Workhouse records

KBarry · 26-03-2012 7:57pm #1

I think I have the death cert of my g-g-grandfather. It says he died in Armagh workhouse in 1909. At the moment I'm only 80% confident it's him. I'm looking to make it 100% and was hoping there was some way I could see the work house records. Perhaps there are records of admissions, giving their normal address. Or possibly other family members were 'inmates' (not the right term probably) at the same time.
Has anybody looked into workhouse records at all?

Waitsian · 26-03-2012 8:35pm

http://www.irishfamilyresearch.co.uk/EssentialResource8.htm

Where to find Workhouse Records

"Depending on where your Ancestors came from, many Northern Ireland Workhouse Records, can be found at the Public Records Office (PRONI) –www.proni.gov.uk, and some may still be in the custody of the local council responsible for that Union. Records for Workhouses in the Republic of Ireland, can be found at the National Archives in Dublin – www.nationalarchives.ie, or again, may be in the custody of the local council.

PRONI has its own special page devoted to Poor Law Unions: www.proni.gov.uk/records/poor_law.htm

Click here* for an alphabetical list of Workhouses (listed by County), together with details of who to contact for further information. In most cases, County Libraries house many Workhouse Records, and details of which may be found from the above Link."

*http://www.irishfamilyresearch.co.uk/workhouselist.htm

Sundew · 19-04-2012 11:28am

KBarry: I was lucky enough some years ago to get hold of the actual "minute books" for a local workhouse in which I believed my Great-Grandmother had been in.
After going through the books with a fine toothcomb I was rewarded with some superb entries for her and her children.

zagmund · 19-04-2012 12:52pm

Sundew - what sorts of records did you uncover in the minutes ? Was it daily minutiae (err, daily bits and pieces) or was it details of admission and visits ?

z

Sundew · 20-04-2012 12:12am

zagmund wrote: »

Sundew - what sorts of records did you uncover in the minutes ? Was it daily minutiae (err, daily bits and pieces) or was it details of admission and visits ?

z

Zagmund: It's about14 years since I actually got to look at the minute books....but from what I recall it was the minutes of board meetings regarding finances etc but also deaths and details of admissions and other bits and bobs like fights/illnesses etc. It was all discussed at board meetings and entered in the book.
In my case I discovered an entry relating to my Great Grand-Mother who was given money for herself and her children as well as boots and new clothes as they were being "discharged" from the workhouse. Her husband was fighting in the Boer War so I can only assume she had no money/food and was forced to admit herself to the workhouse

CeannRua · 20-04-2012 7:20am

The minute books are not meant to contain biographical details of inmates - for this you would need the admissions registers and there can be other registers that include names as well. This for instance would be a big collection http://www.corkarchives.ie/media/BG69web.pdf but not all of these types of records would survive for all poor law unions. Inmates are generally only mentioned in the minute books when something exceptional is going on eg misbehaviour like Sundew says. The minute books are really about the business of the Board of Guardians (correspondence in, stats regarding inmates in and out, Master's report, food and supplies required, rates etc etc) and even if inmates are mentioned it may be without an address which doesn't give you any context if your relative had a common name.

zagmund · 09-08-2012 3:31pm

I managed to review the minutes of the board of guardians for Bailieboro workhouse recently. As described above, there is almost no biographical information contained in them. There are very occasional references to invididuals, but they are few and far between,

There are some interesting comments and notes. My favourite 'funny' reference was along the lines of "The school was closed Friday & Saturday due to the teacher being dead" I checked and rechecked it and I'm pretty sure the word was dead rather than anything else.

Other interesting things were continued references to "compulsory vaccination" carried out by the dispensaries and the number of people who (I forgot the word they used, but) refused to be vaccinated. Any ideas what sort of vaccinations were being carred out in 1871 ?

There were also some letters from local priests petitioning for some families to be admitted or relieved in the 1890s. It sounded like the famine times, just 50 years later. The priests described absolute poverty, death by starvation, etc . . . was this 'normal' in non-famine times ?

And finally, every quarter the salaries were drawn down and recorded in the minutes - the medical officer received £15 which was the highest salary listed, but there were 3 different priests who received salaries of £12, £10 & £7 (I think, or figures in that region). Given the outlay overall for the workhouse, this seems quite high.

My GGFather submitted a letter to the guardians looking for 3 weeks leave "for a matter of some importance". Luckily for him it was granted - he submitted it to them on Thursday & was married on the Saturday. I wonder what his bride would have said if he didn't get the leave.

z

pjproby · 09-08-2012 5:29pm

'Any ideas what sort of vaccinations were being carred out in 1871 ?'
There was small pox epidemic in Ireland in 1871.
Vaccinations had been available for years but there was great distrust of the
treatment.

Brennans Row · 09-08-2012 8:45pm

zagmund wrote: »

Other interesting things were continued references to "compulsory vaccination" carried out by the dispensaries and the number of people who (I forgot the word they used, but) refused to be vaccinated. Any ideas what sort of vaccinations were being carred out in 1871 ?

This link to the "Register of Cases of Successful Vaccination" at the Limerick Archives might be of some interest to you.

pedroeibar1 · 10-08-2012 2:03pm

pjproby wrote: »

'Any ideas what sort of vaccinations were being carred out in 1871 ?'
There was small pox epidemic in Ireland in 1871.
Vaccinations had been available for years but there was great distrust of the
treatment.

In the British Isles in the 19th century ‘vaccination’ was primarily for smallpox. The ancient Chinese were using vaccinations and there are records of the Arabs using it in 570AD. In 1717 the Turks were using ‘vaccination’ (variolation) as a preventative for smallpox and Lady Mary, wife of Edward Wortley Montagu, the then British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, was a big fan. Slightly ahead of her was Dr. Emanuel Timoni, an Italian physician in Constantinople, who sent a paper that was read at the Royal Society of Physicians and Surgeons in 1713, and which was published in their Philosophical Transactions.
Initially inoculation was slow to catch on in England and had several opponents including some doctors and the Christian churches. ]The Reverend Edmund Massey, wrote that it was a "'dangerous practice' because it opposed the will of God, who visited disease upon the world either to try our faith, or to punish us for our sins." Despite this it became very popular in England in the late 1700’s, much of the credit (wrongly IMO) going to Edward Jenner.[/COLOR]
Some forms were illegal for a while and then became compulsory. Wiki is not bad on it, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaccination/Vaccination_acts

annieoburns · 13-08-2012 10:50am

I was interested to see the Guinness firm administer vaccinations to all new staff in early 1900's. The medical officer's reports are on their personnel file but does not specify which vaccinations were done. So one would have been for small pox, any others? I did not realise such things were done at that time.

I am also interested in reading up more on Dublin's smallpox outbreak in 1870's as it was mentioned in a relatives diary but no date. Can anyone give me a reference to read more? I know of Glasnevin plot for victims... I suppose that would give good information if you could browse the records there according to cause of death.

pjproby · 13-08-2012 9:16pm

Between 1871-1873 as many as 15,000 people contacted smallpox in Dublin, of whom 1649 died.

annieoburns · 13-08-2012 9:30pm

Thanks for that. I suppose there was a low level at all times or was there a reason for the sudden increase in numbers and subsequent decline. My relative who went down with smallpox but survived arrived in Dublin in 1873 I think in late summer.

Workhouse records

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