Longford Poor Law Union

Archives of the Board of Guardians, Longford Poor Law Union

Identity statement

Reference code: LCA/BG113

Title: Archives of the Board of Guardians, Longford Poor Law Union

Dates: 1839-1921

Level of description: fonds

Extent: 143 bound volumes, 3 folders, 1 outsized item

Creator

Board of Guardians, Longford Poor Law Union

Administrative history

Longford Poor Law Union was established in 1839 under the Poor Relief (Ireland) Act of the previous year. The poor law was intended to address the problem of poverty by providing institutions to accommodate the poorest people, including those with no ability to support themselves. There were initially 130 unions around Ireland and thirty-three more were established after the Great Famine (1845-52).

The union was served by a workhouse that was built in Glack townland, outside Longford town. It opened on 24 March 1842 and occupied a site of nearly seven acres It cost a total of £8,580, including £7,000 for construction and the remainder for fittings and furnishings. The workhouse had capacity for 1,000 ‘inmates’, making it the largest of the three in the county. In late 1844, the board of guardians leased extra land from the Earl of Longford for the construction of a fever hospital and the opening of a burial ground beside it.

Longford Union initially consisted of nineteen electoral divisions (E.D.s), as follows: Agharra, Ardagh, Ballinamuck, Ballymahon, Cashel, Drumlish, Edgeworthstown, Forgney, Kilcommock, Kilglass, Killashee, Longford, Mohill, Moydow, Newtownforbes, Rathcline, Tarmonbarry, Tashinny and Taughshinod. Tarmonbarry was in Roscommon. After the famine, when more unions were created, Longford was reduced in size. Southern areas joined Ballymahon Union and Tarmonbarry E.D. formed part of Strokestown Union, both established in 1850. This occasioned a re-organisation of the electoral divisions in Longford, as follows: Ardagh East, Ardagh West, Aughaboy, Ballinamuck East, Ballinamuck West, Breanrisk, Caldra, Clondra, Clonee, Corboy, Drumgort, Drumlish, Killashee, Killoe, Longford, Mountdavis, Moydow, Newtownforbes and Rathcline.

The principle on which the system was run was that local property should pay for local poverty. Practically, that meant that a tax called the poor rate was charged on property occupiers in each electoral division, and it was the normal source of income for the union. Due to widespread opposition to the payment of the rate, legislation of 1843 exempted those with a valuation of less than £4 and made their landlords liable for it. The board of guardians ran the union and was elected annually from amongst the ratepayers in each E.D.

The Great Famine put immense strain on the poor law system, which was never intended to provide for such a calamity. People flocked to the workhouses. Under legislation of June 1847, boards of guardians were empowered to provide outdoor relief, which meant that people could get food rations at home, rather than having to be admitted to the house. The minutes of the meeting of 23 October 1847 record that, for the first time, Longford exceeded its capacity, with there being 1,058 residents. By then the guardians were in the process of securing an auxiliary workhouse at Mullagh, outside the town, which was intended primarily for children. In 1848, the guardians rented two houses on Market Square and early the following year, a former brewery on Great Water Street. During the period from late May to late July 1849, the total number accommodated in the various locations in Longford amounted to over 3,000.

In the post-famine years, the poor law evolved and took-on new responsibilities. The Medical Charities Act of 1851 expanded the existing system of dispensaries. Each union was divided into dispensary districts, with a doctor resident in each. In 1856, the guardians were given responsibility for regulating burial grounds. The 1862 Poor Law (Amendment) Act opened workhouse hospitals to non-destitute people and allowed guardians to board-out or foster orphans and deserted children from workhouses. The public health acts of 1874 and 1878 consolidated and amended previous sanitary laws and gave the guardians significant powers as rural sanitary authorities. Their responsibilities included the provision of water and sewerage systems; the removal of nuisances; the control of lodging houses, markets and slaughterhouses; scavenging (waste removal); the inspection of meat; and the control of infectious diseases. Longford Union borrowed £7,000 from the Commissioners of Public Works in 1889 to build a new waterworks at Lisfarrell.

Under a series of laws enacted in the period 1883-96, guardians could borrow money to construct labourers’ houses with gardens adjoining them. This was a hugely important development, given the poor accommodation that many families had in that period.

The guardians were also empowered to borrow money to purchase seed potatoes for distribution under the Seed Potatoes Supply (Ireland) Acts 1890-91 and accounts concerning this are in BG113/C/5.

From its establishment until 1872, the poor law system was overseen by the Poor Law Commission in Dublin. Due to the remarkable expansion of the guardians’ responsibilities in the public health area, the Local Government Board was founded by law in 1872, and it absorbed the commission. The board oversaw all local authorities in Ireland until independence.

The biggest reform of local government under British rule came in 1898 with the passage of the Local Government (Ireland) Act. It created new local authorities including rural district councils, which were first elected in 1899. Councillors were ex-officio guardians and so from then on, separate elections for guardians were held only in urban areas. Longford Rural District Council was one three to be established in the county and was co-terminus with Longford Union. It assumed responsibility for housing and sanitation, and recommended roadworks and other infrastructural projects to Longford County Council for funding.

In 1921, under the Department of Local Government of Dáil Éireann, ‘amalgamation schemes’ were initiated in many counties, including Longford. The poor law unions were abolished, and Longford Workhouse was renamed Longford County Home. Many residents of the workhouses in Ballymahon and Granard were transferred to the county home and those two houses were closed. Boards of health and public assistance replaced the boards of guardians, and the Longford board was formed in 1923. Most of the workhouse buildings were demolished in the early 1970s, but the fever hospital remains as the Phoenix Centre.

Archival history

The collection was seemingly transferred from Longford County Council to the headquarters of Longford-Westmeath Joint Library Service, Dublin Road, Mullingar, County Westmeath and then to Longford County Library, c. 1990.

Immediate source of acquisition

Longford County Library

Scope, structure and content

The collection is arranged according to the classification scheme set out by Seán McMenamin and used in the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, with minor modifications.

Minute books, 1839-1921 (some gaps), including 'rough' [draft] minute books, 2 November 1849-30 March 1853, which substitute for minute books that are missing;

Rough minute books, 1849-57;

Drumlish Dispensary minute book, 1871-99;

Rural sanitary authority minute books, 1886-96;

Contagious diseases (animals) minute book, 1879-89;

Miscellaneous letters and papers, 1843-98;

Correspondence with the Department of Local Government, Dáil Éireann, 1921;

Other official correspondence, 1921;

Accounts, 1850-1921;

Statistics, 1854;

Dispensaries, 1869; 1893;

Assessment (rates), 1854-93.

Conditions of access and use

Conditions governing access: microfilm of minute books and original items available in the research room, Longford County Library and Archives. 

Digitised copies of three minute books - 28 June 1839-25 March 1843, 2 October 1847-25 March 1848 and 1 April 1848-18 January 1849 - are available on the Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland at https://virtualtreasury.ie/item/LongfordCA-BG-113-A-A

Language: English

Finding aid: descriptive list