Dr. Birnie imputes error to President Biden, he repeats the “famine” story we were all taught in school, and writes “… more should have been done.”
A question: More what? Ireland was starved by 67 named British army regiments; ought 77 have been deployed? Davitt, et al. reported it as “Holocaust.” Starting on May 4, 1846 until November 19, 1855 the Cork (now Irish) Examiner newspaper reported it as “Holocaust.” (“Genocide”was coined post-WW2.)
From the start of 1845 to the end of 1850 the British government ordered into Ireland more than half (67 regiments) of its 128-regiment empire army. Their mission was the removal of Ireland’s abundant food crops to the ports for export. Commander-in-Chief of mission from start to finish was General Sir Edward Blakeney on whom, in 1849, Queen Victoria conferred an Order of the Bath.
From the start of 1845 to the end of 1850 the British government ordered into Ireland more than half (67 regiments) of its 128-regiment empire army. Their mission was the removal of Ireland’s abundant food crops to the ports for export. Commander-in-Chief of mission from start to finish was General Sir Edward Blakeney on whom, in 1849, Queen Victoria conferred an Order of the Bath.
The quantity of forcibly removed edibles is readily ascertainable in that era’s editions of The (London) Times, the Limerick Intelligencer, etc. The volume of non-potato foods produced by the Irish are indicated by the following processors: 1,935 grain mills, 1,984 grain kilns, 555 flour mills, 136 grain-using breweries, 74 grain-using distilleries, 62 threshers (though flails were more common), 948 livestock pounds, 45 woollen mills (mutton and lamb), 43 windmills, butter markets, and “shambles” (butcheries), etc. (Precise location of each available upon request.)
During those years, and until 1900-1920, Ireland was owned by English landlords. The Irish were their tenants-at-will. The army was deployed only where the English-led constabulary and landlords’ militias encountered resistance to the food removal. Though, for example, the 68th of Foot was deployed briefly as far north as Ballycastle, the constabulary and landlords’ militias usually managed to extract the food crops in what is today’s Northern Ireland. During the first quarter of 1847 (numbers are approximate):
Antrim: Its 604-strong (520 pvts.) militia was HQ’d in Belfast. Commander; the Marquis of Donegal residing in London. Adjutant Col. Carrothers.
Armagh: its 640-strong (520 pvts.) was HQ’d in Markethill. Commander; the Marquis Acheson residing in Gosford Castle, Markethill. Adjutant Biford Woodhouse.
Derry: its 755-strong (650 pvts.) County Londonderry militia was HQ’d at Londonderry. Commander; Sir R.A. Ferguson, Bar’t, residing at The Farm, Londonderry. Adjutant __ McClintock.
Down: its 453-strong (390 pvts.) The Royal South Downshire was HQ’d at Hillsborough. Commander; The Marquis of Downshire, residing at Hillsborough. Adjutant __ Hodgson.
Fermanagh: its 453-strong (390 pvts.) Co. Fermanagh militia was HQ’d at Enniskillen. Commander; the Earl of Enniskillen residing at Florence Court Demesne, Florencecourt. Adjutant Wm. Corry.
Tyrone: its 755-strong (650 pvts.) Royal Tyrone militia was HQ’d at Caledon, near the post town of Caledon, Co. Tyrone. Adjutant; William Lundie.
During those years, and until 1900-1920, Ireland was owned by English landlords. The Irish were their tenants-at-will. The army was deployed only where the English-led constabulary and landlords’ militias encountered resistance to the food removal. Though, for example, the 68th of Foot was deployed briefly as far north as Ballycastle, the constabulary and landlords’ militias usually managed to extract the food crops in what is today’s Northern Ireland. During the first quarter of 1847 (numbers are approximate):
Antrim: Its 604-strong (520 pvts.) militia was HQ’d in Belfast. Commander; the Marquis of Donegal residing in London. Adjutant Col. Carrothers.
Armagh: its 640-strong (520 pvts.) was HQ’d in Markethill. Commander; the Marquis Acheson residing in Gosford Castle, Markethill. Adjutant Biford Woodhouse.
Derry: its 755-strong (650 pvts.) County Londonderry militia was HQ’d at Londonderry. Commander; Sir R.A. Ferguson, Bar’t, residing at The Farm, Londonderry. Adjutant __ McClintock.
Down: its 453-strong (390 pvts.) The Royal South Downshire was HQ’d at Hillsborough. Commander; The Marquis of Downshire, residing at Hillsborough. Adjutant __ Hodgson.
Fermanagh: its 453-strong (390 pvts.) Co. Fermanagh militia was HQ’d at Enniskillen. Commander; the Earl of Enniskillen residing at Florence Court Demesne, Florencecourt. Adjutant Wm. Corry.
Tyrone: its 755-strong (650 pvts.) Royal Tyrone militia was HQ’d at Caledon, near the post town of Caledon, Co. Tyrone. Adjutant; William Lundie.
⏩ Chris Fogarty is author of Ireland 1845-1850: the Perfect Holocaust, and Who Kept it ‘Perfect’.
Question is, did the newspaper publish this in response to Dr Birnie?
ReplyDeleteBirnie refers to a natural disaster in Finland to counter Biden's assertion. What happened in Finland was a real famine in that atrocious weather destroyed all crops equally. What happened in Ireland was Brit policy and strategy to induce a famine through military might and they left the Irish with whatever rotten food that they did not want.
The basic cause of the Famine was the successive failures of the potato crop due to blight. The laissez-faire policy of the British government (which dictated the imperative to export food) on to of which stood anti-Irish racism combined with landlord-tenant relationships and a mono-crop natural of Irish agriculture combined to create the cataclysm that we are all familiar with.
ReplyDeleteBarry G
ReplyDeleteIf only the peasant Irish had a more varied diet they could have survived on the food exported/confiscated at gun point... occupation and oppression is not laissez-faire economics. Just thinking, mixing bleach with ammonia in a confined space has quite a cataclysmic consequence ... history has the Nazis all wrong by your logic.
I think the jury is very much in favour of the view that the Great Hunger was not genocide in terms of intent. But even if there was no genocidal intent there was a genocidal indifference. And a government if it insists on exercising its rule over a territory, its own or another, must be responsible for what it allows to happen and which it could have prevented. The lack of a genocidal intent is not a serious mitigating factor in my view.
ReplyDeleteAm
ReplyDeleteI agree the lack of genocidal intent does not really absolve or change the final consequences, and 'oops!' Isn't really an excusable defence. Taking advantage of a famine, for example to clear the land of smallholdings, isn't not really clean hands no intention.
As Chris Fogarty correctly points out it was seen, and termed, a holocaust at the time. Genocide is a more modern term coined by Raphael Lemington after the Second World War. And Genocide is accurate because an intention to eradicate or displace a whole class of people fall within the definition.
Ps: nothing in the Rome Statute requires public vote or consensus, Genocide is legally defined by circumstances/consequences. But it is not legally retrospective.
ReplyDeleteI was reading Steven Pinker recently and he made the point that genocide is not some aberrant behaviour over the course of history but was often the norm. Denis Faul used to quote some biblical phrase along the lines that the worst thing that can happen to humans is to fall into the hands of man
DeletePinker sounds about right... from earliest times tribes attacked and killed each other and abducted female and children to increase thier in numbers... these fall within the fundamental elements of Genocide. Likewise with war crimes and crimes against humanity, in fact people can often refer to certain events in the 6 counties as war crimes and in many ways they do qualify but often predate official classification as such.
ReplyDelete