Bandon Board of Guardians

Context

Creator(s): Bandon Board of Guardians

• Administrative History ↴

  The first meeting of Bandon Board of Guardians took place on 4 March 1839. The Union Workhouse opened on 17 November 1841. An Order of 3 October 1849 altered the union, with parts of Bandon Union being given to Dunmanway and the newly-created Clonakilty Union, and parts from Macroom Union being added to Bandon. A Reservation Order of 12 December 1849 reserved a quarter of the accommodation on Bandon Workhouse for inmates from Clonakilty Union, pending the completion of that Union’s own workhouse. Unions were divided into electoral divisions (EDs) for electoral and rate collection purposes. Over time, larger dispensary districts and relief districts, consisting of several EDs, came into being. The Bandon Union consisted of the Dispensary Districts of Bandon, Innishannon, Templemartin, Murragh, and Kilbrittain. Each district had a medical officer and dispensary. On 29 November 1849 a new Union fever hospital opened, the fever hospital and dispensary in the town of Bandon having previously been run by a local committee. The Union had taken over these services some months prior to the opening of the hospital, as the committee was unable to continue to finance them against the backdrop of the Great Famine (1845-49). Each workhouse was managed by a staff and officers under the charge of a workhouse master, who reported to the board. Overall responsibility rested with the union's board of guardians, some of whom were elected, and some of whom were ex-officio members appointed usually from amongst local magistrates. The board appointed its own inhouse committees, and received reports from workhouse officers and from dispensary district committees and district medical officers. It also made resolutions on internal and poor law matters and, sometimes, on wider political or social issues. Poor law services were principally financed by a poor rate levied on property owners in the union’s districts, and collected by rate collectors appointed by the board. Central government also provided loans. From 1899 on, the newly-created Cork County Council collected rates and funded Cork boards of guardians based on an annual estimate and demand. Each union was under the central supervision of the Poor Law Commissioners up to 1874 and thereafter of the Local Government Board (later Local Government Board for Ireland). These government-appointed bodies received reports from the board and its officers, appointed inspectors and auditors, sanctioned or rejected proposed expenditure, appointments, and policies, and made the final decision on major administrative issues. On 12 February 1921 the board resolved to sever its connection with the LGB and accept the authority of Dail Eireann. The responsibilities of the guardians increasingly encompassed public health, and to medical relief for the destitute at the workhouse and ‘outdoor’ relief though a system of dispensary districts were added other functions including overseeing smallpox vaccinations, the boarding-out of orphan and deserted children, monitoring contagious diseases in animals, and providing labourers’ cottages and improved sanitation. The workhouse buildings included an infirmary and a fever hospital. The workhouse also provided nursery care and education to child inmates, and employed school teachers. Hospital and other medical services were available to all, not just the poor, although the latter received free treatment when inmates, or through the system of tickets issued by relieving officers and medical officers. The guardians’ changing responsibilities were governed by legislation, including the Public Health (Ireland) Acts 1874 and 1878, Medical Charities Acts, Vaccination Acts, Dispensary Houses Act, the Nuisances Removal and Diseases Prevention Acts (1848-49), Contagious Diseases (Animals) Act 1878, and Labourers’ Acts (1883-86). While these acts tended to increase the role of the board, the Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898 saw rate collection and many of its public health functions taken over by the newly-created Cork County Council and the Bandon Rural District Council. The board continued to administer the workhouse and its hospital, and to supervise dispensary services, outdoor relief, and the boarding out of children. On 23 June 1921 the main workhouse building and several other buildings were destroyed by a fire started by ‘a party of men’. The workhouse was never to reopen, with infirm inmates maintained in the dispensary, and able-bodied inmates discharged or sent to Clonakilty Workhouse. On 2 June 1923 the National Army gave notice that it was occupying the remaining buildings, and the board and RDC moved to offices at the Green, Bandon. The Local Government (Temporary Provisions) Act 1923 led to the abolition of the workhouse system, and its replacement with the formation of the county boards of health and public assistance. The last recorded meeting of Bandon Board of Guardians took place on 19 April 1924.

• Archival History ↴

  The surviving records of the Bandon Board of Guardians were deposited in the Archives in the early 1980s.

• Immediate Source Acquisition ↴

  Official Transfer