24th January 1849. Margaret Cullinane, aged 30, was admitted to jail in Cork, Ireland, for stealing potatoes. Her sentence was 7 months. Many other people also went to prison around the same time, for stealing potatoes, turnips, or cabbages.
This happened during the latter years of the Great Famine in Ireland. No wonder that there was so much vegetable theft going on. Food was being exported, or priced out of the reach of ordinary people, or reserved for livestock, during this terrible period of history.
Read about my ‘ordinary people’ project here. This post is the last in the series.
This is intriguing. Can you provide a link to your series please?
You can find them all on this page under Resources – http://nsfordwriter.com/misc/ – Thanks!