School: Balrath (1) (roll number 9770)
- Location:
- Balrath, Co. Westmeath
- Teacher: C. Ní Pharthaláin
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0719, Page 264
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- XML “The Famine”
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- The Famine was in the year 1847. In 1846 the potatoes were very plentyful and the people could not get place for them because they had so much. Then the next year they completely failed. Potatoes were the principal food of the Irish that time and they starved for the want of them. The only food they had to draw back on was Indian meal. Plenty of people died with hunger. The population of Ireland at that time was 8,000,000 and when it was over there was only between three and four million and there never was that many in it since. The Famine was called the "Great Clearance". The people who survived were sent away to America in ships called "Coffin ships" but they never reached the shore. It is recorded that the late "Queen Victoria" got ship loads of provisions that were coming into Ireland sunk because she wanted the Irish to die for she was against them.Annie SmythThis was told to me by:-
Thomas Fagan
- Collector
- Annie Smyth
- Gender
- Female
- Address
- Carlanstown, Co. Westmeath
- Informant
- Thomas Fagan
- Gender
- Male
