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around.
    At the time (eleven o’clock at night) that I went to visit these poor sufferers, it was blowing a perfect hurricane, and such groans of roaring wind and rain I never remember to have heard. I was accompanied by my assistant, Crowley, and we took with us some bread, tea and sugar; on reaching this vault, I thrust my head through the hole of [the] entrance, and had immediately to draw back, so intolerable was the effluvium; and, though rendered callous by a companionship for many years with disease and death, yet I was completely unnerved at the humble scene of suffering and misery that was presented to my view; six fellow creatures were almost buried alive in this filthy sepulchre. When they heard my voice, one called out, ‘Is that the Priest?’ another, ‘Is that the Doctor?’ The mother of the family begged in the most earnest manner that I would have them removed, or else that they would rot together; and they all implored that we would give them drink. Mr Crowley produced the tea and sugar, but they said it was of no use to them, as they had no fire or place to light it in, and that what they wanted was water; that they had put a jug under the droppings from the roof, but would not have drink enough for the night. The next day I got the consent of the Poor Law Guardians to have my patients removed from this abode of the dead to the fever hospital, and they are since improving. [3]

    Tim Harrington’s hut, County Cork.
(The Illustrated London News, 13-2-1847)
    James Mahoney proceeded to enlist the help of a Mr Everett, who had a great knowledge of the countryside. During their journey they visited a hut where four people had lain dead for six days; it was the abode of a Tim Harrington. On hearing their voices, Mr Harrington made an effort to reach the door, and he asked for a drink of water and a fire to keep him warm. He collapsed in the doorway and in all probability died as they were unable to give him aid through fear of contracting disease. Mahoney and Everett continued on to Schull where they encountered a group of over three hundred women looking to purchase food. Some had queued from daybreak to buy Indian meal from government-appointed officers. The officers appeared to be issuing ‘miserable quantities’ at high ‘famine prices’. Mahoney’s harrowing reports were published in their entirety in the Irish newspapers as well as the Illustrated London News , and should rightly have inspired an urgent response from the government. [4]

    Funeral at Skibbereen, County Cork.
(The Illustrated London News, 13-2-1847)
    Another two men to publish reports on the de-vastating effects of the famine were Mr Forster and his son from Leeds. They visited Connacht in January 1847 on behalf of their community, to view ‘first-hand’ the devastation caused by the famine. The following is an extract taken from their report on the village of Bunderagh in Connemara:
    One poor woman, whose cabin I had visited, said, ‘There will be nothing for us but to lie down and die.’ I tried to give her hope of English aid, but, alas, her prophecy has been too true. Out of a population of 240, I found 13 already dead from want. The survivors were like walking skeletons – the men gaunt and haggard, stamped with the livid mark of hunger – the children crying with pain – the women in some of the cabins too weak to stand.

    Woman begging at Clonakilty, County Cork.
(The Illustrated London News, 13-2-1847)
    On the way to Clifden, Foster and his son came across around one hundred men engaged in famine-relief road works near Kylemore. Many of them had to walk between five and seven miles every day and earned a mere four shillings and sixpence per week. They had only one meagre meal a day to sustain them during this ‘back-breaking’ stonework. A policeman who was standing close by told the visitors that some of the men work ‘till they fall over their