Abstract
Nineteenth-century Ireland saw the emergence of a campaign to have orphaned
and abandoned children ‘boarded out’ from workhouses to live with families in
return for payment. Despite growing anxiety about the unsuitability of
workhouses for children, communities could show resistance to having these
children, particularly those from urban workhouses, living in their own
neighbourhood. Using the case of alleged abuse towards three children boarded
out from Belfast workhouse to a family living in a remote rural townland, this
paper explores the experience of, and attitudes towards, workhouse children
boarded into rural communities. Using testimonies of neighbours and poor law
officials at the resultant 1872 Poor Law inquiry, it examines the relationship
between the children, their foster family, and the wider community and reveals
the extent to which those families who took in workhouse children became
subject to surveillance not just from welfare authorities but also from members of
their community.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 119-135 |
Number of pages | 17 |
Journal | Family and Community History |
Volume | 23 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 08 Oct 2020 |
Keywords
- Boarding-out
- children
- poverty
- surveillance
- urban
- workhouse
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- History
- Sociology and Political Science