREST OF THE

POOR IN THE CITY, LIVED IN SQUALOR. FORENSIC SCIENTIST ADOLPHUS HATTON AND HIS TRUSTY

ASSISTANT ALBERT ROUMANDE ARE DEALING WITH A MORGUE FULL OF CHOLERA VICTIMS, AND A CITY

BUBBLING UNDER THE SUMMER HEAT AND RISING TENSION. WHEN A LEADING POLITICIAN OF THE IRISH

UNIONIST MOVEMENT IS MURDERED, HATTON AND ROUMANDE FIND THEMSELVES TRACKING A SERIES

OF MURDERS CONNECTED BY THE SAME MACABRE CALLING CARD – A GREEN RIBBON. AMIDST THE

GROWING UNREST, DOCKSIDE STRIKES, BOMB BLASTS AND VIOLENT RETRIBUTION, THEY TRY TO HUNT

DOWN THE KILLER AND AT THE SAME TIME STOP A BOMBING CAMPAIGN, FUELLED BY AN AGITATOR

PRIEST AND A GROUP OF WOULD-BE TERRORISTS

• www.demeredith.com https://twitter.com/DE_Meredith

OTHER TITTLES

• THE GREAT HUNGER – CECIL WOODHAM-SMITH

• THE GREAT IRISH POTATO FAMINE – CORMAC O’GRADA

• THE DEVIL’S RIBBON BY D. E. MEREDITH

REFERENCES

• See more at:

http://www.historyinanhour.com/2013/03/17/the-

irish-famine-summary/#sthash.8i9BZSZx.dpuf

• https://www.awesomestories.com/asset/view/Irish

-Potato-Famine-The-Great-Hunger

FAMINE (1997),

COMMEMORATING THE GREAT FAMINE,

SCULPTURE BY ROWAN GILLESPIE IN DUBLIN