MR O'CONNOR HENCHY, 1846-1847 



and had so profound an effect upon its fortunes. It 

 is not surprising, I think, to find a dearth of infor- 

 mation upon the sport of those dreadful years, 

 years of starvation intensified by poHtical trouble, 

 by State trials and suspensions of Habeas Corpus 

 Acts. It is a wonder indeed that fox-hunting was 

 found possible at all, and there was at one moment 

 a question of suspending it altogether. Certainly 

 the difficulties of the Mastership must have been 

 increased tenfold, and the Kildare Hunt owes a 

 great debt of gratitude to Mr O'Connor Henchy for 

 coming forward at such a time to keep the long 

 tradition of Kildare sport unbroken. 



As a fact the famine was felt more severely in 

 other parts of Ireland than in Kildare, though, of 

 course, there was misery everywhere. One single 

 figure may be quoted which will suggest the diffi- 

 culty of keeping people alive in Ireland in that 

 dreadful winter of 1846-7. Oatmeal was ^zz a ton. 

 But the resident gentry set resolutely to work in 

 Kildare as elsewhere and formed depots where 

 soup and food were distributed to the country 

 people. There is often a touch of humour forth- 

 coming in Ireland to relieve the darkest situations. 

 At one of these depots established by Mr Carroll 

 at Ballinure the people might either drink the soup 

 and eat the food on the spot or send their children 

 for it to carry to their homes. At Ballinure one old 



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