The Great HungerBy: Cecil Woodham Smith The Irish potato famine of the 1840s, perhaps the most appalling event of the Victorian era, killed over a million people and drove as many more to emigrate to America. It may not have been the result of deliberate government policy, yet British obtuseness, short sightedness and ignorance and stubborn commitment to laissez faire solutions largely caused the disaster and prevented any serious efforts to relieve suffering. The