- In 1901 it was reported that an ‘inmate’ in the workhouse had learned to write shorthand much the amazement of visiting poor law officials.
- In 1883 there was controversy over the election of guardians to serve in the Magherafelt Board of Guardians. The resulting inquiry by the British government resulted in a 55-page government report.
- The Magherafelt workhouse functioned as a place where the local coroner held inquests. If people were injured in the vicinity of Magherafelt they were brought to the workhouse and a jury sworn in.
- The workhouse also served a public space where plans and tenders could be observed such as for drainage projects and other improvements in the locality.
- In 1889 there was a celebrated court case involving the Board of Guardians and a rate collector, called Agnew who took the guardians to court over their failure to pay his wages. The case was widely reported on in national and international newspapers.
- In 1914 a workhouse ‘inmate’ George Hepburn was described as a ‘human 7-footer’, standing 7 feet tall and of ‘extremely slight build’.
- In 1887 the matter of a man named Frank Murphy, an ‘inmate’ of the wokhouse being removed from the building and placed on a farm at Covick, near Draperstown as a so-called ‘Emergency man’ was raised in the House of Commons. The case was denied by the clerk of the union who claimed that Murphy had applied to leave himself.
- In 1875 when the position of master was advertised by the guardians, they insisted that the candidate would not be over 45 years of age and must provide a surety of his social standing of £200. The successful candidate was also expected to have a competent knowledge of accounts, be able to maintain subordination in the workhouse and be ‘intelligent’.
- Life in the workhouse was very strict for the staff that served there and there were very few holidays or a leave of absence allowed. These had to get the prior approval of the guardians. In 1860 for example James McAteer, the shoemaker in the workhouse, asked for three days leave to cut his own turf!
DOCUMENTING THE
HISTORY OF MAGHERAFELT
AREA UNION
