The onset of the First World War in 1914 and the changes that it brought also impacted on the workhouse as both the ratepayers and the guardians began to look to alternatives to providing for the poor of the Magherafelt Union. In the south of Ireland workhouses closed en-masse after 1922 but in the north, many remained operational until the 1940s. Where they did there were new ways of looking at the building and its general upkeep. In 1914 the appointment of a boiler attendant at Magherafelt workhouse proof that upgrades were being taken seriously. With a salary of £26 per year, with rations and apartments it was a lucrative post. However, other areas did not look as promising. In 1915, after a failure to secure the services of a teacher, some guardians were of the opinion that the children should be sent out to the local schools, although this was rejected both inside and outside the workhouse.
From the middle of the 1920s there were repeated rumours, announcements and predictions that the workhouse would cease to provide the service it did for the poor. In 1924, for example, when only 82 ‘inmates’ were left in the building, there were calls to close the workhouse, although resisted by the guardians. In the 1930s the union, as with many in the north of Ireland, continued the process of ‘boarding out’ children to work on farms in the locality. This process had first been mooted in 1902 at an inquiry at the workhouse. More remains to be done with regard to that aspect of history but this is beyond the scope of this website and the work of the Loup History Group.
In 1940 owing the financial position the British government now at war with Germany found itself in, the issue of closing the workhouses was once again aired. Before it was closed however the effects of the war meant that the guardians were forced to implement ‘black out’ precautions owing to the German bombing campaign. In 1941 it was reported that a proposal put before the guardians to transfer the remaining ‘inmates’ to Coleraine workhouse was accepted, coinciding also with the Ministry of Health’s suggestion that the workhouse should be converted into a district hospital.
The workhouse closed on 24 August 1941, almost 100 years since it first began operating in the spring of 1842. The infirmary and fever hospital remained in operation until 1945, although the overall staff had been greatly reduced. The guardians and staff remained in place to over see this aspect of poor relief until 1945 and amongst their last major discussions and decisions was what to do with a bonus which was to be sent to them to celebrate ‘Victory in Europe’ [VE] Day in May 1945. One guardian anxious that the money should be spent entirely on the comforts of the poor reminded his fellow board members that after the end of the Great War in 1918 it was the poor who suffered most when outdoor relief at the workhouse was suspended.
No public building in the Magherafelt area ever housed as many people as the workhouse. While there were desperate times in its history, none more so than in 1847 during the Famine when disease and fever prevailed, there are few who would argue that it did not do good for those who so desperately needed shelter and sanctuary there.
