An Gorta Mór: The Mansion House Committee

19 Nov 1845: Contradicting Peel's Scientific Commission, the Dublin Mansion House Committee asserted that one-third of the 1845 potato crop had been lost. Estimates from both groups as well as the press would rise and fall continually, adding to the scepticism in England. 

The Mansion House Committee, named for the Lord Mayor's Residence, had originally been formed to avert starvation of the poor during a previous food shortage in 1821-22. This latest committee iteration included Dublin's current Lord Mayor (John L. Arabin), the Duke of Leinster (Charles Fitzgerald), Lord Cloncurry (Valentine Lawless) and another man who'd become known as "The Liberator", MP for County Cork, Daniel O'Connell. 

In the preceding weeks, O'Connell and the committee had lobbied Peel's administration to take dramatic steps to avoid catastrophe. These included a halt on export of Irish oats and opening Irish ports to duty free food imports. The request was denied as Peel had another plan in the works, one he hope would be far less "disruptive" to the British economy.