The Ballinlass incident (Irish: ''Eachtra Bhaile an Leasa'') was the eviction of 300 tenants on 13 March

1846 in Ireland Events from the year 1846 in Ireland. Events *Ongoing – Great Hunger: The first deaths from hunger take place early in the year. ''Phytophthora infestans'' almost totally destroys the summer potato crop and the Famine worsens considerably. By D ...

, in the context of the

Great Famine in Ireland The Great Famine ( ga, an Gorta Mór ), also known within Ireland as the Great Hunger or simply the Famine and outside Ireland as the Irish Potato Famine, was a period of starvation and disease in Ireland from 1845 to 1852 that constituted a ...

(

1845 Events January–March * January 10 – Elizabeth Barrett receives a love letter from the younger poet Robert Browning; on May 20, they meet for the first time in London. She begins writing her ''Sonnets from the Portuguese''. * January 23 ...

–

1849 Events January–March * January 1 – France begins issue of the Ceres series, the nation's first postage stamps. * January 5 – Hungarian Revolution of 1848: The Austrian army, led by Alfred I, Prince of Windisch-Grätz, enters in th ...

). At this time, Ireland was part of the

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was a sovereign state in the British Isles that existed between 1801 and 1922, when it included all of Ireland. It was established by the Acts of Union 1800, which merged the Kingdom of Great B ...

, governed directly by its parliament in London. Many working class Irish farmers were tenants under landlords, producing cereals,

potato The potato is a starchy food, a tuber of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'' and is a root vegetable native to the Americas. The plant is a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae. Wild potato species can be found from the southern Unit ...

es and livestock. But only the potatoes remained as food for the farmers themselves; the other products were used for paying the rent and exported from Ireland to

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

. These exports continued when the potato crop failed in 1845. Farmers who failed to pay the rent in this situation were evicted from their homes and land. It is estimated that tens of thousands were evicted during the famine. The 300 inhabitants of the townland of Ballinlass in

Galway County "Righteousness and Justice" , anthem = () , image_map = Island of Ireland location map Galway.svg , map_caption = Location in Ireland , area_footnotes = , area_total_km2 = ...

, in the Barony of Killian, northeast of

Mountbellew Mountbellew or Mountbellew Bridge (historically ''Creggaun'', from ) is a town in County Galway, Ireland. It lies mostly within the townland of Treanrevagh (''Trian Riabhach'') on the N63 national primary road. The town has a population of ap ...

, were relatively "wealthy" and able to pay their rent. But despite this fact, they were evicted on 13 March 1846 because the landlord, a Mrs Gerrard, intended to establish a grazing farm where the village was situated. The houses of Ballinlass were demolished by army and police; the people slept in the ruins in the following night. The next day, police and army returned to evict them definitively. Their neighbours were not allowed to take them in. The eviction of the entire village received wide publicity and was 'personally investigated' by Lord Londonderry, who, in a statement to the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...

on March 30, 1846 said 'I am deeply grieved, but there is no doubt concerning the truth of the evictions at Ballinlass. Seventy six families, comprising 300 individuals had not only been turned out of their houses, but had even - the unfortunate wretches - been mercilessly driven from the ditches to which they had been taken themselves for shelter..these unfortunate people had their rents actually ready..' Despite widespread condemnation, the eviction order was not rescinded.A Dictionary of Irish History, D.J.Hickey & J.E.Doherty, Gill and Macmillan, Dublin, 1980. Pp. page 24.

References

;Notes ;Sources *

Cecil Woodham-Smith Cecil Blanche Woodham-Smith ( Fitzgerald; 29 April 1896 – 16 March 1977) CBE was a British historian and biographer. She wrote four popular history books, each dealing with a different aspect of the Victorian era. Early life Cecil Woodham-Smi ...

, ''The Great Hunger. Ireland 1845-1849'', (p. 71–72) * {{coordinates, 53.48978, -8.46222 Great Famine (Ireland) 1846 in Ireland Forced migration March 1846 events