While researching various Irish records for our Daniel Kane, we located a record of a 12 year old Irish child by the name of Daniel Kane who was arrested, tried, convicted and sentenced to prison for stealing potatoes in 1847.
This was not our Daniel Kane but we thought you would be interested in this record as it relates to the suffering of the Irish people during the height of the Irish Great Famine, which is also referred to as the Irish Great Hunger and as the Irish Potato Famine.
This record is from the Ireland Prison Registers of the National Archives of Ireland, located in Dublin, Ireland.
The record is for a Daniel Kane, age 12 (born 1835), listed as register entry No. 2578 and charged with Stealing Potatoes. He was tried, found guilty and committed on 14 July 1847 by E. M. Thouldham, Esq., to one (1) month in the Cork jail (gaol) effective from 12 July 1847. It is interesting to note that a William Carey, age 24, listed as register entry No. 2579, was charged with Stealing Grass, tried, found guilty and also committed on 14 July 1847 by the same E. M. Thouldham, Esq., to one (1) month in the Cork jail (gaol) effective from 12 July 1847, the same as was Daniel Kane. Both Daniel Kane, age 12, and William Carey, age 24, were discharged from the Cork jail (Gaol) on 09 August 1847 after serving 29 days in the Cork jail (Gaol). The record also indicates neither Daniel Kane nor William Carey could read or write.
From examining the various prison record entries, children in their pre-teens and teens apparently served in the same jail as did the adults, with no separate facilities for the children.
It is heart-rending learning of the great tribulations of the Irish people during the Irish Great Famine.
Here are a couple movie documentaries about the Irish Great Famine/Ireland’s Great Hunger that we think you will find informative:
The Great Irish Famine – documentary (1996)
Ireland’s Great Hunger and the Irish Diaspora