The island received its largest influx of immigrants in the 1840s during the "
Great Famine", also known as "An Gorta Mór," when a shortage of potatoes occurred due to
potato blight striking Ireland's staple crop. A a time when all other crops and animal products were commandeered and exported by the British Crown. The famine caused millions to starve to death or otherwise emigrate, mainly to North America. During the famine, some 30,000 immigrants were processed by the island's visiting and resident physicians, with 1,196 dying at Partridge Island and the adjacent city of Saint John during the
Typhus epidemic of 1847. During the 1890s there were over 78,000 immigrants a year being examined or treated on the island. A memorial to the Irish immigrants of the mid-1840s was set up on the island in the 1890s, but by World War One it had deteriorated. In 1926 the Saint John City Cornet Band approached Saint John contractor George McArthur who agreed to lead a campaign to build a suitable monument. The
Celtic Cross memorial to the Irish dead of 1847 was dedicated in 1927. This was restored and rededicated in 1985. In the early and mid-1980s, memorials were built by the Saint John Jewish Community, the Loyal Orange Lodge, the Partridge Island Research Project, and the Partridge Island & Harbour Heritage Inc., a company that was registered in 1988 and dissolved in 2004. The memorials were dedicated to the Protestant, Catholic and Jewish immigrants buried in the six island graveyards. A monument was also dedicated to all of the Irish dead from 1830 to the 1920s.
James Patrick Collins James Patrick Collins, born c.1824 in
County Cork,
Ireland, was the eldest of four children of Patrick Collins and Isabella Hughes. He immigrated to Saint John with his family in 1837. Apprenticed to Dr. George R. Peters, superintendent of the Lunatic Asylum, Collins was encouraged to study medicine, which he pursued in Paris (c.1844) and later London. He returned to Saint John in 1846, beginning practice from his family’s home on Mill Street. In May 1847, a typhus epidemic arrived with Irish immigrants fleeing the potato famine. By June, the Partridge Island quarantine station was overwhelmed with nearly 2,500 patients. Dr. George J. Harding, unable to manage alone, enlisted help. Despite the danger, Dr. Collins and Dr. William S. Harding volunteered, earning £50 monthly. By late June, both doctors contracted typhus. Collins died on 2 July 1847, less than a month after beginning his service. His remains were sealed in a lead coffin and transported to the Roman Catholic cemetery in Saint John's North End with special permission from the
Saint John Common Council. The 4 July funeral drew nearly 4,000 mourners—reputedly the largest in Saint John's history—highlighting the deep respect he had earned. His body was later moved to St. Peter’s cemetery near Fort Howe, and in 1949 reinterred in a common grave in St. Joseph’s cemetery. ==History==