Editing Great Famine (Ireland) (section)

==Charity==
{{See also|Souperism}}

[[File:Irish potato famine Bridget O'Donnel.jpg|thumb|left|upright|An 1849 depiction of Bridget O'Donnell and her two children during the famine]]
Total charitable donations for famine relief might have been about £1.5 million of which £856,500 came from outside Ireland. Donations within Ireland are harder to trace; £380,000 of donations were officially registered but once some allowance is made for less formal donations the Irish total probably exceeds that of Britain (£525,000). People of Irish descent also contributed to funds raised outside of Ireland and those donations would be included in the region where the donation was made. English Protestants donated more to Irish famine relief than any other source outside of Ireland.<ref name="Accounting" />{{Rp|224–227}}
{| class="wikitable" style="float:right"
|+ Donations by region excluding Ireland<ref name="Accounting">{{cite book |year=2020 |title=Humanitarinism In The Modern World |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=978-1108655903}}</ref>{{rp|pages=226}}
|-
! Region !! Contribution
|-
||Britain 
| style="text-align:right;|£525,000 
|-
||US
| style="text-align:right;|£170,000 
|-
||Indian Ocean 
| style="text-align:right;|£50,000 
|-
||France 
| style="text-align:right;|£26,000 
|-
||Canada 
| style="text-align:right;|£22,000 
|-
||West Indies 
| style="text-align:right;|£17,000 
|-
||Italy 
| style="text-align:right;|£13,000 
|-
||Australia 
| style="text-align:right;|£9,000 
|-
||The Netherlands, Belgium and Denmark 
| style="text-align:right;|£5,000 
|-
||Germany and Switzerland 
| style="text-align:right;|£4,500
|-
||South Africa 
| style="text-align:right;|£4,000
|-
||Latin America 
| style="text-align:right;|£3,500
|-
||Russia 
| style="text-align:right;|£2,500
|-
||The Ottoman Empire 
| style="text-align:right;|£2,000
|-
||Other British Dependencies 
| style="text-align:right;|£2,000
|-
||Spain and Portugal 
| style="text-align:right;|£1,000
|-
||Total
| style="text-align:right;|£856,500
|}

Large sums of money were donated by charities; the first foreign campaign in December 1845 included the Boston Repeal Association and the Catholic Church.<ref>{{cite book|title=Massachusetts Help to Ireland during the Great Famine|year=1967|publisher=Captain Robert Bennet Forbes House|location=Milton|last1=Forbes|last2=Lee|first1=H. A. Crosby|first2=Henry}}</ref> [[Kolkata|Calcutta]] is credited with making the first larger donations in 1846, summing up to around £14,000.{{efn|{{Inflation|UK|14000|1846|fmt=eq|cursign=£|r=-3}}}} The money raised included contributions by Irish soldiers serving there and Irish people employed by the [[British East India Company|East India Company]].{{sfn|Woodham-Smith|1991|p=156}} Russian Tsar [[Alexander II of Russia|Alexander II]] sent funds and [[Queen Victoria]] donated £2,000.{{efn|{{Inflation|UK|2000|1846|fmt=eq|cursign=£|r=0}}}} According to legend,<ref>{{cite news |last=Akay |first=Latifa |title=Ottoman aid to the Irish to hit the big screen |url=http://www.todayszaman.com/newsDetail_getNewsById.action?newsId=269871 |work=[[Zaman (newspaper)|Zaman]] |date=29 January 2012 |quote=Legend has it ... |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131017094035/http://www.todayszaman.com/newsDetail_getNewsById.action?newsId=269871 |archive-date=17 October 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Kinealy |first=Christine |year=1997 |contribution=Potatoes, providence and philanthropy |editor-last=O'Sullivan |editor-first=Patrick |title=The Meaning of the Famine |location=London |publisher=[[Leicester University Press]] |isbn=0-7185-1426-2|page=151|quote=According to a popular tradition, which dates back to 1853...}}</ref>{{sfn|Ó Gráda|1999|pp=[https://archive.org/details/black47beyondgre00ogra/page/197 197–198]|ps=: "...populist myths..."}} Sultan [[Abdülmecid I]] of the [[Ottoman Empire]] originally offered to send £10,000{{efn|{{Inflation|UK|10000|1847|fmt=eq|cursign=£|r=0}}}} but was asked either by [[Turkey–United Kingdom relations|British diplomats]] or his own ministers to reduce it to £1,000{{efn|{{Inflation|UK|1000|1847|fmt=eq|cursign=£|r=0}}}} to avoid donating more than the Queen.<ref name=Christine>{{cite book |last1=Kinealy |first1=Christine |author-link=Christine Kinealy |title=Charity and the Great Hunger in Ireland: The Kindness of Strangers |date=2013 |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |location=London |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GnksAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA115 |pages=115,118 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200512035214/https://books.google.com/books?id=GnksAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA115 |archive-date=12 May 2020 |isbn=978-1-4411-1758-8}}</ref> U.S. President [[James K. Polk]] donated $50{{efn|{{Inflation|US|50|1847|fmt=eq|cursign=$|r=0}}}} and in 1847 Congressman [[Abraham Lincoln]] donated $10,<ref>{{cite web |last1=Brosnan |first1=Sean |title=Abraham Lincoln donated to Ireland during the Great Famine |url=http://www.irishcentral.com/roots/irish-historian-finds-evidence-that-abraham-lincoln-donated-to-ireland-during-the-great-famine-171588231-237530701.html |website=IrishCentral |access-date=3 October 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241003191826/https://www.irishcentral.com/roots/history/abraham-lincoln-ireland-great-famine |archive-date=3 October 2024 |language=en |date=12 February 2021 |orig-date=9 December 2014}}</ref>{{efn|{{Inflation|US|10|1847|fmt=eq|cursign=$|r=0}}}} or £5.<ref name=Kinealy2014>{{cite journal |last1=Kinealy |first1=Christine |title=The British Relief Association and the Great Famine in Ireland |journal=French Journal of British Studies (Revue française de civilisation britannique) |date=1 September 2014 |volume=19 |issue=2 |doi=10.4000/rfcb.230 |url=https://journals.openedition.org/rfcb/230 |access-date=3 October 2024 |at=para. 27 |issn=2429-4373|doi-access=free }}</ref>{{efn|{{Inflation|UK|5|1847|fmt=eq|cursign=£|r=0}}}}

International fundraising activities received donations from locations as diverse as Venezuela, Australia, South Africa, Mexico, Russia and Italy.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Kinealy |first1=Christine |title=Irish Famine sparked international fundraising |url=https://www.irishcentral.com/roots/irish-famine-sparked-international-fundraising-237694651 |access-date=14 December 2019 |agency=Irish Central |date=10 May 2010 |archive-date=23 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191223103546/https://www.irishcentral.com/roots/irish-famine-sparked-international-fundraising-237694651 |url-status=live}}</ref> In New Brunswick, which was at the time a British colony, the House of Assembly voted to donate 1,500 to the British Relief Association.<ref name=Kinealy2014 /><ref>{{cite web |title=An Act to appropriate a part of the Public Revenue for the services therein mentioned |url=https://bnald.lib.unb.ca/sites/default/files/NB.1847.ch_.49.pdf |website=British North American Legislative Database, 1758-1867 |publisher=[[University of New Brunswick]] |access-date=3 October 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241003204446/https://bnald.lib.unb.ca/sites/default/files/NB.1847.ch_.49.pdf |archive-date=3 October 2024 |format=.pdf |date=14 April 1847 |url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Pope Pius IX]] also made a personal contribution of 1,000 [[Italian scudo|Scudi]] (approximately £213) for famine relief in Ireland and authorized collections in Rome. Most significantly, on 25 March 1847, Pius IX issued the encyclical [[Praedecessores nostros]], which called the whole Catholic world to contribute moneywise and spiritually to Irish relief. Major figures behind international Catholic fundraising for Ireland were the rector of the Pontifical Irish College, [[Paul Cullen (cardinal)|Paul Cullen]], and the President of the [[Society of Saint Vincent de Paul]], Jules Gossin.{{sfn|Götz|Brewis|Werther|2020|pages=82–87}}

In addition to the religious, non-religious organisations came to the assistance of famine victims. The [[British Relief Association]] was the largest of these groups. Founded on 1 January 1847 by [[Lionel de Rothschild]], [[Abel Smith (1788–1859)|Abel Smith]], and other prominent bankers and aristocrats, the Association raised money throughout England, America, and Australia; their funding drive was benefited by a "Queen's Letter", a letter from Queen Victoria appealing for money to relieve the distress in Ireland.{{sfn|Kinealy|1994|p=161}} With this initial letter, the Association raised £171,533.{{efn|{{Inflation|UK|171533|1846|fmt=eq|cursign=£|r=-3}}}} A second, somewhat less successful "Queen's Letter" was issued in late 1847.{{sfn|Kinealy|1994|p=161}} In total, the Association raised approximately £390,000 for Irish relief.{{sfn|Woodham-Smith|1991|pp=169, 245}}{{efn|{{Inflation|UK|390000|1846|fmt=eq|cursign=£|r=-3}}}}

Private initiatives such as the Central Relief Committee of the [[Society of Friends]] (Quakers) attempted to fill the gap caused by the end of government relief, and eventually, the government reinstated the relief works, although bureaucracy slowed the release of food supplies.{{sfn|Ross|2002|p = }} Thousands of dollars were raised in the United States, including $170 ($5,218 in 2019 value<ref>[https://www.officialdata.org/us/inflation/1847?amount=170 170 in 1847 → $5,218.42 in 2019] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200605203633/https://www.officialdata.org/us/inflation/1847?amount=170 |date=5 June 2020 }}. Inflation Calculator. 3 March 2019.</ref>) collected from a group of Native American [[Choctaw]]s in 1847.{{sfn|Woodham-Smith|1991|p=242}} Judy Allen, editor of the [[Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma]]'s newspaper ''Biskinik'', wrote that "It had been just 16 years since the Choctaw people had experienced the [[Trail of Tears]], and they had faced starvation&nbsp;... It was an amazing gesture." To mark the 150th anniversary, eight Irish people retraced the Trail of Tears.{{sfn|Ward|2002}}

Contributions by the United States during the famine were highlighted by Senator [[Henry Clay]] who said; "No imagination can conceive—no tongue express—no brush paint—the horrors of the scenes which are daily exhibited in Ireland." He called upon Americans to remind them that the practice of charity was the greatest act of humanity they could do. In total, 118 vessels sailed from the US to Ireland with relief goods valued at $545,145.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Sarbaugh |first=Timothy J. |title='Charity Begins at Home': The United States Government & Irish Famine Relief 1845–1849 |journal=[[History Ireland]] |volume=4 |number=2 |date=1996 |pages=31–35 |jstor=27724343}}</ref>{{efn|{{Inflation|US|545145|1846|fmt=eq|r=-3}}}} Specific states which provided aid include South Carolina and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania was the second most important state for famine relief in the US and the second-largest shipping port for aid to Ireland. The state hosted the Philadelphia Irish Famine Relief Committee. Catholics, Methodists, Quakers, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Lutherans, Moravian and Jewish groups put aside their differences in the name of humanity to help the Irish.<ref>Strum, Harvey. "Pennsylvania and Irish Famine Relief, 1846–1847." Pennsylvania History: A Journal of Mid-Atlantic Studies, vol. 81, no. 3, 2014, pp. 277–299. {{JSTOR|10.5325/pennhistory.81.3.0277}}.</ref> South Carolina rallied around the efforts to help those experiencing the famine. They raised donations of money, food and clothing to help the victims of the famine—Irish immigrants made up 39% of the white population in the southern cities. Historian Harvey Strum claims that "The states ignored all their racial, religious, and political differences to support the cause for relief."<ref>{{cite journal |last=Strum |first=Harvey |title=South Carolina and Irish Famine Relief, 1846–47 |journal=The South Carolina Historical Magazine |volume=103 |number=2 |date=2002 |pages=130–152 |jstor=27570563}}</ref>