Great Famine of Ireland - stock illustration

The Irish Famine, scene at the Gate of a Workhouse. In Ireland, the Great Famine was a period of mass starvation, disease and emigration between 1845 and 1852. It is sometimes referred to as the Irish Potato Famine because one-third of the population was then solely reliant on this cheap crop. During the famine approximately 1 million people died and a million more emigrated from Ireland.