Mallow Board of Guardians
IE CCCA/BG/116
Content & Structure
Scope & Content The surviving archives of the Mallow Board of Guardians consist, apart from one related item, of 44 minute books containing minutes of full meetings of the board of guardians, 1839-1917 (with gaps). 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. From the late 1880s, the minutes also record proceedings in connection with pr oviding labourers’ cottages to agricultural labourers and their families. From 1899, this work became a function of Mallow Rural District Council, and some labourers records created by the union were transferred to the RDC, and now form part of the Mallow RDC collection (RDC/116), also at this Archive. Another item present, an agenda book 1917-19, was kept by the clerk of the union, who also served as clerk of the RDC. The volume covers agendas for meetings of both bodies, but contains more Poor Law Union material, including lists of payments to be submitted to the board’s finance committee. The volume illustrates the close relationship between the two bodies, and also provides a partial record of the board’s activities up to Jul y 1919.
The only financial record present is a Statement of Union Accounts, prepared by the clerk, for the half year to March 1860, which gives an insight into the financial operations of the union.
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 public health and sanitary provision, and the beginnings of the provision of labourers’ cottages. The minute books also shed light on dealings with other bodies including the PLC/LGB, the Office of Public Works, Mallow RDC, Mallow Town Commissioners, and Cork County Council. Subjects such as the Great Famine (1845-49), the First World War (1914-18), and (intermittently) emigration are also documented. In addition, some resolutions provide a glimpse of local issues and politics, e.g., a police attack on demonstrators in Mallow on 22 May 1917 [see BG/116/A/120].
© Cork City and County Archives 2011
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