Poor Law Union Report
By The Culture and Heritage Group
Great destitution exists in the union, especially in the western district, comprising the electoral divisions of Killannin, Moycullen, and Oughterard.
The number of persons receiving workhouse relief for the week ended the 13th instant, was 4,190, of which number there were 833 able-bodied males, and 1,549 able-bodied females; on out-door relief for the same period, 6,708, of which number 6,285 are destitute persons relieved under 10th Viet., chap. 31, sec. 1; and 423 relieved under sec. 2, being widows with one child dependent on them, and orphans whose parents are both dead,—making in all 10,898 persons relieved of the classes already described for the week ended the 13th instant, being oneeighth of the population, according to the Census of 1841. Every person relieved has been personally examined and inspected by us; and we can testify to the extreme destitution of them all.
Accounts and Papers, Relief of Distress. Charles Knight 1868
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A very good report by David Collins. This subject is also covered in “A History of the Irish Poor Law” by Sir George Nicholls (1856) Reprinted 1967, which gives an account of the various actions taken by the British to solve the plight of the Irish Poor, from draining bogs to building fever hospitals. Short reports from 1170 AD to 1850.
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