THE FAMINE IN PETERSWELL
Peterswell had a population of 3278 people according to the census of 1841 and they lived in 584 houses. It is not known how many died or how many emigrated in the famine, which followed the failure of the potato crop. Potatoes were the staple diet of the people at the time when they were destroyed by blight. However, the census of 1851 shows that the population had dropped to 1903, a loss of 1375 the locality’s residents since 1841! Surely some of them ended their days in the Gort Workhouse? The first admission to the Workhouse was on the 11th of December 1841, when it opened. It had cost £5,250 to build and £1,150 to furnish and equip and it had accommodation for 500 inmates. While the famine ended in the late 1840s there were many families living in very poor circumstances. In 1880 the Peterswell relief Committee was set up under the chairmanship of Father Jerome Fahy. The district representatives were Martin Kelly, Jim Fahy, Dan Kerins, Thomas O’Donnell, P Kelleher, William Kerin, Thomas Kelly and Pat Burke, a local dignitary J Galbraith Esq. was added later. By the 7th of February the amount of meal distributed to the poor of the parish was 388 stone and it cost £35-2-2, this provided relief for 124 families. The main sources of funding were:- The Mansion House Relief Committee, who gave 9 donations totalling £270, Most Reverend Dr. McEvilly (Bishop of Galway) gave £45, with instruction to spend some of the money on seed potatoes and later he donated 7 tonnes of champion seed potatoes. Other donors were the Herald Relief Fund giving 7 donations amounting to £65, the Land League gave £20, the Marlborough Relief Fund gave £17 while the Philadelphia Relief Fund gave gave £25 and the New York Herald gave £10. At a meeting of the Peterswell Relief Committee on Sunday the 24th of July it was shown that the quantity of meal distributed on the week ending the 23 inst was 456 stones at a cost £29-7-6, equalling 184 families receiving assistance. The Peterswell Relief Committee on the eve of suspending their labours, begged to give public expression of their deep sense of indebtedness to the Mansion House Relief Committee. They desired to record with deep gratitude that the work of feeding the suffering poor of the parish during the 6 months just past had been effected mainly through the magnificent grants forwarded to them by the Mansion House Committee and by the generous charities of the Most Reverend Dr McEvilly, Bishop of the Diocese.
“We Shall Long retain a grateful recollection of the humane attention to the wants of this district manifested by the Right Hon. The Lord Mayor and by the other people associated with his noble labours of charity during this year of crucial suffering.”
James Leonard, Secretary to the Committee
