Paper 3, Option 36.2: Ireland and the Union, c1774–1923 - 3 The Irish Famine, 1843–51 — Edexcel A-Level History
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Paper 3, Option 36.2: Ireland and the Union, c1774–1923 - 3 The Irish Famine, 1843–51 explained
Paper 3, Option 36.2: Ireland and the Union, c1774–1923 - 3 The Irish Famine, 1843–51 covers 3 specification points, including The role of absentee landlords, middlemen,… and The impact of government response to the….
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Open a point below for its explanation and revision guidance.
The role of absentee landlords, middlemen, landholdings, monoculture and blight; impact of famine on populace.
Irish rural poverty before the Famine rested on a fragile land system. Absentee landlords owned estates but lived elsewhere, drawing rents through agents and investing little. Middlemen leased large tracts and sublet at profit, leaving tenants on tiny, insecure holdings. Most cottiers and labourers depended on small plots and the potato as a monoculture, so a single crop failure threatened total destitution. When blight destroyed potato crops from 1845, repeated failures brought starvation, disease and mass mortality, especially among the poorest. Evictions, emigration and workhouse overcrowding transformed the populace, while the experience intensified demands for land reform and shaped later nationalist politics.
The impact of government response to the Famine; Peel’s response; Russell’s response; the Irish Poor Law Extension Act 1847; the problem of export of food from Ireland; the roles of Charles Edward Trevelyan and John Mitchel.
Government action shaped how the Famine was experienced. Peel responded with secret purchases of Indian meal and a public works scheme, then repealed the Corn Laws in 1846. Russell relied on public works and soup kitchens before the Irish Poor Law Extension Act 1847 shifted relief onto Irish ratepayers through the poor law, extending outdoor relief but under strict conditions. Food continued to be exported while people starved, raising questions about market principles and laissez-faire. Trevelyan, as Treasury official, controlled spending and insisted on local funding. Mitchel, a Young Irelander, condemned British policy as deliberate destruction, a view later echoed in nationalist memory.
Social and economic impacts of depopulation; migration and emigration; consolidation of land holdings and importance of the Encumbered Estates Act 1849.
The Famine transformed Irish society and land. Death and emigration cut the population sharply, with mass movement to Britain, North America and Australia. Emigration became a permanent feature, changing family structures and communities. Smaller farmers and labourers declined as land was consolidated into larger grazing and tillage holdings. The Encumbered Estates Act 1849 allowed indebted estates to be sold, transferring land to new owners who often raised rents and cleared tenants. Together these changes produced a more pastoral, less populous Ireland, embedding emigration and landlord-tenant conflict in later history.
Your focus
- Explain how absentee landlords and middlemen shaped Irish rural society.
- Analyse why landholdings and monoculture made the population vulnerable to blight.
- Assess the impact of the Famine on the Irish populace.
Show all 9 objectives
- Explain Peel's and Russell's responses and their consequences.
- Analyse the Poor Law Extension Act 1847 and food export.
- Evaluate Trevelyan's and Mitchel's roles in interpreting the Famine.
- Explain the social and economic impacts of depopulation.
- Analyse migration, emigration and land consolidation.
- Evaluate the importance of the Encumbered Estates Act 1849.
Paper 3, Option 36.2: Ireland and the Union, c1774–1923 - 3 The Irish Famine, 1843–51 exam tips
Marking Points
- Explains how absentee landlords drained capital and reduced improvement on Irish estates.
- Explains the middleman system and how subletting created small, insecure and subdivided landholdings.
- Analyses the consequences of landholdings and monoculture, showing why potato dependence made the poor exceptionally vulnerable.
- Explains the role of blight in destroying potato crops and triggering repeated subsistence crises from 1845.
- Assesses the impact of famine on the populace, including starvation, disease, eviction, workhouse pressure and mass emigration.
- Links the Famine's social and economic effects to later political and land-reform developments.
- Explains Peel's response: secret maize purchases, public works and Corn Law repeal, and assesses their limited impact.
- Explains Russell's response: public works, soup kitchens and the 1847 Poor Law Extension Act, showing how relief shifted to Irish rates.
- Analyses the export of food during the Famine and links it to laissez-faire and moralist arguments about markets.
- Assesses Trevelyan's role in restricting Treasury spending and Mitchel's nationalist interpretation of government policy.
- Explains depopulation through death and emigration and its social effects on families and communities.
- Analyses migration and emigration patterns, including destinations and the shift to permanent emigration.
- Explains consolidation of land holdings and the decline of smallholders and labourers.
- Assesses the Encumbered Estates Act 1849 as a cause of land transfer and further clearances.
Examiner Tips
- 💡Build causal chains that move from land structure to potato dependence to blight to famine impact.
- 💡Use precise terms such as cottier, conacre, subdivision and middleman to show secure knowledge.
- 💡Balance causes with consequences, ensuring the impact on the populace is fully addressed.
- 💡Link each named response to a specific impact on mortality, migration or land.
- 💡Use Trevelyan and Mitchel as contrasting lenses on the same policy decisions.
- 💡Judge whether government response was inadequate, hostile or constrained by ideology.
- 💡Quantify change where possible, for example population fall and emigration totals.
- 💡Link land consolidation to social consequences such as rural depopulation.
- 💡Use the Encumbered Estates Act as a turning point in land ownership.
Common Mistakes
- Treating the blight as the sole cause of the Famine; correct by explaining how landlord, middleman and landholding structures created vulnerability.
- Confusing absentee landlords with middlemen; correct by distinguishing owners who lived away from those who leased and sublet land.
- Assuming the Famine affected all classes equally; correct by showing that cottiers, labourers and smallholders suffered most.
- Treating the Famine as purely natural and ignoring government policy: correct by linking each response to its consequences.
- Assuming all relief was free and generous: correct by noting work tests, ratepayer funding and Treasury limits.
- Presenting Mitchel's view as neutral fact: correct by treating it as a nationalist interpretation to be evaluated.
- Treating depopulation as only deaths: correct by including emigration as a major cause.
- Assuming the Encumbered Estates Act helped tenants: correct by noting it often facilitated sales and clearances.
- Ignoring regional variation: correct by recognising different impacts across Ireland.