Old Age in Nineteenth-Century Ireland by Chris Gilleard

Old Age in Nineteenth-Century Ireland by Chris Gilleard

Author:Chris Gilleard
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan UK, London


Irish Poor Law and the Coming of the Workhouse

The Whately commission proposed a system of outdoor relief for such ‘deserving impotent poor’ as the aged and infirm, lunatics, the sick poor and widows with children, as well as public works, re-housing and infrastructure investment to provide work for those able-bodied persons without a source of income. By the time the commission came to report its findings, however, the government had already made up its collective mind. Ignoring the no doubt costly and complex advice of Archbishop Whately and his colleagues, a simpler – and harsher – plan was devised by the English Poor Law Commissioner, George Nicholls. In effect, he proposed establishing an Irish Poor Law modelled on the ‘new’ 1834 Poor Law of England (Powell 1981). Nicholls later wrote how: he prepared for the consideration of government, a series of suggestions founded upon a general view of social requirements, and upon his experience of the working of the English Poor Law. He did not pretend to any personal knowledge of the state of Ireland, but considered that the information furnished by the evidence appended to the commissioners’ first Report, showed that destitution and wretchedness prevailed to such an extent among the poorer classes in that country, that legislative interference could no longer be delayed without compromising the general security; and contrasting the state of the English poor with what existed in Ireland, he attempted to point out a remedy, or at least a palliative for the evils which prevailed there. This he was induced to do without waiting for the final report of the inquiry commissioners, as the mode of comparison pursued by him was different from the course which they would adopt, and likewise because the commissioners indicated their intention of taking the general circumstances of the country into consideration, whilst he proposed to limit his suggestions to one object, with a view to a single and specific remedy. (Nicholls 1856: 130)



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