1. Ireland in the 1840s

2. 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. 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

4. Protestant Ascendancy
Tenant Farmers
Labourers

5. 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

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

7. 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

8. 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’

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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