Skip to content
 Limerick's Life
Menu
  • Search
  • About
  • Contact
  • Buy Me A Coffee
Menu

1848, Imports and Exports from Limerick during the Famine

Posted on July 13, 2014March 13, 2019 by Sharon Slater

1848 was the height of the Famine in Ireland, and to the general observer of the past there was no food to be had in Ireland. This was not the case though as the following list of imports and exports from the Limerick Quays in December 1848 show. There was plenty of food in Ireland, but it was being exported on a large scale. This might raise the question, “Why were they exporting so much food when such a large portion of the population were starving to death?” The simple answer is that these companies realised that it was more economically viable to export the goods in sales rather than keep in the country. The more accurate answer would take much more than a short post on a history blog, it would take more like an entire thesis to analyse the plethora of reasons why companies conducted their business the way they did during these times.

On the flip side there was a large import of Indian Corn (also known as Maize), which was used to feed the Irish. Indian Corn, in the first week of February 1848, was received by almost 445,500 Irish people in the form of outdoor relief. Indian Corn did stave of some of the hunger but it brought with it a series of problems, such as being difficult to cook and hard to digest which caused diarrhea. Also, because of the lack of vitamin C it caused many cases of scurvy. Another import was Guano, which was a fertilizer made from the excrement of sea birds and bats found primarily on islands on the coast of Peru.

1848
Limerick Chronicle – 12 Jan 1848

Search This Site

  • Chronicles
  • Churches
  • Collaborations
  • Dr. Crumpe's Weather 1795
  • Featured
  • Folklore
  • Graveyards
  • Guest Posts
  • History
  • Letters
  • Limerick Places
  • Making The Most Of
  • On This Day
  • People & Genealogy
  • Press & Published
  • Quizzes
  • Rediscovering Limerick
  • Streets
  • Videos
  • Visitors to Limerick
  • Weddings 1862
  • Weddings 1863
  • Who was?

About Limerick’s Life

This website is a personal project of Sharon Slater, born from a passion for Limerick and its history. It has been maintained, updated and contributed to it independently and voluntarily. If you'd like to buy me a coffee to keep Limerick's history online, please know that all donations will go directly into the costs of hosting the website and the time and travel to research and write the articles found on the site.

Buy Me A Coffee
books
awards
awards
© 2025 Limerick's Life | Powered by Minimalist Blog WordPress Theme