05/09/2026
Charles Edward Trevelyan was assistant Secretary to HM Treasury under the Whig administration of Lord Russell during the height of the Irish famine 1845-52. Trevelyan deliberately delayed efforts to disburse direct government food and monetary aid to the Irish due to his strident belief in laissez-faire (let it be) economics. Trevelyan described the famine as an “effective mechanism for reducing surplus population” as well as “the judgement of God” and wrote: “The real evil with which we have to contend is not the physical evil of the Famine, but the moral evil of the selfish, perverse and turbulent character of the (Irish) people.” The Public Works were “strictly ordered” to be unproductive – they created no fund to repay their own expenses. John Mitchel (Irish journalist at the time said), many hundreds of thousands of “feeble and starving men” were tasked with digging holes and breaking up roads with no meaningful outcome. Trevelyan never expressed remorse for his comments, even after the full scope(approximately 1.5 million lives lost) of the Irish famine became known. Charles Trevelyan was later knighted for his role during the Famine. Taken from the book ‘The Truth Behind The Irish Famine, signed copies at www.jerrymulvihill.com
