Poverty and the Poor Law in Ireland, 1850-1914

264 Pages·2013·4.702 MB·English

by  Virginia Crossman

POVERTY AND
POVERTY AND
THE POOR LAW
THE POOR LAW
IN IRELAND,
IP IN IRELAND,
1850–1914 N
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IV
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E 1850–1914
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The focus of this study is the poor law system, and the people who LR
used it. Introduced in 1838, the Irish poor law established a nationwide AT
Y
system of poor relief that was administered and fi nanced locally. This N

book provides the fi rst detailed, comprehensive assessment of the DA
ideological basis and practical operation of the poor law system in the N
,

post-Famine period. Analysis of contemporary understandings of poverty 1D
is integrated with discussion of local relief practices to uncover the 8

attitudes and responses of those both giving and receiving relief, and the 5T
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active relationship between them. Local case studies are used to explore
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key issues such as entitlement and eligibility, as well as the treatment of
1
‘problem’ groups such as unmarried mothers and vagrants, thus allowing 9P
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local and individual experience to enrich our understanding of poverty 1
and welfare in historical context. Previous studies of poverty and welfare 4O
in Ireland have concentrated on the measures taken to relieve poverty,
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and their political context. Little attempt has been made to explore the

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experience of being poor, or to identify the strategies adopted by poor
A
people to negotiate an inhospitable economic and social climate. This
W
innovative interrogation of poor law records reveals the poor to have
been active historical agents making calculated choices about how,
when and where to apply for aid. Approaching welfare as a process, the
book provides a deeper and more wide ranging assessment of the Irish
poor law than any study previously undertaken and represents a major
milestone in Irish economic and social history. V
I
R
G
Virginia Crossman is Professor of Modern Irish History at Oxford Brookes I
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University. IA

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www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk
Cover image George Collie, Irish,
1904-1975, The Midday Meal, 1927.
Oil on wood. 71 x 91.5 cm.
© The Artist’s Estate. Photo ©
National Gallery of Ireland,
NGI.2009.14.
VIRGINIA CROSSMAN
REAPPRAISALS IN IRISH HISTORY
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Poverty and the Poor Law in Ireland
Crossman,PovertyandthePoorLawinIreland.indd 1 07/08/2013 13:36:06
Reappraisals in Irish History
Editors
Enda Delaney (University of Edinburgh)
Maria Luddy (University of Warwick)
Reappraisals in Irish History offers new insights into Irish history, society
and culture from 1750. Recognising the many methodologies that make
up historical research, the series presents innovative and interdisciplinary
work that is conceptual and interpretative, and expands and challenges the
common understandings of the Irish past. It showcases new and exciting
scholarship on subjects such as the history of gender, power, class, the
body, landscape, memory and social and cultural change. It also reflects the
diversityofIrishhistoricalwriting,sinceitincludestitlesthatareempirically
sophisticated together with conceptually driven synoptic studies.
1. JonathanJeffreyWright, The‘NaturalLeaders’andtheirWorld:Politics,
Culture and Society in Belfast, c.1801–1832
2. Gerardine Meaney, Mary O’Dowd and Bernadette Whelan, Reading the
Irish Woman: Studies in Cultural Encounters and Exchange, 1714–1960
3. Emily Mark-FitzGerald, Commemorating the Irish Famine: Memory and
the Monument
4. Virginia Crossman, Poverty and the Poor Law in Ireland, 1850–1914
Crossman,PovertyandthePoorLawinIreland.indd 2 07/08/2013 13:36:06
Poverty and the Poor Law
in Ireland
1850–1914
VIRGInIa CROssMan
LIVERPOOL UnIVERsIty PREss
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PovertyandthePoorLawinIreland
Firstpublished2013by
LiverpoolUniversityPress
4Cambridgestreet
Liverpool
L697ZU
Copyright©2013VirginiaCrossman
therightofVirginiaCrossmantobeidentifiedastheauthorofthisbookhas
beenassertedbyherinaccordancewiththeCopyright,DesignsandPatentsact
1988.
allrightsreserved.nopartofthisbookmaybereproduced,storedinaretrieval
system,ortransmitted,inanyformorbyanymeans,electronic,mechanical,
photocopying,recording,orotherwise,withoutthepriorwrittenpermissionofthe
publisher.
BritishLibraryCataloguing-in-Publicationdata
aBritishLibraryCIPrecordisavailable
IsBn978-1-84631-941-9
Web PDF eISBN 978-1-78138-570-8
typesetbyCarnegieBookProduction,Lancaster
PrintedandboundbyCPIGroup(UK)Ltd,CroydonCR04yy
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Contents
List of Figures vi
List of tables vii
List of Maps viii
acknowledgements ix
Introduction 1
Chapter 1: Concepts of Poverty and Poor Relief 12
Chapter 2: Context and trends 33
Chapter 3: Outdoor Relief 63
Chapter 4: the Workhouse 101
Chapter 5: the sick, Infirm and Lunatics 139
Chapter 6: single Mothers and Prostitutes 168
Chapter 7: Mendicancy and Vagrancy 198
Conclusion 226
note on statistics and sources 230
Bibliography 235
Index 243
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List of Figures
Figure 2.1 Rates of poor relief per 1,000 population 1850–1914 45
Figure 2.2 Outdoor relief as a percentage of total number relieved
over the year 46
Figure 2.3 average daily number in receipt of relief 48
Figure 2.4 total expenditure (in pounds) under the poor laws and
on poor relief 50
Figure 2.5 averagedailynumberintheworkhouseinBelfast,north
Dublin and south Dublin Unions 60
Figure 3.1 number relieved provisionally 1866–1906 73
Figure 3.2 Classification of persons relieved out of the workhouses
in unions in Ireland 80
Figure 3.3 People relieved out of the workhouse by category 81
Figure 4.1 Birdseye view of an Irish workhouse 104
Figure 5.1 number of persons classified as lunatics, insane persons
and idiots relieved in workhouses during each half year
1851–1907 160
Figure 7.1 admissions of night-lodgers 1870–1874 205
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List of tables
table 3.1 Outdoor relief rate per 1,000 population in selected
unions, Ireland and regions of Ireland 1861–1911 82
table 4.1 average length of stay in workhouses 108
table 4.2 Profile of one night stays (as percentage of admissions) 110
table 6.1 Unmarried mothers in workhouses 187
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List of Maps
Map 2.1 Rate of expenditure poor relief 1881 55
Map 2.2 Rate of expenditure poor relief 1901 55
Map 2.3 number of indoor relieved 1861 57
Map 2.4 number of indoor relieved 1901 57
Map 2.5 number of outdoor relieved 1861 58
Map 2.6 number of outdoor relieved 1901 58
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acknowledgements
Introduction
t
his book could not have been written without the assistance and
supportofanumberoffundingbodies,institutions,andindividuals.
the archival research on which the study is based was a funded by
a research grant from the Economic and social Research Council for the
project‘WelfareRegimesundertheIrishPoorLaw’.Iamimmenselygrateful
to the three project researchers, Georgina Laragy, seán Lucey and Olwen
Purdue, for their painstaking research, their ideas, and their enthusiasm.
additional research assistance was provided by Richard Biddle and Ceci
Flinn.Iamalsogratefultoallthosewhocontributedtothethreeworkshops
that formed an essential part of the project and helped shape the project
research.ParticularthanksinthisregardareduetoCiaraBreathnach,Larry
Geary and Cormac Ó Gráda. Peter Gray and Queen’s University Belfast
supportedtheprojectthroughoutandhostedthefinalconference.sabbatical
leavegrantedbyOxfordBrookesUniversityandaResearchFellowshipfrom
the Leverhulme trust gave me the time to analyse the research data and
write the manuscript.
I wish to thank the staff of all the libraries and archives that I and the
project researchers worked in. Particular thanks are due to the national
archives of Ireland, the national Library of Ireland, Ballymoney Museum,
CorkCityandCountyarchives,DonegalCountyLibrary,DublinDiocesan
archives, Kerry County Library, Laois County Library, Limerick County
Library, tipperary Local studies Library, the national Folklore Collection
at University College Dublin, and the Public Record Office of northern
Ireland. I am grateful to the Deputy Keeper of Records at PROnI for
permission to quote from material in his care.
Colleagues at Oxford Brookes past and present have provided invaluable
support throughout the process of research and writing. anne Digby, steve
King and Elizabeth Hurren shared their knowledge of poor law practices
and ideology. Glen O’Hara read part of the manuscript and provided sound
advice and comparative perspectives. thanks are also due to Carol Beadle,
Joanne Bailey, tom Crook and alysa Levene. Brian Griffin and Des
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