17. Famine and Famine Relief in the Scottish Highlands, Ireland and India in the Nineteenth Century

by Prof. Ewen Cameron

Synopsis

This lecture will look again at the history of famines across the British Empire in the nineteenth century, with the Highland experience at the centre. The events of the 1840s are well known and there has been excellent recent work on the 1836-7 dearth but this lecture will look beyond those events, both temporally and geographically. The Highland experience will be compared with Irish and South Asian famines. The extent to which there were debates about different strategies for famine relief will be noted through comment on the work of Sir George Campbell in Bengal in the 1870s. The lecture will also look at shortages in the highlands in the 1880s and 1890s.

Image caption: Irish and Highland Famine Memorial in Glasgow

About the speaker

Ewen A. Cameron is Professor of Scottish History at the University of Edinburgh. He first became interested in these issues when writing his undergraduate dissertation at the University of Aberdeen in the 1980s. His main research interests are in the modern history of the Highlands, the political history of Scotland and in the History of Scottish education, especially the Universities.

How to participate

This talk will begin at 7.30 pm (GMT) and last up to one hour, followed by questions. As the audience for each talk will be limited to 100, please register in plenty of time by e-mailing us (click either on the ‘Register for Events’ button above, or click here click here ). You will then be sent a code to allow you to join the talk.

• Participation in these lectures is free to members of the Society and to students.
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