British Relief Association
| Founded | January 1847 |
|---|---|
| Founded at | London, England |
| Dissolved | July 1848 |
| Type | Famine relief |
|
Area served
|
Ireland and Scottish Highlands |
The British Association for the Relief of Distress in Ireland and the Highlands of Scotland, known as the British Relief Association (BRA), was a private charity of the mid-19th century in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Established by a group of prominent aristocrats, bankers and philanthropists in 1847, the charity was the largest private provider of relief during the Great Irish Famine and Highland Potato Famine of the 1840s. During its brief period of operation, the Association received donations from many notable politicians and royalty, including Queen Victoria.
When potato blight first appeared in Ireland in 1845 there was some sporadic fund-raising activity in the British Isles. However, the scale of the second blight in 1846 brought about a more concerted and widespread relief effort. The publication of a public appeal in The Times on 24 December 1846 from an Irishman, Nicholas Cummins, led to a sudden influx of donations from British merchants and bankers, and within days over £10,000 had been raised. Consequently, the British Relief Association was established at the instigation of Baron Lionel de Rothschild to manage donations to the famine relief effort.
The BRA held its first official meeting on 1 January 1847 at the London home of Baron de Rothschild. Rothschild had invited some of the richest and most notable men in British society to the meeting, which was attended by Mayer Amschel de Rothschild, John Abel Smith, George Robert Smith, Henry Kingscote, Samuel Gurney and Hon. Stephen Spring Rice, among others. Future meetings, held at South Sea House in London, were attended by Raikes Currie, Samuel Jones-Loyd, 1st Baron Overstone, Thomas Baring, 1st Earl of Northbrook, George Kinnaird, 9th Lord Kinnaird and David Salomons, who all also served on the Association's committee. Spring Rice, one of the two men on the committee born in Ireland, was made the BRA's secretary, as he had first-hand experience of the potato blight's effect on his family's estates in County Kerry and County Limerick. Each committee member donated at least £1,000 to the relief effort, and the group met daily to coordinate the allocation of funds.
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