AHC: Prevent the Great Famine in Ireland

ireland had had famines before, and the potato blight of 1845 onwards was widespread in Europe, but the effects in Ireland were much more catastrophic than elsewhere. I'm not asking that you prevent the blight, but that you change conditions in Ireland (land tenure, staple diet?) so that its effects are not notably worse than elsewhere.

POD no earlier than the Act of Union.
 
ireland had had famines before, and the potato blight of 1845 onwards was widespread in Europe, but the effects in Ireland were much more catastrophic than elsewhere. I'm not asking that you prevent the blight, but that you change conditions in Ireland (land tenure, staple diet?) so that its effects are not notably worse than elsewhere.

POD no earlier than the Act of Union.

By the time of the act of union of 1801 it was too late, might be possible at the time of the 1707 act of union.

maybe a repeal of the corn laws would help.

Before you stop the famine of 1845 you need to understand the cause.

What Caused the Irish Potato Famine?
03/17/2017Mark Thornton
[This article originally appeared in The Free Market, April 1998; Volume 16, Number 4.]

Was the Potato Famine an ecological accident, as historians usually say? Like most famines, it had little to do with declines in food production as such. Adam Smith was right that "bad seasons" cause "dearth," but "the violence of well-intentioned governments" can convert "dearth into famine."

In fact, the most glaring cause of the famine was not a plant disease, but England's long-running political hegemony over Ireland. The English conquered Ireland, several times, and took ownership of vast agricultural territory. Large chunks of land were given to Englishmen.

These landowners in turn hired farmers to manage their holdings. The managers then rented small plots to the local population in return for labor and cash crops. Competition for land resulted in high rents and smaller plots, thereby squeezing the Irish to subsistence and providing a large financial drain on the economy.

Land tenancy can be efficient, but the Irish had no rights to the land they worked or to any improvements they might make. Only in areas dominated by Protestants did tenant farmers have any rights over their capital improvements. With the landlords largely residing in England, there was no one to conduct systematic capital improvements.

The Irish suffered from many famines under English rule. Like a boxer with both arms tied behind his back, the Irish could only stand and absorb blow after blow. It took the "many circumstances" of English policy to create the knockout punch and ultimate answer to the Irish question.

Were the Irish such a promiscuous bunch? The population of Ireland was high and the island had become densely populated after union with Great Britain in 1801. Part of this population growth can be attributed to basic economic development as population was also increasing rapidly in England and elsewhere in Europe.

In fact, the Irish population was only growing slightly faster than the English population and was starting from a much smaller base. But why was it growing faster? The answer lies in the fact that England had placed Ireland in an unusual position as the breadbasket for the Industrial Revolution.

The British Corn Laws were designed to protect local grain farmers from foreign competition. In 1801, these laws were extended to Ireland. The laws not only kept prices high; they protected against falling prices in years of plenty. The main beneficiaries of this protectionism were the English absentee landlords of Ireland, not the Irish.

The Irish people were able to grow large quantities of nutritious potatoes that they fed their families and animals. Landlords benefited from the fact that the potato did not deplete the soil and allowed a larger percentage of the estate to be devoted to grain crops for export to England.

Higher prices encouraged the cultivation of new lands and the more intense use of existing farmlands. A primary input into this increased production was the Irish peasant who was in most cases nothing more than a landless serf. Likewise, the population growth rate did slow in response to reduced levels of protectionism in the decade prior to the Famine.

This artificial stimulus to the Irish population was secure with English landlords in control of Parliament. However, English manufacturers and laborers supported free trade and grew as a political force. With the agitation of the Anti-Corn Law League, the Whigs and Tories agreed in 1845 to reduce protectionist tariffs and the Corn Laws altogether by 1849. The price of wheat plummeted in 1847 ("corn" being British for grains, especially wheat, the prime grain protected under the Corn Laws), falling to a 67-year low.

https://mises.org/library/what-caused-irish-potato-famine
 
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By the time of the act of union of 1801 it was too late, might be possible at the time of the 1707 act of union.
Indeed.
I'm trying to recall the exact steps after the Anglo-Scottish union that turned Ireland into more of a colony than a partner realm.
That'd be where the POD is needed. Something that increases investment in Irish economic, agricultural, and political infrastructure.
While the blight would still be bad there's more crop diversification and easier relief.
 
Ireland was the only part of the UK that had a viceroy.
Ireland
The Lords Lieutenant of Ireland were often referred to as "Viceroy" after 1700 until 1922, even though the Kingdom of Ireland had been merged in 1801 into the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viceroy
And?
"The Lords Lieutenant of Ireland were often referred to as "Viceroy" after 1700 until 1922, even though the Kingdom of Ireland had been merged in 1801 into the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland."
There were Lords Lieutenant for England, Wales, and Scotland too.
The difference being that after the disposition of James II there tended to be a single one for Ireland. This was roughly when the single one for Wales became 2.
 
And?
"The Lords Lieutenant of Ireland were often referred to as "Viceroy" after 1700 until 1922, even though the Kingdom of Ireland had been merged in 1801 into the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland."
There were Lords Lieutenant for England, Wales, and Scotland too.
The difference being that after the disposition of James II there tended to be a single one for Ireland. This was roughly when the single one for Wales became 2.

even today The UK team at the Olympics is called "TEAM GB" not "TEAM UK"

Under the PTA act
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prevention_of_Terrorism_Acts
it was possible for a British subject from North Ireland to be deported to North Ireland and banned form entering the Great Britain.

Ireland was the Only part of the UK to have an armed police force The RIC and later RUC.
 
even today The UK team at the Olympics is called "TEAM GB" not "TEAM UK"

Under the PTA act
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prevention_of_Terrorism_Acts
it was possible for a British subject from North Ireland to be deported to North Ireland and banned form entering the Great Britain.

Ireland was the Only part of the UK to have an armed police force The RIC and later RUC.
Aren't those all consequences rather than causes?
My contention was thar it wasn't always treated as a colony but became so as it became more and more separated from the mainland. The 1801 Act of Union was too late to avert this.
 
Aren't those all consequences rather than causes?
My contention was thar it wasn't always treated as a colony but became so as it became more and more separated from the mainland. The 1801 Act of Union was too late to avert this.



As you say 1801 is probably too later, unless you do some thing like the highland clearances.
They could force land reform.
Deport most small tenant farmers to Canada or elsewhere and divide the land among the reduced number of tenant farms.
Ending price support for grain would help too.
I think it would be as unpopular as the highland clearances and could leader to other problems.
 
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Irish industrial revolution, possibly Linnen and flax does better (maybe delay in cotton gin)

Youngsters leave subsitnce agricultry for better paid factory work. Maybe small farmers diversify
 
Honestly, it comes down, IMO to the UK Government passing a compulsory purchase law on food leaving Ireland for a rolling annual period.

I don't know who'd pass that law, but stating it has a sundowner clause would potentially appease the free market lot. Plus, AFAIK, there was technically a whole mess of food at the time.

It could be used as a period to pay farmers with dead crops with food in exchange for public works and sale of land - and reorganise land for a more diverse crop package.

Plus, encourage the Anglican Church to get involved, buy loads of food and distribute to those poor Catholics in Ireland - some might convert, or at the very least it'd improve relations between the two.
 
It depends on how late you want to go. Either short term fixes for a very late POD which would basically involve the UK mitigating the consequences.

To actually do something about the cause of the famine requires an earlier POD and basically land reform. Or a prevention of the creation of the plantations. If we want to really push it back. Ireland would need to Urbanise on its own terms and the remaining farmers consolidate their own land and make investments in it.

Avoid the anti-catholic laws or dramatically reduce their reach. Turn places like Cork into actual large towns like in Great Britain through natural urbanisation. Allow Catholics to build estates and wealth.
 
Aren't those all consequences rather than causes?
My contention was thar it wasn't always treated as a colony but became so as it became more and more separated from the mainland. The 1801 Act of Union was too late to avert this.
Add in the fact many Irishmen felt little love for England....
 
Multiple types of potatoes grown, one of the things that made the the famine so bad, monocultures.

And that's how the famine ended. The 'lumper' grown in Ireland was vulnerable to the blight virus while many other potatoes were immune. That's why Ireland grows lots of potatoes now, but unfortunately it was years before anybody realized it.

It would also have helped if there had been better roads. They were pretty bad, which made it hard to get relief to the countryside.
 
If food wasn't being EXPORTED from Ireland as the famine was in progress, that would have helped some.
 
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