The Final Years of Milford Workhouse

After the passing of the Local Government (Ireland) Act in 1898 many of the functions of the boards of guardians passed to the newly formed county councils and a scaling down of the workhouses began.

The boards of guardians were drawn into the War of Independence and in 1921 the nurse in the fever hospital, Kathleen Mackey, asked the board to grant her permission to accept a trained nurse's commission in the Irish Republican Army. Letters were received from Dail Eireann asking for the support of the board in severing all links with the English Local Government Board. For this to occur it was necessary that the minutes of the boards be forwarded to the Dail and not to the English department and circulars were sent around to this effect.

Extract from the meeting of the board of guardians where Kathleen Mackey's application to accept a nurse's commission in the Irish Republican Army is discussed, (BG/119/1/88, 10th July 1920).

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