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IV. The Irish Board of Works in the Famine Years1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2009

A. R. G. Griffiths
A. R. G. Griffiths
Affiliation:
The Flinders University of South Australia
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Extract

The field of Anglo-Irish administrative history, comprehensively surveyed by Dr R. B. McDowell, has been subjected to little detailed analysis. This article attempts to fill the gap in one important respect. It sets out to examine the role of the Irish Board of Works during the famine years. In 1846–7, at a time of grave national crisis, the Board of Works tackled the near-impossible task of providing public works for the relief of almost every family in Ireland. Despite the Treasury's efforts to control abuses, the Board of Works proved unequal to the task, and had to be replaced as the main tool of government policy.

Type
Articles
Information
The Historical Journal , Volume 13 , Issue 4 , December 1970 , pp. 634 - 652
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1970

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References

2 See R. B. McDowell, The Irish Administration 1801–1914 (1964).

3 For the foundation and pre-famine history of the Board of Works see Griffiths, A.R.G., ‘The Irish Board of Works, 1831–1878’ (Cambridge unpublished Ph.D. thesis, 1968).Google Scholar

4 D.N.B. X, 993–5.

5 McDowell, Irish Administration, p. 205.

6 Hansard vi, 71 (15 Aug. 1831).

7 Graham papers, Bundle 25 IR., Netherby, Longtown, Cumberland (microfilm of papers in University Library, Cambridge), Heytesbury to Graham, 22 December 1845.

8 D.N.B.XIX, 1135. E. Hughes, ‘Sir Charles Trevelyan and Civil Service Reform, 1853–5’, English Historical Review, LXIV, 53. He had been appointed assistant secretary to the Treasury from 21 January 1840. Since the other two secretaries (the patronage and the official secretary) moved in and out of office with their political chiefs, Trevelyan was the permanent head—a position he held for nineteen years. J. Hart, ‘Sir Charles Trevelyan at the Treasury’, EHR, LXXV, 100. Trevelyan's first administrative experience had been with the East India Company's Bengal Civil Service in 1826. For four years he was assistant to Sir Charles Metcalf at Delhi. In 1831 he moved to Calcutta as deputy secretary to the government, and did not return to England until January 1838. Before he moved from Delhi he became involved in his first public work, paying himself for the construction of a street which became known as Trevelyanpur. Trevelyan's knowledge of India was much greater than his familiarity with Ireland. He went to Dublin on a short tour once in 1843, and he returned for a week in October 1847.

9 Public Record Office (hereafter P.R.O.), T 28/83/166, Trevelyan to Board of Works, 27 December 1845.

10 Graham papers, Bundle 96 A, Graham to Twistleton, 2 December 1845.

11 Ibid. Bundle 99, Graham to Heytesbury, 6 February 1846.

12 9 Viet., c. 1.

13 9 Viet., caps. 2, 3, 4.

14 P.R.O., T 28/83/175–6, Trevelyan to Board of Works, 4 March 1846.

15 Correspondence explanatory of the measures adopted by Her Majesty's Government for the Relief of Distress arising from the failure of the potato crop in Ireland, Board of Works, p. 275, H.C. 1846 (735), XXXVIIGoogle Scholar (hereafter Corr. explan. of measures adopted). Treasury Minute, 8 March 1846.

16 Corr. explan. of measures adopted, p. 275, Jones to Trevelyan, 11 March 1846; State Paper Office Dublin Castle (hereafter S.P.O.), VII. c. 5.9.189, Pennefather to Board of Works, 19 March 1846.

17 Corr. explan. of measures adopted, p. 276, Jones to Trevelyan, 14 March 1846.

18 Newcastle papers (microfilm of papers in the National Library of Ireland), Lincoln to Peel, 31 March 1846.

19 P.R.O. T 28/83/190–1, Trevelyan to Board of Works, 4 April 1846; Corr. explan. of measures adopted, p. 291, Treasury Minute, 3 April 1846.

20 Parker, C.S., Life and Letters of Sir James Graham 1792–1861 (1907), 11, p. 38.Google Scholar

21 Ibid. p. 38.

22 Ibid. p. 309, Lincoln to Trevelyan, 20 April 1846.

23 Ibid. p. 314, Jones to Trevelyan, 2 May 1846.

24 Parker, op. cit. pp. 316–17, return of applications.

25 Ibid. pp. 297–8, J. MacMahon, Instructions for the guidance of engineers, 9 March 1846.

26 Kilkenny Journal and Leinster Commercial and Literary Advertiser, 30 October 1846.

27 Observations on the Evils resulting to Ireland, from the insecurity of title and the existing laws of real property… (Dublin, 1847), p. 13.Google Scholar

28 Mayo Constitution, 18 August 1846.

29 Corr. explan. of measures adopted, p. 318, Jones to Trevelyan, 21 May 1846.

30 Ibid. pp. 324–6, return of applications.

31 Nowlan, K.B., The Politics of Repeal: A Study in the Relations between Great Britain and Ireland, 1841–50 (1965), pp. 95, 104–7.Google Scholar

32 Corr. explan. of measures adopted, p. 330, Treasury Minute, 26 June 1846.

33 D.N.B. XVI, 87. Bessborough, an Oxford man, entered Parliament in 1805 in t h e Whig interest, and sat for several constituencies, including Nottingham and Kilkenny. He was a supporter of Catholic emancipation, helped in t he preparation of t h e first reform bill, and introduced Daniel O'Connell when he first took his seat in Parliament.

34 D.N.B. XI, 367–8. Labouchere was of Huguenot stock. He became an M.P. in 1826 and from 1830 to his retirement from politics represented Taunton. He was successively a lord of the Admiralty, master of the mint, vice-president of the Board of Trade, and undersecretary for war and the colonies.

35 Corr. explan. of measures adopted, Pennefather to Trevelyan, 30 June 1846.

36 S.P.O., VIII.c.5.9.412, Pennefather to Board of Works, 29 June 1846. Corr. explan. of measures adopted, p. 331, Treasury Minute, 3 July 1846.

37 Corr. explan. of measures adopted, pp. 331–2, Jones to Trevelyan, 3 July 1846.

38 Corr. explan. of measures adopted, pp. 340–1, Board of Works to Pennefather, 18 July 1846; S.P.O., VIII. c.s. 9.440, Redington to Relief Committees, 20 July 1846.

39 D.N.B. XXI, 824. Born in 1800, Wood held high office under the Whigs as joint secretary to the Treasury, and secretary to the Admiralty. After the great famine he turned his attention to Indian administration, becoming secretary of state for India in 1859. He was created Lord Halifax in 1866.

40 Corr. explan. of measures adopted, pp. 341–3, Treasury Minute, 21 July 1846; S.P.O., VIII. c. 5.9.446, Redington to Relief Committees, 24 July 1846.

41 P.R.O. 32/22/5 B, Russell papers, Shannon to Bessborough, 5 August 1846.

42 Ibid., Enniskillen to Bessborough, 12 August 1846.

43 Ibid., O'Connell to Russell, 12 August 1846; Gooch, G.P., The Later Correspondence of Lord John Russell 1840–1878 (1925), pp. 145–6.Google Scholar

44 P.R.O. 32/22/5 B, Russell papers, Russell to O'Connell, 14 August 1846.

45 3 Hansard lxxxviii, 999–1007, 1016–19 (25 August 1846).

46 P.R.O. T 28/83/251, Trevelyan to Board of Works, 27 August 1846; S.P.O. VIII. c. 5. 9.481, Redington to Board of Works, 31 August 1846.

47 J. O'Loan, ‘Nineteenth-Century Administrators: William Thomas Mulvany’, Administration, VIII. Mulvany was born at Sandymount in 1806, studied architectural drawing, joined the Royal Engineers, worked on the ordnance survey, the boundary survey, the river Shannon projects and Peel's land reclamation schemes. He was sacked from government office after landowners' complaints in 1853 and, leaving Dublin disillusioned and bitter, spent the next thirty years playing a major part in the industrial development of the Ruhr through coal mines he discovered—the ‘Shamrock’ and the ‘Hibernia’.

48 Larcom papers, National Library of Ireland, MS 7520, Larcom to Lincoln, 6 May 1846, Griffith to Larcom, 8 May 1846. Larcom, happy to escape from the ordnance survey because of quarrels with the director, Col. Colby, rose through the Board of Works to major posts in the Irish administration, including that of under-secretary.

49 Correspondence from July 1846 to January 1S4J, relating to the Measures adopted for the Relief of Distress in Ireland (Board of Works Series). 7, H.C. 1847 [764], 1 (hereafter Board of Works corr. 1), Treasury Minute, 31 August 1846; P.R.O. T 28/83/255, Trevelyan to Board of Works, 31 August 1846.

50 Board of Works corr. I, 6 7 – 8, Treasury Minute, 31 August 1846.

51 Ibid. p. 74, Jones to Trevelyan, 1 September 1846.

52 Ibid. p. 76, Board of Works to Treasury, 5 September 1846.

53 Ibid. pp. 84–5, Jones to Trevelyan, 5 September 1846.

54 Kerry Examiner, 4 September 1846.

55 Gooch, op. cit. pp. 147–9, Labouchere to Russell, 24 September 1846.

56 Cork Examiner, 9 October 1846.

57 Ballysharmon Herald, 9 October 1846.

58 Board of Works corr. I, 98–100, Treasury Minute, October 1846.

59 Ibid. p. 97, Trevelyan to Jones, 5 October 1846.

60 Gooch, op. cit. pp. 149–51, Bessborough to Russell, 6 October 1846.

61 Monteagle papers, National Library of Ireland, MS. 13396, Wood to Monteagle, 10 October 1846.

62 Kilkenny Journal and Leinster Commercial and Literary Advertiser, 14 October 1846.

63 Roscommon Journal, and Western Reporter, 17 October 1846.

64 Cork Examiner, 19 October 1846.

65 Larcom papers, National Library of Ireland, MS 7745, Trevelyan to Larcom, 17 October 1846. Trevelyan's last sentence was omitted from the correspondence laid before parliament in 1847. He continued to revise and rewrite official correspondence and reports, removing in particular passages about Irish expenditure which might ‘grate extremely’ on public opinion and be quoted against past and future governments in a harmful way. Ibid., Trevelyan to Larcom, 1 March 1849.

66 Board of Works corr. 1, 195–7, Board of Works to Treasury, 12 November 1846.

67 Ibid. pp. 262–3, Jones to Trevelyan, 14 November 1846.

68 Ibid. pp. 290–1, Wynne to Jones, 26 November 1846.

69 Ibid. pp. 289–90, Jones to Labouchere, 27 November 1846, Jones to Trevelyan, 28 November 1846.

70 S.P.O. VIII. c.s. 10.119–20, Labouchere to Jones, 5 December 1846.

71 Board of Works corr. 1, 291–2, Trevelyan to Jones, 2 December 1846.

72 Gooch, op. cit. pp. 161–2, Wood to Russell, 2 December 1846.

73 Board of Works corr. 1, 349, Board of Works to Treasury, 12 December 1846; S.P.O. VIII.c.5.10.122–6, extraordinary presentment gazetted December 1846.

74 Board of Works corr. I, 355, Board of Works Circular 38, 9 December 1846.

75 Ibid. p. 398, Treasury Minute, 15 December 1846.

76 Gooch, op. cit. p. 165, Russell to Bessborough, 17 December 1846.

77 Board of Works corr. 1, 398–9, Trevelyan to Board of Works, 21 December 1846.

78 Ibid. p. 400, Griffith to Jones, 19 December 1846.

79 P.R.O. T 28/84/53, Trevelyan to Board of Works, 5 January 1847.

80 Board of Works corr. I, 434–5, Wynne to Jones, 24 December 1846.

81 Larcom papers, National Library of Ireland, MS 7745, Trevelyan to Larcom, 6 January 1847.

82 Ibid., Trevelyan to Jones, 14 January 1847.

83 Ibid., Jones to Trevelyan, 20 January 1847; Correspondence from January to March 1847, relating to the Measures adopted for the Relief of Distress in Ireland (Board of Works Series) Second Part, 14, H.C. 1847 [764], lii (hereafter Board of Works corr. II), Board of Works to Bessborough, 17 January 1847.

84 3 Hansard lxxxix, 436ff. (25 January 1847).

85 Redington was under-secretary and Routh and MacGregor were in charge of commissariat and constabulary respectively. See Wrottesley, G., Life and Correspondence of Field Marshal Sir John Burgoyne, Bart. (1873), 1, 452–3Google Scholar, Grey to Bessborough, 28 January 1837; Labouchere to Burgoyne, 26 January 1847.

86 Board of Works corr. 11, 175, Board of Works Circular 66, 22 February 1847.

87 Ibid. pp. 166–7, Trevelyan to Jones, 2 March 1847.

88 Ibid. p. 175, Jones to Trevelyan, 4 March 1847.

89 Ibid. p. 230, Grey to Bessborough, 4 March 1847; S.P.O. VIII. c. 5.10.205, Redington to Board of Works, 8 February 1847.

90 Board of Works corr. 11, 231, Redington to Relief Committees, 5 March 1847.

91 Ibid., Bessborough to Grey, 8 March 1847; S.P.O. VIII. c. 5.10.245, circulara March 1847.

92 T. P. O'Neill has demonstrated how the horrors of the winter of 1846–7 were re-enacted in the two winters that followed. See T. P. O'Neill, ‘The Organisation and Administration of Relief, 1845–52’, p. 252, in Edwards, R.D. and Williams, T.D. (eds.), The Great Famine: Studies in Irish History 1845–52 (Dublin, 1956).Google Scholar

93 See F.S.L. Lyons's comments in his review of Woodham-Smith, C., The Great Hunger: Ireland 1846–52 (1962) in Irish Historical Studies, LIII, 77–9.Google Scholar

94 Monteagle papers, National Library of Ireland, MS 13396, Wood to Monteagle, 10 October 1846.