Workhouses

A quick aside on workhouses which were briefly mentioned in my previous post.

A workhouse, as defined by is "a place where people who were unable to support themselves could go to live and work." With the word comes images from Oliver Twist, but this post specifically wishes to discuss workhouses in Ireland.

Workhouses were created in Ireland under the Workhouse Act of 1838 (encompassed in the Poor Law Act) which saw to the creation of Poor Law Unions within Ireland. Each union built and managed its own workhouse, as controlled by individual Boards of Guardians which choose who were allowed into the workhouse and discussed all administrative affairs. Each workhouse was built to house 400-800 "inmates," though these numbers swelled during the famine, worsening already squalid conditions.

As conditions worsened and disease became rampant, workhouses faced bankruptcy from over-enrollment, so in 1847, an amendment was made to the Poor Law Act, allowing unions to provide "outdoor relief" (food, money, clothes etc.) as opposed to "indoor relief" (shelter, work within the workhouse).

The Workhouse Act passed in spite of significant Irish dissent. ("Eighty-six petitions from Ireland were presented to the Parliament. They totaled 36,221 signatures against, and only 593 signatures in favor of the work house act. All of Ireland, north and south, Protestant as well as Catholic, were opposed to the Bill" (source).)

Again, here, you can see a theme I referred to earlier in my posts, that the lines between Protestant and Catholic became less important as the relations between England and Ireland became more polarizing.