Bantry workhouse Board of Guardians (BG43)

Bantry Board of Guardians

IE CCCA/BG/43

Ordered, that an inmate named Lynch be summoned for having entered the boys’ dormitory ‘for the purpose of beating one of the boys’.

17 Dec 1879 LGB letter regarding a loan for laying pipes for Bantry water supply; memorial from ‘several ratepayers’ asking the board ‘to take advan tage of the present facilities for procuring a loan from the Board of Works to be expended in the sanitary improvement of the town’. [See sanitary minutes] 7 Jan 1880 Master’s report, stating that Lady Bantry ‘gave a treat to all the inmates’ on 2 Jan, including bread, jam, buns, currant cake, and tea, ‘toys to all the children, pipes and tobacco to the men and packages of tea and sugar to the adults’. Successful vaccinations: Bantry District: 174; Durrus and Kilcrohane: 136; Kealkil: 122. 28 Jan 1880 Letter from Major Sandford stating that he has been directed to hand over to the board ‘ that portion of the Bantry workhouse which has been since 1865 appropriated as a barrack’, and seeking to fix a date. Resolution representing to the LGB the ‘great want of employment in a portion of the said union and consequent distress’, and ‘that profitable employment might be given upon works defined in the schedule attached to the Under Secretary’s letter... of 13 January last’ (relating to road works). Application is made to convene an extraordinary meeting of the baronial sessions of the barony of the west division of West Carbery ‘to present for works specified in aforesaid schedule for the employment of the poor in the said barony’. [See also 4 Feb 1880] 11 Feb 1880 LGB letter notifying of legal advice received regarding ‘the prohibition of outdoor relief in the case of a man holding more than a quarter of an acre of land’. It is explained that such a man’s wife and family may receive relief inside or outside the workhouse if unable to work, and may receive outdoor relief if healthy but destitute. 18 Feb 1880 LGB letter regarding seed potato purchase scheme for occupiers of land not valued at more than £10, who have no seed or means to buy it [see later minutes, e.g., 10, 17 and 24 Mar and 7 and 14 Apr 1880]. LGB letter stating that coast guards on the west coast and its islands have been directed ‘to take charge of any stores of meal or food which may be entrusted to them and to render any assistance in their power for the relief of the distressed poor and especially to convey relieving officers on the requisition of the board of guardians to the islands if in their power to do so’. Minute, the board do not think it either ‘necessary or desirable’ to hold a public me eting to ‘devise means to assist in alleviating distress in this county’, as proposed in a resolution of the Cork Union submitted with a letter from the earl of Bandon. 25 Feb 1880 Minute on master’s report, noting that a woman brought to the house who assaulted a nurse and an inmate was brought before magistrates and committed to the lunatic asylum.

17 Mar 1880 Master’s report stating that the fever hos pital had to be opened

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