A history of the Irish poor law, in connexion with the condition of the people

by Sir George Nicholls

“The most pleasing circumstance connected with the workhouse is the state of the pauper children, who are there educated and trained up in habits of order cleanliness and industry, instead of being left as outcasts, with every likelihood of their becoming a burthen, and possibly a bane to the community. I wish you could have seen with me some of these workhouse schools, and witnessed the benefits they are conferring upon the country. In the rural districts there is little difficulty in getting the boys out to service as soon as they are of an age fit for it, and the girls likewise now generally obtain places, although not so readily; but in the large towns there is still a difficulty with these last, there being proportionally less employment for females in Ireland than in England. A considerable number of girls and young women have been assisted to emigrate within the last three years, and it is very desirable that others should be so assisted and sent out from such of the workhouses as are overstocked with this class of inmates.

“With respect to emigration, I think that it has been already carried farther than was desirable. There appears to be no excess of labourers anywhere, and now in the harvest season there is evidently a want of hands to do the work, and high wages are paid, as much in some instances as 2s. and 2s. 6d. a day; but this is only during the period of urgency. There is still a want of certain and continuous employment in Ireland, and the people do not rely upon regular daily labour as a means of support, although they are I think approximating to it; and the extensive emigration which has taken place, will no doubt help forward the change. The rage for emigrating however continues, although the occasion for it has ceased. It pervades every class, and is strongest with the best educated and most intelligent. I found this to be the case among the boys in the workhouse schools. The sharp active intelligent lads were all eager to emigrate. It was only the more dull feeble and inert who appeared content to remain at home. Yet I know of no country where labour can be applied with the certainty of a better return. Labour is here in fact the thing chiefly needed. It is impossible to pass through Ireland without seeing this, and lamenting the omission.

“It is encouraging to reflect however, that were there less room for improvement in this and other respects, there would be less incentive to exertion; and when the rage for emigration which still prevails shall have subsided, as subside it will, we may with greater confidence expect that the energies and increased intelligence of the people will be turned to the improvement of their own country, in which they will assuredly find a rich reward, and in furtherance of which they will, in the Poor Law, have a valuable auxiliary.”

Such were the impressions derived from what came within the limit of my own observation and inquiry, on again visiting Ireland in the autumn of 1853. That these impressions were not more favourable than the circumstances warranted, is proved by the progressive ameliorations which have since taken place, of the extent of which generally, the proceedings under the Poor Law may be regarded as an index; and these have shown a continual reduction, both in expenditure and in the numbers relieved. The total cost of relief in the year ending 29th September 1855, including every item of charge, was no more than 685,259l.; and the total number of persons relieved on that day was 57,201, of whom 655 (being exceptional cases) were relieved out of the workhouse.[^[209]] This reduction in expenditure has moreover taken place, notwithstanding the greatly increased cost of maintenance in the workhouses as compared with what it was in 1850 and 1851,[^[210]] making a difference on the whole of probably not less than 150,000l.; so that but for this increase, the entire cost of relieving the poor in 1855 might perhaps not have exceeded half a million, and in the event of prices falling to their former level, and other circumstances proving favourable, it may hereafter possibly range at about that amount.

At present however the expenditure under the Irish Poor Law contrasts favourably with what is taking place under the English and Scottish laws—in Ireland it averages 2s. per head on the population, whilst in Scotland the average amounts to 4s.,[^[211]] and in England to 5s. 6d. per head—or if we take the valuations in the three countries as a standard of comparison, it will appear that the expenditure on relief of the poor in Ireland amounts to 1s. 2½d., in Scotland to 1s. 4d., and in England to 1s. 5½d. in the pound. These comparisons are I think satisfactory, and it is encouraging also to find the commissioners declaring in their last Report,[^[212]] that—“a material diminution of pauperism in Ireland is still going on”—and that—“the improvement in the rate of wages and the increased constancy of employment have not only been sustained, but have further advanced and acquired a still more permanent and healthy aspect.” Emigration likewise, both spontaneous and that conducted at the expense of the poor-rates,[^[213]] is considerably lessened, and seems likely ere long to be reduced within its natural limits. The future therefore appears in every way hopeful for Ireland—may the Irish people on their part, not be wanting in due effort for securing the benefits of which there is at present so fair a promise!

Tables of the Numbers relieved in and out of the Workhouse, with the extent of Mortality, etc., referred to at page [389].

Numbers relieved in the workhouses houses in each of the weeks ending on the dates in the first column respectively; together with the number and the rate per 1,000 of the deaths.
Weeks ending	Total number in the workhouses.	Deaths in the week.	Rate per 1,000.
1846.
4 April	50,861	159	3.0
4 July	50,693	146	2.9
7 Nov.	74,175	312	4.2
1847.
2 Jan.	98,762	1,206	12.2
6 Mar.	115,645	2,590	22.0
3 July	101,439	1,239	12.2
4 Sept.	75,376	589	7.8
13 Nov.	102,776	523	5.1
1848.
1 Jan.	117,568	1,362	11.6
12 Feb.	135,467	1,316	9.7
1 July	139,397	620	4.5
9 Sept.	107,320	350	3.3
2 Dec.	172,980	787	4.5
1849.
13 Jan.	191,445	1,477	7.7
3 Mar.	196,523	1,846	9.4
5 May	220,401	2,730	12.4
16 June	227,329	2,009	8.8
6 Oct.	140,266	488	3.5
1 Dec.	180,641	471	2.7
1850.
5 Jan.	203,320	792	3.9
2 Feb.	230,348	994	4.3
2 Mar.	237,939	1,150	4.8
4 May	243,224	1,247	5.1
22 June	264,048	1,126	4.3
3 Aug.	219,231	808	3.7
28 Sept.	155,173	526	3.4
7 Dec.	191,341	501	2.6
1851.
4 Jan.	206,468	654	3.2
22 Feb.	251,836	1,201	4.8
22 Mar.	248,501	1,512	6.1
7 June	263,397	1,264	4.8
2 Aug.	222,038	789	3.6
27 Sept.	140,458	386	2.8
1852.
3 Jan.	168,248	407	2.4
21 Feb.	196,966	594	3.0
5 June	187,003	541	2.9
18 Sept.	111,117	261	2.3
25 Dec.	134,476	281	2.1
1853.
19 Feb.	160,774	627	3.9
30 July	113,099	272	2.4
1 Oct.	79,410	202	2.5

Number of destitute persons relieved out of the workhouses under the 1st and 2nd sections of the Extension Act (10th and 11th Vict., cap. 31) respectively, in each of the weeks ending on the dates in the first column; together with the weekly cost of such relief.
Weeks ending.	Numbers relieved under Section 1 of Extension Act.	Numbers relieved under Section 2 of Extension Act.	Total	Weekly cost of relief.
1848.				£.	s.	d.
5 Feb.	337,665	107,811	445,476	12,788	9	0
4 Mar.	425,949	228,763	654,712	17,564	18	2
1 April	408,923	235,076	643,999	17,092	6	6
6 May	485,364	266,430	751,794	18,786	18	5
1 July	490,902	342,987	833,889	21,800	14	10
2 Sept.	279,567	96,523	376,090	10,335	14	5
7 Oct.	192,401	7,202	199,603	5,925	4	2
2 Dec.	246,125	31,859	277,984	7,845	12	10
1849.
6 Jan.	327,733	75,622	423,355	11,170	7	5
3 Mar.	422,693	170,012	592,705	15,051	14	3
2 June	402,184	239,229	642,413	19,263	7	1
7 July	492,503	291,864	784,367	21,757	8	3
1 Sept.	425,197	50,796	276,793	6,493	13	11
13 Oct.	114,316	1,647	115,963	2,653	7	2
3 Nov	102,247	13	102,260	2,336	11	11
1850.
5 Jan.	104,305	345	104,650	2,159	0	3
23 Feb.	148,909		148,909	3,216	8	8
1 June	127,727	128	127,855	2,805	9	2
3 Aug.	73,129	40	73,169	1,617	7	5
14 Sept.	3,794		3,794	96	14	2
19 Oct.	2,249		2,249	63	13	6
1851.
4 Jan.	2,713	6	2,719	76	14	0
22 Feb.	9,103	20	9,123	229	4	6
3 May	11,145	7	11,153	268	17	4
5 July	19,454	28	19,482	486	4	11
4 Oct.	3,084		3,084	75	10	4
1852.
3 Jan.	3,170		3,170	88	6	3
6 Mar.	3,396		3,396	100	0	10
3 July	3,579		3,579	102	19	0
9 Oct.	2,491	1	2,492	74	1	3
25 Dec.	2,998		2,998	87	12	10
1853.
26 Feb.	4,152		4,152	116	16	10
30 July	3,092		3,092	96	5	2
8 Oct.	1,977		1,977	61	16	10

INDEX.

• Able-bodied disorderly persons and vagrants to be compelled to provide their own subsistence by strict workhouse discipline, [182].
• Absconding from a workhouse, punishment for, [227].
• Abuses of out-door relief, impossibilities of avoiding, [204].
• Accounts, new order of issued in 1853, [398].
• Acre, amount per, paid by farmer in relieving mendicancy, [192].
• Act of 1 and 2 Vict., cap. 56, [222] et seq.
• ——- make further provision for the relief of the destitute poor in Ireland, [330].
• ——- to make provision for the punishment of vagrants, &c., [332].
• ——- to provide for the execution of the laws for relief of the poor in Ireland, [333].
• ——- for a rate-in-aid, summary of, [355], [356].
• ——- to amend the previous acts for the relief of the poor in Ireland, summary of, [367]-9.
• ——- for a further advance of public money for distressed unions, summary of, [374], [375].
• ——- for the regulation of medical charities, summary of, [382], [383].
• Actions under the Irish Poor-Law Act, preliminary notice of to be given, [231];
  • to recover poor-rates, regulations as to, [368].
• Adoption by government of the author’s first Report in December 1836, [188].
• Agents empowered to sign notices of appeal, [369].
• Agricultural labourers in Great Britain and Ireland, comparative proportions of, [131].
• Agriculture, recommendation to encourage by legislative grants, [88];
  • efforts of the Poor-Law Board to improve, [269].
• Almsgiving, desirableness of bringing under a system, [149];
  • prevalence of in Ireland, [182];
  • discontinuance of anticipated, [183].
• Alms, spontaneous, amounts bestowed by small farmers and cottars, [149].
• Amended orders for the election of guardians, [302].
• Amendment of the new poor-law, act for, [291].
• Amount, total, contributed by England in 1847-8-9, for the relief of Ireland, [356].
• Amsterdam, account of the workhouse in, [212].
• Amusements, love of, and reckless pursuit of by the Irish peasantry, [163].
• Anglo-Saxons taught by Irish missionaries, [2].
• Annuities under the Consolidated Debts Act, arrangements for paying, [380];
  • partial remission of, [381].
• Apathy of the Irish peasantry, [162];
  • poverty not a real excuse for, [ibid.]
• Appeals, how and before whom to be brought, [231], [233].
• Apprenticeship of poor children recommended for Ireland, [183], [184].
• Architect engaged to erect workhouses, [243].
• Ardent spirits, recommendations of the Commissioners of Inquiry for lessening the inordinate use of, [146].
• Assessment, instructions to the assistant commissioners relating to, [240].
• Assistant barristers allowed to correct clerical errors in actions for the recovery of poor-rates, [369].
• Assistant commissioners, in 1833, appointment of and instructions for, [121];
  • enactment for the appointment of, [223];
  • duties of, [ibid.];
  • exertions of, [241];
  • additional provided, [246];
  • reports of, [247];
  • appointment of additional, [338].
• Assistant guardians may be appointed by the commissioners at the request of the guardians, [368].
• Asylums for lunatics and idiots, the erection of in each of the four provinces recommended, [83].
• Audit of accounts, and half-yearly reports of, infirmaries and hospitals recommended, [101];
  • report as to, [276].
• Auditing of poor-law accounts, [222].
• Auditors, enactment for the appointment of, [230];
  • appointment of four, [298];
  • regulations as to, [332].
• Author’s first Report, Nov. 1836, [159];
  • second Report, Nov. 1837, [196];
  • third Report, [212];
  • second visit to Ireland in 1837, [195];
  • departure for Ireland as chief commissioner, [234];
  • departure from Ireland in 1842, [284];
  • visit to Ireland in 1853, [398].
• Auxiliary workhouses, hired buildings ill adapted for, [379].
• Average cost per head of paupers in the workhouses, [301];
  • of maintenance of the poor in workhouses, [396];
  • rate per head paid for the relief of the poor by the population of England, Scotland, and Ireland, [403].