The present article presents a more detailed picture of the circumstances leading to the formation of the British Relief Association, the major humanitarian effort during the Great Irish Famine, than known hitherto. In particular, it delineates the following: (1) the crucial role of a two-man deputation from the town of Skibbereen, near the south-western coast of Ireland, consisting of protestant ministers Richard B. Townsend and Charles Caulfield, whose activities have hitherto gone unrecognised; (2) the control and manipulation of voluntary relief efforts by British government officials; and (3) the ways in which Baron Lionel Rothschild’s role was deliberately minimised, both by himself and in published records.