The Great Famine 1844-1852, that hit it’s climax in 1846-47, was but one of the many famines of the time, like the potato failures in 1790-1800, 1816, 1822 and 1836. Besides the many mini-famines, fever epidemics were other hazards of life, like the typhus of 1817 and the cholera of 1832.
