Among the many responsibilities of county grand juries in the 1800s was the administration of the Poor Law Unions. Their workhouses were the institution of last resort for the utterly destitute. No one wanted to be admitted to the Union workhouse unless the only other options were starvation or death; workhouse life was tough and utterly miserable.
Act Of Parliament
The Poor Relief (Ireland) Act of 1838 was passed by the British Parliament to establish a system like that already in place in England and Wales. It created a network of Poor Law Unions across Ireland, each responsible for providing ‘last resort’ relief to the poor in their local area. Each union was overseen by a Board of Guardians elected by ratepayers, and they were responsible for the management of workhouses and the distribution of relief to the poor.
The unions did not follow county boundaries; they were based on the geographic areas surrounding the larger population centres. They used the existing electoral districts such as Poyntzpass, Donaghmore etc., as these were the basis for the tax that funded them. Poyntzpass was in the Newry Union, which covered roughly equal areas of Co Down and Co Armagh. The website workhouses.co.uk records:
“The Newry Poor Law Union was formally declared on 3rd May 1839 and covered an area of 215 square miles. Its operation was overseen by an elected board of guardians, 31 in number[1], representing its 23 electoral divisions…the board also included ten ex-officio Guardians making a total of 41. The Guardians met each week on Saturday at noon…
The new Newry Union workhouse was erected in 1840-41 on a 7-acre site at the south-east of Newry. Designed by the Poor Law Commissioners’ architect George Wilkinson, the building was based on one of his standard plans to accommodate 1,000 inmates. Its construction cost £7,100 plus £1,727 pounds for fittings etc. The workhouse was declared fit for the reception of paupers on 14th December 1841 and admitted its first inmates on 16th December.”
The building contained separate male and female quarters, the Master’s quarters, the Guardians’ boardroom, kitchen, bakehouse, washhouse, infirmary with separate “idiots” wards, a chapel and a dining hall. It incorporated “the newest improvements with regard to ventilation, closets, kitchen, supply of water, sewerage, etc…without going to extravagant expense”. Daisy Hill hospital was later built on the old workhouse site.
A Miserable Case
Even in the late Victorian age, extreme poverty was still common. Under the heading ‘A Miserable Case’ the Newry Telegraph carried this report about the Newry workhouse in October 1896:
“The Master, in reporting the admission of a woman called Mary McKinley, said she had been found in a lime kiln in the Union…her habitation for two or three days…suffering from exhaustion…
Mr J O’Hare – How did she come to be in the lime kiln at all?
The Master – She was in such a miserable state of dirt and filth that no person would have anything to do with her.
Mr J O’Hare – What uncharitableness!
Relieving-officer Corkey – The people would not even allow her into an outhouse…
The Master -…she had not as much clothes as would cover a hen. The clothes she was wearing had not, I believe, have been off her for twelve months, and I don’t suppose she could get into them again…
Mr Corkey – She used to have two children with her, but they are not with her now…
Mr J O’Hare – I beg to move that the Master be authorised to purchase clothing for the woman…passed unanimously.”
[Conversion of old mill in Acton into fever hospital – during famine?]
[1] Poyntzpass electoral district’s quota was two members.