Workhouse baptisms

traceyrogers

Can anyone advise if babies born in the workhouse were usually baptised in the chapel there and where I might find the baptism record please.

My great aunt had an illegitimate daughter in the Limerick rural workhouse in January 1911; both were still in the workhouse at the time of the 1911 census due to their 'delicate' state, so I doubt the baptism would have taken place outside the workhouse at this time.

I would be interested to see if a father was named on the baptism certificate, and the sponsors could be useful too.

Tracey

Brennans Row

According to the National Library of Ireland, it holds microfilm copies of the records of most Roman Catholic parishes in Ireland for the years up to 1880 and in some cases to 1900.

According to Limerick Genealogy, they can carry out a search for a baptismal record through out the parish records of Limerick county up to 1900.

However in my case they were able to give me details of baptismal records up to 1927 (downside, single searches are expensive).

Have you tried Roots Ireland?

traceyrogers

Thanks for your reply

Amazingly only 3 girls of the correct name have baptisms in Limerick in 1911 (and she is a Ryan!) so I will try Roots Ireland first. The parish records finish too early at the NLI so Limerick Genealogy will have to be my fallback option.

Tracey

CeannRua

I think usual practice was that the parish in which the workhouse was located appointed one of its priests as workhouse chaplain. Workhouse baptisms might have been recorded in 1. a separate register or 2. the parish register. Baptism records could probably be in a number of places including with the other workhouse records but I would ask the parish first before spending money on any website.

Do you want to tell us which workhouse it is and I might be able to see who the chaplain was?

traceyrogers

The birth certificate states it was the Limerick rural workhouse, but looking at a map of Limerick, it looks bang in the middle of town. The Roots Ireland transcription of the civil birth certificate gives the district as Limerick Rural No 4 if that is any help.

I haven't had any luck obtaining Records from parishes in the past, but am willing to give it another go!

Tracey

CeannRua

The chaplain assigned in 1911 to Limerick Workhouse was Very Rev T.R. Shanahan. Couldn't see that he was attached to any parish but he resided at St Munchin's. The 1912 chaplain was a priest assigned to the parish of St Munchin's.

As a matter of interest, what is the meaning of 'Limerick Rural Workhouse' as opposed to 'Limerick Workhouse'? Did inmates from rural parts of the poor law union reside separately or does it mean something else?

Brennans Row

According to the enumerators abstract the Limerick Union Workhouse is in the parish of St. Nicholas.

This is confusing because St. Nicholas (RC) is in Westbury today.

The DED (District Electoral Division) is Limerick Rural North which is part of Limerick City.

Therefore I presume the use of the name Limerick Rural Workhouse was derived from the DED?


Here is a list of the Workhouses for Limerick.

• Croom
• Glin
• Kilmallock
• Limerick
• Newcastle West
• Rathkeale

CeannRua

Are the parishes on the census not civil parishes? I was talking about RC parishes because I thought this was an RC baptism based on the posts in this thread.

My query on the name Limerick Rural Workhouse was partly based on that when I googled this phrase, the only thing that was thrown back was this thread.

pinkypinky

CeannRua wrote: »

Are the parishes on the census not civil parishes?

They are district electoral divisions and then broken into townlands or streets. Some of the names will correspond to the civil parish but are not necessarily the same area. Civil parishes will correspond to the Church of Ireland parish, which may sometimes have the same name as the RC parish.

The Poor Law Union (PLU) is usually the same as the registration district for BMDs and it is here that you'll find the link to the name of a local workhouse.

Confusing, isn't it?

Jellybaby1

Isn't it just? I've been researching my own tree now for many many years and I still can't get the hang of this.

pedroeibar1

Jellybaby1 wrote: »

Isn't it just? I've been researching my own tree now for many many years and I still can't get the hang of this.

You are not alone!

CeannRua

pinkypinky wrote: »

They are district electoral divisions and then broken into townlands or streets. Some of the names will correspond to the civil parish but are not necessarily the same area. Civil parishes will correspond to the Church of Ireland parish, which may sometimes have the same name as the RC parish.

The Poor Law Union (PLU) is usually the same as the registration district for BMDs and it is here that you'll find the link to the name of a local workhouse.

Confusing, isn't it?

Parish names (along with other type of divisions) are given on the enumerator form as posted by Brennans Row. In this case, the RC parish of St Nicholas was only created in 1991 http://www.saintnicholasparish.ie/our-parish/ so there would only have been the civil parish of this name in 1911.

Brennans Row

CeannRua wrote: »

The chaplain assigned in 1911 to Limerick Workhouse was Very Rev T.R. Shanahan. Couldn't see that he was attached to any parish but he resided at St Munchin's. The 1912 chaplain was a priest assigned to the parish of St Munchin's.

I took a look in the Limerick Union Board of Guardians Minute Books (1842-1922) on the Limerick Archives website and it reveals a change of priests for December 1910.

traceyrogers

The minute books of the Limerick Board of Guardians make very interesting reading - I spent many hours in the summer reading of the haggling over whether some poor soul needed which prosthetic leg, whether a trip to a Dublin dentist was really necessary, or whether someone should be given a set of clothing when they had found a job...

The stories of the boarded out children, and even a teacher at the workhouse who became pregnant by an assistant clerk who denied all knowledge were quite gripping. The one thing that made me really cross was the constant cancellation of the guardians meetings as a mark of respect to someone's great aunt who had died etc; it made me feel so sorry for the poor inmates who had to wait another week for a decision on their particular case.

Anyway, back to my original post, it looks like I should contact St Munchins first, to see if they have records relating to workhouse baptisms at this time, so that is what I will do.

0879958601

My Dad and two of his brothers were born in limerick workhoue in 1906, 1909, 1911, all were baptised in St Munchins church , they hold that baptismal book, but be ready for a fight to get access to it like i had,