LORD PALMERSTON AND THE IRISH FAMINE EMIGRATION: A REJOINDER

Abstract

This communication responds to Tyler Anbinder's article ‘Lord Palmerston and the Irish famine emigration’ of the late 1840s, published in the HJ in June 2001. Anbinder is incorrect in stating that ‘no detailed account of Palmerston's Irish estate during the famine or of his emigration scheme has ever been written’. There are other inaccuracies in Anbinder. There is also a problem of relevant omissions. Anbinder concentrates on Palmerston's assisted emigration programmes in a single year (1847). But Palmerston helped his tenants to emigrate both before and after 1847. What makes 1847 distinctive is that it was the only year in which Palmerston chartered ships for large-scale transportation of many of his tenants directly from Sligo to British North America. This communication seeks to place Anbinder's article in proper context, and hopes to prevent subsequent researchers from repeating some errors.