Below is a short list of facts and figures, from the Ancient Order of Hibernians, which outlines what happened to the food in Ireland and how it affected the Irish people. 

A short list of facts and figures about the Irish Famine:

1845 - 3,251,907 quarters (8 bushels=1 quarter) of corn exported from Ireland to England

1845 - 257,257 sheep exported to Britain

1846 - 480,827 swine exported to Britain

1846 - 186,383 0xen exported to England

1847 - 4,000 ships carrying peas, beans, rabbits, salmon, honey and potatoes left Ireland for English ports

1847 - 9,992 Irish cattle sent to England

1847 - 4,000 Horses and Ponies sent to England

1847 - Approximately 1,000,000 gallons of butter sent to England

1847 - Approximately 1,700,000 gallons of grain-derived alcohol sent to England

1847 - 400,000 Irish people died due to starvation

No issue has provoked so much anger or so embittered relations between the two countries England and Ireland as the indisputable fact that huge quantities of food were exported from Ireland to England throughout the period when people were dying from starvation.

Grosse Isle, Quebec Quarantine Station - 10,000 Irish dead
Deaths between 1.0 and 1.5 Million Famine-related deaths

Emigration: Between 1.5 and 2.0 million Irish left Ireland due to the Famine

Evictions: Between the years 1849 and 1867 109,000 families were evicted
Coffin Ships: 20,000 Irish died en route to Canada

At the peak of the famine three million people were fed in soup kitchens
By March 1847 there were nearly 750,000 Irish in workhouses

By 1806 only 4% of the land was owned by the Irish (compared to in 1600 when 96% of the land was owned by the Irish)

Coffin Ships: Fares to British North America ( Canada ) were less expensive than to the US because of the shorter distance and less strict passenger regulations. These coffin ships contributed to 20,000 deaths en route in 1847, representing at least one in six who left Ireland for Canada.

Potato Crop versus grain: A family of six could be fed for a year on one acre of potatoes compared to four acres of grain.

* Originally published in 2012.


Source: Ancient Order of the Hibernians.