Descriptive list of the archive of Bandon workhouse/poor law union Board of Guardians. Items are in hard copy and may be accessed by appointment.
Cork City and County Archives Bandon Board of Guardians (Ref. IE CCCA/BG/42) 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:........................................................................................................................................... 6 Archiv ist’s Note: ......................................................................................................................................... 6 List of Items and Descriptions ................................................................................................................. 7 1. Minute Books .................................................................................................................................. 7 BG/42/A Bandon Board of Guardians Minute Books ........................................................ 7 BG/42/AA/1 Bandon Board of Guardians Rough Minute Book ................................... 27 2. Accounts ........................................................................................................................................ 27 BG/42/CA General Ledgers .................................................................................................. 27 BG/42/CD/1 Bandon Union Financial Statements - Receipts ........................................ 28 BG/42/CL/1 Bandon Union Bank Book ............................................................................ 28 3. Workhouse: Administration........................................................................................................ 29 BG/42/F/1 Master’s Journal .................................................................................................. 29 BG/42/FK/1 Weekly Tobacco Account ............................................................................. 29 4. Workhouse: Inmates .................................................................................................................... 30 BG/42/G/1 Bandon Union Indoor Relief Register ........................................................... 30 5. Labourers’ Acts ............................................................................................................................. 30 BG/42/SA/1 Labour ers’ Acts Ledger ................................................................................... 30
Bandon Board of Guardians
IE CCCA/BG/42
Identity Statement
Reference Code:
IE CCCA/BG/42
Title:
Bandon Board of Guardians
Dates:
1839 – 1925
Level of description:
Fonds
Extent:
118 items
Context
Creator(s): Bandon Board of Guardians
Archival History The surviving records of the Bandon Board of Guardians were deposited in the Archives in the early 1980s.
Administrative & Biographical History The Bandon Board of Guardians was the governing body of Bandon workhouse and poor law union. Bandon 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 Bandon Board of Guardians took place on 4 March 1839. The Union Workhouse opened on 17 November 1841. An Order of 3 October 1849 altered the union, with parts of Bandon Union being given to Dunmanway and the newly-created Clonakilty Union, and parts from Macroom Union being added to Bandon. A Reservation Order of 12 December 1849 reserved a quarter of the accommodation on Bandon Workhouse for inmates from Clonakilty Union, pending the completion of that Union’s own workhouse. 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 Bandon Union consisted of the Dispensary Districts of Bandon, Innishannon, Templemartin, Murragh, and Kilbrittain. Each district had a medical officer and dispensary. On 29 November 1849 a new Union fever hospital opened, the fever hospital and dispensary in the town of Bandon having previously been run by a local committee. The Union had taken over these services some months prior to the opening of the hospital, as the committee was unable to continue to finance them against the backdrop of the Great Famine (1845-49).
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Bandon Board of Guardians
IE CCCA/BG/42
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 12 February 1921 the board resolved to sever its connection with the LGB and accept the authority of Dail Eireann. 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 Bandon 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. On 23 June 1921 the main workhouse building and several other buildings were destroyed by a fire started by ‘a party of men’. The workhouse was never to reopen, with infirm i nmates maintained in the dispensary, and able-bodied inmates discharged or sent to Clonakilty Workhouse. On 2 June 1923 the National Army gave notice that it was occupying the remaining buildings, and the board and RDC moved to offices at the Green, Bandon. 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 last recorded meeting of Bandon Board of Guardians took place on 19 April 1924.
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Bandon Board of Guardians
IE CCCA/BG/42
Content & Structure
Scope & Content The minutes of Bandon Board of Guardians (BG/42/A) provide one of the most extensive records of the period of the Great Famine (1845-49) as it was experienced in West Cork, one of the most severely affected regions in the country. Whereas several other west Cork unions only came into being in 1849-50, the Bandon Union was in existence from 1839 until its abolition in 1924 (only three volumes in the series are missing). Its dealings with the other unions in the region, especially at their creation and in the final years of the workhouse system, are also well documented. For instance, a quarter of places in Bandon Workhouse were reserved for Clonakilty inmates prior to completion of the Clonakilty workhouse in 1851. After Bandon workhouse was burned down in 1921, remaining inmates not discharged were transferred to Clonakilty. 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. Twentieth century minute books also document the boarding out of orphaned and deserted children. The selections from the minutes summarized or quoted in the descriptive list focus on the Famine period and on the final years of the Union. Some volumes from other years are highlighted to give a sense of the work of the board of guardians at different times throughout its existence, for example, following the passing of the Public Health Act 1878, and after the radical change affected by the Local Government (Ireland) Act, 1898, which saw Rural District Councils come into being. One draft minute book (BG/42/AA/1: 1839-1845) is also present. The collection also contains financial records, including general ledgers (BG/42/CA), a financial statements book (BG/42/CD), and a bank book (BG/42/CL), documenting annual accounts and daily transactions of the union, particularly in its final years. Also present is a Master’s Journal (BG/42/F/1) recording reports by the master of the workhouse, prepared for meetings of the board. In addition, there is a weekly tobacco account book (BG/42/FK), an unusual item documenting the distribution of tobacco to inmates by the master. Unfortunately, only one indoor relief register for Bandon Union is present. A note by the master (BG/42/G/1) explains that some volumes were destroyed when the workhouse burned down, and it appears that earlier volumes which escaped the fire were subsequently lost. These lost registers, noting names and other personal information on inmates, leave an incalculable gap in the historical record, particularly in terms of family history. The final item present is a Labourers’ Acts ledger (BG/42/SA), containing information on the acquisition of sites and the construction and letting of cottages for rural labourers in the 1880s and 1890s, shedding light on the beginnings of social housing provision in the Bandon area.
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Bandon Board of Guardians
IE CCCA/BG/42
Arrangement The collection consists of a series of minutes of meetings of the board of guardians, and one rough minute book. Also present are a short series of financial ledgers and two other financial items, a master’s journal and tobacco account book, and a single Labourers’ Acts ledger . 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- 11
Board of Guardian Minute Books
1839-1924 (108 items) 1839-1845 (1 item)
AA1
Rough Minute Book
2. Accounts
CA/1-3
Bandon Union General Ledgers Financial Statements – Receipts Bandon Union Bank Book
1919-1924 (3 items) 1915-1924 (1item) 1922-1924 (1 item)
CD/1 CL/1
3. Workhouse: Administration
F/1
Master’s Journal
1921-1925 (1 item) 1920-1925 (1 item)
FK/1
Weekly Tobacco Account
4. Workhouse: Inmates
G/1
Indoor Relief Register
1920-1925 (1 item)
5. Labourers’ Acts
SA/1
Labourers’ Acts Ledger
1886-1896 (1 item)
Conditions of Access & Use
Access : Open by appointment to those holding a current reader ’ s ticket.
Language: English
Finding Aids: Summary descriptive list.
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Bandon Board of Guardians
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Allied Materials:
Related Material
CCCA:
Board of Guardian records for other poor law unions in West Cork (BG/43 Bantry; BG/59 Castletown; BG/83 Dunmanway; BG/65 Clonakilty; BG/115 Macroom; BG/145 Schull) Cork County Boards of Health and Public Assistance records, 1921-66 Bandon Rural District Council records, 1919-1925 (RDC/42)
Bandon Town Commissioners Records, 1835-1918 (1650) (TC/42 [U135]) Cork County Council records, 1899- (including rates valuation books) U137 Doherty Papers, Castlebernard Estate (Earls of Bandon)
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 September 2011
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Bandon Board of Guardians
IE CCCA/BG/42
List of Items and Descriptions
1. Minute Books
BG/42/A
Bandon 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 : 4 Mar 1839 – 195 Apr 1924
Level : Series
Extent : 108 volumes
1.
4 Mar 1839 – 27 Nov 1844 The volume is indexed (index and some of the minutes very feint). Includes:
4 Mar 1839 First meeting of guardians, Lord Bernard elected chairman and bye-laws adopted.
11 May 1839 Report of the Valuation Committee, referring to the deficiencies of the earlier Grand Jury and Tithe Composition valuations, and recommending that a new valuation be conducted under the Poor Law Act ‘upon a scale as minute as the portion into which each townland is subdivided, even to the smallest occupation’. 25 May 1839 Report of committee to inspect sites for the workhouse, recommending a site near Boyle street owned by the earl of Shannon and presently let (‘if the earl of Shannon will be as liberal as on other occasions’), having assessed the merits and defects of five other sites (including two offered by the Duke of Devonshire and one on Gallows Hill). The report is sent to the PLC with ‘the most urgent request’ for an early decision ‘with a view to give employment to the tradesmen and labourers of the vicinity during a very distressing sum mer which they have a great reason to fear’. 17 Jul 1839 Report of committee to examine valuation made by Messrs Sealy, Gash and Crawford of the townland of Brinny, expressing satisfaction with their work and recommending their appointment, with perhaps one other valuator, for the valuation of the whole union.
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28 Dec 1839 Resolved, to sign and forward the deed to the Exchequer Bill Loan Commissioners; resolved, to express satisfaction at Assistant Commissioner Voules’s explanation with regard to this loan ; resolved, that a cheque be drawn for the amount of purchase of the workhouse site.
[Minutes are quite feint for the period February 1840 to May 1841. Site of Workhouse, the valuation and objections to it, and vaccination all discussed]
17 Nov 1841 Visiting committee appointed [to inspect workhouse] and stated dietary for inmates adopted. [18 May 1842: Report on Dietary].
24 Nov 1841 Meeting adjourned owing to the board ‘being occupied in the investigation of the admission of paupers until half past 4 o ’clock’.
1 Dec 1841 Resolution calling the attention of the Assistant Poor Law Commissioner to the visiting committee’s report, noting ‘the defective state of the roof’, making ‘several of the dormitories... quite uninh abitable ’. 5 Jan 1842 Report of the finance committee, recommending that ‘the treatment of hospital patients... be studiously adapted to the habits, the comforts and the facilities for treatment and attention of the inhabitants of the union generally’; the recommendation is made ‘from the c onviction that many of the benefits conferred by the hospital of this institution are not enjoyed by a large class of the ratepayers’.
19 Jan 1842 Resolved, that the guardians and the clerk collect subscriptions for the Bandon Union Agricultural Society.
26 Jan 1842 Resolved, to suspend admission of foundling infants pending direction from the PLC as to whether they should be admitted and nurses hired to rear them, or whether they should be put at nurse outside the house ‘which would be much more economical’. The request is made in the context of magistrates and ratepayers having refused to present for support of parish foundlings at recent sessions. [See also 23 Feb 1842] 9 Feb 1842 Resolved, that parish wardens are asked to make a list of persons in the ir districts ‘who are likely to become applicants’. Response to certificate from the Master, Cork Workhouse, regarding two Bandon natives who were received and fed in Cork. The board consider his action ‘wholly illegal’ as it adopts ‘out door relief and a law of settlement neither of which are recognised by the Poor Relief Act’.
4 May 1842 Insertion, opinion of Assistant Poor law Commissioner Voules on the use of distress and distrain for recovery of arrears of rates.
15 Jun 1842 Resolved, ‘that each paup er should be known by his or her number and that each class should be subdivided and placed under the superintendence of a ward master or mistress’, the latter being responsible for their ‘orderly conduct’ and the carrying out of regulations ‘particularly as regards work and employment’, and to report to the master every evening.
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17 Aug 1842 Resolution regarding the delay in putting the present rate into effect owing to the ‘neglect’ of the PLC in not forwarding the Attorney General’s opinion on the necess ity of appointing a revisor, which ‘delay has placed this board in seriou s pecuniary difficulties’. [See also, eg, 21 Sep] 28 Sep 1842 PLC letter regarding admission of a husband or wife and children where a spouse re fuses to enter. They note ‘in administ ering relief a family must be considered as a whole and mutually dependant one upon another and one part cannot be deemed to be destitute and the other not so’. 12 Oct 1842 Resolved, that it is the board’s opinion that the transfer of medical charities t o the PLC ‘would prove destructive to the character and efficiency of the medical profession, injurious to the interests of the poor’ and would involve greater public expense for less relief. [See also 30 Nov 1842] 23 Nov 1842 Resolution stating the findi ng that ‘rumours... as regards the immorality of certain females in this house are quite unfounded’. [See 14 Dec] Resolutions regarding ‘the total failure of the Poor Law as a general measure of relief’ and ‘the unhappily daily increasing symptoms of oppos ition to the collection of the rates’. Committee to draft a petition created. [See, eg, 22 Feb] 25 Jan 1843 Resolved, that ‘the most stringent measures’ be used to compel payment of poor rates by Mr Halyburton, a guardian, whose refusal ‘prevented the rate payers in general of Kinneigh from paying’.
19 Apr 1843 Resolved, to send a memorial to Treasury ‘praying exemption from the loan advanced for building the workhouse’. [See also 20 Nov 1844]
26 Apr 1843 Resolved, that the schoolmaster ‘shall in no inst ance strip the boys for administering… punishment’.
10 May 1843 Resolutions debated regarding ‘interfere nce in the religious professions of the Protestant paupers ’ by the RC chaplain [see 31 Jan 1844].
19 Jul 1843 Resolution calling the PLC’s attention to a report showing ‘the very ineffective manner in which the walls of this house have been built’ and claimi ng remedial costs ‘should be borne by the Commissioners’ architect’. 17 Aug 1843 Resolved, ‘that charges of fraud and peculation against the master and matron have not been substantiated’, but some ‘irregularities’ having been proved, that the Assistant PL Commissioner caution the parties. 1 Nov 1843 Resolved, in view of ‘the ravages made by Small Pox in the neighbourhood of Timoleague and its vicinity introduced by itinerant inoculation’, that the services of ‘respectable medical practitioners’ be sought.
1 May 1844 Six vaccination districts proposed [see also 8 May and 2 Oct].
28 Aug 1844 List of rates struck off the rate books [mainly properties unoccupied or valued under £4. Over 900 properties in all].
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Bandon Board of Guardians
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2. 3.
Missing
2 Apr 1845 – 7 Jan 1846
Includes:
30 Apr 1845 Total inmates: 320 (Capacity: 900) Resolved, that the chaplains ‘be requested to confer on the selection of such books as in their judgement would be instructive and entertaining to the general class of adult paupers’. Resolved, that ‘from the number of females seeking admission into the house solely for the purpose of being confined of illegitimate children’, the board consider ask ing parliament to alter ‘the Bastard clause of the Poor Relief Bill’. 2 Jul 1845 Resolved, in light of an unfavourable report by the PLC inspector, that the master be reprimanded and that the school master and mistress and nurse tender be cautioned to pay ‘implicit obedience’ to the master. Accepted, tender for ‘raising on’ [extending] the male and female idiot wards.
27 Aug 1845 Resolved, ‘that the board do not renew the contracts for vaccination for the coming years. Carried by a majority of 18 to 3’.
8 Oct 1845 Clerk reports two notices of intention to marry.
22 Oct 1845 Resolved, ‘that the guardians… make minute investigation into the extent of the potato rot in their neighbourhood’.
5 Nov 1845 Resolved, that the Western Rector’s letter re g arding ‘t he potato disease’ which appeared in the Constitution be distributed throughout the union ‘with a strong recommendation to the inhabitants to reconstruct their potato pits according to the instructions laid down by him’. 19 Nov 1845 Resolved, that the guardians answer stated queries regarding the potato crop and disease and ‘if possible to form committees in their divisions’, at the request of the Lord Lieutenant of the County. 26 Nov 1845 Resolution proposing memorialising government on the subjects of improving the sea coast and fisheries, erecting piers and harbours, and reclaiming land, all of which work boards of guardians are ‘admirably calculated to carry out’ and which would give ‘employment to the labouring classes & thereby save many from distres s and pauperism’. It is asked that the Board of Works requirement for deposit of survey expenses be waived. This resolution is to be sent to ‘the several unions throughout Ireland’. Resolution acknowledging the utility of Mr Moore’s machine, but expressing the view that ‘the extensive production of starch, where the damaged potatoes can be otherwise made use of, is inexpedient’.
7 Jan 1846 Total inmates: 328.
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Bandon Board of Guardians
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4.
14 Jan 1846 – 30 Dec 1846
Includes:
21 Jan 1846 Total inmates: 345 Resolution proposing that examination of candidates for admission should be on oath and asking the PLC whether guardians as justices of the peace may administer an oath. Resolution calling for ‘some arrangement which will enable the guardians to classify and separate prostitutes from the other inmates’, following the master’s statement that ‘established’ prostitutes have frequently been seen ‘watching at the doors to inveigle & induce girls of good appearance to leave the house and go upon the town’. 4 Mar 1846 Resolutions ‘to r elieve the potato market from the pressure of buying therein’, adopting household bread, oatmeal and Indian meal for diet and considering construction of an oven. [See 11 Mar: Master’s report stating ‘the Indian Corn Meal made very excellent food’, and 2 Dec: new ‘economical and nutritious dietary’ adopted].
11 Mar 1846 Resolution ‘deprecating in the strongest manner... improper interference... with the Protestant inmates’ by the assistant RC chaplain.
18 Mar 1846 Resolved, to memorialize the Board of Works regarding completion of a road from Bandon ‘to the deep water of the Bandon river’. [Resolutions regarding relief works and erection of piers also made] 6 May 1846 Resolution seeking the PLC’s opinion on whether warrants may be issued for mothers who desert their children, the father having first deserted his wife and children. The board fear that unless mothers may legally be apprehended ‘the house will be filled with children deserted in this manner’ 12 Aug 1846 Resolved, that owing to ‘the general a nd complete failure of the potato crop... particularly in the sea coast district, and the consequent alarming assemblages of unemployed labourers’, the government is called on to supply immediate employment on an adequate scale. 7 Oct 1846 Board’s opinion in favour of ‘establishing a depot for Indian meal in the town of Bandon’. The board think it the government’s duty to ‘ bring food at a reasonable rate within the means of the poor without any violent interference with the fair trade’. Reference is also m ade to the depot at Skibbereen and to the impossibility of relief committees meeting demand. 16 Dec 1846 Resolution concerning ‘the fearful state of destitution in the parishes of Lislee and Abbeymahon and Donoghmore, caused by the discharge of a great nu mber of persons off the Public Works’. 30 Dec 1846 Resolution regarding the ‘crowded state’, ‘poor ventilation’ and risk of increased ‘sickness and disease’ in the house, calling on the PLC’s architect to visit. [Total inmates: 1032; Deaths: 13 (capacity: 900)].
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5.
6 Jan 1847 – 8 Mar 1848
Includes:
17 Feb 1847 Total inmates; 1235. Deaths: 33. Rate struck ‘to meet the proposed temporary measures for the relief of the destitute, if same shall be demanded by the several relief committees likely to be appoi nted under the proposed government measure’ . [See also 31 May] Resolved, to appoint a committee to receive estimates for sheds for additional accommodation, according to the plans of Mr Wilkinson, PLC architect. Resolved, to prepare a return of guardians’ attendance to post in board room. 8 Mar 1847 S pecial meeting held, at which it was resolved (1) ‘that as the great pressure in the workhouse is at the female side… a permanent enlargement’ is required, and that sheds to accommodate 250 persons be constructed forthwith; (2) that legal provisions regarding the towns of Clonakilty and Bandon be put in force; (3) ‘that the Board of Health should appoint Dr Wood the Medical Officer of the Union’; (4) that tenders be sought for a piece of land for ‘a burying ground for the union paupers’. 24 Mar 1847 Resolution closing the house [to new admissions], as the medical officer’s report states that the hospital is overcrowded and warns of ‘dangerous consequences… if any more persons were admitted’. 31 Mar 1847 Resolution empowering the clerk ‘to have earth and lime conveyed to Ballymooden burial ground to cover the coffins of paupers now improperly exposed’ . 7 Apr 1847 Resolution making arrangements to meet bills owed and explaining to the PLC that the union’s treasu rer refuses to make any advances without the personal security of guardians. They ask the PLC to sanction an advance without such security ‘when their want of funds is caused by the pressure of the times and the death and sickn ess of their officers’ [Rate revisor (and porter and two guardians) reported dead around this time. See 17 Mar]. Resolved, guardians to estimate population, destitution, and costs in each ED. 28 Apr 1847 Resolution of the committee of Bandon Fever Hospital placing the hospital at the disposal of the board ‘until the new hospital about to be built is completed’. In a resolution the board recommend that the committee apply to the Bandon Relief Committee ‘with a view of carrying out the new Fever Act’. Another resolution refers to increasing fever and ‘disastrous results’ if there is further delay by the Board of Health in placing the Union under 9 Vic C 6. They also resolve to call government’s attention to the state of graveyards, ‘which are endangering the lives of all classes in the country’. 14 Jun 1847 Special Meeting passes resolution expressing ‘great regret’ that the PLC is to make a loan of only £1200, for the fever hospital, not the £3000 sought by the board for additional buildings. The board stress ‘the utmost necessity for i ncreasing the workhouse accommodation’ and ‘the utter impossibility of this board to contract a loan from any other quarter’.
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Bandon Board of Guardians
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17 Jun 1847 Special meeting regarding warrants for paying to the Bandon Finance Committee sums [for relief] owed by stated electoral divisions. It is stated ‘there are not sufficient funds in hands of the union at present to meet said warrants’, but the board resolves to strike ‘additional and sufficient rates’, and in the meantime asks for an advance from the Relief Commissioners. 23 Jun 1847 Resolved, that as sheds containing 100 beds have been erected since the PLC order limiting admissions to 1000, the board ‘feel themselves justified in admitting additional persons’. [Total inmates: 1040. Deaths: 31] Resolution expressing the view that the change in the law on charging paupers ‘will be of the greatest evil in its effects’, as ‘in a short time all will be charged to the general union’, ending ‘private exertion to keep down pauperism’. 28 Jul 1847 Resolution regarding the ‘very frequent’ practice of ‘parents sending their children into the workhouse as orphans’, ordering that no children be admitted as orphans without a provisional order. Resolution appointing relieving officers to 5 districts [see 21 Jul and 29 Sep]. 25 Aug 1847 Resolutions declaring rates and thanking Captain Huband (Govt Inspector) and Messrs Swanston and Wheeler ‘for the able diligent and efficient manner in which they have conducted the financial affairs of the union under the Temporary Relief Act ’ and superv ised relief committees. [15 Sep: balances for relief left on hand (over £1500) lodged to credit of EDs] 15 Sep 1847 Resolution expressing the view ‘that it would not be desirable to alter the Bandon union under the present circumstances of the country’. Resolution seeking PLC permission for the board to take over the Bandon Fever Hospital and dispensary relief in the town for the next three months, both institutions being without funds, and the relief committee and private subscribers being unable to keep the hospital going. [See also, eg, 13 Oct] Note regarding 6 children sent by Dunmanway guardians ‘with directions... to leave them on the ground if the guardians would not receive them’. 27 Oct 1847 Note expressing ‘deepest regret’ that the Relief Commiss ion has directed all advances made by them be repaid. It is felt the PLC should have given notice ‘and not allow a board of guardians who have by their acts set an example to the South of Ireland to be placed in the unpleasant position of having their trea surer refuse to pay their cheques’. It is noted that rates have been struck to meet both the advances and permanent out door relief and that ‘the board has always exhibited its readiness to meet its liabilities with due regard to the capabilities of the ra te payers’ . Forbearance is requested.
17 Nov 1847 Resolved, that Overton Mills be taken as temporary workhouse.
2 Feb 1848 Total inmates: 1912 (admitted this week: 246; deaths: 17). Resolutions regarding preparation of information on inmates in both houses and their localities, and on admission by tickets issued by relieving officers.
8 Mar 1848 Total inmates: 2177 [capacity: 1075 (main house), 800 (Overton)] Resolved, to grant ten pounds to purchase ‘hoops & c for the children’.
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6.
15 Mar 1848 – 28 Mar 1849
Includes:
5 Apr 1848 Total inmates: 2014. Deaths: 31 [Capacity: 1875 (workhouse: 950, additional workhouse: 800 [increased to 1000 from 19 Apr], fever sheds: 125)] Resolution agreeing to bear the expense of assisting persons to emigrate from the workhouse to Australia, and asking that the Commissioners [of Colonial Lands and Emigration] send an inspector, there being over 100 persons offering [orphans and inmates between 14 and 18 years old]. It is also asked that a proportion be taken from each electoral division. [See 15 Mar & 14 Jun] 19 Jul 1848 Reports on inquests, including the case of a boy ‘reported to have received ill treatment from the father and stepmother’ . The verdict concluded ‘the deceased died by the visitation of God’. 9 Aug 1848 Four children discharged, their fathers having applied for them. Resolved, that the relieving officer of Innishannon visit the tenants evicted today from land at Ballymountain, the property of Mr Rowland. 16 Aug 1848 Resolved, that guardians seek subscriptions in their EDs to retain the services of Mr Gerard, Practical Agricultural Instructor, at the request of Bandon Union Agricultural Society. [See also 4 Oct] 23 Aug 1848 Resolution asking the PLC whether persons may be paid for maintaining the boilers at relief depots. It is thought ‘judicious on account of the greatest loss of the potato crop not to dismantle these establishments’. 6 Sep 1848 Resolutions regarding two foundling children, and whether they may be put at nurse under the Vestry Act or otherwise paid for [the physician having opined ‘it would be dangerous to the children’s lives to attempt to bring them up by hand’ (ie, in the workhouse) . See 25 Apr and 12 Sep 1849]. 13 Sep 1848 Resolution calling for a pier at Burren, which would shorten the route for supplying fish and would create employment for fishermen in Lislee and Abbeymahon, ‘the most destitute part of the Bandon union’ [See 29 Nov] Resolution lodging £598 11s 11d with the Paymaster of Civil Services, but begging the Treasury ‘will not insist on more at present’, funds remaining on hand being required for the workhouse until the new rate. [See, eg, 6 Sep] 13 Oct 1848 Special meeting to consider the alteration or division of the union, the alteration of EDs [see 4 Oct], the acquisition of additional land, and other matters including appointment of vaccinators. On the main point, the board would not object to some EDs around Clonakilty being separated ‘but most strongly protest against being sacrificed to the desire of forming a unio n for Skull’, deeming it too poor to support a workhouse. [See, eg, 8 Nov] 25 Oct 1848 Resolution forming two committees of health, to consist of guardians, church wardens, and principal resident clergymen. It is further resolved that putting the Vaccination Act into effect in Ballymoodan and
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Kilbrogan EDs be taken into consideration [see also 18 Oct and 8 Nov] Resolved, that the board advertise for a store or building in Clonakilty to establish an auxiliary workhouse for 500 or 600 people. [See 29 Nov, 13 Dec] 1 Nov 1848 Clerk’s report on a visit to Overton workhouse, stating ‘I found from two to 300 children in one small room, which was intensely heated. The children were under no control whatever… and they appeared like so many mad children’. He also notes ‘the large number of children coming from Overton affected with fits’. He further reports the nuisance created by the boys’ privy emptying into the river which supplies the neighbourhood.
29 Nov 1848 New permanent fever hospital now open [capacity: 110]
20 Dec 1848 Resolution drawing the Admiralty’s attention to the ‘alarming number of wrecks which have lately taken place on the coast of their union, which they believe to be owing to the defective state of the lighthouses’. 10 Jan 1849 Doctor’s repor t expressing the opinion that the house could hold 500 paupers in excess of the 3010 accommodated on Saturday last ‘particularly as the additional accommodation at Overton is in preparation’. Also present is a PLC letter suggesting that nearly 600 inmates could be discharged and given out door relief. The board ‘do not consider it necessary to commence out door relief in this union’, and point out that the PLC’s not dividing the union led them to secure more buildings. [See also 28 Feb] 17 Jan 1849 Resolution directing relieving officers to make an inspection of paupers from their district and to report to the board, and to communicate to the landlord of each ploughland the names and numbers of paupers and the tenant they lived under. [31 Jan: PLC consider this ‘objectionable’] 28 Feb 1849 Total inmates: 3266. Deaths: 42. Fever: 18. [Capacity: 3185] Resolved, ‘that as it appears a wholesale system of plunder of the property of the union seems to be now going on in the workhouse’, that a committee be appointed to make a full account of all property. [This follows a PLC letter referring to inmates being charged for absconding from work and for drunkenness , and claims of persons ‘having sold stirabout out of the kitchen’]. 7 Mar 1849 Petition to parliamentarians expressing dismay at a proposal to impose a rate on all of Ireland to support paupers ‘in certain distressed districts’. The board think the measure ‘is but the first step in a system which will make the whole land of Ireland permanently liable for the pauperism of particular districts in it’. 21 Mar 1849 PLC letter asking why the relief list was not made up for the last six weeks. It is explained ‘that the admissions and discharges daily were so great as to occupy the whole time of the assistant master, who required the constant use of the books’. The lists are now up to date. 24 Mar 1849 Resolutions calling on the Town Commissioners of Bandon to carry out street cleaning and other preparations against Cholera (in response to Central Board of Health orders). [See 21 Mar: Cholera committees formed]
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7.
4 Apr 1849 – 27 Mar 1850
Indexed. Inside the front cover is a table noting relieving officers’ districts, net annual value, and extent. Includes:
4 Apr 1849 Total inmates: 3289. Deaths: 43 [capacity: 3185] Doctor’s report and RC chaplain’s letter regarding overcrowded infirmaries.
18 Apr 1849 Resolved, that owing to the ‘ exhausted state ’ of union funds, the board do not feel ‘justified in incurring the expense of the large outfit required by the commissioners for paupers selected for em igration’ [to Australia]. PLC letter noting 215 deaths in the 5 weeks to 31 March and suggesting out door relief be considered. [Overcrowding and relief recurring subjects.] 25 Apr 1849Protest received ‘signed numerously b y the inhabitants of the town’ against premises let [for use as a cholera hospital . See 16 May and 30 May: Bandon Fever Hospital Committee agree to take in cholera patients].
2 May 1849 Total inmates: 4034 [previous week: 3760]. [30 May: Report]
16 May 1849 Letter read reporting first case of cholera in Bandon. [A table shows requirements of dispensary physicians for attending cholera cases.]
6 Jun 1849 Visiting committee report regarding arrangements for accommodating cholera patients and removing other inmates, especially children, from contact with the disease. [The medical officer reports 21 cases this week, and physicians report cases in several districts. The board resolves to seek Board of Health advice in the matter of physicians in the Clonakilty area having refused the terms offered for attending cholera cases]. 20 Jun 1849 Workhouse cholera cases: 53 (17 cured, 11 died); Overton Hospital cases: 26 (5 cured, 3 died); cholera shed cases: 107 (4 cured, 63 died). Also, two fatal cases reported in Ballinspittle Dispensary District. Resolution regarding assessing rates [for relief] in baronies in more than one union, the board fearing that unless an ‘equitable plan’ is adopted ‘great injustice’ will be done, as those unions [Skibbereen and Dunmanway] where ‘the larger part of the advances were spent’ are ‘now seeking to throw a most unfair proportion of the repayment on this by reducing their valuation’. Resolution seeking credit of £1500 or £2000, the amount of rate uncollected being nearly £3000, ove r half of which is owed ‘by three electoral divisions in the union the most distressed’. They plan to strike another rate after Harvest. 4 Jul 1849 ‘Total of cholera cases up to 3 July 1849 since first appearance of the disease’: Workhouse: 84 (died:25); Overton: 91 (died: 35) PLC letter stating they are not ready to declare the new union at Clonakilty. Medical officer’s report stating that having examined the dietary ‘I am fully persuaded that the cause of the mortality does not lie therein. The physical state of the people coming into the workhouse is the true cause... their system having no power of recuperation’ [in dysentery cases].
1 Aug 1849 Master’s report that he found the fever hospital ‘in an unbearably
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filthy state, and calculated to produce di sease’. Nurses fined. Cholera cases: Workhouse: none: Overton: 121 (60 cured, 46 died, 10 remaining). Dr Ormston reports 16 cases in the fever hospital this week, of whom 4 remain, and that he treated 3 cases in their own homes. 22 Aug 1849 Medical offic er’s report stating that he would be able to close the cholera hospital at Overton on the 25 th , and that Dr Ormston’s cholera hospital is to be closed on Saturday. [Total inmates: 2311 (deaths: 17)] Resolution directing relieving officers to conduct a census of the union so that paupers may be accurately charged according to the amended Poor Law Act. Resolved, to appoint committee to investigate all union expenditure. Resolution requesting an enquiry into cases of paupers being charged to Kinneigh ED despite having been discharged. [Later minutes: claims for other EDs and discrepancies in recording numbers of inmates. See note for 3 Oct]
12 Sep 1849 PLC letter regarding the emigration of 60 female orphans. 15 children discharged to their parents and others [a recurring item].
26 Sep 1849 Resolutions recommending names and arrangements for new electoral divisions to the Poor Law Boundary Commissioners.
3 Oct 1849 PLC letter regarding instalments due on loans from the Public Works Loan Commissioners and other loans. £3062 is currently owed. Resolved, to dismiss the master and assistant master, and to reprimand the clerk, on foot of Major Bolton’s report on anomalies regarding Kinneigh ED. Resolved, that the porter be dismissed, on foot of the mistress’s compl aint that she ‘found a female pauper in his room’.
10 Oct 1849 ‘Order altering union – dated 3 rd October 1849’. [ Areas given to Clonakilty and Dunmanway unions, and some added from Macroom]
14 Nov 1849 Resolutions regarding the difficulties caused by Clonakilty paupers remaining in Bandon, urging the building of a workhouse in Clonakilty, and arranging the registration of Clonakilty inmates. 12 Dec 1849 Reservation order limiting a quarter of accommodation in Bandon workhouse the use of Clonakilty union, that union to pay maintenance for its paupers and a quarter of establishment and other charges. 3 Jan 1850 Adjourned meeting of guardians of Bandon and Clonakilty unions pursuant to resolutions of 26 Dec 1849 regarding the re-registry of paupers in line with the altered unions and EDs. 13 Mar 1850 Total inmates: 2098 (Deaths: 2) Report of committee ‘appointed to consider the general working of the establishment’, recommending reductions in officers’ salaries but advising against ‘frequent alterations’. They also note ‘the present system of one pauper superintending the work of others, they find to be in some instances worse than useless’. They also recommend the growing of flax ‘to be dressed and worked up by the female paupers and every exertion being made to render the workhouse self- supporting’.
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8. 9.
3 Apr 1850 – 27 Nov 1850 4 Dec 1850 – 25 Jun 1851 2 Jul 1851 – 29 Sep 1852 6 Oct 1852 – 30 Mar 1853 6 Apr 1853 – 5 Oct 1853 12 Oct 1853 – 5 Apr 1854 12 Apr 1854 – 26 Sep 1854 4 Oct 1854 – 4 Apr 1855 11 Apr 1855 – 3 Oct 1855
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. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 43. 44. 45.
Missing
9 Apr 1856 – 1 Oct 1856 8 Oct 1856 – 1 Apr 1857 8 Apr 1857 – 30 Sep 1857 7 Oct 1857 – 31 Mar 1858 7 Apr 1858 – 6 Oct 1858 13 Oct 1858 – 30 Mar 1859 6 Apr 1859 – 5 Oct 1859 12 Oct 1859 – 4 Apr 1860 4 Apr 1860 – 3 Oct 1860 10 Oct 1860 – 3 Apr 1861 10 Apr 1861 – 2 Oct 1861 9 Oct 1861 – 13 Oct 1862 8 Oct 1862 – 1 Apr 1863 8 Apr 1863 – 30 Mar 1864 6 Apr 1864 – 29 Mar 1865 5 Apr 1865 – 4 Apr 1866 11 Apr 1866 – 27 Mar 1867 3 Apr 1867 – 1 Apr 1868 7 Apr 1869 – 30 Mar 1870 6 Apr 1870 – 29 Mar 1871 5 Apr 1871 – 3 Apr 1872 10 Apr 1872 – 2 Apr 1873 9 Apr 1873 – 1 Apr 1874 8 Apr 1874 – 31 Mar 1875 7 Apr 1875 – 5 Apr 1876 12 Apr 1876 – 4 Apr 1877 11 Apr 1877 – 3 Apr 1878
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46.
10 Apr 1878 – 2 Apr 1879
Ordinary minutes are followed by supplemental sheets for proceedings under the Medical Charities Act and proceedings as a sanitary authority. From 4 December minutes of proceedings under the Contagious Diseases (Animals) Act 1878 are inserted after Medical Charities Minutes. Includes: 10 Apr 1878 Total inmates: 230 Medical Charities: election of Committees of Management of Dispensary Districts (Bandon, Innishannon, Templemartin, Murragh, and Kilbrittain).
1 May 1878 Resolution in support of Arthur Moore’s parliamentary bill for orphan and destitute children in industrial schools.
8 May 1878 LGB letter regarding to boar d’s proposal to pay consulting sanitary officers by fee instead of salary. It is explained that no case requiring the advice of the current officer has occurred since his appointment and that ‘we think it hard on the ratepayers to pay where no duty is performed’.
12 Jun 1878 Report of committee appointed to inquire into the water supply at the north side of Bandon. It is advised that wells be sunk lower.
3 Jul 1878 Clerk directed to bring the state of the fish market under the notice of the constabulary, the Town Commissioners having called attention to it.
17 Jul 1878 Committee report on sanitary nuisances in Bandon, noting ‘there were two sickly and delicate children in a room adjoining a dung pit and pig sty from which there was a poisonous effluvia’.
7 Aug 1878 Master reports two women ‘for striving to overhear the confession of a patient in the hospital to Revd J Lyons RCC’.
23 Oct 1878 Master’s report regarding the final decision of an inmate who although protestant expressed a wish to become a catholic but subsequently changed his mind. [30 Oct: master censured for his conduct in the case]. 6 Nov 1878 ‘Other Expenses’ Account notes half -yearly salary for the inspector of lodging houses and maintenance costs for three blind children and one deaf and dumb child in other institutions. 1 Jan 1879 Motion voted on rescinding the appointment of the inspector and valuer under the Contagious Diseases Act. Notice of motion given that the Lord Lieutenant be requested to amalgamate Bandon, Clonakilty, Dunmanway and Macroom unions for the purposes of the act, with one veterinary inspector. [See, eg, 15 Jan] 26 Mar 1879 Petition praying for the earlier closing of public houses on Saturday evenings signed by the chairman on behalf of the board. Veterinary Dept letter received regarding a reported case of pleuro- pneumonia, noting that an infected place should have been declared.
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