Thomas Mc Quillan

This is a rotten potato

1.Timeline 2.Introduction 3.The Blight 4.Famine Fever 5.The Soup Kitchen 6.Emigration & Eviction 7.Black Death 8.Curtain Call

1845 – Blight appeared for the first time 1846 – Blight appeared again most crops are now dead - Government set up public work so men can earn the money necessary to pay the rent and feed their families – Government stop public works but set up soup kitchens instead - The potato crop is OK but small 1848 – Blight has returned and has destroyed the potato crop 1849 – Conditions very bad, cholera epidemic killed 36,000 people 1850 – The worst is over but areas are still very distressed the Famine has killed 1 million people 1.5 million emigrated.

In 1845 the potato crops in Ireland failed to grow properly because of a disease called blight. This started six years of tragedy. The crops failed and hundreds of thousands of people died of starvation. Even more died of ‘Famine fever’ For most people this meant tragedy because there staple diet was the spud but landlords had meat to eat.

The ‘Famine Fever’ was a disease you got if you ate a potato that had blight. The scientific name for the fever is ‘Typhus’ possible symptoms of Typhus are High temperatures, mental confusion and a rash it can also be given through lice. It was almost certain to lead to death unless you got it treated.

The Soup Kitchens where set up by the Government to help the starving people. Some Churches made people change their religion for the soup.

Over 1.5 million people emigrated to America, Canada, Australia & New Zealand during the Irish Famine, the population went down by 2.5 million most of the people that emigrated were evicted by their landlords. A lot of people that emigrated died on the ship that is why the were nicknamed ‘Coffin Ships’.

The Black Death hit Ireland in 1847 it was the worst year of the Irish Famine as just under half a million people died!!

Links: Books: The Irish Famine

This PowerPoint was dedicated to all the people who died in the Irish Famine Thomas How many rotten potatoes did you see?