Bantry Board of Guardians

Context

Creator(s): Bantry Board of Guardians

• Administrative History ↴

  Bantry Workhouse opened on 24 April 1845. Under huge pressure to assist victims of the Great Famine (1845-49) and unable to collect enough rates to fund its work, the board was dissolved in October 1847 ‘on the ground that through the default of the guardians the duties of the board have not been duly and effectually discharged’. The union’s affairs were managed by appointed vice-guardians up to October 1849, when a new Bantry union was created. The Castletown area had formerly formed part of the area of Bantry Poor Law Union, but two distinct unions were now created. Numbers of Castletown inmates continued to be accommodated in Bantry until February 1851. The area of the Bantry Union included the dispensary districts of Bantry, Glengarriff, Durrus and Kilcrohane, and Kealkil. 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. 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. The PLC was responsible for abolishing the board and appointing vice-guardians in the period from 1847 to 1849, prior to the creation of the new Bantry Union and a distinct Castletown Union. On 31 August 1921 the board resolved to reject the authority of the Local Government Board for Ireland and to accept that 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 most of its public health functions taken over by the newly-created Cork County Council and the Bantry Rural District Council. The board continued to administer the workhouse and its hospital, and to supervise some forms of outdoor relief. In January 1880, a portion of the workhouse which had been used as a barrack since 1865 was returned by the military. From October 1919 on, the British military came increasingly to occupy the workhouse buildings, and in late 1920 the remaining inmates were moved to a temporary hospital at Bantry House, where the board now also held its meetings. Many inmates were discharged or sent to other unions, including Skibbereen and Clonakilty. On 18 Jan 1922 an order was received stating that the workhouse would not reopen once evacuated, and was effectively abolished. In August 1922 much of the workhouse premises, including hospital buildings, were burned. Hospital services continued to be provided in Bantry House until the abolition of the board, with patients from Schull union and elsewhere also treated. 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 Bantry Board of Guardians took place on 30 April 1924.

• Archival History ↴

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

• Immediate Source Acquisition ↴

  Official Transfer