1849 in Ireland
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Events from the year 1849 in Ireland.
Events
- 30â31 March â Doolough Tragedy: At least 16 died when hundreds of the destitute and starving were forced to make a fatiguing journey on foot to receive outdoor relief in County Mayo.[1]
- 21 April â Great Famine: 96 inmates of the overcrowded Ballinrobe Union Workhouse died over the course of the preceding week from illness and other famine-related conditions, a record high. This year's potato crop again failed and there were renewed outbreaks of cholera.[2]
- 29 April â Brig Hannah carrying emigrants from Newry fleeing the Great Famine to Canada hit ice and sank in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and her senior officers abandoned the passengers to their fate. Around one-third of those on board, 49, died.[3]
- 12 July â Dolly's Brae conflict: Up to 1,400 armed Orangemen marched from Rathfriland to Tollymore Park near Castlewellan, County Down. When 1,000 armed Ribbonmen gathered, shots were fired, Catholic homes were burnt and about eighty Catholics killed.[4]
- 16 July â The Donaghadee to Portpatrick packet service was withdrawn.[5]
- 2â12 August â Queen Victoria visited Cork, Dublin and Belfast,[6] landing on 3 August at Cove, which was renamed Queenstown in her honour, and departing from Kingstown. She officially opened Queen's Bridge in Belfast.
- 18 October â The Great Southern and Western Railway opened to Cork.[7][8]
- Construction began on the 18-arch Craigmore Viaduct near Newry, on the Dublin-Belfast railway line (opened in 1852).
- George Boole was appointed as first professor of mathematics at Queen's College, Cork.[9]
- William Thompson began publication (in London) of The Natural History of Ireland, with the first volume, on birds.
Births
- 31 January â Robert James McMordie, solicitor, politician and Lord Mayor of Belfast (died 1914).
- 12 February â John Edward Robinson, Missionary Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church (died 1922).
- 18 May â John Clark, boxer (died 1922).
- 4 July â John Stanislaus Joyce, businessman, civil servant, and father of the writer James Joyce (died 1931).[10]
- 9 July â Robert McCall, lawyer (died 1934).
- 1 August â William Larminie, poet and folklorist (died 1900).
- 16 August â James Buchanan, 1st Baron Woolavington, businessman and philanthropist (died 1935).
- 24 October â Nugent Everard, soldier, Seanad member (died 1929).
- 19 November â James Mason, chess player and writer (died 1905).
- 12 December â Peter F. Collier, publisher (died 1909)
- Charles James O'Donnell, colonial administrator and MP (died 1934).
Deaths
- 21 January â Anthony Manahan, businessman and politician in Upper Canada (born 1794).
- 26 January â Thomas Arbuthnot, British military officer (born 1776).
- 7 March â Maurice FitzGerald, 18th Knight of Kerry, Whig politician (born 1774).
- 27 March â Archibald Acheson, 2nd Earl of Gosford, MP, Lieutenant-Governor of Lower Canada and Governor General of British North America (born 1776).
- 22 May â Maria Edgeworth, novelist (born 1767).
- 28 May â Joseph Blake, 3rd Baron Wallscourt, socialist (born 1797).
- 20 June â James Clarence Mangan, poet (born 1803) (cholera).
- September â Daniel Robertson, architect and garden designer (born c. 1770 in British North America).
- 27 December â James Fintan Lalor, revolutionary, journalist and writer (born 1807).