Great Irish Famine (1740-1741)

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The Irish Famine of 1740-41 was perhaps of similar magnitude to the better-known Great Famine of 1847-49. The eighteenth-century famine was also contemporarily referred to as the 'Great Famine'. Unlike the famine of the 1840s, which was caused by a fungal infection in the potato crop, that of 1740-41 was due to extremely cold and then rainy weather in successive years, resulting in a series of poor harvests. Hunger compounded a range of fatal diseases. The cold and its effects extended across Europe, and it is now seen to be the last serious cold period at the end of the 'mini Ice Age' of 1400-1800.

There is no information available for the number of deaths caused by the famine; demographic information for the period is lacking, given the infrequent census taking of the 18th century, but in Kerry some 15,000 'hearths' (households) were reduced to 11,000 by 1742.

Calculating the death rate for the famine of 1847-1849 has also proved difficult, notwithstanding the existence of census returns for 1841 and 1851. However, Irish historian Joe Lee has speculated from contemporary accounts, and information on other famines internationally of the period, that the death rate in 1740-41 was similar to that of the famine a century later, namely that ten per cent of the population died. As no overseas emigration occurred in 1740-41, it has largely been overlooked.

The year 1741, during which the famine was at its worst and mortality was greatest, was known in folk memory as the 'year of the slaughter' (or 'bliain an áir' in Irish).

[edit] References

David Dickson, Arctic Ireland (White Row Press, Dublin 1997).
Joe Lee, The Modernisation of Irish Society (ISBN 0-7171-0567-9)
Michael Drake, The Irish Demographic Crisis of 1740-41, Historical Studies VI, T.W. Moody (ed.), Routledge & Kegan Paul, London 1968.

Modern Irish famines
First Great Irish Famine (An Gorta Mór), 1740-1741 \| Second Great Irish Famine (An Gorta Mór), 1845-1849 \| Second Great Famine legacy \| Irish Famine (An Gorta Beag), 1879