Galway’s Hungry June
The crisis of 1842 arose from conditions familiar to many poor households rather than from the new potato disease that later became synonymous with famine. Much of rural Ireland depended on small holdings, casual labour and the potato as a cheap, productive staple. Families might supplement it with milk, oats or whatever wages could buy, but their margins were narrow. A shortfall in provisions, a rise in prices, or the seasonal gap between the exhaustion of stored food and the next harvest could quickly become dangerous. Those without land, savings or secure employment were especially exposed.