British Relief Association

[1][2] During its brief period of operation, the Association received donations and support from many notable politicians and royalty, including Queen Victoria.

[4] From its inception, the British Relief Association was politically well-connected, particularly to the Whig Party, and this helped it to gain early prominence.

The establishment of the charity was praised by the Quaker philanthropist William Edward Forster, who commented on the committee's commitment and desire to provide more assistance "than mere gifts of money".

This necessitated working alongside Sir Charles Trevelyan, 1st Baronet, whose meddling in the BRA's activities was only counterbalanced by the administrative skill of Spring Rice and Paweł Strzelecki, the Association's agent in Ireland.

[7] The increasing demands on the Association led to Strzelecki being appointed Executive Director in May 1847, and several extra volunteer agents were taken on to assist in the relief effort.

[8] By summer 1847 a temporary relief measure in the form of an Ireland-wide network of soup kitchens was feeding 3 million people a day.

At this point, the BRA decided to reduce the scope of its own operations, and only Strzelecki remained in Ireland on the Association's behalf at the end of June.

In autumn 1847 the British government declared that it believed the famine to be over, and that no further money from HM Treasury would be spent on the relief effort.

The Queen had repeatedly refused to act on advice from ministers pending the famine and was frequently derided for a lack of effort and even interest in the crisis.

Among the groups to make donations to the Association were the Singapore Irish Relief Fund (£31), the East India Company (£1,000), The Observer (£50), Magdalen College, Oxford (£200) and the British Royal Household (£247).

[13] The committee of the Association was ecumenical in nature, including Anglicans, Jews and Roman Catholics, and the donations received from religious bodies reflected this fact.