BG/65
IE CCCA/BG/65 Clonakilty Board of Guardians
Content & Structure
Scope & Content The minutes of Clonakilty Board of Guardians provide an almost unparalleled record, in that they extend from May 1850, just after its creation, to its final abolition in 1924 without any gaps [BG/65/A/1-74]. The Great Famine (1845-49) had a devastating impact on the West Cork region, and while the minutes commence as famine was finally abating, they document its lingering effects and provide information on the number of inmates in 1849 and 1850 (totals for one, two, and three previous years noted in minutes 1850-52). ). The ordinary minutes include statistical information on workhouse inmates and details of workhouse life and administration. From the 1850s the volumes contain minutes of proceedings under the Medical Charities Acts and, from the 1870s, the Pub lic Health Acts, documenting the board’s increasing role in health and sanitation, and the work of dispensaries and medical officers in the dispensary districts. Twentieth century minute books also document the boarding out of orphaned and deserted childre n. The selections from the minutes summarized or quoted in this list focus on the Union’s early years in the shadow of the famine, and on its final years as it became the last ‘working’ workhouse in west Cork. Newscuttings inserted into some of the later minute books giving verbatim reports of some discussions add colour to the official record. Selections are also given from minutes from 1881 and 1914-15, as a sample of other periods. Also present is a set of statistical minutes from 1905 to 1920 [BG/65/AD/1]. Often bound with general minutes in the minute books of other unions, these formal returns were bound as a separate set by the clerk of Clonakilty union. The weekly returns confirm that union registers and other records have been examined, and provide information on consumption of provisions, the average costs of maintaining inmates, and expenditure by relieving officers on outdoor relief. One dispensary committee minute book, for Rosscarbery Dispensary district, has survived, and covers the long period from 1852 to 1899 (BG/65/AJ/1). Whiles the board’s dealings with dispensary committees are covered in the main board minutes, the present volume gives greater detail on the provision and management of public health and sanitary services on a local level. The final item is a minute book relating to the board’s work as a Rural Sanitary Authority under the Labourers’ Acts 1883 and 1885 [BG/65/AL/1]. A record of meetings on preparing and delivering schemes for erecting cottages for the labouring classes, the volume documents the beginnings of the provision of rural social housing in the Clonakilty area.
Cork City and County Archives 2011
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