Conference given graphic view of Famine suffering

The records state that the Flynn family were from Ireland, but had left because of the Famine. All eight of them were admitted to the workhouse in Liverpool on May 18th, 1847. Roger (37), the father, died on May 26th that year. Catherine (14) died on June 11th, Bridget (16) on June 15th and Thomas (2) on June 26th. The mother, Catherine (38), died on July 12th. John (4) died on July 28th. Mary (9) also died at about that time, but there is no date for her death. Michael (7) survived. He was sent to an orphanage on August 9th.

Dr Frank Neal, of the University of Salford, gave these facts about the Flynn family in a talk entitled "The Famine Irish in Britain" at this year's Douglas Hyde Conference in Co Roscommon. He spoke in the Hyde Interpretative Centre at Portahard.

He said that most of the Famine Irish who went to Britain headed for the cities of Liverpool, Glasgow, Manchester and London. Driven out by conditions in Ireland, they travelled there by steamships of the type used to transport cattle and goods.

In 1845 just 800 Irish paupers were recorded in Liverpool. In the same week in 1846 that figure had risen to 14,000. By 1847 296,213 Irish had arrived in the city, of whom 116,000 were described as paupers. The remainder were emigrants in transit elsewhere or were accompanying cattle. Most were supported by local relief. The poor rate was raised four times in Liverpool during 1847 to pay for this. Appeals to the government in London for assistance were not heeded.

Hospital beds in Liverpool were increased from 84 to 2,000. In 1847, 8,000 people died there of typhus or "Irish Fever". Among the dead were 10 Catholic priests who contracted the disease while administering the last rites. All were believed to be English.

The influx of Irish paupers to Liverpool was to continue in large numbers until 1854, when it dropped to 6,679 for the year.

Speaking at St Nathy's College, Ballaghaderreen, Dr Laurence Geary, of UCC, addressed the psychological and social experience of the Famine as it affected people at the time. Approaching that experience "through the senses", he used pictures from contemporary Famine scenes to illustrate the premature ageing which is a feature of malnutrition, particularly in infants.

Dr Dympna McLaughlin, of St Patrick's College, Maynooth, told the conference how the workhouse system was the only institution which did not have selection procedures. Other institutions, such as those run by the churches, saw poor children as not especially deserving of charity. Most of these children were illegitimate and it had been widely believed that they were carriers of syphilis. In 1853 there were 82,000 children without relatives in Irish workhouses.

Dr Joe Lee, of UCC, spoke on "The Great Famine between Memory and History". He addressed the question of Famine death figures, illustrating how these often reflected the political sympathies of historians.

He began with John Mitchel's assertion in 1858 that 1 1/2 million had died, tracing the figures through to 1896, when a retired poor law official, Mr W.T. O'Brien, put the figure at 300,000. A study by a Welsh geographer in the early 1960s put the figure at 800,000. With the outbreak of the Northern Troubles in the late 1960s, the Famine death figure was "played down" to 500,000, "for fear of giving encouragement to the IRA". However, a study by a Dutch-Amerian Jew, published in 1983, indicated that 1.1 million people had probably died.

The conference was opened by Dr Robert Scally, of New York University, who spoke about Irish emigration to the US.

Two lectures commemorated the bicentenary of Edmund Burke's death. Dr Conor Cruise O'Brien dealt with attempts, particularly in this century, to diminish Burke's stature, while Mr Nicholas Robinson gave a talk, with illustrations, on Burke in caricature. Both spoke at Clonalis House, near Castlerea.