October 1845
HENRIETTA DONOVAN AND HER CHILDREN STROLLED HAPPILY AROUND the crowded Carbery Agriculture Society Show, admiring the prize-winning livestock on display.
Her eldest boys, Henry and Jerrie, and daughters Ellen, Fanny and Harriet were beside themselves with excitement at seeing all the animals. The big bulls that blew steam from their nostrils; the grunting, smelly pigs; the sheep; the flocks of fowl that squawked and quacked; and the gentle plough horses that let the children pat them. There were ploughs for sale and new items of farm equipment on display, and a tea tent for the ladies to enjoy. Henrietta took great pleasure at browsing the stalls with their rounds of creamy cheese and prize-winning displays of fruit preserves and pickles, to which she was partial.
The children ran around the showground, stopping to watch some small piglets squirming over each other in a pen, and pleaded for Dan to buy them one.
‘Please, Dada,’ begged Ellen. ‘Can you buy us the middle one with the black tip on his ear?’
‘Little pigs soon become big smelly ones.’ Dan laughed before distracting them with a visit to the toffee-apple man.
Later that evening, Dan attended the Agriculture Society Dinner and Henrietta stayed awake until he arrived home at eleven, to see how he had enjoyed it.
‘You should have heard them, Henrietta,’ he fumed, unable to hide his annoyance. ‘All the big landowners talked about was the progress and improvements being made in agriculture that could help them increase their tillage or livestock.’
‘That is a good thing, surely?’ Henrietta asked, confused.
‘These men are blinkered!’ he cried. ‘The loss of the potato means little to them. How can they not see the devastation it is having on their tenants, who cannot feed their families?’
‘Perhaps some of their lands have not been affected,’ Henrietta suggested gently as she brushed her hair.
‘I have travelled the six parishes in the county and the potatoes are destroyed most everywhere,’ Dan explained forcefully. ‘Attempts to store undamaged potatoes are proving hopeless. Reverend Traill from Schull and his landowner friend Mr Thomas Somerville have both devised some exacting new storage methods, using special pits to preserve whatever is left of the crop, but I doubt them.’
‘Reverend Traill is a most intelligent man?’ she ventured.
‘Their method is useless! It makes no matter if the potatoes are stored in pits or in cabins or in outhouses, for I suspect they will likely carry the hidden disease that has caused this devastation. I’ve read reports that it is the same in England and Scotland, and on parts of the continent. Fortunately, these places do not have millions of poor people who depend on the crop like we do.’
‘What will happen?’ Henrietta asked, suddenly fearful.
‘Unless they are helped, the people will go hungry,’ Dan said as he undressed. ‘It may even lead to famine.’
‘Oh, Dan, don’t say such a terrible thing!’
‘I only speak the truth, but thank heaven that Henry Marmion, Mr Welply, and Mr Clerke from the bank have good sense. They suggested that we have a duty to buy corn to protect the county from famine and each pledged one hundred pounds. But I fear no matter what we try to do, it will not be enough as most have no means of buying food.’
Henrietta grew anxious thinking of their children and the new baby, dark-haired little Margaret, who lay asleep in the crib near her parents’ bed.
‘I’m sorry, my dear, I did not mean to distress you at this late hour, but I am distracted by it and we have always shared our concerns and worries.’
‘Dan, I am here by your side always,’ she assured him. ‘I am glad that you told the tenants on our lands in Poundlick that you would not take rent from them while they are under such duress.’
‘It was the least I could do.’
‘My love, you are generous-hearted but are you sure that you can afford it?’
‘I will not touch any money that should be used to buy grain for these men’s families,’ he insisted. ‘They are good tenants and will no doubt repay me with their labours when I need it.’
As they kissed goodnight, Henrietta thanked heaven that she had followed her heart ten years ago and married the serious-minded young medical man with the long narrow face, intelligent eyes and quick wit who had swept her off her feet. She loved Dan dearly.