Called to Account (formerly The Poor Law Inspector)
From the author of Strongbow's Wife and A Purgatory of Misery comes another searing account of a terrible period in Irish history.
When a government official exposes the unpalatable truth about the famine in mid-nineteenth century West Clare he is called to account by the men he accuses.
Abandoned by his masters, he has only his strength of character and the love of his wife and daughter to sustain him as he fights famine and disease in a land teeming with destitute men, women and children.
Chapter 1: Introduction
I like to imagine Arthur Kennedy and Crofton Vandeleur each about to embark on his journey to Cork for the assizes at which the ...
Chapter 2: First Intimations
The court room was crowded, the viewing gallery at the back a jostling mass of humanity. I had been surprised by the size of the ...
Chapter 3: A Change of Direction
All this activity, though often unpleasant, came as a relief to some of our men. Not a few could have been heard complaining abo ...
Chapter 4: Distressed Districts
Having ended his diatribe outlining the case against me, Counsel began questioning me. I was reminded of the constant questionin ...
Chapter 5: Kilrush
I was soon to discover the veracity of that last remark of Twisleton's. There would, I was also to discover, need to be some bet ...
Chapter 6: The Workhouse
The following morning I was woken early, as arranged. The meeting of the Guardians was set for ten o'clock. I had it very much i ...
Chapter 7: A New Home
My counsel begins cross-examining Crofton, asking when he first began evicting tenants from his land. Crofton turns to the judge ...
Chapter 8: Reunited
My heart was lifted by news that reached me one evening as I was about to leave the little room at the workhouse in which I had ...
Chapter 9: Threats
Although the events of that day were not repeated, there was no reduction in the number of people seeking assistance. Where we d ...
Chapter 10: Talk of Revolution
I may have given the impression that I have little regard for those who engage in the legal profession. I make no secret of the ...
Chapter 11: Outside Help and a Journey
As I have previously observed when describing Georgina's correspondence in search of funding for her enterprise, the district wa ...
Chapter 12: An Exciting Encounter
For our journey south we chose to travel through Leinster. I had some thought that we might call on an uncle of mine who farmed ...
Chapter 13: A Thief to Catch a Thief
Through the autumn of 1848, as the condition of the populace deteriorated and the daily count of deaths in the fever hospitals a ...
Chapter 14: Anniversary Blues
As autumn progressed into winter the conditions in Ireland, and the need for relief, were discussed with increasing passion in P ...
Chapter 15: A Politician' s Mission
“Give a man an acre who will use that acre to produce food sufficient for his family with a little over to sell so that in ...
Chapter 16: Called to Account
“Kennedy and Scrope and all the rest; the scribblers who come gawking at the beggars and write long, hand wringing pieces ...
Chapter 17: Afterword
The jury failed to reach a verdict on the question of whether Arthur Kennedy was guilty of libelling Crofton Vandeleur. After a ...
