Ireland in the 1840s

Population pop of 7 million 70% were farmers remember, ireland was owned by britain No real industrialization in ireland Only factories were in Ulster

3 social classes Wealthy Landlords (The Protestant Ascendancy) They owned the land Tenant farmers They rented the land from the landlords Laborers Owned no land Worked for the farmer or landlord

Protestant Ascendancy Tenant Farmers Labourers

Protestant Ascendancy Owned all the land Descended from planters Lived in great luxury Huge mansions Rented land to tenant farmers Rent was managed for them by an agent - middlemen Some landlords were absentee landlords They spent most their time in England

Tenant farmers Some tenant farmers were wealthy... ...but most were poor Lived on small farms 2-room cottage Leaky thatched roof, little furniture

Food ate mainly potatoes, milk and porridge no meat kept some chickens or pigs Pastimes music and stories people gathered in houses and stay up all night weddings and wakes hurling v popular - but no rules

Laborers even worse off than poor farmers laborers had no land worked odd jobs for farmer got tiny amount of pay or... ...some got a loan of land to grow crops ate nothing but potatoes some lived in tiny cottages this is why they were also called ‘cottiers’

Subdivision Farmers divided their farms among their children This was called subdivision Also called gavelling The amount of land the next generation got... ...was smaller every time

How Subdivision works Farmer owns 28 acres... ...has 4 kids...- get 7 acres each ...one of those kids has 7 children ...when he dies they get one acre each... One of those kids has 5 children now there is only one acre to be divided between 5! Not enough land to live on

Tenant farmer’s rent paid rent to landlord twice a yr these two days were called ‘gale’ days family evicted if he couldn’t pay a crowbar brigade arrived at his door, with police house burned down family were then destitute would have to go to the workhouse

Workhouses came from Br gov landlords and farmers had to pay… …a tax - the poor rate money used to build workhouses huge horrible buildings poor people who had nothing could go there families separated - everyone had to work 2 meals a day - porridge and potatoes eaten in silence treated like animals people only went there if they were desperate

Potatoes were the stable diet (main food) of poor irish why? - because if you owned a small bit of land... ...you could still plant loads of potatoes on it didn’t need a lot of space cheap and v nutritious to eat but if you rely on one crop and have nothing else... ...and that crop disappears ...there will be famine