Ballinglass Incident

The term Balli Glass Incident refers to a police eviction action on March 13, 1846 in the context of the Great Famine in Ireland ( 1845-1849 ).

Ireland was under British rule, the soil in Ireland belonged English landowners ( landlords ). The Irish peasants ordered as a tenant the land, built on cereals and potatoes, and raised livestock. Crops and livestock were used for lease payments to the landowners and were shipped to Britain. For your own food the peasants remained only the potatoes substantially. The tenants had against the landowners little legal protection.

This system was also maintained when the potato blight destroyed the potato crop and caused a famine. Cereals and animal products were transported under military guard from Ireland. Farmers who could not pay the rent in this situation were expelled from their homes and thus lost all their livelihood.

The 300 inhabitants of the village Balli Glass in County Galway were relatively prosperous for then Irish relations. They were still able to raise the rent for their land. Nevertheless, they were expelled, because the landowner Mrs. Gerrard, who owned the land wanted there to build a cattle farm. On March 13, 1846 sold the army and police, the people of Ballistic Glass and demolished the houses of the village. The following night spent the displaced persons in the ruins of their homes. The next day, the army and police came therefore again to them to chase definitively from there. The neighbors were forbidden to give them shelter.

This event went down in history under the name Balli Glass Incident. It was not an isolated case; Tens of thousands have been displaced in Ireland at that time, making hunger and misery were tightened. In developing countries, it is sometimes still too similar evictions.