More weather!
I wonder whether (no pun intended) anyone has read the Australian historian Robin Haynes on Trevelyan.
Her view contradicts Jim damning opinion of him.

Irish historian Ciara Boylan describes it here.
http://www.historyireland.com/the-famine/charles-trevelyan-and-the-great-irish-famine/

Extract,
"Haines is concerned here with 'revising' the received view of Trevelyan, a result of the 'half-truth, innuendo and careless repetition' that has found its way into the secondary literature. Over some 600 pages Haines attempts to undermine the prevalent view of Trevelyan as a dictatorial civil servant (he was permanent head of the Treasury during the Famine) with undue influence over Famine policy who was imbued with the doctrines of classical political economy (particularly the doctrine of laissez-faire), racial prejudice against the Irish, and a providential view of the catastrophe as an 'act of God', all of which combined to convince him that the Famine must be allowed to 'run its course'."

"Haines is correct to stress the sloppiness of much research relating to Trevelyan, and to expose the shockingly lazy way in which historians have simply borrowed 'facts' from seminal articles without ever taking the time to consult original source material. Her own scholarship is impressive: the work is built up almost entirely from Trevelyan's letters, supplemented with the correspondence of the other main protagonists involved in Famine relief. The research provided here undermines the view that Trevelyan was the key influence on the government's Famine relief policy."

Jim?