Bantry workhouse Board of Guardians (BG43)

Bantry Board of Guardians

IE CCCA/BG/43

Content & Structure

Scope & Content The surviving minutes of Bantry Board of Guardians (BG/43/A) cover almost the entire existence of that body, with only a few gaps. Some of these gaps are filled by the four volumes of ‘rough’ minutes als o present (BG/43/AA). 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 Public Health Acts, documenting the board’s increasing role in health and sanitation, and the work of dispensaries and medical officers in the dispensary districts. The Bantry area was particularly severely affected by the Great Famine (1845-49), and its impact on the local population, and on the work of the board and the workhouse, is documented in stark detail in these minute books. One consequence was the dissolution of the Board of Guardians in 1847, with poor law services administered by two appointed vice-guardians until a new Bantry union, and a discrete Castletown union, were created in late 1849. Many selections from the minutes for this difficult period are included in the list below. Volumes for the last years of the union are also covered in some detail. Particular attention is paid to the military occupation of the workhouse, the gradual amalgamation and abolition of workhouses, and the removal of the board and the hospital to Bantry House. Selections from a few of the other minute books are also included. Throughout an effort has been made to reflect the daily provision of workhouse and dispensary services to the poor. Some resolutions relating to politics and other issues are included to reflect the board’s varied concerns. The other series present consists of two minute books recording proceedings of the board as a rural sanitary authority under the Labourers’ Acts (BG/43/AL). Unfortunately, these cover only a few years between 1889 and 1893, although the board would have had responsibilities under these acts from 1883 until 1899. The minutes do, however, shed light on the beginnings of public provision of housing in the Bantry area. Taken altogether, the records trace the provision and development of poor law services in the area, including the treatment of the sick and those with mental illnesses, arrangements for children, out door relief and medical treatment (including vaccination) in dispensary districts, the challenges facing the improvement of public health and sanitation, and the beginnings of the provision of labourers’ cottages. The minute books also shed light on dealings with other bodies including other west Cork unions, PLC/LGB, the Office of Public Works, Bantry Town Council and RDC, and Cork County Council. While predominantly documenting the provision of services to the poor, the records also record the views of the board on a variety of subjects, and reflect major developments in the Bantry area and west Cork region.

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