MAKING HISTORY Grain Imports and Exports in Ireland 1844–48
900 800 700 600 500 400 300 200 100 0
100 200 300 400 500 600
Imports into Ireland
Soup Kitchen Recipes Recipe for Quaker Soup 100 gallons of water 75 lbs of meat (salt beef or pork) 35 lbs of dried peas 21 lbs each of oatmeal and barley 11
/2 1844 1845 1846 1847 1848 lbs pepper 14 lbs of salt
Recipe for Government Soup 211 61
/2 /4 Exports from Ireland Year /2 lbs beef lbs dripping
25 lbs each of flour and barley 100 onions 11
lbs brown sugar 9 lbs salt
In relation to the graph of grain imports and exports, which of these statements are true?
(i) Overall grain exports declined during the famine years listed here.
(ii) Grain exports declined and then rose slightly.
(iii) In some years, there were more imports of grain than exports.
(iv) The government would not stop the exports of grain because they believed in a policy of free trade.
Explain your answers. Disease during the Great Famine
The weakened people suffered from many diseases. Indeed, more died from disease than from starvation. ● Typhus and relapsing fever, or ‘yellow fever’, were the most serious sicknesses. ● Whereas starvation affected the poor, these diseases affected everybody, rich and poor alike.
Assessing Your Learning
1. Soup kitchens were first set up by (i) the Catholic Church (ii) the Quakers (iii) the Church of Ireland?
2. Government soup kitchens fed (i) 1 million people (ii) 2 million people (iii) 3 million people?
3. What were public works? 4. What were workhouses? 5. Name one of the diseases from which people died during the famine.
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(i) Which of these recipes would you favour, and why?
(ii) Would you consider soup kitchens the ‘best solution’ to the Great Famine? Explain your answers.