Descriptive list of the archive of Dunmanway workhouse/poor law union Board of Guardians. Items are in hard copy and may be accessed by appointment.
Cork City and County Archives Dunmanway Board of Guardians (Ref. IE CCCA/BG/83) Descriptive List
Table of Contents Identity Statement ....................................................................................................................................... 2 Context ......................................................................................................................................................... 2 Creator(s): ................................................................................................................................................ 2 Archival History ..................................................................................................................................... 2 Administrative & Biographical History............................................................................................... 2 Content & Structure ................................................................................................................................... 4 Scope & Content .................................................................................................................................... 4 Arrangement ........................................................................................................................................... 5 Conditions of Access & Use ..................................................................................................................... 5 Allied Materials:........................................................................................................................................... 5 Arc hivist’s Note: ......................................................................................................................................... 5 List of Items and Descriptions ................................................................................................................. 6 1. Minute Books .................................................................................................................................. 6 BG/83/A Dunmanway Board of Guardians Minute Books ............................................... 6 BG/83/AA Dunmanway Board of Guardians Rough Minute Book ............................... 28
Dunmanway Board of Guardians
IE CCCA/BG/83
Identity Statement
Reference Code:
IE CCCA/BG/83
Title:
Dunmanway Board of Guardians
Dates:
1840 – 1920
Level of description:
Fonds
Extent:
108 items
Context
Creator(s): Dunmanway Board of Guardians
Archival History The surviving records of the Dunmanway Board of Guardians were deposited in the Archives in the early 1980s.
Administrative & Biographical History The Dunmanway Board of Guardians was the governing body of Dunmanway workhouse and poor law union. Dunmanway Poor Law Union was established under the Poor Law (Ireland) Act, 1838. It was one of 16 unions in the overall County Cork area. Each union was centred on a city or market town and its hinterland, and this union area sometimes ignored existing parish or county boundaries. In this central town was situated the union workhouse (usually built between 1838 and 1852) which provided relief for the unemployed and the destitute. The first meeting of Dunmanway Board of Guardians took place on 1 February 1840, the union having been declared on 18 December 1839. The Union Workhouse was declared fit to receive inmates on 16 September 1841 and took its first admissions on 2 October of that year. An Order of 3 October 1849 altered the union, with parts of Dunmanway Union being given to the newly- created Clonakilty Union, and part of Bandon Union being added to Dunmanway. A Reservation Order of 5 December 1849 reserved a portion of the accommodation in Dunmanway Workhouse for inmates from Clonakilty Union, pending the completion of that Union’s own workhouse (opened 5 December 1851). Unions were divided into electoral divisions (EDs) for electoral and rate collection purposes. Over time, larger dispensary districts and relief districts, consisting of several EDs, came into being. The Dunmanway Union consisted of the Dispensary Districts of Dunmanway, Ballineen, and Coolmountain. Each district had a medical officer and dispensary. The workhouse also had a medical officer.
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Dunmanway Board of Guardians
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Each workhouse was managed by a staff and officers under the charge of a workhouse master, who reported to the board. Overall responsibility rested with the union's board of guardians, some of whom were elected, and some of whom were ex-officio members appointed usually from amongst local magistrates. The board appointed its own inhouse committees, and received reports from workhouse officers and from dispensary district committees and district medical officers. It also made resolutions on internal and poor law matters and, sometimes, on wider political or social issues. Poor law services were principally financed by a poor rate levied on propert y owners in the union’s districts, and collected by rate collectors appointed by the board. Central government also provided loans. From 1899 on, the newly-created Cork County Council collected rates and funded Cork boards of guardians based on an annual estimate and demand. Each union was under the central supervision of the Poor Law Commissioners up to 1874 and thereafter of the Local Government Board (later Local Government Board for Ireland). These government-appointed bodies received reports from the board and its officers, appointed inspectors and auditors, sanctioned or rejected proposed expenditure, appointments, and policies, and made the final decision on major administrative issues. On 15 June 1920 the board resolved to pledge allegiance to Dail Eireann, and not to submit minutes to the LGB. The responsibilities of the guardians increasingly encompassed public health, and to medical relief for the destitute at the workhouse and ‘outdoor’ relief though a system of dispensary districts were added other functions including overseeing smallpox vaccinations, the boarding- out of orphan and deserted children, monitoring contagious diseases in animals, and providing labourers’ cottages an d improved sanitation. The workhouse buildings included an infirmary and a fever hospital. The workhouse also provided nursery care and education to child inmates, and employed school teachers. Hospital and other medical services were available to all, not just the poor, although the latter received free treatment when inmates, or through the system of tickets issued by relieving officers and medical officers. The guardians’ changing responsibilities were governed by legislation, including the Public Health (Ireland) Acts 1874 and 1878, Medical Charities Acts, Vaccination Acts, Dispensary Houses Act, the Nuisances Removal and Diseases Prevention Acts (1848-49), Contagious Diseases (Animals) Act 1878, and Labourers’ Acts (1883 -86). While these acts tended to increase the role of the board, the Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898 saw rate collection and many of its public health functions taken over by the newly-created Cork County Council and the Dunmanway Rural District Council. The board continued to administer the workhouse and its hospital, and to supervise dispensary services, outdoor relief, and the boarding out of children. In 1895, the British Medical Journal reported on Dunmanway workhouse, following an inspection: ‘ When we see such a travesty of sick nursing as prevails in this Union we wonder why the guardians go through the form of providing the medical officer with drugs and an official called the "nurse." His only essential equipment is surely a book of death certificates and a pen with which to write them. In our opinion the sick department requires complete reorganisation; the wards are quite unsuitable, and the responsible officer, whatever work she may have done in the past, is now quite unfit for her duties, and should be superannuated. A. suitable infirmary and a staff of two trained nurses is our recommendation. Once more we plead for comforts for the aged, armchairs, better heating and lighting in the wards, a responsible attendant, and sanitary appliances which conduce to health and decency. There was a touch of humanity about the administration which we were pleased to note; the defects are those of an evil system more than of those who work it.’ ( http://www.workhouses.org.uk/BMJ/Dunmanway.shtml)
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Dunmanway Board of Guardians
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On 25 May 1920 the workhouse infirmary was occupied by the military. Several meetings were subsequently adjourned owing to the military presence and the difficulty of securing a quorum. At the last meeting recorded in extant minutes, held on 20 November 1920, the clerk is asked to produce union books ‘at certain places as we shall specify’, meetings no longer being held at the workhouse. While the workhouse was not burned, unlike several other west Cork workhouses, patients and inmates were transferred elsewhere owing to the military occupation. For example, a letter dated 12 May 1921 noted in the minutes of Bandon Board of Guardians records the transfer of fever patients from Dunmanway to Bandon (BG/42/A/110). The Local Government (Temporary Provisions) Act 1923 led to the abolition of the workhouse system, and its replacement with the formation of the county boards of health and public assistance. The workhouse fever hospital was designated a district hospital under the new system.
Content & Structure
Scope & Content The surviving records of Dunmanway Board of Guardians consist of minute books, forming a practically unbroken set from its first meeting in 1840 to 1920, although minutes for the final years of its existence have seemingly been lost. The minutes for the period of the Great Famine (1845-49) document its devastating effects on this part of West Cork. The West Cork region was one of the worst effected in Ireland, and although the Famine’s impact was less severe in Dunmanway union than in others, the minutes provide a vivid picture of the hardships of the time. Death, disease, emigration, and the financial difficulties of the union and the local population are the recurrent subjects. The minutes also document the relationship between the various West Cork Unions, and the rearrangements which occurred in 1849-50, as Clonakilty Union and other unions came into being. Later records document the increasing public health role of the board of guardians, with dispensary committees of management being created, dispensary services being provided throughout the union area, and services such as compulsory smallpox vaccination and local midwives being provided. Much information about the conditions of workhouse life, and of life for the poor of the area generally, may be gleaned from the minutes. The British Medical Journal report of 1895(referred to in the Administrative History) reveals the grim realities of maintaining workhouse and hospital services on severely limited means. There is much reference in later minutes to providing for destitute and deserted children. Political and nationalist resolutions occur more frequently in the final surviving records of the union, culminating in the decision to pledge allegiance to Dail Eireann in 1920. The difficulties arising out of the occupation of much of the workhouse by British military from 1920 probably contributed to the loss of some union records. Nonetheless, the extant volumes, with the three pre-1920 gaps in the main series filled by rough minute books, provide a comprehensive record of the poor law, and valuable insights into social history, in this small but interesting union.
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Dunmanway Board of Guardians
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Arrangement The collection consists of a series of minutes of meetings of the board of guardians, and three rough minute books, which supply gaps in the main series of minutes. The arrangement of Board of Guardian records is based on that devised for Poor Law records nationally by Sean McMenamin of the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (see Appendix 2 to McMenamin’s article in Irish Archives Bulletin Vol 1, No 2, October 1971).
Headings
1. Minute Books
A1- 108 AA1-3
Board of Guardian Minute Books
1839-1924 (105 items) 1865-1879 (3 items)
Rough Minute Books
Conditions of Access & Use
Access : Open by appointment to those holding a current reader ’ s ticket.
Language: English
Finding Aids: Summary descriptive list.
Allied Materials:
Related Material
CCCA:
Board of Guardian records for other poor law unions in West Cork (BG/42 Bandon; BG/43 Bantry; BG/59 Castletown; BG/65 Clonakilty; BG/115 Macroom; BG/145 Schull)
Cork County Boards of Health and Public Assistance records, 1921-66 Dunmanway Rural District Council records, 1899-1920 (RDC/83) Cork County Council records, 1899- (including rates valuation books)
Elsewhere:
National Archives of Ireland:
Archives of the Poor Law Commissioners Archives of the Local Government Board for Ireland Archives of the Department of Local Government
Archivist ’ s Note: Timmy O Connor Local Government Archivist, CCCA October 2011
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Dunmanway Board of Guardians
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List of Items and Descriptions
1. Minute Books
BG/83/A
Dunmanway Board of Guardians Minute Books
Scope and Content: A record of meetings and decisions made by the board of guardians in administering the workhouse and poor relief generally. At meetings, officers’ reports and committee findings were heard, correspondence read and considered, and applications decided on. Matters arising with regard to the workhouse, staff, provisions, bills, finance, the Poor Law, the Poor Law Commissioners, the Local Government Board and the Local Government Department, and other issues, were also discussed. The minutes also include weekly statistics of admissions, discharges, and deaths in the workhouse, and of outdoor relief.
Date : 1 Feb 1840 – 27 Nov 1920
Level : Series
Extent : 105 volumes
1.
1 Feb 1840 – 29 Mar 1845
Indexed. Includes:
1 Feb 1840 First meeting, resolved that Daniel Conner be appointed chairman.
13 Feb 1840 Tender of Messrs Gillman, Welply, and Pattison to effect the valuation of the union accepted, to be completed by 1 Jan 1841.
25 Apr 1840 ‘Resolved, that the guardians having viewed the intended site for the Dunmanway Poor House fully approve thereof’ [30 May: resolved to seek loan of £6500 from the Exchequer Loan Commissioners] 7 Nov 1840 Resolved, that medical practitioners be informed that the board will ‘receive tenders for the vaccination purposes of the entire union’ [14 Nov: D r Holmes’s tender ‘to vaccinate the intern union gratuitously’ accepted]. 27 Feb 1841 Master, matron, physician, and porter of workhouse appointed. Resolution calling for an act against mendicancy, expressing the view that the poor law will remain ineffective ‘while strolling beggars are allowed exercise the trade of begging and imposing upon the small farmers and industrious who are very little better situated than themselves’.
24 Apr 1841Charges preferred against returning office John Welply by John Barter, in connection with the recent board of guardians election. He claims
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Welply ‘was in concert with certain individuals ... to promote their views in the formation of this board’. Welply’s explanations found ‘most satisfactory’.
21 Sep 1841 Resolved, ‘agreeably to the order of the commissioners’, to take up the workhouse from the contractor. [PLC order declaring the workhouse fit to receive paupers issued 16 Sep 1841 (www.workhouses.org.uk)]
2 Oct 1841Resolved, to report ‘the bad and unfinished state of the workhouse and yards’. [Paupers admitted from this date (www.workhouses.org.uk)]
16 Oct 1841 Resolved, that an elderly married couple, paupers, be allowed lodge together.
27 Nov 1841 Resolved, that the stated dietary be adopted, it being borne in mind ‘that the quantity and quality supplied to the paupers shall not be superior to that partaken of by the independent labourers of the district and their families ’. 2 Apr 1842 Resolved, that the guardians act as parish wardens in their own electoral divisions, ‘and to be most particular in their enquiries into the destitution of the paupers admitted by them’. Resolved, that proceedings be taken against two men for deserting their wives and children. 9 Apr 1842 Finance Committee report on the contractor’s bill for extra work on the workhouse. The board adopt the report and draw PLC’s attention ‘to the very negligent and extra ordinary conduct of their officer, Mr Wilkinson’. Resolution recommending that inmates be allowed to go out to their places of worship on Sunday ‘in consequence of the non -acceptance of the situation of chaplain by the respective clergymen’. 5 Nov 1842 Report by James Gillman, guardian, on an inspection of the workhouse by a Poor Law Commissioner and Assistant Commissioner, and the architect, in which it was found to be in a ‘shameful state’, despite the master having been made aware of the forthcoming inspection. The board severely reprimands the master and matron. 19 Nov 1842 Resolution explaining to the PLC why the board declines to execute a bond for £300 to meet additional workhouse costs. Reference is made to ‘the greatest dissatisfaction’ expressed by ratepayers in the adjoining unions of Bandon and Skibbereen ‘accompanied by overt acts of violence to resist the payment of the rate. And we should very much regret that any circumstance should arise to produce a similar feeling in this union’.
25 Feb 1843 School master and school mistress appointed.
10 Jun 1843 Memorial to the PLC regarding the ‘pecuniary grievance’ the union is labouring under, owing to its small size in comparison to its neighbours. A table showing the comparative size and valuation of Bandon, Skibbereen, and Macroom unions is given, and ‘an equitable extension’ of the union is sought. [See also 3 Jun]
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30 Sep 1843 Resolved that committees be appointed to draft resolutions, to express regret at the PLC’s decision to dismiss Assistant Commissioner Voules, and to express approbation of his ability and zeal. [See also 14 Oct] 3 Feb 1844 Resolution expressing the view that the board’s arrangement for Catholic and Protestant chaplains ‘is the only feasible one which this small and poor un ion could adopt’ (chaplains to be paid £25 salary, inmates to attend local places of worship on Sundays and holy days). 30 Mar 1844 Clerk directed to advertise a notice to farmers ‘that the guardians are desirous to place in their service, on advantageous terms to the farmers, both boys and girls of different ages, thus relieving the union of a burden, and benefitting all parties’.
8 Jun 1844 Resolved, that the rate collector be prosecuted for failing to fulfil the conditions of his bond.
5 Jul 1844 Mast er’s report noting that attendance at places of worship on the previous Sunday by inmates was at church: 7, at chapel: 137. [Recurring item]
31 Aug 1844 Committee appointed ‘to provide some system of labour for the employment of the paupers and in particu lar to try the manufacture of flax’. [See also, eg, 18 Jan 1845] 12 Oct 1844 Resolution approving of a resolution of the Limerick Board of Guardians protesting at ‘the unconstitutional interference and undue controlling power sought to be exercised by the Poor Law Commissioners over the office and services of the clerks of unions generally throughout Ireland’. [ See also 2 Nov.] 1 Feb 1845 Resolved, that the clerk advertise to offer a reward of one guinea ‘to such person or persons as shall give such infor mation as will lead to conviction of certain individuals who have deserted their wives and children’. 15 Feb 1845 Master’s report noting that he prevented, as directed, the attendance of inmates at worship, ‘on account of the prevalence of fever in the wo rkhouse’.
15 Mar 1845 Reply to PLC letter, explaining that since 27 Jan 1844 all paupers have been charged to the union at large, as ‘the most equitable arrangement’.
29 Mar 1845 Return of guardians elected for the following year.
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2.
5 Apr 1845 – 24 Jan 1846
A return of paupers admitted and discharged precedes the ordinary minutes. The volume is not indexed. Includes:
5 Apr 1845 Total inmates: 212 (capacity: 400)
14 Jun 1845 Doctor reports that ‘some of the inmates laboured under Dysentery from the use of porridge during the warm weather’.
16 Aug 1845 Report by Dr Crook, vaccinator, that there were no cases of smallpox in his northern district in the past year ‘and that he had succeeded in putting down the itinerant vaccinators’.
27 Sep 1845 Resol ved, ‘that a five penny rate be struck for the purposes of paying the instalments due of the workhouse loan’.
1 Nov 1845 Resolution reporting to government that ‘the destruction of the potato crop through the rot’ has extended to a third of the crop, and is likely to extend to the remainder. They express satisfaction that ‘the government will take the most prompt and immediate steps to mitigate so fearful a calamity’. Resolved, following the resignation of one vaccinator, that the services of the other be discontinued ‘as the several dispensary physicians are ready and willing to vaccinate in their several districts’. 13 Dec 1845 Resolution regarding the PLC’s determination to reduce the salary of the Protestant chaplain to less than that of the Catholic chaplain. It is noted that the Protestant chaplain attends the workhouse more often, and that the Catholic chaplain is ‘materially assisted ’ by the school teachers, who are both Catholic ‘and in fact were selected on that very account’. The board ‘deem it our duty’ to lay the case before parliament, and to bring the case and other examples of the PLC acting ‘in defiance of the unanimous wishes of the board’ before the proposed committee on the Irish Poor Law. Resolved, that the hospital be used for the increasing number of fever cases. 3 Jan 1846 Report by EW Shuldham [visiting committee], stating that he found the house ‘in excellent order’, and referring to the moving of female patients downstairs owing to the storm, to the employment of school boys in tur ning potatoes, and to ‘great damp admitted under both towers’. 24 Jan 1846 Total inmates:159 Letter received from the PLC architect’s office forwarding plan and specification for a fever hospital. [See also, eg, 2 May and 27 Jun 1846]
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3.
31 Jan 1846 – 28 Nov 1846
Includes:
7 Feb 1846 Resolution protesting ‘in the strongest manner’ at the PLC fixing a salary of £45 for the Catholic chaplain, noting that this imposes an expense of £90 ‘as the Protestant chaplain declines to accept a less salary than hi s brother clergyman’. The board feels the PLC is using its powers ‘unreasonably and capriciously’, and resolves not to pay such a salary ‘until we are compelled to do so by the Court of Queen’s Bench’. 28 Feb 1848 Guardians selected to give evidence to a House of Lords committee on the operation of the poor law and medical charities. Points to be raised include ‘excessive powers’ vested in the PLC, the necessity of a mendicancy act, the equalising of the size of unions, effective punishment for desertion, salaries of officers, and placing medical charities ‘under competent medical supervision, and under the control of boards of guardians’. 21 Mar 1846 Report by EW Shuldham [visiting committee] regarding the workhouse, referring to ‘the holiday (St Patricks day) given to every body’, and noting ‘some improvement in the paupers as to the Indian Meal which they continue however to protest against at breakfast’. [See also, eg, 9 May] 28 Mar 1846 Resolution stating that ‘the potato disease has increased in this district to such an alarming extent that we are of opinion that some decided step must be taken to afford employment to the labouring classes’. 18 Apr 1846 Order, in response to PLC circular, noting that the board ‘find it impossible to get persons to act as wardens in the E[ast] Division of the union gratuitously ’, and that guardians be requested to act as wardens, as heretofore. 18 Jul 1846 Report of Building and House Committee regarding ‘the mode of emptying the cess pools of the house by means of shieves and buckets, worked by the paupers’, which they consider ‘highly objectionable’, noting ‘the disagreeable and degrading duty which the unfortunate paupers are called on to execute’. 1 Aug 1846 [Medical officer’s] report expressing the view that ‘the removal of the old men to the potato store room consequent on the pro tempore medical arrangements’ is ‘highly objectionable’. Resolution directed to the Lord Lieutenant regarding ‘alarming’ reports of the early manifestation of blight in the potato crop and ‘the distress too evidently impending over the classes of our community which have been in the habit of looking to the potato for their chief support’. Resolution noting ‘that the want of their usual occupations after the approaching harvest will have a tendency to the discharge of labourers by farmers’, with ‘evil results’, and that ‘consequently we must look to the Board of Works for continued employment on an extensive scale’.
8 Aug 1846 Letter from the Education Office quoting the superintendent’s
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report ‘to the effect that the male teacher was incompetent’. [See 17 also Oct] Resolved, that 15% be struck off the salaries of union officers, in consequence of ‘the total failure of the potato crop’. [PLC disapproves. See 17 Oct, 5 Dec] 15 Aug 1846 Res olution received from a meeting of ‘the parishioners, farmers, rate payers and labourers of the parish of Kilmeen’, requesting, in the context of ‘the appalling distress’ and ‘the total loss of the entire potato crop’, a reduction in union salaries and exp enses, and ‘some means for the immediate relief of the labouring class... who are in the most destitute condition’. 22 Aug 1846 Resolution appointing a committee to have workhouse land cropped with corn and vegetable crops, to substitute for potatoes in the dietary ‘and at the same time tend to the introduction of their culture amongst the general population of the union’. 12 Sep 1846 Ordered, that the PLC be informed that while the board is anxious to have a fever hospital ‘under the present circumstance s of the country they do not conceive themselves justified in levying a rate for that purpose’. [Orders also made respecting the saving to be made by erecting an oven in the house, and the manufacture of wool products in the house]. Resolved, that the case against the master is ‘fully proved’, but that he be fined rather than dismissed, as the guardians who brought forward the charge ‘humanely interfered on his behalf’. [Further resolved to appoint a committee to inspect the quality of provisions with the master].
3 Oct 1846 Resolved, ‘that we are of opinion that all founding children aged 12 months be received as paupers into this house’.
21 Nov 1846 Total inmates: 423 [capacity: 400 (first total to exceed capacity)]
4.
5 Dec 1846 – 25 Sep 1847
Includes:
5 Dec 1846 Resolved, not to reject applicants ‘however numerous, who from age and infirmity are peculiarly the fit objects for a poor house’. [Total: 534]
19 Dec 1846 Visiting committee report referring to the attempted theft of at least 4lb of bread by a girl admitted to visit her sick uncle, which is thought ‘convincing proof that the sick are not scantily supplied’. 2 Jan 1847 Report following meeting of the medical officer and visiting committee, ordering a new dietary, in consequence of the deaths of several children and the prevalence of dysentery. [Total inmates: 712 (deaths: 16)]. 9 Jan 1847 Resolution appointing a committee to make strict enquiry into whether the husbands of women in the house are employed on public works. House committee report clearing Dr Holmes, vaccinator, of charges made by Dr Crooke. [Total inmates: 839 (deaths: 21)]
16 Jan 1847 Report by Assistant Commissioner Burke, noting the dirtiness of the house, the disregard of classification of inmates, gates left open, disorder
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in the fever ward, the incompetence of the school master to assist the master, and the state of the sewers.
23 Jan 1847 Resolution expressing satisfaction that the chairman’s application to Lord Russell met with success (empowering the Lord Lieutenant to act in ‘urgent cases’). It is noted that the board’s resources were exhausted on Wednesday, and meal procured on the guarantee of two guardians. Without ‘immediate Pecuniary Aid more than half the inmates must perish by Starvation in the House as they could not be removed and the remainder will die by the road side’. [See also 30 Jan, when a proposal to bury bodies without a coffin is to be considered, if state funds are not forthcoming]. 20 Feb 1847 Medical officer and RC chaplain report that fever is sp reading ‘to an alarming extent throughout the union’. [Resolved, to convert the dining hall into a fever hospital, instead of erecting fever sheds as proposed by PLC]. 5 Mar 1847 Resolved, in view of ‘the absolute necessity of hiring additional accommodat ion’, to offer Mr Burke £20 annually for use of his house and offices. [Total inmates: 858 (deaths: 58)]. 13 Mar 1847 Resolutions referring to (1) electoral irregularities in Kilmichael Electoral Division; (2) ‘grave’ allegations against members of the board ‘but also involving generally the integrity of the management of the affairs of the union’. It is noted that the only case of a member being a contractor was during the recent financial emergency, when ‘in such a literal case of life and death’, Mr Norwood provided flour on credit at a reduced price, ‘which if he had not so done, the entire number of inmates of this house should have been left inevitably to perish’. [See note below re chaplain, &, eg, 1 May & 5 Jun] 3 Apr 1847 Medical officer’s report noting ‘fever much on the increase and becoming more fatal being attended with Dysentery’ and other diseases. He states requirements such as furniture, dietary, and staff, and advises that the board ‘ought not to admit more’. [A PLC Order imposes a limit o f 500. See also 7 Apr, referring to Temporary Relief Act, and later minutes]. Reply to PLC letter regarding charges against the RC chaplain, stating that Fr Dohen y excited his congregation ‘to a contest for the election of guardians and calling upon them t o support the candidate of his choice’. It is also noted that he used ‘certain expressions to injure the character of some of t he present guardians’. T he board consider him unfit to continue as chaplain. [See 10 Apr] 24 Apr 1847 Resolution accepting the offer of tents (for fever patients) pending the building of a fever hospital, for which a tender has been accepted, and advising that Thomas Holmes be appointed union medical officer. Resolution recommending that the master and his assistant be dismissed, o wing to ‘a very serious mistake’ in returning the number of inmates as 678, when it appears to have been 519, rations having been drawn for the larger number. Reference is made, in defence of the board, to ‘the state of disease in the house, and the very g reat press of public business at relief committees’.
5 Jun 1847 Resolutions in reply to Mr Phelan’s report to the PLC, referring to numbers, bedding, dietary, and ‘unjust’ remarks respecting the medical officer.
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19 Jun 1847 Resolution, in response to warrants from Dublin Castle ordering the collection of £6631, to be paid to electoral divisions under the Temporary Relief Act, stating ‘that any attempt to enforcement of much larger sums [ie, larger than poor rates] would at the present juncture be utterly hopeless’. 3 Jul 1847 Reply to PLC letter regarding the dietary for the sick, expressing the view that the best course would be for the board ‘to relinquish all discretion... by order from Superior Authority ’ and purchase all the expensive foodstuffs cont emplated by the PLC, even though the cost would ‘materially abridge the probably short period during which it will be possible to keep open the doors of their union’. 14 Aug 1847 Letter from the medical officer regarding the ‘immediate necessity’ of reconsidering the present dietary. He notes ‘the numbers in hospital some time since with dysentery & co were over 200 and their reduction this week to 90 will at once prove that change of food is of paramount importance’. He adds that dietary supplied ‘in a s eason of distress ought now to be changed to a more grateful and cooling one’. 18 Sep 1847 Resolution proposing that paupers in future be charged to each electoral division, not to the union at large. [See 15 Mar 1845, 25 Mar 1848] Resolution expressing regret that Rev James Burke has been appointed curate in Dunmanway, and has been found to have acted as workhouse chaplain, despite having been convicted in 1838 ‘for conspiracy to swear away the life of an innocent man’. They have directed that he no longe r be admitted.
5.
2 Oct 1847 – 19 Feb 1848
Includes:
16 Oct 1847 Reply to PLC letter, explaining why 6 children were transmitted by cart from Dunmanway to Bandon union. [Total inmates: 301]
13 Nov 1847 Resolved, that a special meeting be held to consid er the ‘urgent necessity’ for increased accommodation and the propriety of giving out door relief. It is further resolved that the three relieving officers attend at stated villages on stated days. It is noted ‘a number of able -bodied persons assembled during the time of the meeting... and wanted admission’. They were asked to attend on Monday with their wives and children. (At the adjourned meeting, men again presented themselves without families and were rejected. Three single men admitted ‘immediately be came refr actory and disobedient’ and were put before magistrates and sentenced to a month’s hard labour). 20 Nov 1847 Resolutions (1) asking that the rate be collected in two parts, now and in February, to mitigate ‘a heavy pressure’ on ratepayers which m ay ‘extinguish, all agricultural exertion’; (2) asking for prompter payment of advances under the Land Improvement Act, work under which is regarded as the main check on destitution following the cessation of relief funds.
27 Nov 1847 Resolution thanking the Lord Lieutenant for the sending of an agricultural instructor to the west riding of Cork, but noting that owing to the
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‘incapacity’ of the Board of Works in managing applications under the Land Improvement Act, intended employment has not occurred, and the board ‘must have recourse to out -door relief which would plague the union with all the miseries experienced last year’. [See special meeting, 10 Jan 1848] 11 Dec 1847 Resolution noting that as the workhouse is full [566 inmates], a house which will accommodate 200 children has been taken nearby, and it is asked how much of the 34 acres of land available should be taken, the board being anxious to provide employment to the able- bodied, to prevent ‘the entire property of this union from being eaten up by out- door relief’. 24 Dec 1847 Reply to a PLC letter regarding a memorial to the Lord Lieutenant from the parishes of Kilmichael and Macloneigh, denying that workhouse relief was refused to any applicant from Kilmichael, and referring to the attendance of relieving officers and present exertions to collect rates.
8 Jan 1848 PLC order limiting numbers in the workhouse to 500, in the additional workhouse to 60, and in the fever ward to 55.
22 Jan 1848 Resolutions (1) calling a meeting of all land and property holders to discuss destitution, employment, and relief in each ED; (2) explaining the taking of houses in the town to be boys dormitories; (3) Out-door relief to ‘about 130 persons’ to begin on Monday (depots at Dunmanway, Inchageela, Ballygurteen, Balnacarriga, and Inchacurkey); (3) that such relief be ¾ lbs per adult and ½ lb per child per day of Indian meal; (4) that the PLC sanction out- door relief ‘to widows with one child and to married women whose husbands have gone to England and to America’; (5) that additional accommodation be taken; (6) that PLC assent ‘to making taxation an electoral charge, as... an additional stimulus to land-holders to avail themselves of the provisions of the Land Improvement Act’. [See, eg, 29 Jan, 7 Feb] 12 Feb 1848 Total inmates: 757. Resolution, referring to ‘the partial success of the very limited portion of potatoes planted last season’ , explaining that unless seed potatoes are provided gratuitously or at a price affordable to the labouring classes, it will not be possible for them ‘to emerge from the deplorable position in which they have been placed by the late disastrous visitation of Providence’.
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6.
26 Feb 1848 – 23 Dec 1848
Partially indexed. This and subsequent volumes include a table to record out door relief, in addition to the usual State of the Workhouse table. Includes:
26 Feb 1848 Total inmates: 820 (12 deaths); Out door relief: 2118 persons Resolution expressing ‘great regret’ at a letter from the board’s chairman, Daniel Conner, stating that he is obliged to put 250 men out of work, owing to ‘the repeated blunders of the board of works, and the obstinacy of the paymaster of civil services’, and that it will be the board’s ‘painful duty’ to provide relief for the men and their families (about 1000 persons). Conner notes that Under Secretary Redington ‘appears to think the starvation of so many unfortunate persons a subject quite beneath his notice, as he has not condescended to attend to my last two communications’. 25 Mar 1848 Resolution calling on Mr Griffith to dismiss Mr Irwin, rates in spector, or move him from the locality, owing to his ‘intermeddling’ in matters outside his sphere, and ‘unprovoked hostility’ to board members. 15 Apr 1848 Total inmates: 853 (27 deaths); Out door relief: 3326 persons PLC order authorising relief to able-bodied men, excepting unmarried men and those with no more than two dependent children. 22 Apr 1848 Resolved, that PLC authority be sought for funds to outfit the 44 female orphan volunteers for emigration to Australia. [See 17 Jun] Resolution informing Inchageela Relief Committee that the soup house will be discontinued, owing to ‘the expenses attending cooked food’. Resolved, that observations on the state of the workhouse by Major Stewart, temporary inspector, be inserted on the minutes. 20 May 1848 Resolutions regarding charges of intoxication against the master, and a charge of suppressing a resolution against the clerk [ ‘the whole subject’ of the clerk’s conduct being under investigation. 27 May: clerk dismissed]. 10 Jun 1848 Total inmates: 985 (deaths: 7). Out door relief: 2147 persons. Master reports that a woman found to have a child’s frock in her pocket was confined to the black hole. Ordered to be turned out of the house. Further ordered that boys reported for misconduct be whipped by the master. 8 Jul 1848 Replies to queries from the Poor Law Boundary Commissioners. The board do not think the union should be altered at present, but that ‘grave consideration’ may be required if Clonakilty is separated from Bandon. 5 Aug 1848 Total inmates: 905 (deaths: 7). Out door relief: 1798 persons. Resolved, that out door relief is to cease from this date, paupers to be admitted to the workhouse and remaining meal delivered to the master. 19 Aug 1848 Medical offi cer’s report stating that the sick have been moved to the new fever ward and ‘that the change had been of great service’. Reply to PLC circular, noting that about ¼ of the potato crop is gone, that
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acres under wheat are down 1/3 rd , with a further 1/3 rd deficient, the oat crop appears favourable, but there is hardly any barley in the area, and the present unfavourable weather threatens the entire grain crop. Resolution expressing alarm at striking another three shilling rate, noting the depressive effect on farmers and employment. Reference is made to the poorness of the union and the report of the inspector under the Ration Act. It is noted that the union was not among the 22 unions ‘to whom relief was afforded so liberally during the last 10 months by the B ritish Association’. 9 Sep 1848 Reports (1) of the manufacture committee regarding the employment of female paupers in the manufacture of wool [Commenced. See, eg, visiting committee report, 30 Sep]; (2) of the PLC inspector, noting the house is ‘generally in good order’, and referring to the girls’ school [see 16 Sep], kitchen steam apparatus, poor quality bread, and the ‘irregularity’ of male and female paupers working together digging potatoes. 16 Sep 1848 Resolution regarding the dismissal of the rate revisor, stating that he ‘has been guilty of defalcations as paymaster under the board of works’, and rejecting charges by him of ‘malice and spite’ on the board ’s part .
30 Sep 1848 Old Brewery taken as a temporary workhouse for one year.
2 Dec 1848 Resolution regarding the proposal of the Poor Law Boundary Commissioners to take of ploughlands in Kilmeen ED and add them to the new Clonakilty Union. The board protests ‘against the immediate erection of any additional workhouses’, noting that no new house could be completed within two years, by which time ‘existing pressures’ will have subsided. They believe the workhouse and auxiliary houses will meet this year’s requirements ‘so reduced in number is the po pulation by death and emigration ’. They refer to l ikely changes in EDs and areas of taxation, noting ‘few persons are so ignorant or infatuated as to prefer supporting persons in idleness in the workhouse to employing them profitably on their properties when the law leaves them no alternative’.
16 Dec 18 48 Master reports ‘that the men employed at the quarry are not doing a fair proportion of work ’ . Ordered to break stones at a rate per day.
23 Dec 1848 Total inmates: 1045 (Deaths: 7) [accommodation: workhouse: 600, additional workhouses: 900; fever hospital: 60 (total:1560)] Establishment account [quarterly], and other accounts, recorded.
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7.
30 Dec 1848 – 13 Oct 1849
Includes:
6 Jan 1849 Report of committee to arrange additional accommodation, recommending that a house which could take 200 boys and a hall which could serve as a school room be taken. ‘The committee are apprehensive that even this additional accommodation will not suffice for the increased demand’, and recommend the building of wooden sheds, to serve as work rooms. 20 Jan 1849 Resolution regarding repayment of advances from the relief commissioners, asking that it be deferred while ‘the present crisis’ and expenditure on accommodation make early compliance impracticable. [See 10 Feb, explaining the impossibility of repaying loans under the Labour Rate Act to the Western Division of East Carbery (including this union and part of Skibbereen), owing to ‘the continued failure of the potato crop’. See also 24 Mar: ‘the mere fact of striking [a further rate] would cause half the farmers to desert their farms and the other half to dismiss the few labourers they at present employ’.] Remarks adopted in response to 11 propositions received from the PLC, regarding local taxation, rates, electoral divisions, and national funding. It is thought that t he cost of building workhouses ‘should be defrayed nationally as a trifling remuneration for the injury which Ireland as an agricultural country has sustained by a repeal of the Corn Laws’, but it is added ‘we deprecate any dependence on national sources for the support of the poor as such an arrangement would make the local boards reckless of expenditure’. 27 Jan 1849 Total inmates: 1640. Deaths: 23. The medical officer reports outbreaks of measles and dysentery, with ‘the great majority [of deaths] from dysentery among the class of persons very recently admitted’. [See 3 Mar, ( deaths: 45), when the guardians note ‘the mortality was principally amongst those who have recently come into the house in such an exhausted state as to render all food and medicine useless’ ]. 3 Mar 1849 Resolution regarding consumption of milk in the dietary, it being ‘impossible to procure a sufficient quantity until May’. Resolution stating, with regard to contributing towards an agricultural instructor, that it will be ‘useless’ to attempt such work ‘as long as we are threatened with a sixpenny rate (miscalled a national rate)’. [Struck on 2 Jun] 24 Mar 1849 Visiting committee report noting ‘some confusion from the failure of water’ [an ongoing problem]. Resolution regarding the difficulty of repaying ‘ration money’ [loans under the Labour Rate Act; see note on 20 Jan above], noting that the union could not afford to send 42 female paupers as emigrants to Australia if also required to make a loan repayment out of present funds. [Emigrants: see 8 Sep] 7 Apr 1849 Resolution, in reply to PLC letter, stating ‘it is the bounden duty of this board to discountenance all idea of administering [out- door] relief’. [See 28 Apr, referring to the ‘evils and imposition’ experienced in the past ,
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and stating the board ’s preference for securing accommodation].
14 Apr 1849 Medical officer’s report noting ‘that fever was considerably on the increase particularly amongst the persons seeking admission to the house, dysentery very prevalent and genera lly terminating fatally’. [Deaths: 41 ; see 21 Apr: resolution explaining ‘the fearful mortality’, noting ‘the wretched and emaciated condition’ of new admissions, and the ‘very large’ numbers of persons dying outside]. Resolved, that the sum of £8 6s 0d be paid to Dunmanway board of health to assist them in street cleaning and whitewashing under the Nuisances Removal and Disease Prevention Act. [Cholera prevention. 6 Oct: no cases occurred]. 9 Jun 1849 Visiting committee report by Daniel Conner stating tha t he ‘found the classification most disgraceful, children of seven years old had been among the infirm men for several days’. [Total inmates: 2132. Deaths: 30 (Capacity: 2180)]. [Reports generally positive: see, eg, 14 Jul, 8 Sep]. 14 Jul 1849 Reply to PLC giving particulars of the case of a woman, from the union area but resident 21 years in London, and her son born in London, who were sent to Dunmanway ‘against their will and consent, and at a few hours’ notice’. [Total: 1842. Deaths: 13 (Capacity: 1980)]. 1 Sep 1849 Resolution in reply to the Commissioners of National Education, expressing satisfaction at the fitness of the school master and mistress, and stating that if the commissioners ‘are not satisfied with the above officers the board have no alternative but to disconnect their establishment from the National Education Board’. [Total inmates: 828. Deaths: 3 (Capacity: 1920)]. 8 Sep 1848 Resolution signed by most guardians expressing themselves ‘perfectly satisfied’ with the arrangement of EDs propo sed by the Poor Law Boundary Commissioners. A dissentient resolution by a guardian for Dunmanway ED states ‘the area is too small for a town district, which has always been a focus of destitution and mendicancy’. [See later minutes] 15 Sep 1849 Master reports an inmate has absconded in union clothes [a recurring item] Resolved, in striking ‘a new and heavy rate’ including assistance to distressed unions, ‘to protest against the mismanagement of the adjoining union of Bantry, at present under the direct con trol of the Poor Law Commissioners’. 6 Oct 1849 Total inmates: 686. Deaths: 3. Capacity: 1690. PLC order of 3 Oct regarding administration of the poor law ‘with the newly arranged electoral divisions of the altered union of Dunmanway’. 13 Oct 1849 Resolu tion regarding matters arising ‘which the ex officio guardians now carrying on the duties of the board would prefer submitting to all the guardians collectively’. PLC is asked ‘how soon is it likely that the board will be completed’.
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8. 9.
20 Oct 1849 – 17 Aug 1850 24 Aug 1850 – 5 Apr 1851 12 Apr 1851 – 1 Nov 1851 8 Nov 1851 – 22 May 1852 29 May 1852 – 11 Dec 1852 18 Dec 1852 – 4 Jun 1853 11 Jun 1853 – 19 Nov 1853 26 Nov 1853 – 3 May 1854 10 May 1854 – 25 Oct 1854 1 Nov 1854 – 10 Apr 1855 25 Apr 1855 – 17 Oct 1855 24 Oct 1855 – 7 May 1856 14 May 1856 – 5 Nov 1856 12 Nov 1856 – 20 May 1857 27 May 1857 – 19 Nov 1857 25 Nov 1857 – 19 May 1858 26 May 1858 – 24 Nov 1858 1 Dec 1858 – 25 May 1859 1 Jun 1859 – 23 Nov 1859 30 Nov 1859 – 23 May 1860 30 May 1860 – 21 Nov 1860 5 Dec 1860 – 29 May 1861 5 Jun 1861 – 4 Dec 1861 11 Dec 1861 – 4 Jun 1862 11 Jun 1862 – 3 Dec 1862 10 Dec 1862 – 3 Jun 1863 10 Jun 1863 – 2 Dec 1863 9 Dec 1863 – 1 Jun 1864 7 Dec 1864 – 31 May 1865
10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 43. 44. 45. 46. 47. 48. 49. 50. 51. 52. 53. 54. 55. 56. 57.
Missing [see BG/83/AA/1 below]
6 Dec 1865 – 5 Dec 1866 12 Dec 1866 – 4 Dec 1867 11 Dec 1867 – 2 Dec 1868 9 Dec 1868 – 30 Nov 1869 7 Dec 1869 – 29 Nov 1870 6 Dec 1870 – 20 Nov 1871 5 Dec 1871 – 20 Nov 1872 27 Nov 1872 – 19 Nov 1873 26 Nov 1873 – 18 Nov 1874 25 Nov 1874 – 19 May 1875 26 May 1875 – 8 Dec 1875 15 Dec 1875 – 7 Jun 1876 14 Jun 1876 – 6 Dec 1876
Missing [see BG/83/AA/2 below]
13 Jun 1877 – 26 Dec 1877 2 Jan 1878 – 11 Oct 1878
Missing [see BG/83/AA/3 below]
9 Apr 1879 – 1 Oct 1879 8 Oct 1879 – 7 Apr 1880 14 Apr 1880 – 22 Sep 1880
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