The workhouse in numbers

The management of the Magherafelt Workhouse was meticulous and much credit due to John Steele, who was clerk much of the first forty years of its history. Every penny was accounted for and carefully reported to the Poor Law Commissioners. This information was in turn sent to the government and published in a raft of annual returns. For example, in 1860 it was reported that the Magherafelt guardians spent £9 annually on advertisements in six newspapers, which was only a quarter of what was spent in unions such as Listowel, county Kerry.

It is also interesting to follow these annual returns on admissions to the workhouse in order to understand the fluctuations in residency. In 1851, for example, while it was claimed there was beds for 1,200 people there were only 423 in the workhouse. Two years later this number had fallen to 349, with males over fifteen numbering 35 and 72 females, highlighting of course issues of abandonment and desertion which had taken place during the Famine. Most revealingly however was the number of children under fourteen in the workhouse – which amounted to 171. Fast forward two decades to 1877 and the number in the workhouse had fallen to 202, while the bed space had also been reduced to 868 but there was largely no need for such accommodation. Yet there were peaks and troughs when it came to workhouse numbers and three years later in 1880 the numbers had risen to 309 ‘inmates’. This rise almost certainly reflects the economic downturn of 1877-79 and the near Famine like conditions which prevailed in the country. It is interesting to note that this 1880 figure was higher than Coleraine and Limavady workhouses.

An often overlooked aspect when examining the management of workhouses is the role played by the ratepayer whose money was used to keep the building open. During the Famine ratepayers were particularly squeezed and with widespread defaulting, many unions crashed such was the financial burden. The following is a breakdown of the number of ratepayers in each electoral division in 1860. These ratepayers were responsible for paying for the maintenance of the workhouse on an annual basis.