Ideas How Britain caused Ireland's Great Famine
Jan 23, 2026
A reframe of the Great Famine that places the potato within a wider story of colonialism and market failure. Discussion of how crop choice, land tenure and conacre speculation created structural vulnerability. Examination of British relief policies, moralizing views of food, and how emigration, rents and seasonal rhythms shaped survival and collapse.
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Blight Versus Famine
- The potato blight and the famine are distinct: the blight was biological, the famine was a political-economic catastrophe.
- Padraic X Scanlan argues imperial structures turned a widespread crop disease into Ireland's unique humanitarian disaster.
Myth Of The 14-Pound Potato Diet
- The myth that Irish people ate 12–14 pounds of potatoes daily is false but symbolically powerful.
- That myth served colonial narratives blaming Irish biology rather than British policy for poverty.
Parish Rector's Grim Discovery
- Richard Webb sent men to check starving parishioners and discovered bodies half-buried in a cabbage garden.
- Webb asked bluntly, 'are we living in a portion of the United Kingdom?' to underline the horror.
