Managing the Union

Records of Deaths (1)

Extract from the Record of Deaths detailing date and cause of death, the name, age, sex and date of last admission to the workhouse of the person who died. Includes a record of coffins and shrouds purchased by the workhouse.

Copyright of Donegal County Archives Service. No reproduction without permission

Records of Deaths (1)
Copyright of Donegal County Archives Service. No reproduction without permission

Records of Deaths (1)

Extract from the Record of Deaths detailing date and cause of death, the name, age, sex and date of last admission to the workhouse of the person who died. Includes a record of coffins and shrouds purchased by the workhouse.

Copyright of Donegal County Archives Service. No reproduction without permission

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In addition to the records generated by the Boards of Guardians to meet the demands of financial control or the Dublin administration, there was also a range of records produced to ensure the smooth management of the day-to-day activities of the Union, both within and outside the workhouse. Since these were working records they tend to be less well preserved than formal minutes and financial accounts which had a legal standing. In particular these day-to-day records contained personal details that may have left them particularly vulnerable to deliberate destruction.

Dunshaughlin Poor Law Union - 06.11.1847 - School Inspection

A school master and school mistress were employed to teach the children in the workhouse schools. Inspectors from the National Board of Education visited the schools. This extract is from their report of November 1847.

Dunshaughlin Poor Law Union - 06.11.1847 - School Inspection

Dunshaughlin Poor Law Union - 06.11.1847 - School Inspection

A school master and school mistress were employed to teach the children in the workhouse schools. Inspectors from the National Board of Education visited the schools. This extract is from their report of November 1847.

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The Master's Records

The duties of the Master included a requirement that he keep a journal. The Master's journal is the most important of the records produced by the workhouse itself. It contained weekly hand written reports from the Master to the Board of Guardians and the Guardians would respond to the issues raised in the reports with notes in the margin. Most of the reports were concerned with mundane matters, such a requisitions of materials for the employment of inmates or for repair of the building. However they sometimes include other matters such as offences and disciplinary action by the Master or, in his absence, the matron.

Other matters dealt with included religious disputes and conversions. This journal is by far the most important document in revealing how the workhouse functioned and the problems that could arise. The Master was also required to keep a range of other records necessary to discharge the functions of his office. Inventories of clothing and provisions were normal as were salary books recording payments to the workhouse employees. Where schools, farms or laundries were attached to workhouses records relating to these had also to be kept.

Dunshaughlin Poor Law Union - 12.12.1846 - Overcrowding ii

A weekly return to the Poor Law Commission for December 1846 showed that 435 inmates were living in the workhouse, 35 more than the 400 person capacity. The Commissioners express concern at the admission of these additional 35 persons. They fear the spread of disease in overcrowded conditions and recommend seeking medical advice on this. They express concern that the wives and children of men in employment are in the workhouse when their earnings could support them.

Copyright managed by the Library Council

Dunshaughlin Poor Law Union - 12.12.1846 - Overcrowding ii
Copyright managed by the Library Council

Dunshaughlin Poor Law Union - 12.12.1846 - Overcrowding ii

A weekly return to the Poor Law Commission for December 1846 showed that 435 inmates were living in the workhouse, 35 more than the 400 person capacity. The Commissioners express concern at the admission of these additional 35 persons. They fear the spread of disease in overcrowded conditions and recommend seeking medical advice on this. They express concern that the wives and children of men in employment are in the workhouse when their earnings could support them.

Copyright managed by the Library Council

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The Inmates' Records

Probably the least accessible figures in the whole workhouse system were the inmates. One could enter the workhouse in one of three ways: by written order of the Guardians, by written order of the relieving officer or, in emergency, by the Master. Those who entered the workhouse had their details recorded in the Indoor relief registers. These registers record the admission number, the name and surname, sex, age, marital status (if an adult), the status of any children (orphans, deserted or illegitimate), the name of the wife or husband, the number of children, observations on the condition of the pauper when admitted, the electoral district of the Union in which the pauper was resident, the date admitted to the workhouse and the date when the pauper died or left the workhouse. Such evidence of the social condition of poor is particularly valuable, since it survives in no other form.

Unfortunately only a handful of such registers exist for the nineteenth century. Most are indexed by the surname those being admitted to the workhouse. This makes it possible to follow the patterns of admission, discharge and readmission of individuals into the workhouse. In the case of the South Dublin Union, where the registers have been subjected to detailed study, the pattern of admission was mainly of single adults. Of those admitted, a quarter stayed less than a week and 40 per cent less than two weeks. For only a tiny minority did the workhouse become a long stay home. Most used it a short stay place in time of difficulties. The result was that, the same individuals were admitted the workhouse frequently but for short periods of time.

Outdoor Relief Register (extract 1)

Extract from an outdoor relief register from Milford Union giving details such as name, date of relief, sex, age, employment or calling, married or single, name of wife or husband, number of children, electoral division and townland in which resident at the time they began to receive relief.

Copyright of Donegal County Archives Service. No reproduction without permission

Outdoor Relief Register (extract 1)
Copyright of Donegal County Archives Service. No reproduction without permission

Outdoor Relief Register (extract 1)

Extract from an outdoor relief register from Milford Union giving details such as name, date of relief, sex, age, employment or calling, married or single, name of wife or husband, number of children, electoral division and townland in which resident at the time they began to receive relief.

Copyright of Donegal County Archives Service. No reproduction without permission

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Outdoor Relief

Outdoor relief was given by Guardians on application by the Relieving officers. Much of the administration of outdoor relief, which was always a small part of the Poor Law system, was in the hands of these relieving officers who were responsible for recommending candidates for relief. They were required to keep diaries and weekly accounts of their income and expenditure, as well as compile lists of those who were eligible for relief at any one time. Parallel to the indoor relief registers, there were a set of registers for those relieved outside the workhouse. These included the name of the person relieved, the date when support was first given, their sex, their age, their employment, whether they were married or single, the name of their wife or husband, the number of children, the date of application for relief and the electoral district and townland of residence.

A second type of outdoor relief was the boarding out of orphan and deserted children under the age of five which was allowed by the 1862 Poor Law Amendment Act, as a way of providing substitute families. Initially these children were entered in the normal outdoor relief registers, but under Acts of 1897 and 1908, separate registers had to be kept of nurses and children.

Milford Infirmary

Black and white photograph of Milford infirmary which was attached to Milford workhouse. Taken from Alistair Rowans, Buildings of Ireland.

Copyright: Alistiar Rowan, Buildings of Ireland

Milford Infirmary
Copyright: Alistiar Rowan, Buildings of Ireland

Milford Infirmary

Black and white photograph of Milford infirmary which was attached to Milford workhouse. Taken from Alistair Rowans, Buildings of Ireland.

Copyright: Alistiar Rowan, Buildings of Ireland

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Medical Records

From the beginning the workhouse had a medical function as there was usually an infirmary or fever hospital attached to it. This infirmary generated the sort of records which any nineteenth-century hospital produced. There were requisition books for supplies, records of special diets and medical report books compiled by both doctors and nurses. However over time the workhouse system became increasingly involved in medicine.

The establishment of the dispensary system under the Medical Charities (Ireland) Act of 1851, brought an older dispensary system under the control of the Guardians and this generated a range of records. Some are straightforward, such as the files of correspondence from the Local Government Board, as well as accounts for the dispensary and inventories of stock. Others relate to the provision of midwives which were sanctioned in 53 dispensary districts by the Poor Law Commissioners in 1862. By the 1870's, 178 had been appointed and a register was maintained of midwives by the local dispensary. One area in which the dispensary system did get involved was vaccination, which was extended to Ireland in 1841, by the Vaccination Extension Act (3&4 Vict., c. 29). The Medical Charities Act made this a free service provided by Poor Law dispensaries and as a result they maintained vaccination registers.