Irish Eviction

This 1850 painting by Frederick Goodall shows a scene that became typical during the harrowing period of the Great Famine. Unable to pay rents due to the loss of crops, tenants were often forced from their lands to throw themselves on the mercy of workhouses, charity or emigration. The Great Famine would later provide an invaluable rallying point for nationalists who were keen to point out the bureaucratic heartlessness of their laissez-faire response to the calamity.

Ireland