Objectors to the Proposal for Erecting a Workhouse in Letterkenny, Barony of Kilmacrenan, County Donegal, Ireland 1840

Extracted from the Londonderry Standard, October 28, 1840

Transcribed, Compiled and Submitted by
Len Swindley, Melbourne, Australia
len_swindley[at]hotmail.com

RATEPAYERS’ PETITION TO THE PARLIAMENT AT WESTMINSTER OPPOSING THE ERECTION OF A WORKHOUSE IN LETTERKENNY 1840

TO THE COMMISSIONERS OF POOR LAWS

Gentlemen,

From the proceedings of a Meeting lately held at Stranorlar, relative to the Poor Law, an opinion is very generally entertained that it is in contemplation to erect a Poor-house in the town of Letterkenny, in the Barony of Kilmacrenan.

We, the undersigned Proprietors and Occupiers of Land in the Barony of Kilmacrenan, beg leave to call your earnest and immediate attention to this our Memorial and Remonstrance against such a measure, should such be contemplated. First, the erection of a Poor-house in Letterkenny would be in its position on the verge of the Barony, entail the necessity of having two more in other parts of it. Secondly, from our knowledge of the state of pauperism in the Barony of Kilmacrenan, we are satisfied that one Poor-house, situated in some central part of the Barony, would be quite sufficient for the wants of the Poor; though to a stranger going through the Barony during the six summer months it would be appear, from the quantity of strolling families who are begging, that one half of the population at least were Paupers. Nor would it be undeceived until informed of the fact, that it is the annual practice of many hundreds of families in the mountainous parts of the Barony, as soon as they have planted their potatoes and cut their turf in the spring, to shut up their houses – the men going to England and Scotland for work, and the women and children going out to beg until the potatoes are ready to be dug when they all return home. None of these persons would ever become inmates of a Work-house, as they would not consent to give up the tenements they hold. That, satisfied as we are that one Work-house for the Barony of Kilmacrenan would be sufficient and being willing and desirous in every way in our power to facilitate the carrying out to the fullest extent the provisions of the Relief Bill, yet we cannot view, without great alarm, the results which may ensue from doing so in a manner so unnecessarily expensive and so disproportionate to the means of all those upon whom the supplying the funds which devolve.

The taxation upon this Barony, in the shape of County Cess, has already become very difficult of collection, and, in some cases, resistance to the Collector has been offered. If these burdens are to be increased by the cost of erecting three Work-houses, and maintaining them, when one would fully answer all the purposes, it will end in a net a net refusal on the part of a vast number of the Cess-payers to pay anything, a system of passive resistance adopted, or they or the Grand Juries of the County must give up the idea of maintain their Roads and Public Works; and by so doing, hundreds who now maintain themselves and families by the outlay of the County money will be thrown out of employment, and consequently driven to swell the list of paupers. To enumerate all the evils of carrying out this Act of Parliament in such an expensive manner, would occupy too much of your time to peruse, and we shall now only advert to a circumstance recently made known to us, namely, that a Memorial has been forwarded to you from the town of Letterkenny, advocating the expediency of making it a Union and building a Work-house there.

That Memorial has been got up privately, and without any public notice whatever, and does not express the public opinion on the subject. It has been got up by persons who are more guided by self-interest than the public good, and secretly, from the movers of it knowing the general opposition they would meet with, if publicity were given to it. We now respectfully appeal to you, in the confident hope that in so great and important a measure as this, you will weigh the matter carefully and impartially, and not allow the interests and prosperity of our Barony to be sacrificed by the selfish views of individuals, and so beneficial an act as the Relief Bill, to commence its career by creating disgust and opposition, and increasing the pauperism it is meant to relieve.

We are, your most obedient humble servants,
 

The workhouse was erected in Letterkenny in 1844 and opened for inmates in March 1845, just prior to the commencement of the Great Famine.