Editing John Russell, 1st Earl Russell (section)

===Ireland===
Russell's government led the calamitous response to the [[Great Famine (Ireland)|Irish Famine]]. During the course of the famine, an estimated one million people died from a combination of malnutrition, disease and starvation and well over one million more [[Irish diaspora|emigrated from Ireland]].{{sfn|Ross|2002|p=226}} After taking office in 1846, Russell's ministry introduced a programme of public works that by the end of that year employed some half-a-million but proved impossible to administer.{{sfn|Lyons|1973|pp=30–34}} In 1846 Russell reported that in one year more than 50,000 Irish families had been "turned out of their wretched dwellings without pity and without refuge...we have made it the most degraded and most miserable country in the world...all the world is crying shame upon us."<ref>{{cite book |last=Macardle |first=Dorothy |date=1965 |title=The Irish Republic |location=New York |publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux |page=45 }}</ref> In January 1847, the government abandoned this policy, 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}} In June 1847, the [[Irish Poor Law Extension Act|Poor Law Extension Act]] was passed, which embodied the principle, popular in Britain, that Irish property should support Irish poverty. Irish landlords were believed in Britain to have created the conditions that led to the famine, a view which Russell shared.{{sfn|Taylor|1976|pp=77-78}}