When successive potato crops failed from 1845 to 1848,many people literally starved to death. Great Famine:Skibbereen 1847 by Cork artist James Mahony (1810-1879),commissioned by The Illustrated London News, 1847When successive potato crops failed from 1845 to 1848, many people literally starved to death. • Great Famine: Skibbereen 1847 by Cork artist James Mahony (1810–1879), commissioned by The Illustrated London News, 1847