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Scarcity and poor relief in eighteenth-century Ireland: the subsistence crisis of 1782–4

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2016

James Kelly
James Kelly*
Affiliation:
Department of History, St Patrick’s College, Drumcondra
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Extract

The population of Ireland in the eighteenth century experienced serious dearth on twelve occasions. Four of these crises resulted in famines and eight in subsistence crises. The four famines all took place in the first half of the century; the second half experienced only subsistence crises. Because of this, it is sometimes argued that the late eighteenth century enjoyed a ‘gap in famines’. The value of this concept has been questioned because it understates the persistence and impact of dearth at a regional level, but it is also vitiated by our lack of knowledge of the nature and impact of all twelve crises.

The main difference between a famine and a subsistence crisis centres on their contrasting demographic effects. Famines invariably produced substantial increases in mortality; the major famines of 1740–11 and 1845–9, for example, cost hundreds of thousands of lives, while smaller famines, such as those of 1727–9, 1800–01 and 1816–18, which were manifestly less costly in human terms, nevertheless resulted in thousands of deaths. Subsistence crises, on the other hand, caused comparatively little loss of life. We are not currently in a position to identify the precise demographic impact of individual episodes of harvest failure in the late eighteenth century, but based on current understanding it is believed that overall associated mortality levels were low. We can, however, enhance our understanding of dearth in this period by tracing the causes, course, impact and response to individual harvest crises. The purpose of this paper is to describe the crisis of 1782–4; it reveals that harvest failure during the so-called ‘gap in famines’ weighed heavily on both urban and rural populations, but that mortality was kept within acceptable bounds by the efficacy of the poor relief deployed to combat distress. Relief was at its most sophisticated and efficient in urban areas.

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Articles
Information
Irish Historical Studies , Volume 28 , Issue 109 , May 1992 , pp. 38 - 62
Copyright
Copyright © Irish Historical Studies Publications Ltd 1992

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17 H.J., 11 Mar., 31 July, 5, 19 Aug. 1782. By the terms of 22 Geo. III, c. 36, a duty of 16s. 11d. per quarter was imposed until the price of wheat reached 53s. 6d. a quarter English measure or 36s. a barrel.

18 H.J., 19, 21 June 1782; Wilde, William, ’Table of pestilences . . .‘ in The census of Ireland for the year 1851, pt 5: Tables of deaths, i Google Scholar, 150–51 [C. 2087–1], H.C. 1856, xxix, 414–15.

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20 The letters of Charles O’Conor of ‘Belanagare, ed. C.C., and Ward, R.E. (2 vols, Ann Arbor, 1981), no. 356 Google Scholar; H.J., 25 Sept., 9 Oct., 11 Nov. 1782; Hamilton to Abercorn, 7 Jan. 1783 (P.R.O.N.I., Abercorn papers, T2541/1A2/3/17).

21 H.J., 2, 6 Sept. 1782; Refaussé, ‘Economie crisis’, p. 145.

22 H.J., 16, 18 Oct., 8, 25 Nov. 1782; Francis Tuckey, The county and city of Cork remembrancer (Cork, 1837; repr., 1980), p. 185.

23 H.J., 25 Sept., 23, 28 Oct., 4 Nov. 1782.

24 Ibid., 25 Sept., 11, 15 Nov. 1782; Grenville to Hely-Hutchinson, 15 Nov. 1782 (B.L., Buckingham papers, Add. MS 40733, ff 26–7); Temple to Townshend, 15 Nov. 1782 (ibid., Add. MS 40177, ff 133–5); Lords’ jn. Ire., v, 396.

25 H.J., 2, 21 Oct., 18, 25 Nov., 2 Dec. 1782; Refaussé, ‘Economic crisis’, pp 31–2.

26 See, e.g., Hamilton to Abercorn, 19 Nov. 1782 (P.R.O.N.I., Abercorn papers, T2541/1A2/3/21); Crawford, W.H. (ed.), Letters from an Ulster land agent, 1774–85 (Belfast, 1976), p. 41 Google Scholar.

27 H.J., 25, 27 Nov., 2 Dec. 1782.

28 Minutes of the House of Industry, 1779–83, ff 238, 259 (Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland).

29 Ibid., ff 161–90, 204; ibid., 1783–7, ff 3, 11 (total donations in 1782–3 amounted to £1,591 11s.; the figure for 1780–81 was £213 18s.); Temple to Lords of the Treasury, 2 Apr. 1783 (B.L., Buckingham papers, Add. MS 40177, ff 62–3); Commons’ jn. Ire. (19 vols, Dublin, 1796–1800), xi, appx, p. ccxxix.

30 H.J., 2, 20 Dec. 1782; D.E.P., 16 Jan., 8, 11 Feb. 1783.

31 H.J., 5 June, 16, 18 Oct., 4, 29 Nov., 2 Dec. 1782; D.E.P., 9, 25 Jan., 3, 24, 28 Apr., 1 May 1783; Gilbert, Lady (ed.), Calendar of ancient records of Dublin, xiii (Dublin, 1907), pp 306-7Google Scholar, 315–17, 326. On coal combination generally see Cullen, L.M., Anglo-Irish trade, 1660–1800 (Manchester, 1968), pp 122–7 Google Scholar.

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33 Kelly, James, ‘The resumption of emigration after the American War of Independence, 1783–87’, Studia Hib., xxiv (1984-8), pp 73–4 Google Scholar.

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35 D.E.P., 2, 30 Jan., 13 Feb., 6, 20 Mar. 3 Apr. 1783; Refaussé, ‘Economic crisis’, pp 37–41.

36 D.E.P., 12 Apr., 3 May 1783; Dickson, David, ‘The place of Dublin in the eighteenth-century Irish economy’ in Devine, T.M. and Dickson, David (eds), Ireland and Scotland: parallels and contrasts in economic and social development (Edinburgh, 1983), pp 178–9 Google Scholar.

37 D.E.P., 3, 10, 17 May 1783; Commons’ jn. Ire., xi, 107, 127–8, 134; Petition of silk manufacturers, [1783] (P.R.O.N.I., Foster papers, D562/8712F); Refaussé, ‘Economic crisis’, p. 42.

38 D.E.P., 10, 17, 29, 31 May, 7 June 1783; Temple to North, 19 May 1783, enclosing weavers’ petition (P.R.O., H.O. 100/9, ff 58–61).

39 Temple to North, 23, 30 May 1783 (B.L., Buckingham papers, Add. MS 40177, f. 119); Temple to Northington, 23 May 1783 (P.R.O., H.O. 100/9, ff 145–9); Temple to North, 30 May 1783 (ibid., ff 155–6); D.E.P., 3, 7 June 1783.

40 Northington to Lords of Treasury, 10 June 1783 (Yale University, Beinecke Library, Osborn collection, Northington letter-book, ff 1–3); Northington to North, 10 June 1783 (P.R.O., H.O. 100/9, f. 173); Commons’ jn. Ire., xi, appx, p. xlviii.

41 D.E.P., 17 June, 23 Sept. 1783.

42 Ibid., 14, 19, 21 June 1783; Hamilton to Abercorn, 13 Apr. 1783 (P.R.O.N.I., Abercorn papers, T2541/1A2/3/28).

43 D.E.P., 14, 19 June, 3 July 1783.

44 lbid., 17 June, 1, 12 July 1783; Refaussé, ‘Economic crisis’, pp 82–3.

45 Tuckey, Cork remembrancer, p. 186; Northington to North, 26 June 1783 (P.R.O., H.O. 100/9, ff 181–4).

46 Hamilton to Abercorn, 18 Apr., 29 June 1783 (P.R.O.N.I., Abercorn papers, T2541/1A2/3/3, 37); Refaussé, ‘Economic crisis’, p. 82.

47 Trevelyan, C.E., The Irish crisis (Dublin, 1848), p. 8 Google Scholar; Cullen, L.M., ‘Population growth and diet, 1650–1800’ in Goldstrom, J.M. and Clarkson, L.A. (eds), Irish population, economy and society (Oxford, 1981), pp 107–8 Google Scholar.

48 Hamilton to Abercorn, 22 Apr., 11 July 1783 (P.R.O.N.I., Abercorn papers, T2541/1A2/3/30, 40); Crawford, W.H., ‘Landlord-tenant relations in Ulster, 1609–1820’ in Ir. Econ. & Soc. Hist., ii (1975), p. 16 Google Scholar.

49 Hamilton to Abercorn, 22 June, 11, 27 July 1783 (P.R.O.N.I., Abercorn papers, T2541/1A2/3/36, 40, 43); Londonderry Journal, 1 July 1783. Oatmeal peaked in Belfast at £1 11s. a cwt (Notes towards a history of Belfast (Linen Hall Library, Joy papers, MS 12, f. 22)).

50 Abercorn to Hamilton, 3 May 1783 (P.R.O.N.I., Abercorn papers, T2541/1K9/6/89); Hamilton to Abercorn, 18, 25 May, 22 June, 4 Aug. 1783 (ibid., T2541/1A2/3/32, 33, 36, 46); Londonderry Journal, 1 July 1783.

51 Notes towards a history of Belfast (Linen Hall Library, Joy papers, MS 12, f. 22); D.E.P., 7, 21 July 1783.

52 Pomeroy to Abercorn, 22 July 1783 (P.R.O.N.I., Abercorn papers, T2541/1 Al/13/228); D.E.P., 3, 17, 21, 24 June, 1, 5, 10, 12, 17 July 1783; Refaussé, ‘Economic crisis’, p. 45.

53 Cullen, L.M., The emergence of modern Ireland (London, 1981), p. 149 Google Scholar; D.E.P., 10 July 1783.

54 For rents see Abercorn to Hamilton, 14 Sept. 1783 (P.R.O.N.I., Abercorn papers, T2541/1K9/6/118); Hamilton to Abercorn, 5 Dec. 1783 (ibid., T2541/1A2/3/58); Montgomery to Lord _____, 25 July 1783 (N.L.I., Domvile papers, Reports on private collections, no. 494); Bellew to Bellew, [July 1783] (N.L.I., Bellew papers, Reports on private collections, no. 436); The correspondence of Emily, duchess of Leinster, ed. Fitzgerald, Brian (3 vols, Dublin, 1949-57), iii, 364Google Scholar; Crawford, (ed.), Letters from an Ulster land agent, p. 51 Google Scholar.

55 Memoirs of Christine Ward (N.L.I., Tisdall papers, microfilm p4692 (original in possession of Dr O. Tisdall, Charlesfort, Keils, Co. Meath)).

56 D.E.P., 19, 29 June, 1 July 1783, July 1783 passim; Petition of Robert Wilson, 24 June 1783 (P.R.O., P.C. 2/128, ff 309–10); Hamilton to Nepean, 9 Aug. 1783 (P.R.O., H.O. 100/9, f. 292); Nepean to Hamilton, 14 Aug. 1783 (ibid., f. 296).

57 Hamilton to Abercorn, 22 Apr. 1783 (P.R.O.N.I., Abercorn papers, T2541/1A2/3/30); Pomeroy to Abercorn, 22 July 1783 (ibid., T2541/1A1/13/228); D.E.P., 3 Apr., 10 May, 5, 24 July, 2, 5 Aug. 1783.

58 Hamilton to Abercorn, 27, 29 July, 4, 24 Aug., 12 Oct. 1783 (P.R.O.N.I., Abercorn papers, T2541/1A2/3/43, 44, 46,47, 52); D.E.P., Aug. passim, 2 Oct. 1783.

59 Nevill, John, Seasonal remarks on the linen trade of Ireland, with some observations on the present state of the country (Newry, 1783), p. x Google Scholar.

60 Minutes of the House of Industry, 1783–7, f. 32 (Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland); Commons’ jn. Ire., xi, 31.

61 D.E.P. 17 May, 12 July, 21 Aug., 23, 25 Oct., 18 Nov. 1783; The parliamentary register, or history of the proceedings and debates of the House of Commons of Ireland (17 vols, Dublin, 1782–1801), ii, 27, 89, 108; Pelham to Portland, 24 Oct. 1783 (B.L., Pelham Papers, Add. MS 33100, ff. 372–5); Kelly, James, ‘Prosperous and Irish industrialisation’ in Kildare Arch. Soc. Jn., xvi (1985-6), pp 454–5 Google Scholar.

62 Parl. reg. Ire., ii, 17. The administration indemnified all who had imported grain since June (Commons’ jn. Ire., xi, 30).

63 Parl. reg. Ire., ii, 289–92.

64 Salaman, R.N., The history and social influence of the potato (Cambridge, 1949), p. 604 Google Scholar; Table of deaths in The census of Ireland for . . . 1851, pt 5, i, 151 [C. 2087-I], H.C. 1856, xxix, 415; Volunteer Journal, Dublin (henceforth V.J. (D)), 31 Dec. 1783, 26 Jan., 27 Feb. 1784; D.E.P., 1, 24, 26, 30 Jan. 1784; Warburton, James et al., History of the city of Dublin (2 vols, London, 1818), i, 231Google Scholar. The damage done to the potato is partly attributable to inadequate storage.

65 Commons’ jn. Ire., xi, 146, 150–51, 163, 166; Figures 1 and 2; Hamilton to Abercorn, 5 Dec. 1783 (P.R.O.N.I., Abercorn papers, T2541/1A2/3/58); Northington to Sydney, 26 Jan. 1784 (Yale University, Beinecke Library, Osborn collection, Northington letter-book, ff 104–5); Volunteer Evening Post (henceforth V.E.P.), 1 Jan. 1784.

66 The rivers Liffey and Dodder burst their banks in early January, flooding Parliament Street, Ship Street, the Lower Castle Yard, Dame Street, Sycamore Alley, Temple Bar and Crowe Lane to a depth of six feet (V.E.P., 1 Jan. 1784; D.E.P., 6 Jan. 1784). For coal see D.E.P., 15 Nov. 1783; V.J.(D)., 31 Jan. 1784; V.E.P., 5 Jan. 1784.

67 V.J. (D)., 13, 18 Jan., 20 Feb. 1784.

68 Parl. reg. Ire., ii, 359; V.E.P., 10 Feb., 4 Mar. 1784; V.J. (D)., 23 Feb. 1784; D.E.P., 3 May 1783,14 Feb. 1784; Dickson, ‘The place of Dublin . . .’, pp 178–9; Whitelaw, James, An essay on the population of Dublin (Dublin, 1805)Google Scholar, passim.

69 Minutes of the House of Industry, 1783–7, ff 30, 32, 42–7 (Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland); Commons’ jn. Ire., xi, 30, 103.

70 Minutes of the House of Industry, 1783–7, ff 69, 74–5, 83 (Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland); Northington to Lords of the Treasury, 14 Jan. 1784 (Yale University, Beinecke Library, Osborn collection, Northington letter-book, ff 102–6).

71 Seven parishes were proposed initially (St Nicholas Without, St Luke’s, St Catherine’s, St James’s, St Mark’s, St Michan’s, St Paul’s); St Michael’s and St John’s were added later (Minutes of the House of Industry, 1783–7, ff 83–5 (Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland)).

72 lbid., ff 87–95,109-10.

73 D.E.P., 31 Jan., 17 Feb. 1784; V.J. (D)., 23 Feb., 5 Mar. 1784, 18 Feb. 1785.

74 D.E.P, Jan.-Feb. passim, 3,7 Feb. 1784; V.J. (D)., 4, 9, 13 Feb., 5 Mar. 1784; V.E.P., Jan.-Feb. passim, 5, 7 Feb. 1784.

75 Parl. reg. Ire., ii, 379–80. Both bills were subsequently ‘postponed’ until 1 November (ibid., ii, 380–81; Rutland to Sydney, 26 Feb. 1784 (P.R.O., H.O. 100/12, f. 118)).

76 Northington to Sydney, 26 Jan. 1784 (P.R.O., H.O. 100/12, f. 71); Northington to Pelham, 26 Jan. 1784 (B.L., Pelham papers, Add. MS 33104, f. 41); Commons’ jn. Ire., xi, 181; Pari. reg. Ire., ii, 346–9. The text of the proclamation is in P.R.O., H.O. 100/12, ff 80–81.

77 Parl. reg. Ire., ii, 347; D.E.P., 5 Feb, 4, 20 Mar. 1784; Jacob to Greer, 12 Feb. 1784 (P.R.O.N.I., Greer papers, D1044/686, 687A); Northington to Sydney, 26 Jan. 1784 (Yale University, Beinecke Library, Osborn collection, Northington letter-book, ff 104—5).

78 Caulfield (ed.), Council book of . . . Cork, p. 989; D.E.P., 20 Mar. 1784; Proclamation of privy council, 27 Jan. 1784 (P.R.O., H.O. 100/12, ff 80–81).

79 Commons’ jn. Ire., xi, 185; Minutes of the House of Industry, 1783–7, f. 116 (Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland); see ff 109–21 for the distribution of Rutland’s donation.

80 Parl. reg. Ire., ii, 380–82, 384–5, 408–9, 417–18, 422–3.

81 D.E.P., 29 Jan., 14, 24 Feb. 1784; V.J. (D)., 2, 23 Feb. 1784; V.E.P., 14 Feb. 1784; Hamilton to Abercorn, 15, 22 Feb. 1784 (P.R.O.N.I., Abercorn papers, T2541/1A1/14/9, 10); Moran, (ed.), Spicilegium Ossoriense, iii, 382 Google Scholar.

82 V.E.P., 18 Nov. 1783, 5, 7, 12 Feb. 1784; V.J. (D)., 9, 14 Feb. 1784.

83 D.E.P., 4, 18 Mar. 1784; V.E.P., 2 Mar. 1784; V.J. (D)., 14 Apr. 1784; Clark, (ed.), Gleanings from an old portfolio, i, 249 Google Scholar; Figures 1 and 2; Dublin corn market prices, 1784–1841 (N.L.I., MS 4168).

84 D.E.P., 20 Mar. 1784; V.J. (D)., 12, 23 Apr. 1784; V.E.P., 4 Mar. 1784; Petition of the corn merchants of Dungannon, 28 July 1784 (P.R.O.I., Calendar of departmental letters and official papers, 1760–89, i, ff 93–4); Colville to Foster, 17 July 1784 (P.R.O.N.I., Foster papers, D562/1402).

85 V.J. (D)., 23 Apr., 5 May 1784; V.E.P., 2 Mar. 1784; D.E.P, 18 Mar., 4 May 1784; Hamilton to Abercorn, 9 May 1784 (P.R.O.N.I., Abercorn papers, T2541/1 Al/14/24).

86 V.E.P., 2 Mar. 1784; D.E.P, 4, 11 May 1784.

87 D.E.P., 18 Mar. 1784; V.J. (D). 23 Apr., 5 May 1784; V.E.P., 2 Mar. 1784. The normal price of beef and mutton was 2¼d. - 2½d. per pound. 6,836 live cattle were exported in 1784; the figure for 1785 was 22,241 ( O’Donovan, John, The history of livestock in Ireland (Cork, 1939), pp 144, 148)Google Scholar.

88 Crawford (ed.), Letters from an Ulster land agent, p. 51; Hamilton to Abercorn, 9, 28 May, 7 Nov. 1784 (P.R.O.N.I., Abercorn papers, T2541/1A1/14/24, 26, 49); Forrest to Hely-Hutchinson, [mid-1785] (P.R.O.N.I., Donoughmore papers, T3459/C/2/178); Coates to Faulkner, 14 Mar. 1785 (N.L.I., Faulkner papers, microfilm pl576); Refaussé, ‘Economic crisis’, p. 63.

89 D.E.P., 4, 18 Mar., 6 Apr., 27, 29 July 1784. In P.R.O.N.I., Calendar of departmental letters and official papers, 1760–89, i, ff 93–4 there is mention of returns from collectors of the revenue ‘of the price of grain and its plenty or scarcity’ for 1784.

90 V.E.P., 7 Sept., 26 Oct. 1784; Hamilton to Abercorn, 7 Nov. 1784 (P.R.O.N.I., Abercorn papers, T2541/1 Al/14/49); Notes for a history of Belfast, 20 Dec. 1784 (Linen Hall Library, Joy papers, MS 7).

91 Coates to Faulkner, 14 Mar. 1785 (N.L.I., Faulkner papers, microfilm pl576).

92 Buckinghamshire to Barrington, 3 July 1778 (B.L., Mackintosh collection, Add. MS 34523, f. 211).

93 I would like to thank Judith Brady, Dr David Dickson and Dr A.P.W. Malcomson for their comments on earlier drafts of this paper, and the trustees and keepers of manuscripts in the British Library, the National Library of Ireland, the Public Record Office of Ireland, the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, Trinity College, Dublin, the Royal College of Surgeons, Dublin, and the Beinecke Library, Yale University, for permission to consult papers in their care.