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

Clifden Poor Law Union
Scope and Content
This collection of Clifden Poor Law Union archives consists primarily of Board of Guardian
minute books, 84 in total, dating from 1849 to 1921, with some gaps, together with letter
books and a diet book. Several of the earlier volumes have suffered severe mould damage,
with resultant loss of substantial quantities of text and rendering other sections illegible.
These volumes are inaccessible; they are GP3/16b, 38, 39, 51 and 65.
POOR LAW UNIONS
The Poor Law Act for the ‘more effectual Relief of the Destitute Poor in Ireland‟ was
introduced to Ireland by the Poor Relief (Ireland) Act, 1838 and operated until 1925. The Poor
Law system was originally constituted for the sole purpose of relieving paupers in
workhouses, but by the 1880s had gathered to itself a great variety of powers. George
Wilkinson, Architect, designed the workhouses. Under the Act the country was divided at first
into 130, later increased to 163, different poor law union administrative districts, each of
which had a workhouse, financed by poor rates paid mostly by landowners. The Union areas
in Ireland were formed by describing an area of ten miles radius around each market town.
Initially the Act did not permit outdoor relief; assistance and relief to the destitute poor was
granted only in a workhouse. However, by 1847 outdoor relief was granted.
Each Union was under the close supervision and control of a central governing body. Prior to
1847 the English Poor Law Commission had responsibility for the administration of the poor
law in Ireland; thereafter a separate Poor Law Commission for Ireland was established. Its
membership comprised the Irish Chief Secretary, the Under-Secretary, and the Chief
Commissioner. Assistant Commissioners, inspectors and clerks staffed it, and it supervised
the election and proceedings of Boards of Guardians. The Commission was abolished in
1872, and its functions were transferred to the Local Government Board. This Board was
composed of the Irish Chief Secretary, the Under-Secretary, a Vice President and two
commissioners and took over responsibility for supervising the administration of the poor law
system and public health legislation. The Board had a staff of regional inspectors and
auditors to supervise and report on the activities of poor law guardians and other local
authorities 1 .
A Board of Guardians, consisting of two thirds elected and one-third ex-officio members, had
direct responsibility for the administration of the union workhouses. The Guardians were
generally local magistrates, landlords and the better class of farmers. Roughly ¼ of the
1
S. J. Connolly (ed.), The Oxford Companion to Irish History, Oxford University Press, 1998.
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’
v.