The story of Athy’s Workhouse is revealed
in the minutiae of administrative details written into the minute books of the
Board of Guardians, which I had the opportunity of studying before their recent
transfer to the County Library in Newbridge.
In the months preceding the opening of the Workhouse the Board of
Guardians were engaged in making arrangements for furnishing the building and
entering into contracts for the supply of provisions. The clerk was directed to advertise ‘for the different articles of clothing used
by Gorey Workhouse paupers’ patterns for which had earlier been received
and examined by the Athy Guardians. The
members of the Board, while dissatisfied with the quality of the clothing, were
nevertheless impressed with the clothing design or what the minute books
describes as the ‘kind of clothing’.
Tenders for bed clothing for the
Workhouse comprising blankets, sheets, coverlets, bolsters and bed ticks were
approved by the Board and contracts awarded to Miss Kenny Scott, Mr. Potter and
a Mr. Patrick Cosgrove. Kenny Scott was
also the successful tender for 75 frieze jackets for men in three sizes at an
average cost of 9 shillings and 11 pence each.
Local shopkeeper, Mr. Duncan, successfully contracted for the supply of
50 suits in three sizes for boys at an average cost of 3 shillings and 6
pence. Shirts, petticoats, bed gowns, frocks,
men’s caps and men’s and women’s shoes were just a few of the assortment of
wearing apparel purchased by the Board of Guardians. For local shopkeepers, the opening of the
Workhouse in Athy must have provided business opportunities never before experienced.
The list of utensils acquired for
the Workhouse makes interesting reading.
Heading that list were 100 chamber utensils for which the Board of
Guardians paid 3 shillings and 6 pence per dozen. 12 lamps and burners, 4 one quart ladles for stirabout,
with two larger ladles with one pint capacity were also required. A stirabout scraper was purchased for 5
shillings and for 2½ pence each 100 quart tins were purchased with a similar
number of pint tins for which 2¼ pence
each was paid. Indicative of the work
which the male inmates were expected to face was the purchase of 24 stone
hammers.
At its meeting on 2nd May
1843 in anticipation of what the minute book noted as a ‘collision between the ratepayers and the collectors’ it was
resolved that the landlords should be made primarily responsible for the
Workhouse rates, while giving them power to recover from the occupiers, their
proportion of the rates, as was the case with the rent charge. Later in the month of May the Board directed
the newly appointed master and porter to take up residence in the Workhouse,
although the workhouse mistress was not yet required to do so.
On 4th June the Board of
Guardians accepted tenders for furniture for their boardroom. John Ryan of Carlow supplied the boardroom
table with 36 chairs, one armchair ‘with
brackets’ and a metal fender and fire irons. At the same time furniture was required for
the clerk’s room, the master’s apartment, the porter’s room and the hall. The earlier mentioned John Ryan was also
commissioned to build an altar for the Workhouse. Interestingly the clerk and the porter got
deal furniture for their rooms, while the master of the Workhouse got American
birch chairs for his apartment, as well as a mahogany table and other pieces of
furniture.
On 12th September Miss
Goold’s tender to supply ‘sweet milk at
the rate of 7 pence per gallon’ was accepted. Miss Goold later emerged as one of the
principal organisers of the movement to bring the Sisters of Mercy to
Athy. The Mercy Sisters came to the town
8 years after her opening of the local Workhouse. She was also a generous benefactor to the
Parish of St. Michaels, leaving some property to the parish on her death.
The eight ex officio members of the
Board of Guardians were elected annually by local magistrates. On 29th September 1843 with
Captain Lefroy in the chair, local magistrates Lord Downes, Sir Anthony Weldon
and W.D. Frazier elected the ex officio Poor Law Guardians. Not surprisingly those elected included the
aforementioned gentlemen in addition to John Butler, Edward Bagot, B.A. Yates
and E.H. Cole. The remaining 24
guardians were elected each year by the ratepayers of the union area.
The appointment of a rate collector for
the various districts in the Poor Law Union of Athy occupied almost every
meeting of the Board of Guardians.
Reasons were seldom given for the frequent changes in the rate
collectors, although it might well have been prompted by the reluctance of the
rate payers to pay for the operation of the Workhouse which in 1843 was still
in the course of construction. The contract
price for the building of the Workhouse was exceeded during the year, resulting
in the assistant Poor Law Commissioner laying before the Board the accounts of
the building contractor which indicated that a further £150 was required to
defray extra costs incurred and an additional £150 to build boundary fences
around the Workhouse. ……………….TO BE
CONTINUED NEXT WEEK………………..
No comments:
Post a Comment