Very informative post Tim.

Also a good point made by Shields Folk, but I doubt very much if you will get that admission.

That someone, AT THAT TIME, described it as being "Gods will", is, I suppose, one way of insensitively describing a natural disaster ( a prominent Hindu religious leader in India used the same words to describe the recent outbreak of Foot and Mouth disease - so it happens, even today). Could it have been averted - no. Could the effects have been mitigated - yes, with hindsight. To attribute it to a deliberate policy of genocide on the part of the British government after the event, requires an extremely selective study of political, economic and sociological history of the period in general (i.e Europe not just the British Isles).

One interesting footnote contained in C Woodham-Smith's book, "The Great Hunger", outlines the career of Sir Charles Edward Trevelyan after the famine. He went out to India as a provincial governor. Two of the states he was responsible for were hit by drought and resulting famine. He managed these crises well, due mainly to lessons learned from his earlier experiences in Ireland - hindsight is a great thing - learning from past mistakes and experience is greater and a lot more relevant.