1845 in Ireland

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Events from the year 1845 in Ireland.

Events

  • 18 February – Devon Commission reports to the British government on the poor living conditions of the Irish population: "in many districts their only food is the potato".{{cite web|title=The Census of 1841|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/ashorthistory/archive/intro181.shtml|publisher=BBC|work=A Short History of Ireland|access-date=2012-08-05}}{{cite book |author=|publisher=Ward, Lock & Co.|title=The Irish Problem and How to Solve It: An historical and critical review of the legislation and events that have led to Irish difficulties |year=1881 |isbn=978-0-543-90762-2 |location=London |chapter=The Devon Commission |access-date=2012-08-05 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ovOv7zaLW9sC&q=%22Devon+Commission%22&pg=PA239}}
  • September–December – African American abolitionist Frederick Douglass makes a speaking tour of Ireland.
  • 9 September – previously unknown potato blight strikes the potato crop: start of the Great Famine.{{cite web|title=Phytophthora infestans|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/ashorthistory/archive/intro182.shtml|publisher=BBC|work=A Short History of Ireland|access-date=2012-08-05}}{{cite book|last=Palmer|first=Alan|last2=Palmer |first2=Veronica|year=1992|title=The Chronology of British History|publisher=Century Ltd|location=London|pages=267–268|isbn=0-7126-5616-2}}
  • 1 October – Wesley College (Dublin) founded.
  • 31 October–1 November: an emergency meeting of the Cabinet of the United Kingdom (summoned on 15 October by Sir Robert Peel, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom) votes against Peel on the distribution of relief in Ireland, considering it would call the Corn Laws into question.{{cite book|first=Cecil|last=Woodham-Smith|author-link=Cecil Woodham-Smith|year=1962|title=The Great Hunger: Ireland 1845–9|pages=50–7}}{{cite book|first=Cormac|last=Ó Gráda|title=Ireland's Great Famine: Interdisciplinary Perspectives|publisher=University College Dublin Press|year=2006|pages=7–15|isbn=1-904558-57-7}}
  • 9–10 November – Peel orders the secret purchase of £100,000 worth of maize and meal from the United States for distribution in Ireland.{{cite book|first=Christine|last=Kinealy|title=This Great Calamity: The Irish Famine 1845–52|location=Dublin|publisher=Gill & Macmillan|year=1994|isbn=0-7171-1832-0|pages=37–46}}{{cite book|first=James S. Jr|last=Donnelly|title=The Great Irish Potato Famine|location=Stroud|publisher=Sutton Publishing|year=2005|isbn=0-7509-2928-6|page=49}}
  • 15 November – scientific commissioners (appointed in October) report that half the Irish potato crop has been destroyed by the blight.
  • 20 November – a relief commission for Ireland first meets.
  • 25 November – the Dublin to Longford passenger boat hit the canal bank and capsized on the Royal Canal outside Clonsilla, Dublin at approximately 4:00pm, drowning 15 people{{cite web|title=The sinking of the Longford in 1845|url=https://irishwaterwayshistory.com/abandoned-or-little-used-irish-waterways/the-royal-canal/the-sinking-of-the-longford-in-1845/|publisher=Irish Waterways History|date= 2015-11-23|access-date=2025-02-02}}{{cite web|last=King|first=Jason|title=Day 6 Maynooth – Dublin c27km. Deplorable Accident on the Royal Canal|url=https://nationalfamineway.ie/deplorable-accident-on-the-royal-canal/|publisher=National Famine Way |date= 2017-06-01|access-date=2025-02-02}}
  • 5 December – unable to persuade his Cabinet to repeal the Corn Laws in the face of the Great Famine, Peel tenders his resignation as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom to Queen Victoria but is reinstated days later when Lord John Russell is unable to form a government.
  • 30 December – Queen's Colleges of Belfast, Cork and Galway are incorporated.
  • Bessbrook in County Armagh is established as a model village by Quaker linen manufacturer John Grubb Richardson.
  • Construction begins of the "Leviathan of Parsonstown", a telescope built by William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse.
  • Work completed on the building of Crumlin Road Gaol in Belfast.
  • The publication of the annual Thom's Irish Almanac and Official Directory, or Thom's Directory for short, begins in Dublin.{{sfn|Thom, Alexander|1852|page=v}}

Arts and literature

  • Charles Lever's novel The O'Donoghue: a tale of Ireland fifty years ago is published in Dublin and St Patrick's Eve in London.

Births

Deaths

See also

References

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Sources

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  • {{cite book| title=Thom's Irish Almanac and Official Directory, with the Post-Office Dublin City and County Directory, for the year 1852 | editor=Thom, Alexander | editor-link=Alexander Thom (almanac editor) | url=https://www.google.com./books/edition/Thom_s_Directory_of_Ireland/518NAAAAYAAJ?gbpv=1 | year=1852 |publisher= Alexander Thom, Printer and Publisher, 87 and 88, Abbey-Street | location = Dublin }}

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{{Years in Ireland}}

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Category:1840s in Ireland

Ireland

Category:Years of the 19th century in Ireland