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The Great Irish Famine claimed the lives of one million people, mainly from the lower classes. More than a million others fled the stricken land between 1845 and 1851. In recent decades, its history has become the focus of considerable scholarly and popular attention, but much remains to be retrieved and reconstructed, particularly at the level of the rural poor. This book fills that gap. It is based on a large volume of reports on social conditions in the Irish localities, emanating from within those localities, that has never been used systematically by historians. It bears the compelling title of the ‘Death Census’. Most historians are simply unaware of its existence. The outstanding feature of the Death Census is that it was authored by local clergymen who lived among the people they served and were intimately involved with their lives. This book brings the Death Census together in composite form for the first time and provides a detailed examination of its contents. The result is new understanding of the Great Famine as it was experienced on the ground.
‘Based on 100 eyewitness statements, amounting to almost 50,000 words of testimony, the death census of 1847 demonstrates that there are still sources to be recovered that add depth and nuance to our understanding of the tragedy known as the Great Famine. Stunning research by four accomplished scholars’ —Professor Christine Kinealy, Director of Ireland’s Great Hunger Institute, Quinnipiac University, USA.
List of Figures, Tables, and Maps; Acknowledgements; Introduction; Part I, Chapter One The Great Famine; Chapter Two The Death Census of 1847; Chapter Three The Politics of Famine Mortality; Chapter Four Estimates of Famine Mortality in the Death Census; Chapter Five Eyewitness Accounts of Black ’47; Chapter Six Famine, Priests and People; Part II, Chapter Seven The Death Census: Testimony in Context; Bibliography; Index