Artifact of Empire Project - Jane Eyre and the Great Famine (1840s)

Jane Eyre and the Great Famine

Artifact of Empire: 1840s
Artifact: Newspaper advertisement.
   ➢ Author: William Little; British Association for the Relief of Extreme Distress in the Remote Parishes of Ireland and Scotland
   ➢ Publication date: Saturday, January 16, 1847
   ➢ Publication location: 198 Strand, Parish of St. Clemens, Danes, London, UK
   ➢ From: The Illustrated London News (Historical Archive 1842 – 2003)
   ➢ URL: http://0-find.galegroup.com.helin.uri.edu/iln/infomark.do?&source=gale&prodId=ILN&userGroupName=mlin_s_wheaton&tabID=T003&docPage=article&docId=HN3100016223&type=multipage&contentSet=LTO&version=1.0

What is it?
Taken from a 1847 edition of the London Illustrated News, this newspaper advertisement from the British Association for the Relief of Extreme Distress in the Remote Parishes of Ireland and Scotland announces the launch of a new committee dedicated to helping the thousands of individuals suffering from the harrowing effects of the Great Irish Potato Famine. Before elaborating on the finer details, the advertisement provides rudimentary list of committee members who have already established interest in the endeavor in an effort, presumably, to demonstrate its credibility. From there, the piece invites “benevolent persons” to donate money towards the cause, with the unspoken promise that their names will be added to the public list of benefactors that follows. Occupying the center column, the advertisement draws attention away from the surrounding bulletins that offer various consumer goods like “American Soda Biscuits” or “Burdoe’s Winter Over-Coats.” The paper’s vertical orientation distinguishes it from other publications at the time by permitting a wider variety of content.

Context
An influx of new technologies that appeared around the early 1800s sparked the beginning of Britain’s Industrial Revolution, causing thousands of rural workers to flock to the city in search of jobs (History.com). In 1815, Parliament passed a series of agricultural laws, titled the Corn Laws, that prevented the importation of foreign corn, forcing higher food prices on these new urban families, benefitting the wealthy landowners, and thus widening the wealth gap. In Ireland, the reliance on Aran potatoes, which often yielded more crop and greater income, was interrupted by the onset of blight, a harsh fungus that wiped out the country’s potato supply. With the depletion of their major crop, Ireland was left destitute and hungry. Prime Minister and ex-Chief Secretary of Ireland Robert Peel shared the sentiment that the Irish were simply exaggerating the problem (O'Rourke) and, in turn, offered government stipends for food to Irish workers who were willing to partake in tedious tasks. The effort resulted in the death of millions, as starving workers struggled to survive until their next weekly paycheck. Though Peel’s successor, Lord John Russell, provided some relief with the construction of soup kitchens and loan centers, the flood of people to urban areas to receive these benefits resulted in epidemics that killed more people than the famine itself (Victorian Web). By the end of 1850, the massive shift in food production caused by English Corn Laws paired with the turmoil caused by the Irish Potato Famine had triggered a fixation with hunger across the United Kingdom, one that seeped into the pages of the period’s emerging literature.

Relation to Text
In Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre, the protagonist’s experiences at the Lowood School channel the famine spreading across the neighboring parishes of Ireland and Scotland. A few weeks into her stay at the Lowood School, Jane begins to feel the effects of Lowood’s paltry living conditions, noting: “The scanty supply of food was distressing […] whenever the famished great girls had an opportunity, they would coax or menace the little ones out of their portion […] after relinquishing to a third [girl] the contents of my mug of coffee, I have swallowed the remainder with an accompaniment of secret tears, forced from me by the exigency of hunger” (122). Though partially a byproduct of neglect, the hunger that spreads throughout Jane’s class mirrors the hunger and desperation that was plaguing the country at the time.

In both Jane Eyre and the newspaper clipping, the aid of outside sources comes with the formation of a committee dedicated to correcting the problems of the poor. In presenting the goals for the proposed committee, the British Association notes how they “prefer to act on the strong conviction that there are a large number of benevolent persons fully acquainted with the distress and ready to bestow their bounty whenever a channel is presented to them” (Illustrated London Press). In other words, the British Association aimed to improve the food crisis by establishing a committee run by “benevolent persons.” Likewise, the Lowood school became “a truly useful and noble institution” thanks to help from generous benefactors: “Several wealthy and benevolent individuals in the county subscribed largely for the erection of a more convenient building in a better situation; new regulations were made; improvements in diet and clothing introduced; the funds of the school were entrusted to the management of a committee” (149). In this way, Jane Eyre reflects the approach to poverty and famine adopted by the British during the Great Famine.

Just as upper classes in the 1840s feared hunger-induced riots, Lowood receives negative attention from the public when its poor provisions are exposed. In her retrospective account of her eight years at Lowood, Jane points out how eventually, “inquiry was made into the origin of the scourge, and by degrees various facts came out which excited public indignation in a high degree” (149). The efforts made, through the establishment of committees and donation funds, to quell the hunger epidemic sprang from the self-preservation instincts of the upper class, who aimed to avoid the potential “indignation” that ignoring the crisis would (and did) inspire. Such efforts are reflected in Jane Eyre in the community’s outrage against the Lowood school’s inadequate meals.

Perhaps most significantly, Jane appears to act as the mouthpiece for Charlotte Bronte’s views on the impoverished communities described in the 1847 newspaper ad. When Mr. Lloyd questions Jane about her life at Gateshead, she notices the poor beggars lingering outside of the doors and muses, “poverty looks grim to grown people; still more so to children: they have not much idea of industrious, working, respectable poverty” (82). To many, the working class appear ragged and display “rude manners” or “debasing vices” (82) and are promptly ignored. Bronte’s character, and the newspaper clipping, strive to achieve the same goal: to correct this view of the poor by eliminating hunger and returning to them a degree of self-sufficiency.

Related Links

• Victorian Web (General): provides context on historical events and their relation to arts & culture
• Britannica (Irish Potato Famine): explains the causes and effects of the Irish Potato Famine
• Victorian Web (Lord John Russell):

Works Cited

Bronte, Charlotte. Jane Eyre.: Smith, Elder, and Company, 1847. Print. 

"Industrial Revolution." History.com. A&E Networks, n.d. Web.      17 Sept. 2014. http://www.history.com/topics/industrial-revolution

Little, William. British Association for the Relief of Extreme Distress in the Remote Parishes of Ireland and Scotland. Advertisement. Illustrated London News [London] 16 Jan. 1847: Print.

O'Rourke, John. The History of the Great Irish Famine of 1847. 2004. Digital file.

Victorian Web. George P. Landow, 8 May 2009. Web. 17 Sept. 2014. <http://www.victorianweb.org/ science/health/hunger.html>.