Politics as Usual: Charles Edward Trevelyan and the Irish and Scottish Fisheries Before and During the Great Famine

Abstract

Since the Great Irish Famine a debate has raged concerning the culpability of the British government, especially in the person of Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Charles Edward Trevelyan, and its failure to come to the aid of the starving Irish. On one end of the debate, Trevelyan is accused of severe prejudice against the Irish, with some ultra-nationalists even accusing him of genocide. On the other end, Trevelyan is viewed simply as an ideologue intent on enforcing the Whig view of laissez-faire economics. However, a study of government involvement in the Irish and Scottish fishing industries shows that the political situation before and during the Famine was more complex than the traditional debate indicates. This paper argues that the government’s treatment of the Irish fisheries, which were in a dismal state compared to the Scots, had more to do with political realities that Trevelyan inherited and could not ignore.