Plymouth AOH marks brig St. John tragedy

Each year since 1992, the Plymouth Division 9 of the Ancient Order of Hibernians has commemorated the sinking of the brig St. John, which sailed from Galway, Ireland, in September of 1849, bound for Boston. The ship was caught in a storm which blew her off course south of Cohasset Harbor, where she was smashed upon the rocks of Grampus Ledge on October 7, 1849.

Ninety-nine passengers were lost that day, all of whom were emigrant Irish men, women, and children. Only 12 passengers survived, with 45 bodies recovered from the sea and buried in a mass, unmarked grave at Cohasset’s Central Cemetery. In 1914 the Massachusetts State AOH and the Massachusetts State Ladies AOH erected a 20-foot tall Celtic cross at a high point in the cemetery, near the gravesite.

This year (2011), on the 162nd anniversary of the tragedy, the AOH’s annual commemoration was well attended, starting with a Mass at St. Anthony’s Church in Cohasset, celebrated by Listowel, Co. Kerry native Fr. Sean Maher and Deacon Bill Nagle of the Plymouth AOH. The Mass was followed by a reception at the Parish Center, with guest speaker Dr. Bill O’Connell of Duxbury, historian of the Plymouth AOH.

The gathering was treated to a song by Rik Tinory titled “Mother of Ireland,” which included a brief soliloquy by Seamus Mulligan, whose Irish music program can be heard on WROL on Sunday afternoons. Bagpiper Paul Boyle, a member of the Plymouth AOH and the Boston Police Gaelic Pipe Column, added his own stirring counterpoint.

Other luminaries present included Massachusetts State AOH President Dick Wall; past National President of the AOH, Jack Meehan; past Massachusetts State President of the AOH, Dick MacDonald; and past National President of the Ladies AOH, Mary Ryan.

The Irish Workhouse Centre

Check out this website !

www.irishworkhousecentre.ie/

Talk—THE IRISH HUNGER (FAMINE)

Q1 – Why did the 1845-1850 potato blight in Ireland result in what historians called “—the greatest social catastrophe in 19^th century European history” ?

INTRODUCTION

By definition, the “Irish Famine” was not a Famine.  The dictionary

definition of “Famine” is that “ there is no food available”.  There was food available , and it was being exported by the British Government  (see 4^th page of the Handout).  The term “Famine” was a deliberate propaganda term.  We prefer to use the term “Irish Hunger” or “Starvation” instead, which indeed it was.  Recently, many refer to the catastrophe as “Genocide”.

Q2 -  Why were the Irish peasants totally dependent on the potato for survival, particularly those in the west of Ireland?  This is really the basis for my talk.

Just to put the impact of the Irish Hunger in perspective, consider the approximately 3.5 million people lost over a five year period, through disease, starvation and emigration.  This is about the same as eradicating the entire Connecticut population in five years.  Think what this would be like.

BACKGROUND

In large part, the Irish Hunger of 1845-50 resulted from a series of events during the preceding, at least, 500 years.

As a sign of things to come  -  and, to set the tone – consider:

• 1215 British Magna Carta.  That Bible for human Rights did not apply to the Gaelic Irish.  Reportedly, and ironically, it was said to be based on the ancient Celtic Brehon Laws
• 1366 – Statutes of Kilkenny.  These British laws were an early milestone in Britain’s long-term pogrom of Ethnic Cleansing in Ireland.  It was limited to the Pale (the area around Dublin).  It’s restrictions included: no Gaelic names, language, customs or traditions and no intermarriages with British or Normans. The usual penalties were land forfeiture.
• 1540 – Reformation and King Henry VIII.  Add religion to the cultural and political discrimination issues.
• 16^th Century Plantations – under Henry’s children and successors to the throne.  The British crown implanted thousands of English and Scots on Irish land., displacing the resident Irish, who became tenants on their own land.  The implanted settlers were required to uphold British law and to protect and extend the Protestant religion.  There were 3 major plantations: (1) under Queen Mary (1553-8) Leix (Kings) and Offaly (Queens) counties; (2) under Queen Elizabeth (1558-1603) Munster (Cork and Kerry counties); and (3) under King James I (1603-10) Ulster (Antrim, Derry, Down & Tyrone counties).

However, suffice to say that the basic reasons for the Irish Hunger peasants plight during the extended potato blight would mushroom in the mid 1600’s.

• 1645-1649 – Oliver Cromwell and his army inflicted widespread annihilation of Irish Catholics.  During the Cromwellian clearances, the slogan used was “To Hell or to Connaught”, meaning that remaining Catholics were to be driven to west of the Shannon, to the worst agricultural land, largely rocky and mountainous.
• 1690’s – Irish rebelled against Cromwell’s army, were defeated and, after the Treaty of Limerick, thousands of the Irish militia were required to leave for the Continent, never to return to Ireland. These were “The Wild Geese”.  The Agreement stated that after the men left, Irish Catholics would be free to openly practice their religion in Ireland.  However, immediately after the “Irish soldiers” left, the British and Irish Parliaments reneged on this promise in the Treaty and imposed even harsher laws.
• 1695-1780’s – Penal Laws

Gaelic/Catholic Irish were considered to be  not a part of society (non-entities).  British Parliament stated that “there is no such thing as an Irish Catholic peasant”.  The Penal Laws contained pages of “cannot” type restrictions. (See handout).  In essence, Catholics could not be educated, employed, own property, etc.  They were dehumanized.

Mid 1700’s – mid 1800’s – Irish Catholics, mostly women and children, were forced abroad as slaves to provide free labor on British owned plantations in the Caribbean and in Virginia.

1700    Only 1/7 of the land of Ireland was owned by the Gaelic-Catholic Irish.

In general, throughout these 500 plus years of British occupation of Ireland (~1200-1700), British legislation, trade, employment and social restrictions created economic deprivation and subjugation for the Gaelic catholic Irish, always favoring British merchants, farmers and royalty.  It generated widespread peasant resistance and violence, particularly after 1760.  The restrictions led to more revolutionary nationalism in the 18th century – and included dissident Protestants.  This resistance was directed more at rights and self-governing in an Irish Parliament rather than at independence and the throne.  It was so bad that Catholics merely sought tolerance rather than equality.  Every act of resistance was met with more brutal and restrictive responses by the British Government.  Finally, the Irish were defeated after the Uprising of 1798, which, by the way, was inspired by the American and French revolutions.

So, entering the 19^th century, Irish Catholic peasants were confined to the poorest land, most could not own land, nor be employed  nor educated, were living in dire poverty  and were disconnected from the ruling minority.

1800-1845

The Act of Union of 1800 again brought direct rule from London to Ireland.  This implies that the government would be responsible for all of its citizens.  But, Ireland wasn’t considered an equal partner in the U.K. – unless as  fodder in English wars was needed or wood to build ships for the English navy.  As usual, security control of society, not socio-economic corrections continued to dominate British policy in Ireland.

1800-1810      Land policies saw a dominance of absentee British landlords and their agents, which controlled Irish tenancy.  They imposed exorbitant rents, short or no leases, evictions were common.  Also, Irish Catholics resented paying tithes to the Protestant Church of Ireland.  All this led to growing agrarian discontent and violence.  Seven years transportation for petty crimes became another form of providing free labor to Britain’s other colonies, particularly Australia.

1810-1820 – Napoleonic Wars.  In Ireland, large farms were needed to feed the British army and navy and urban populations during the industrial revolution in England.  Cattle vs. People policies led to evictions to create larger pastures and grain fields.  Hundreds of thousands of Irish were impressed into the British military.  Then, the Post-Napoleonic war period brought recession, and generated even more evictions.

1820-1830 – Daniel O’Connell successfully led a Catholic Emancipation campaign.  The Irish could now practice their religion  but there were  no  socio-economic gains for Irish peasants.

1830-1845 – Period of advent of the Irish Hunger.

Peasants lived in shared land communes, called Cloghans, they had no currency and practiced a bartering system.  They were on a strict potato only diet and were subject to exorbitant rents, no or short leases and quick evictions.  This situation resulted in the Irish peasant always on the verge of starvation.  Luckily, they learned to cultivate the potato as a crop.  The potato was not native to Ireland.  It was brought from America by Sir Walter Raleigh.  It was the only crop that would grow on poor land and in sufficient abundance to feed a family for most of the year.  They were grown in postage stamp size plots in the cloghans.  The average adult ate from 5 to 15 pounds of potatoes a day.  The family pig, cow or chickens, if they had any, were used to pay the rent.  So, meat was not a food staple.  And, the summer months were called “meal months”, when the stored potatoes had been fully consumed and months to go before the new crop was ready to harvest.  Annually, families had to barter for meal or other food substitutes  and were subjected to near starvation during these months.  In fact, there were 14 potato blights between the years 1816 and 1842, but all were either of short duration or very local in area.

1838 – Parliament established “Poor Laws” to build workhouses, etc.  The object of this policy was not humanitarian, rather, it was intended to restrict indigent Irish from emigrating en masse to England.  And, peasants had to pay “Poor Rates”, a tax to fund the Poor Law system.

The population trend in Ireland increased from about 2 million in 1700 to a number ranging from 8 million to 10 million in 1841.  Note this discrepancy for 1841 (Explain briefly).

1845 – A fungus hit the potato crops of most western European countries.  It was shown to have come from America, most probably on a ship.  Most countries closed their ports to food exports to protect their people from possible starvation, and, most were not as singularly dependent on the potato as were the Irish peasants.  However, Britain kept open her ports to export crops and livestock, largely to feed city dwellers in England and to support merchants.  Ireland was a prime agricultural source for England.  In 1845 40% of the potato crop in Ireland was ruined.

British politicians’ attitudes toward the Irish were prejudice, conceit, arrogance and ignorance.  PM Peel chastised them saying, in essence, that “if Britain allowed for education, religious tolerance and economic opportunity it would reduce nationalist fervor and resistance and permit Irish integration into the U.K., as did the Scots and Welsh”  The attitudes didn’t change.

1846 – The blight returned.  The winter of 1846-47 was one of the worst on record. Contributing to many deaths.  Without food the peoples’ resistance to cold and disease was lowered, and they soon became too weak to obtain wood, peat, to work or farm and were forced to eat their seed potatoes for the next year.

1847 – Ironically, no blight occurred in 1847.  But, there few to no seed potatoes to plant.  Starvation and diseases continued, as did evictions.  Landlords would not allow hunting or fishing on their lands and, salt water fishermen could not barter for salt and became too weak to mend nets, row or to fish.  Irish peasants sensed that to survive they had to emigrate. Unscrupulous sea captains modified cargo sailing vessels to house desperate peasants in steerage, for passage to Canada.  The trip took on the order of 4 to 6 weeks.  There was little or tainted food and/or water on board and sanitary conditions were almost non-existent.  Approximately ¼ to 1/3 of the passengers died at sea or in quarantine stations.  Thus, these vessels were known as “Coffin ships”, and the year became known as “Black 47”.

In Ireland, workhouses became overcrowded, diseases were rampant, families were separated (wife from husband and children from parents).  Unmarked mass graves, containing unidentified bodies wrapped in cloth, were widespread.  Wooden coffins were scarce, so “Sliding Coffins” were used over and over to transport bodies to the mass graves, again unidentified.  In Cork, a doctor reported seeing one coffin used somewhere between 200 and 300 times.

Since no blight occurred in 1847 the British Government declared that the “Famine” was over.  The soup kitchens that they provided only operated from June to September , before the government closed them down.  Proselytizing Protestant Ministers ran their own soup kitchens, but offered soup only to those who would convert from Catholicism to their form of Protestantism.  Those who took the soup and converted were referred to as “soupers”.  Also, the government terminated its financial support, which was already inadequate, and required landlords to finance any assistance.  Many landlords went bankrupt.  The Quakers organized effective assistance networks throughout Europe, the U.S. and Canada, including well meaning soup kitchens.

Just to give an example of the attitudes of British Government high officials toward the Irish at the time, a few quotes:

Secretary of Treasury (Exchequer) Trevelyan said, “The Irish Famine was divine treachery” because Irish peasants were Catholic and not Church of England or Ireland. Also, “I’m pleased that the famine was reducing the Irish population, but disappointed that only one million are dying”.

1848 – The Blight returned, wiping out what potato crop existed.  Many died of disease before they could starve to death.  Still, evictions continued.  By law, shelter could  not be provided by neighbors, and, cottages were destroyed by landlords and public servants.  Many died along the roadside.  People sought refuge in ditches or wherever they could construct a makeshift hovel.  Those who ate nettles, for something to eat, usually died eventually, and were called “green mouths.  To quote John Mitchell, a strong nationalist of the time, “God created the blight but the British created the famine”.  Steven Douglas, an observer visiting from America, said that he had never seen such poverty in America.

Emigration shifted to America, when immigration laws were slightly relaxed.  By then, the problem of Coffin ships had been largely corrected. However, there were no immigration processing facilities  upon arrival and the destitute, uneducated, poor, largely Irish speaking  and often disease ridden were preyed upon at the docks., i.e., South Street Seaport in New York City.  Read Terry Coleman’s book “Going To America”

1849 – The blight again returned to further obliterate whatever potato crop remained.  Unlike previous potato blights this recurring blight returned in 4 out of 5 years, to deny the irish peasantry the only food that they depended on.

During all of this, the British policy continued to be “Pasture over people”, to create larger farms to produce more agricultural export to England.  This food was often transported overland to the docks, by horse and cart, and guarded by British soldiers  past the eyes of the starving irish – many of whom produced the crops while toiling for the landlords.

1850 – There was no blight.  This year started the post-blight period.  Mass emigration continued, and did so for many years afterward. In the northeast of Ireland, the government support of the industrial revolution attracted many starving families, from all over Ireland, looking for work.  This situation created severe competition for jobs.  Differences between industrial and agricultural communities increased  bigotry against the rural farmer, mostly against Irish Catholics. But, in the north , Protestant and Catholic farmers alike suffered from the potato blight.  Later, this heightened discrimination carried over to “Home Rule” and the partition of the country, and underlay the “Troubles” of the last 40 (really 90) years.

Examples of the immediate impact of the potato blight in Ireland:

• Approximately 25% of the population was lost.
• Cloghans disappeared (> 300 cottages); see Ordinance maps.
• Mass graves were left unmarked, and still are, with bodies still unidentified.
• Social customs changed – open door practices stopped, late marriages, music and dance almost disappeared.
• Irish language was almost eradicated, as most who died or emigrated came from the Irish speaking west of Ireland.  Many Irish peasants bought Trevelyan’s propaganda about Divine Treachery and attributed their suffering to the fact that they spoke Irish.  They quickly adopted English as their first language.  One British quote:  “The Famine accomplished what we have failed to achieve – elimination of the Irish Gaelic language”. In the late 19^th century Gaelic revival, a key slogan used was -  Gan teanga, gan tir.

1851 Census – 6.5 million

8-10 million (1841 census)  less 6.5 million resulted in either 1.5 or 3.5 million lost. The 10 million figure is now generally accepted.

1850-1870 – Period of Land reform

* Peasant uprisings

*Irish-American publicity and pressure – influenced world opinion and forc     forced Britain to amend its policies toward Ireland.

* Absentee landlord problem was reduced

* Land reform – longer leases, home and land improvements now valued.

* Eventually (1887) Peasants could purchase land.  Land League committees in the US were formed to raise funds for this purpose.

* Emigration – 1849 to 1911 – approximately 5 million people emigrated.

The Irish Hunger immigration in America essentially created Irish America.

The Famine Irish immigration in America was the first large wave of European immigration and, as such, they bore the brunt of established American discrimination. Irish peasants found bigotry similar to what they left in Ireland. It was not until the Irish demonstrated their patriotism and valor during the US Civil War that they began to become assimilated into American society – and, the process was very slow, and not without incidents. (See the portion of the Handout that addresses the US Commemorative stamp).

Having studied Irish history, I continue to marvel at the resiliency of the Irish, in that they still have an identity and a culture.

SHOW BOOKS.

SHOW CURRICULUM GUIDE – who knows about its existence or whether it has ever been used.

SHOW MIKE MCCORMACK’S DVD, “IN THEIR MEMORY”  (10 min.)

The Great Famine of Ireland is memorialized in many locations throughout Ireland, especially in those regions that suffered the greatest losses, and also in cities overseas with large populations descended from Irish immigrants.

Ireland

Famine Memorial in Dublin

“Famine” by Edward Delaney, St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin

National Famine Monument at Murrisk, County Mayo

Famine Monument at Ennistymon, County Clare

• Strokestown Park Famine Museum
• Customs House Quays, Dublin. Painfully thin sculptural figures, by artist Rowan Gillespie, stand as if walking towards the emigration ships on the Dublin Quayside.
• St Stephen’s Green, Dublin. “Famine”, a sculpture by Edward Delaney.
• Limerick, The ‘Broken Heart’ Famine memorial, Lower Mallow Street. The sculpture is a fountain in the shape of a broken heart in memory of the forced emigration of several thousands who fled to America and beyond from nearby Steamboat Quay. Also in Limerick city, the Pauper’s Graveyard (now known as St Brigid’s cemetery) in Killeely. Here a large timber cross was erected on the site of this mass graveyard. There are no headstones.
• Murrisk, County Mayo. This sculpture of a famine ship, near the foot of Croagh Patrick, depicts the refugees it carries as dead souls hanging from the sides.
• Clones, County Monaghan Famine Graveyard, Clones will host the National Famine Commemoration for 2011 with President Mary McAleese and other representatives from 30 Countries also taking part.
• Donaghmore Famine Museum – set in Donaghmore Workhouse in County Laois.
• Doolough Tragedy, County Mayo. A memorial commemorates famine victims who walked from Louisburgh along the mountain road to Delphi Lodge to seek relief from the Poor Board who were meeting there. Returning after their request was refused, many of them died at this point. This became known as the Doolough Tragedy.
• Doagh Island, Inishowen, County Donegal. Doagh Visitor Centre and Famine Museum has exhibits and memorial on the effects of the famine in Inishowen, Donegal. [1]
• Ennistymon, County Clare. This was the first memorial in Ireland to honour those who suffered and were lost during the Great Famine. It is erected across the road from Ennistymon Hospital, built on the grounds of the local workhouse where an estimated 20,000 Irish died and a mass graveyard for children who perished and were buried without coffins.^[1]
• Sligo, County Sligo, has three memorial sculptures erected by the Sligo Famine Commemoration Committee.^[2] One is at the quayside, of a family comforting each other, where 30,000 people emigrated between 1847 and 1851. The other two are the gates of a famine graveyard and of a tree (called Faoin Sceach) in the grounds of the graveyard, where approximately 2,000 famine victims are buried.
• Newcastle West, County Limerick, The Famine Graveyard is at the rear of modern day St. Ita’s Hospital. Hundreds of people who died during the famine are buried there in unmarked graves. The cemetery is marked by a plain old cross. Close by stands the Workhouse.
• Kilkenny in the McDonagh Junction complex. The memorial is marked by a small garden, where many bodies were found during an excavation.
• Ballingarry Famine Warhouse 1848. Widow McCormack’s house, the site of the 1848 rebellion, has now been converted into a museum.
• Thurles Famine Museum occupies St. Mary’s church in Thurles. St. Mary’s church is built on the site of another pre-reformation church dating to the 12^th century. This site includes both war and Irish Famine memorials.

United Kingdom

• Liverpool, England. A memorial is in the grounds of St Luke‘s Church on Leece Street, itself a memorial to the victims of the Blitz. It recalls that from 1849–1852 1,241,410 Irish immigrants arrived in the city and that from Liverpool they dispersed to locations around the world. Many died despite the help they received within the city, some 7000 in the city perished within one year. There is also a plaque on the gates to Clarence Dock. Unveiled in 2000, the plaque inscription reads in Gaelic and English: “Through these gates passed most of the 1,300,000 Irish migrants who fled from the Great Famine and ‘took the ship’ to Liverpool in the years 1845–52″ The Maritime Museum, Albert Dock, Liverpool has an exhibition regarding the Irish Migration, showing models of ships, documentation and other facts on Liverpool’s history.
• Cardiff, Wales. A Celtic Cross made of Irish limestone on a base of Welsh stone stands in the city’s Cathays Cemetery. The cross was unveiled in 1999 as the high point in the work of the Wales Famine Forum, remembering the 150th Anniversary of the famine. The memorial is dedicated to every person of Irish origin, without distinction on grounds of class, politics, allegiance or religious belief, who has died in Wales.
• Carfin, Motherwell, North Lanarkshire. A Celtic Cross memorial unveiled by then Taoiseach Bertie Ahern in the early 21st century.
• In 2009, and again in 2010, to mark National Famine Memorial Day, Celtic FC wear a commemorative emblem on their strips, which consists if a Celtic cross, and a four leaf clover motif. This reflects the fact that Celtic themselves were founded by, and in order to support, the Irish immigrant community in the east end of Glasgow, many of who had fled Ireland for Glasgow following the famine.

United States

Irish Hunger Memorial, New York City

Irish Hills Michigan “An Gorta Mór” top

Irish Hills Michigan “An Gorta Mor” base

• In Boston, Massachusetts, a bronze statue located at the corner of Washington and School Streets on the Freedom Trail depicts a starving woman, looking up to the heavens as if to ask “Why?”, while her children cling to her. A second sculpture shows the figures hopeful as they land in Boston.^[3]
• Buffalo, New York has a stone memorial on its waterfront.
• Cambridge, Massachusetts has a memorial to the famine on its Common.
• Chicago, Illinois has a Famine Memorial at Chicago Gaelic Park.
• Cleveland, Ohio A 12-foot-high (3.7 m) stone Celtic cross, located on the east bank of the Cuyahoga River.
• In Fairfield, Connecticut a memorial to the Famine victims stands in the chapel of Fairfield University.
• In Hamden, Connecticut, a collection of art and literature from the Great Famine is on display in the Lender Family Special Collection Room of the Arnold Bernhard Library at Quinnipiac University.
• Irish Hills, Michigan^{[dead link]} – The Ancient Order of Hibernian’s An Gorta Mor Memorial is located on the grounds of St. Joseph’s Shrine in the Irish Hills district of Lenawee County, Michigan. There are thirty-two black stones as the platform, one for each county. The grounds are surrounded with a stone wall. The Lintel is a step from Penrose Quay in Cork Harbour. The project was the result of several years of fundraising by the Ancient Order of Hibernians in Lenewee County. It was dedicated in 2004 by AOH Divisional President, Patrick Maguire, and many political and Irish figures from around the state of Michigan.
• Keansburg, NJ has a Hunger Memorial in Friendship Park on Main Street.
• New York, New York has the Irish Hunger Memorial which looks like a sloping hillside with low stone walls and a roofless cabin on one side and a polished wall with lit (or white) lines on the other three sides. The memorial is in Battery Park City, a short walk west from the World Trade Center site. See [2]. Another memorial exists in V.E. Macy Park in Ardsley, New York about 32 km north of Manhattan.
• Philadelphia, Pennsylvania has a famine memorial at Front and Chestnut Streets, near Penn’s Landing.[3] The large bronze sculpture features numerous figures arranged in clusters or vignettes, with the east end depicting the depths of the misery of starvation. The work was dedicated on October 25, 2003 on a 1.75-acre (7,100 m²) site covering I-95 and overlooking the Delaware River. This is a fitting location because many Irish disembarked ships and entered Philadelphia—and the nation—near this area.
• Phoenix, Arizona has a famine memorial in the form of a dolmen at the Irish Cultural Center.
• Portland, Oregon commissioned a large Celtic cross to be carved in Donegal, Ireland, and positioned on a prominent hill in the city in 2008, with Irish President Mary McAleese present at the inauguration.
• Providence, RI has an Irish Famine Memorial along the Riverway, dedicated on November 17, 2007. Sculupture and a commemorative wall are the key elements of an impressive memorial that has educated and beautified the Providence River Walk location. A bronze statue of three Irish figures anchors one end of the site, with a walkway incorporating memorial bricks and flagstones leading to the memorial wall. There, a narrative plaque tells the story of the Great Famine and subsequent Irish emigration to the United States in bas relief. Memorial bricks and flagstones border an outline map depicting the two countries, Ireland and America. Twelve memorial benches along the walkway offer points at which to reflect on the stories and memories described in the relief wall and expressed within the numerous inscriptions.
• Hackensack, New Jersey has a large stone located on the front corner of the Bergen County Government Court House on Main Street, honoring all of those who perished in the famine. Every year in October, numerous Irish-American organizations from northern New Jersey hold a ceremony to remember all of those who perished.
• Rochester, New York has a black granite memorial on the grounds of St. John Fisher College erected in 1997, one hundred and fifty years after the worst of the hunger by the Ancient Order of Hibernians. There is a moving inscription on each side of the memorial and the family names that surround it at the base represent donors who participated in the project. The memorial is the site of remembrances held in concert with the international remembrance day often held in May of each year.

Canada

Ireland Park on Éireann Quay, Toronto

Rowan Gillespie‘s Irish potato famine memorial in Ireland Park, Toronto Harbourfront

• Grosse-Île, Quebec, Canada, the largest famine grave site outside of Ireland. A large Celtic cross, erected by the Ancient Order of Hibernians, stands in remembrance overlooking the St. Lawrence River. The island is a Canadian national historic site.
• Quebec City, Quebec, Canada, 12-foot (3.7 m) limestone cross donated by the government of Ireland in 1997
• Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, a large Celtic cross was built on Partridge Island, which was major quarantine station during the famine.^[4]
• Saint Andrews, New Brunswick, Canada a Celtic cross was erected on the mainland in view of Hospital Island. The island was a quarantine station.^[5]
• Kingston, Ontario, Canada, has three monuments. Celtic cross at An Gorta Mor Park on the waterfront. Another is located at Skeleton (McBurney) Park (formerly Kingston Upper Cemetery). Angel of Resurrection monument, first dedicated in 1894 at St. Mary’s cemetery.
• Maidstone, Ontario, Canada, has a nine foot stone Celtic Cross at the cemetery outside St. Mary’s Church
• Montreal, Quebec, Canada, the “Boulder Stone” in Pointe-Saint-Charles
• Toronto, Ontario Four bronze statues arriving at the Toronto wharves, at Ireland Park on Bathurst Quay, modeled after the Dublin Departure Memorial. List of names of those who died of typhus in the Toronto fever sheds shortly after their arrival. Current memorial plaque at Metro Hall. Also a pieta statue outside St. Paul’s Catholic Basilica in memory of the famine victims and Bishop Michael Power, who died tending to the sick.^[6]

Australia

• Melbourne, Australia. In 1998 a memorial in the form of a Famine Rock with plaque was erected on the foreshore of Port Phillip at Williamstown. This was the 150th anniversary of the arrival of the first boat load of Irish Famine orphan girls.
• Sydney, Australia. The Australian Monument to the Great Irish Famine^[7] is located in the courtyard wall of the Hyde Park Barracks, Macquarie Street, Sydney. It symbolises the experiences of young Irishwomen fleeing the Great Irish Famine of 1845–1849,^[8] and was sculpted by Angela and Hossein Valamanesh.^[9]

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it or making corrections.

Go to:  wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_memorials_to_the_Great_Famine

Saturday, 10 September 2011

President Mary McAleese has hailed the life-saving support that groups including New York’s Jewish community gave to Ireland in the 1840s

2011 NATIONAL FAMINE COMMEMORATION TO BE HELD IN CLONES, COUNTY MONAGHAN

Mr. Jimmy Deenihan, T.D., Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, today announced
the plans for the 2011 National Famine Memorial Day. Minister Deenihan said: ‘I am delighted that Clones, County Monaghan, is to be the location for the National Famine Commemoration in 2011 and to learn of the great support in the local communities in Monaghan for this event. It is evidence of the deep respect still held today for all those who perished, suffered and emigrated during this tragic period in our history. I look forward to discussions taking place over the coming weeks between my Department and the relevant stakeholders to make the necessary arrangements and I hope to announce the date of this year’s commemoration very shortly.’ There is nothing else in the history of the Irish people that can be likened to the Great Famine, either for its impact or its legacy of emigration, cultural loss and decline of the Irish language. That legacy also includes a strong appreciation among Irish people of issues such as food security and a strong commitment to humanitarian aid and relief, even today in these very difficult economic times. Respected historians have pointed to the significant impact of the Famine in Ulster as a whole and to the particular impact in south Ulster. Indeed, Clones was amongst the hardest hit areas in all of Ireland. Before the Famine, Monaghan and neighbouring parts of Fermanagh had one of the highest population densities in all of the island of Ireland. In 1841, the population of the Clones Poor Law Union was 42,225. However, by 1851 this had fallen by 27,487, a decline of 35% and the number of inhabited homes dropped by 2,000. As Brian McDonald states in the Clogher record: ‘More than 2,000 families gone from townlands and parishes, the traces of potato ridges, the fallen thatch and crumbling walls the only tangible evidence of their having lived and loved this place they knew as home’. At least 13,000 people died from starvation and disease in Monaghan between 1847 and 1850. By the end of March 2007, the Strangers’ Burial Ground of St. Tighernach’s Church of Ireland was full. A memorial plaque at the Clones Famine and Workhouse mass grave bears the following moving inscription: ‘Erected in memory of all the people from Clones Union who died because of the Great Famine 1845-1850; Also those who died in the workhouse 1845-1921; The meek shall inherit the earth…’ Famine relief schemes were set up throughout the country during the Great Famine and one of them in Clones gave rise to the world renowned Clones Lace. In 1847 Rev. Thomas Hand and his wife Cassandra arrived in Clones from Surrey and were so horrified by the devastation caused by the Famine that Cassandra set up the lace/crochet making as a relief scheme. By 1851, almost every family in Clones was involved in the crochet industry. When making the announcement today in Clones, Co. Monaghan, Minister Deenihan also expressed his gratitude to the members of the National Famine Commemoration Committee for their commitment in ensuring that the catastrophic events of the Great Famine are appropriately remembered and that the extraordinary contributions of those who emigrated and of their many descendents abroad are justly celebrated.

Dr. Martin McAleese, President Mary McAleese and Minister Jimmy Deenihan at the National Famine Memorial Day, Clones, Co. Monaghan

Minister Deenihan had asked schools across the country to support the memorial  by holding a minute’s silence on Friday, 9th September, as a mark of respect for those who died or suffered loss during the great Irish famine. Students in primary and secondary schools across Ireland were asked to pause at noon to reflect on the victims of the great Irish famine and to consider the effects of famine in a worldwide context.

Commenting in advance of the memorial day, Minister Deenihan said:

“I have written to all schools to ask them to take part in a minute’s silence to reflect on the losses suffered as a result of the great Irish famine. Unfortunately famine is still a reality in some parts of the world and I hope that this gesture of respect will also serve to remind us of the plight of those suffering in Somalia and throughout East Africa. It is a testament to the Irish people that funding through Irish Aid allocated towards the relief effort in the Horn of Africa currently stands at some €9.1 million. In per capita terms, Ireland is one of the most committed and generous donors to the region. It is, therefore, vital that we as a nation use our own experience and empathy with those suffering the effects of famine to continue to highlight their plight.”

In this talk, Brian Mac Domhnaill will explain why Clones was chosen as the location for the commemoration of the Famine period in Ulster, revisiting some of the contemporary documentation that illustrates the devastating impact of the catastrophe on communities in west Monaghan and south east Fermanagh. Author of a wide range of historical articles and books, including A Time of Desolation, Clones Poor Law Union 1845 1851, Brian is currently President of Clogher Historical Society/Cumann Seanchais Chlochair. As director of the Clogher Historical Society’s New Millennium Project between 1997 and 2001, he co ordinated research into Famine documentation across Counties Monaghan, Fermanagh and South Tyrone, publishing this in two volumes of the Society’s annual journal The Clogher Record 2000 & 2001.

Ulster Canal Stores, Clones

Monday 29 August – Dé Luain 29 Lúnasa – 7.30 p.m.

The Famine in Ulster: Revising the Revisionists

Talk by Dr Gerard MacAtasney

Dr Gerard MacAtasney received his doctorate from the University of Liverpool for a thesis entitled ‘Poverty, Poor Law and Famine in County Armagh, 1838-52′. He has written many books on the Famine, including “This Dreadful Visitation”: The Famine in Lurgan/Portadown, The Hidden Famine: Hunger, Poverty and Sectarianism in Belfast co written with Christine Kinealy. He is currently editing the letters of Thomas J Clarke to be published by Irish Academic Press in 2012.

Jimmy Deenihan T.D., Minister for Arts, Heritage and Gaeltacht and Chair of the National Famine Commemoration Committee today (Saturday 7^th January, 2012) announced Boston as the location for the 2012 International Commemoration of the Great Irish Famine.

Minister Deenihan was this morning visiting the Irish Hunger Memorial at Battery Park City, which was created by artist Brian Tolle to raise awareness of the Great Irish Famine and of the challenge to end hunger in our world, when he made the announcement.

He commented “The National Famine Commemoration is taking place in Drogheda this year. Drogheda was the second largest port of departure for over one million people who were forced to emigrate. Some travelled only as far as Britain while others travelled onwards from the UK to North America. Many of these people arrived in Boston, full of hope for a better life. We know from the evidence of Irish heritage in Boston that many settled and prospered in that city. I look forward to working with the community in Boston and in particular the Charitable Irish Society whose 275^th anniversary falls this year, to ensure that the victims of the famine are remembered and respected in a dignified manner”.

There have been three international commemorations of the Great Irish Famine to date. These overseas events coincide with the annual National Famine Commemoration, which rotates around the four provinces of Ireland. Previous overseas events have taken place in Canada (2009), New York (2010) and Liverpool (2011).

The 2012 National Famine Commemoration will take place in Drogheda, Co. Louth. The dates for the national and international events will be announced in the coming weeks.