The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
Jerry’s history of Famine reveals horrific human cost
“MOST images of the famine are ink sketches from the London Times which was very racist towards Ireland at that time.”
This is one of many reasons why Glenbeigh author Jerry Mulvihill – of the Red Fox Inn Mulvihills – made it his ambition to visualise the true horror of Ireland’s famine 170 years ago.
Jerry maintains the famine has never fully been visualised by Irish people and that a random Google search returns sketches that are unreliable and occasionally deflective of the true scale of destitution.
“I have purchased over 142 books on the famine as part of my research and I find most of them get distracted by politics and blight.
“In a way, if you look at the famine closely, the human element is often disregarded,” Jerry said.
‘The truth behind the Irish Famine: 1845-1852’ is the result of three years work culminating in an excellent and tragically evocative account of Ireland’s darkest hour.
64 paintings have been specially commissioned, by four artists - Rodney Charman, Gerardine Sherdian, Jane Hilliard and Maurice Pierse – in work depicting 430 horrendous eyewitness accounts that have been researched by Jerry.
Depictions of a starving mother and children, workhouse burials and scenes of emigration are distressingly and vividly brought to life.
“The book is a no holds barred look at the Famine and the conclusion and tone of the book show the malevolence of what was occurring.
“Most of the books I reference are diary accounts, so I really put the reader into what people were looking at during that time.
“It covers all of Ireland and Kerry features prominently in the book,” Jerry explained.
The English horror writer, James Herbert once wrote that ‘to be haunted is to glimpse a truth that might best be hidden,’ – precisely the sentiment evoked by even the quickest perusal of Jerry’s hard-hitting tome.
More than 1.5 million people starved to death between 1845 and 1852, while massive quantities of food were exported from Ireland to Britain. The graphic and intense paintings portrayed in the book serve as a perpetual reminder of this wrong.
“The first half of the book deals with Ireland approaching the Famine as this set the groundwork for what was to take place and it’s one of the most extensive visualisations of the subject ever published,” Jerry concluded.
‘The truth behind the Irish Famine: 1845-1852’ will be launched by Minister of State for Tourism and Sport, Brendan Griffin at The Red Fox Inn at 7pm on Friday July 28 next. Live music on the night will be courtesy of harpist Marina Cassidy and Celtic Steps.