Davis and the Potato Rot
Archived: 10 October 2026
In 1845, potato blight initiated Ireland’s Great Famine, although mortality remained limited compared with later years. Dependence on potatoes left labourers, cottiers and smallholders especially vulnerable, while food production continued beyond their purchasing power. Peel’s government commissioned scientific inquiries, secretly bought American maize, and linked the crisis to Corn Law repeal, but relief remained cautious. The Devon Commission documented insecure tenure and rural inequality. Educational reforms funding Maynooth and Queen’s Colleges provoked religious and nationalist disputes. Thomas Davis, Young Ireland’s inclusive cultural nationalist, died in September. By year’s end, blight, poverty, weak tenure and political division foreshadowed catastrophe to come.