Chronology of the Famine

1845Sept 9Arrival of the potato blight phytophthora infestans in Ireland
Oct 31Establishment of the Mansion House Committee to examine the extent of the damage
Nov 9Prime minister Peel orders that £100,000 of Indian corn be purchased in the USA and shipped to Ireland
1846Jan 17Daniel O’Connell speaks passionately in the House of Commons on the need for food relief in Ireland to avert a calamity
Mar 5Public Works (Ireland) Act passed, enabling county relief works
28Sale of food distributed by the Relief Committee begins
Jun 26The Importation of Corn Act, promoted by Peel, almost completely abolishes duties on corn and cereal products (‘abolition of the Corn Laws’)
29Peel’s Government falls on the Coercion Bill, introduced to suppress ‘outrages’ in Ireland
30Lord John Russell appointed Prime Minister
Jul 14Potato blight recurs with disastrous consequences
Aug 1Charles Edward Trevelyan outlines his plans to meet the coming food crisis
Sept 28A crowd attempts to hold up a ship laden with oats for export
Nov Beggary, roadside deaths, typhus, relapsing fever, dysentery, mass evictions, rising crime and disorder become common
A bitterly cold winter sets in
13A meeting of Irish Quakers in Dublin sets up the Central Relief Committee of the Society of Friends
Dec 100,000 persons in the workhouses
28Trevelyan instructs that depots are to be opened in the West for the sale of food
1847Jan 25Lord John Russell proposes to the House of Commons to open soup kitchens in place of public works for the relief of distress in Ireland and to permit outdoor relief to be paid for from the local rates
26Duties on the importation of corn suspended until 1 Sept. 1847
Feb 26The Destitute Poor (Ireland) Act (‘the Soup Kitchen Act’)
Mar 700,000 persons on public works, directly or indirectly supporting three millions
Jun 8The Poor Relief (Ireland) Act. Boards of Guardians are empowered to grant outdoor relief to aged, infirm, and sick poor; to poor widows with two or more dependent children; to give food to the able-bodied poor for limited periods, but those holding more than a quarter acre of land are excluded (the Gregory clause)
Jul Potato harvest healthy, yields good but, since a low acreage had been planted, gross returns were seriously down
Over three million meals supplied by the Government soup kitchens, that is, over one-third of the population depended on them
Oct 1The ending of the Government soup kitchens, though famine conditions were to continue for another four to five years
Nov 29The Crime and Outrage (Ireland) Bill introduced into the House of Commons
Dec 20The Crime and Outrage (Ireland) Act increases police numbers, extends police powers, and controls the possession of firearms. Results in 15,000 troops being sent to Ireland
1848May 27John Mitchel convicted under the Treason Felony Act and sentenced to transportation for fourteen years
Jul Failure of the potato crop due to a return of the blight
29Affray at Ballingarry, Co. Tipperary, led by William Smith O’Brien, Terence Bellew McManus, James Stephens and others
1849May The potato blight reappears
Jul 28Encumbered Estates Act providing for the setting up an Encumbered Estates Court and allowing the sale of entailed and bankrupt landlords’ estates