Editing Great Famine (Ireland) (section)

==Government response==

===Government responses to previous food shortages===

When Ireland experienced food shortages in 1782–1783, ports were closed to exporting food, with the intention of keeping locally grown food in Ireland to feed the hungry. Irish [[food prices]] promptly dropped. Some merchants lobbied against the export ban, but the government in the 1780s overrode their protests.{{sfn|Irish Famine Curriculum Committee|1998|p=11}}{{sfn|Kinealy|1994|p=354}}

===Tory government===

Historian [[F. S. L. Lyons]] characterised the initial response of the British government to the early, less severe phase of the famine as "prompt and relatively successful".{{sfn|Lyons|1973|p=30}} Confronted by widespread crop failure in November 1845, the Prime Minister, Sir Robert Peel, purchased £100,000 worth of maize and [[cornmeal]] secretly from America{{sfn|Woodham-Smith|1991|pp=54–56}} with [[Barings Bank|Baring Brothers]] initially acting as his agents. The government hoped that they would not "stifle private enterprise" and that their actions would not act as a disincentive to local relief efforts. Due to poor weather conditions, the first shipment did not arrive in Ireland until the beginning of February 1846.{{sfn|Kinealy|1994|p=47}} The initial shipments were of unground dried kernels, but the few Irish mills in operation were not equipped for milling maize and a long and complicated milling process had to be adopted before the meal could be distributed.{{sfn|Woodham-Smith|1991|pp=64–65}} In addition, before the cornmeal could be consumed, it had to be "very much" cooked again, or eating it could result in severe bowel complaints.{{sfn|Kinealy|1994|p=47}} Due to its yellow colour, and initial unpopularity, it became known as "Peel's brimstone".{{sfn|Woodham-Smith|1991|p=73}}

In October 1845, Peel moved to repeal the [[Corn Laws]]—[[tariff]]s on grain which kept the price of bread high—but the issue split his party and he had insufficient support from his own colleagues to push the measure through. He resigned the premiership in December, but the opposition was unable to form a government and he was re-appointed.{{sfn|Woodham-Smith|1991|pp=51–52}} In March, Peel set up a programme of public works in Ireland, to include [[R574 road (Ireland)#Famine roads|road improvement]] and the building of piers and fishing harbours,{{sfn|Woodham-Smith|1991|p=78}} but the famine situation worsened during 1846, and the repeal of the Corn Laws in that year did little to help the starving Irish; the measure split the Conservative Party, leading to the fall of Peel's ministry.{{sfn|Blake|1967|pp=221–241}} On 25 June, the [[second reading]] of the government's [[Coercion Act#Ireland|Irish Coercion Bill]] was defeated by 73 votes in the House of Commons by a combination of [[Whigs (British political party)|Whigs]], [[Radicals (UK)|Radicals]], Irish Repealers, and [[Protectionism|protectionist]] Conservatives. Peel was forced to resign as prime minister on 29 June, and the Whig leader, [[John Russell, 1st Earl Russell|Lord John Russell]], became prime minister.{{sfn|Doheny|1951|p=98}}

===Whig government===
[[File:Ridpath's history of the world - being an account of the principal events in the career of the human race from the beginnings of civilization to the present time, comprising the development of social (14749361956).jpg|thumb|upright=1.25|Scene at the gate of the [[Irish Poor Laws|workhouse]], {{circa|1846}}]]
The measures undertaken by Peel's successor, Russell, proved inadequate as the crisis deepened. The new Whig administration, influenced by the doctrine of [[laissez-faire]],{{sfn|Woodham-Smith|1991|pp=410–411}} believed that the market would provide the food needed. They refused to interfere with the movement of food to England, and then halted the previous government's food and relief works, leaving many hundreds of thousands of people without access to work, money, or food.{{sfn|Ross|2002|pp=224, 311}} Russell's ministry introduced a new programme of public works that by December 1846 employed a third{{sfn|Ross|2002|p=311}} or half{{sfn|Lyons|1973|pp=30–34}} a million people but proved impossible to administer effectively.{{sfn|Lyons|1973|pp=30–34}}{{sfn|Woodham-Smith|1991|p=78}}

[[File:Doolough.jpg|thumb|left|A memorial to the victims of the [[Doolough Tragedy]] (30 March 1849). To continue receiving relief, hundreds were instructed to travel many miles in bad weather. A large number died on the journey.]]

[[Sir Charles Trevelyan, 1st Baronet|Charles Trevelyan]], who was in charge of the administration of government relief, limited the Government's food aid programme, claiming that food would be readily imported into Ireland once people had more money to spend after wages were being paid on new public-works projects.{{sfn|Woodham-Smith|1991|pp=87, 106–108}}

In a private correspondence, Trevelyan explained how the famine could bring benefit to the English; As he wrote to [[Edward Twisleton]]:<blockquote>"We must not complain of what we really want to obtain. If small farmers go, and their landlords are reduced to sell portions of their estates to persons who will invest capital we shall at last arrive at something like a satisfactory settlement of the country".<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |date=1998-12-03 |title=Historical Notes: God and England made the Irish famine |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/historical-notes-god-and-england-made-the-irish-famine-1188828.html |access-date=2023-07-07 |website=The Independent |language=en}}</ref></blockquote>In January 1847, the government abandoned its policy of noninterference, realising that it had failed, and turned to a mixture of "indoor" and "outdoor" direct relief; the former administered in [[workhouse]]s through the [[Irish Poor Laws]], the latter through [[soup kitchen]]s. The costs of the Poor Law fell primarily on the local landlords, some of whom in turn attempted to reduce their liability by evicting their tenants{{sfn|Lyons|1973|pp=30–34}} or providing some relief through the [[Religious conversion|conversionist]] practice of [[Souperism]].

On 1 March 1847, the Bank of England announced plans to raise a loan of £14 million to relieve the Irish crisis, and also for unfunded tax cuts. This led to the [[Panic of 1847]], in which gold was withdrawn from circulation, so reducing the amount of bank notes that the Bank could legally circulate.<ref>C. Read., ''Calming the Storms'' (Palgrave Macmillan, 2023) pp. 145-146</ref> By 17 April 1847 the bullion reserve of the Bank of England had diminished from £15 million in January to some £9 million, and it was announced that the cost of famine relief would be transferred to local taxes in Ireland. The financial crisis temporarily improved, but the intended relief for Ireland did not materialise.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Read |first=C. |title=The Great Famine in Ireland and Britain's Financial Crisis |publisher=The Boydell Press |year=2022 |isbn=9781783277278 |location=London |pages=148–149 |language=en}}</ref>

In June 1847, the [[Poor Relief (Ireland) Act 1847]] ([[10 & 11 Vict.]] c. 31) was passed which embodied the principle, popular in Britain, that Irish property must support Irish poverty. The landed proprietors in Ireland were held in Britain to have created the conditions that led to the famine.{{sfn|Ranelagh|2000|p=60}}{{sfn|Woodham-Smith|1991|pp=296–297}} However, it was asserted that,  since the [[Acts of Union 1800]], the British Parliament was partly to blame.{{sfn|Ranelagh|2000|p=60}} This point was raised in ''[[The Illustrated London News]]'' on 13 February 1847: "There was no law it would not pass at their request, and no abuse it would not defend for them." On 24 March, ''[[The Times]]'' reported that Britain had permitted in Ireland "a mass of poverty, disaffection, and degradation without a parallel in the world. It allowed proprietors to suck the very life-blood of that wretched race".{{sfn|Ranelagh|2000|p=60}}

The "Gregory clause" of the Poor Law, named after [[William Henry Gregory|William H. Gregory]], MP,{{refn|William H. Gregory became the husband of [[Augusta, Lady Gregory|Lady Gregory]]. He was heir to a substantial Galway estate in 1847, which he dissipated by gambling debts on the turf in the late 1840s and early 1850s.{{sfn|Póirtéir|1995|p=159}}|group=fn}} prohibited anyone who held at least {{convert|1/4|acre|ha|1}} from receiving relief.{{sfn|Lyons|1973|pp=30–34}} In practice, this meant that the many farmers who had to sell all their produce to pay rent and taxes, would have to deliver up all their land to the landlord to qualify for public outdoor relief. These factors combined to drive thousands of people off the land: 90,000 in 1849, and 104,000 in 1850.{{sfn|Lyons|1973|pp=30–34}}

The [[Incumbered Estates (Ireland) Act 1849]] ([[12 & 13 Vict.]] c. 77) allowed landlord estates to be auctioned off upon the petition of creditors. Estates with debts were then auctioned off at low prices. Wealthy British speculators purchased the lands and "took a harsh view" of the tenant farmers who continued renting. The rents were raised, and tenants evicted to create large cattle grazing pastures. Between 1849 and 1854, some 50,000 families were evicted.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.historicalballinrobe.com/page_id__166.aspx |title=A valuable resource for family research &#124; Ballinrobe Local History: The Encumbered Estates Acts, 1848 and 1849 &#124; Topics &#124; Historical Ballinrobe |date=7 January 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170107041845/http://www.historicalballinrobe.com/page_id__166.aspx |archive-date=7 January 2017}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/240915|title=Ireland's Great Famine: Interdisciplinary Perspectives (review) |first=David W. |last=Miller |date=11 June 2008 |journal=[[Journal of Interdisciplinary History]] |volume=39 |issue=1 |pages=114–115 |doi=10.1162/jinh.2008.39.1.114 |s2cid=195826785 |via=[[Project MUSE]] |access-date=23 September 2018 |archive-date=30 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190330151432/https://muse.jhu.edu/article/240915 |url-status=live}}</ref>

===Military response===
The Royal Navy squadron stationed in Cork under the command of Rear-Admiral [[Hugh Pigot (Royal Navy officer, born 1775)|Hugh Pigot]] undertook significant relief operations from 1846 to 1847, transporting government relief into the port of Cork and other ports along the Irish coast, being ordered on 2 January 1846 to assist distressed regions. On 27 December 1846, Trevelyan ordered every available [[steamship]] to Ireland to assist in relief, and on 14 January 1847, Pigot received orders to also distribute supplies from the [[British Relief Association]] and treat them identically to government aid. In addition, some naval officers under Pigot oversaw the logistics of relief operations further inland from Cork. In February 1847, Trevelyan ordered Royal Navy surgeons dispatched to provide medical care for those suffering from illnesses that accompanied starvation, distribute medicines that were in short supply, and assist in proper, sanitary burials for the deceased. These efforts, although significant, were insufficient at preventing mass mortality from famine and disease.<ref name="RoyalNavy">{{cite journal |last1=McLean |first1=David |date=23 February 2019 |title=Famine on the Coast: The Royal Navy and the Relief of Ireland, 1846–1847 |url=https://academic.oup.com/ehr/article-abstract/134/566/92/5363998?redirectedFrom=fulltext&login=false |journal=[[The English Historical Review]] |volume=134 |issue=566 |pages=92–120 |doi=10.1093/ehr/cez004 |access-date=22 October 2022}}</ref>