Clifden Poor Law Union archive collection, Descriptive List, GPL3.pdf

GPL3/ Clifden Poor Law Union
A. Minutes of Board of Guardians Meetings, 1849 - 1921
Bound volumes of manuscript minutes recording details of attendance and proceedings
of weekly or twice monthly meetings relating to the maintenance, administration and
financing of the workhouse, distribution of out-door relief, and the care of workhouse
inmates as regards their accommodation and employment, and to medical, pastoral,
educational, and dietary needs. Minutes include statistics on the number of persons
accommodated in the workhouse, together with the number of births and deaths, and
the number receiving outdoor relief; confirmation that various reports, financial and
other records, such as the Workhouse Register, Provision Check Accounts, Out-door
Relief Lists, Medical Officers‟ books, and reports of the Visiting Committee, the
workhouse Master and other Officers were produced, examined and approved together
with details of required action relating to the information provided therein; details of all
monies received or paid, and all orders and cheques given, such as those required for
the supply of food and clothing; details of rates collected, arrears, and declared
irrecoverable in each electoral division; also includes details of orders and letters
received from or written to the Poor Law Commissioners, and their successor the Local
Government Board and others, and details of subsequent resolutions passed and
instructions issued authorising required action; details of the Master‟s report and
resolutions adopted to address any issues raised therein; and from 1854 provision is
included for minutes of the proceedings of the Board under the Medical Charities Acts
and Nuisances Removal and Disease Prevention Acts, and subsequently under Public
Health Acts.
Only occasionally are inmates referred to by name, usually in the context of specific
situations such as an application to be discharged from the workhouse or relating to a
disciplinary matter.
From 1899 the pre-printed format alters slightly, reflecting the transfer of some
functions to the Rural District Councils, in particular rate collection. From about this
time the minutes primarily relate to the management of the workhouse and the
dispensary districts. Most of the business conducted related to the appointment of
Medical Officers, and to the maintenance of their residences, of dispensaries and the
workhouse.
The minutes are generally dated, and signed by the Clerk of the Union, and the
Chairman. Many of the earlier volumes include an index to main resolutions passed
and discussion topics.
Average size 450pp
(1-9)
Cartlann Chomhairle Contae na Gaillimhe „…cuimhne dhoiciméadach Chontae na Gaillimhe a shealbhú, a chaomhnú agus a dhéanamh inrochtana’
Galway County Council - Archives „…to acquire, preserve and make accessible the documentary memory of county Galway’
2.