Poverty Before the Famine: County Clare 1835 - Hardcover

Maureen Comber (Ed.)

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1900545012 ISBN 13: 9781900545013

Publisher: CLASP Press, 1997

Synopsis

Poverty in County Clare in the 1830s is vividly portrayed in this publication. The information on which it is based has been extracted from one of the reports of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Conditions of the Poorer Classes in Ireland which was set up in 1833. The Commission engaged Assistant Commissioners to collect evidence on the causes of Ireland's massive poverty from a variety of witnesses in one parish in every barony. These witnesses included clergymen, beggars, farmers, labourers, landlords and tradesmen. Their evidence, given at first hand, is now, for the first time, made accessible to the general public by CLASP PRESS.

About this title

From the Publisher

The first publication from CLASP PRESS County Clare A History and Topography gave people a pre-Famine snapshot of Clare. However one would have to point out that it portrayed the Establishment view with scant regard for the day to day struggle of the ordinary poor. We now present the other view and illustrate the reality of the plight of the ordinary labourer and peasant in County Clare in the 1830's. Expect to be shocked at the extent of the incredible poverty suffered by many and the appalling lack of response from the Establishment.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

From Parish of Killaloe: "I was one day standing at my door, when a friend came up to me and said, 'Come, and I will show you what these villains are doing.' I went with him, and looking through a window, I saw a beggar irritating a sore with salt and water. The next day I met this same man at a fair, exposing his leg and supplicating charity. Mr. Burke adds, 'There is one fellow who frequents this side of the country, who ties up his leg before him, and carries a child upon it. I have seen this fellow when drunk in the evening let down his leg and fight like a Trojan.'"

Edition details

• Publisher: CLASP Press
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 1900545012
• ISBN 13: 9781900545013
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 169