1. Introduction
Between 1847 and 1849, as starvation swept across West Clare, the British-appointed Poor Law Inspector for the Kilrush Union, Captain Arthur Kennedy, compiled detailed reports on the scale of evictions, destitution, and death.
These records expose the ruthless tactics of the Vandeleurs – including mass evictions, the demolition of homes (“tumbling”), and the total disregard for the lives of tenants.
The death of tens of thousands was not a tragedy of chance. It was a catastrophe of deliberate decisions, and these official records prove it.
2. Official Reports (downloadable)
The Clare County Library holds a record of Official Reports relating to Evictions in the Kilrush Union from November 1847 to June 1849.
3. Vandeleur Estates’ Reports
WARNING! These reports are harrowing and not suitable for all ages
Overcrowded Death Huts and Ditch Shelters
📅 Date: 16 May, 1849
📝 Source: Mr. Phelan’s Report
📍 Location: Carrigaholt, Killard, Kilmurry
“I have… seen sights of the most harrowing description, but I do not think that I have ever seen so much wretchedness arising from destitution… Families are here literally naked, and at the same time progressing surely and quickly to the grave, by diarrhœa and dropsy… I felt it my duty to go into several temporary shelters… merely a few hurdles thrown across from the ground to the ditch or wall… the utmost height is not above three feet… yet I found a family of four or five in these places, usually all or most sick.”
➤ Naked, freezing-cold, starving families dying from starvation-related illness in roadside hovels no higher than three feet.
Fever and Children Dying in Transit
📅 Date: Likely Spring 1849
📝 Source: Unnamed Officer, possibly Captain Kennedy
📍 Location: Kilrush Union, general
“The number of houseless paupers in this Union is beyond my calculation… panic-stricken and unnatural parents frequently send in a donkey load of children in fever a distance of 14 or 15 miles for admission… I saw several admitted yesterday, who, I am sure, cannot survive many hours.”
➤ Children, already near death, sent on donkeys across miles by desperate parents themselves too ill and feeble to accompany them.
Evicted, Huddled in Bogs, Dying by the Roadside
📅 Date: Likely early 1849
📝 Source: Captain Kennedy
📍 Location: Killard Division
“As soon as one horde of houseless, and all but naked paupers are dead… another wholesale eviction doubles the number… 16 houses, containing 21 families, have been levelled… The helpless and houseless creatures… betake themselves to the nearest bog or ditch… disease soon decimates them.”
➤ This is systemic death. People thrown from homes into ditches where exposure and disease take over. A cycle of eviction and death, repeated.
Ellen Lynch: Dysentery, Manure, and Abandonment
📅 Date: Undated
📝 Source: Field Officer
📍 Location: Not specified
“In a cow-shed adjoining this wretched cabin, I found Ellen Lynch, lying in an almost hopeless stage of dysentery… threatened with momentary expulsion… I was ankle-deep in manure while standing beside her… Her husband had been lately evicted and died.”
➤ A named, traceable victim left to die in animal filth.
Ditch-Dwellers Existing “Like Animals”
📅 Date: 16 March, 1848
📝 Source: Captain Kennedy
📍 Location: Kilrush Union
“We admitted a considerable number of paupers, among whom were some of the most appalling cases… When driven from their cabins they betake themselves to the ditches or the shelter of some bank, and there exist like animals…”
➤ A powerful summary by a government official: eviction drove people to live and die without dignity, shelter, or hope—like abandoned animals.
“We don’t know which way to face“
📅 Date: 5 July, 1848
📝 Source: Captain Kennedy
📍 Location: West Coast (Doonbeg/Killard/Kilkee/Doonaha/Carrigaholt/Kilbaha)
“The wretchedness, ignorance, and helplessness of the poor on the western coast of this Union prevent them seeking a shelter elsewhere; and to use their own phrase, they ‘don’t know where to face‘
➤ Though recorded second-hand by Captain Kennedy, he explicitly frames it as a direct quote from the evicted people themselves, reflecting their confusion and hopelessness following eviction.
THE VANDELEURS ORDERED ALL EVICTIONS
📅 Date: 1848
📝 Source: Captain Kennedy
📍 Location: Kilrush Union
“The people were tumbled out upon the roadside, many without a shelter.”
— Capt. Arthur Kennedy, April 1848
“Families perished from cold and hunger, having been turned out of their houses in the depth of winter.”
— Parliamentary Return, 1848
“Evictions were carried out with a reckless disregard for human life.”
— Capt. Kennedy, Kilrush Union“My acquaintance with the state of this Union does not allow me to believe that the numbers becoming chargeable to the rates will stop short of 20,000. This can hardly be a matter of surprise when I state (what the Commissioners are in possession of) that I have forwarded returns of the eviction of 6090 souls since last July. These small holders when evicted and their houses levelled, are the most hopeless and helpless class of paupers, being in almost every instance encumbered with a large family. The number I have stated does not comprise all those who have voluntarily surrendered, or who have been dispossessed in various other modes. When 6090 souls are added to the fair average of the infirm and helpless class in so large a population, the number on the relief list may be readily accounted for.”
— Capt. Kennedy, 4 December, 1848
4. Summary of Findings
- 20,000+ people evicted across Kilrush Union between 1847 and 1849
- Entire townlands cleared in weeks
- Thousands of homes demolished after eviction (tumbled) to prevent return
- Thousands of deaths directly linked to exposure or starvation following eviction
- Children and elderly among the hardest hit
- Vandeleurs acted with the full protection of British law – they were the law!
- In a December 4, 1848 report, Captain Kennedy stated that approximately 6,090 individuals had been forcibly evicted in the Kilrush Union in just the last 6 months alone
- No shelter. No food. No aid. No mercy!
5. The Vandeleur Estates
The Vandeleur family held vast estates not just in the Kilrush Union but in Carrigaholt, Cooraclare, Cross, Doonaha, Doonbeg, Kilkee, Killard, Killimer, Kilmihil, Kilmurry, Labasheeda, and across West and South Clare. While Captain Kennedy goes to pains to not name landlords, the pattern of destruction maps directly onto Vandeleur-held lands. The evictions he documented — mass, methodical, and merciless — unfolded under the Vandeleurs’ authority.
It beggars belief this public garden bears the Vandeleur name while the Vandeleur victims lie in mass graves.
6. Take Action
Rename the Vandeleur Walled Garden
Speak for the silenced. Demand dignity for the victims of Vandeleur evictions.
Justice for the Famine Victims Committee 