Incidental Ballinglass

What is called the Incidental Ballinglass (" incident of Ballinglass") was an expulsion during the Grande famine in Ireland (1845-1849).

Since the act of Union of 1800, the Ireland was integrated in the the United Kingdom, and the major part of the grounds in Ireland belonged to the English great landowners. The Irish peasants were tenants, producing cereals, potatoes and cattle. But only the potatoes remained like food for the peasants themselves; the other products were employed to pay the rent and were exported of Ireland towards England. These exports continued even when the potato harvest of 1845 was bad. Peasants who could not pay the rent in this situation were expelled of their houses and ground. It is estimated that tens of thousands were expelled during the famine. The 300 inhabitants of the village of Ballinglass in the Comté of Galway were relatively " riches" and could pay their rent. But in spite so they were expelled the March 13rd 1846 because the owner, a woman Mrs. Gerrard, wanted to establish a farm of pasture where the village was located. The houses of Ballinglass were demolished by the army and the police force. The first evening, their inhabitants slept in the ruins. The next day, the police force and the army are turned over to expel them definitively.

Source

Cecil Woodham-Smith, The Great Hunger. Ireland 1845-1849 , ISBN 014014515X (p. 71-72)

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