Inquiry into the treatment, condition and mortality of infant children in the workhouse of the North Dublin Union.

  • Nicholls, George, Sir, 1781-1865.
Date:
1842
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Inquiry into the treatment, condition and mortality of infant children in the workhouse of the North Dublin Union. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.

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    in this City would be so credulous as to believe, or would venture to repeat, in the hope of being believed, the assertion, that of 100 children received into the Workhouse, 94 were in good health at the time of their admission. The question then may fairly be asked, whether the mortality of the children has been, under such circumstances, excessive ? The Chairman of the Board of Guardians replies to that question, that he does not consider it to have been so (975); and states his belief, that the opinion on the part of the public that the mortality has been excessive, has originated in a report unfortunately (979) and erroneously (977) spread abroad in the City. The evidence given by Mr. Arkins bears on this question, inasmuch as he described scenes of destitution that he had witnessed as a Trustee of the Roomkeepers’ Society, and which he stated to surpass any cases of wretchedness that have lately come before the notice occurred before the opening of the Workhouse (371), and Mr. Arkins is not now aware of any persons being in a more destitute state than those that apply for relief (372). He accounts for the fact of parties who now apply for relief being in less urgent destitution than formerly, by stating that “ the Workhouse has weeded the City of those destitute cases” (382). Such circumstances, while they afford testimony to the efficacious operation of the Poor Law, at the same time would account for a far higher rate of mortality in the Work- house to which the persons who were previously existing in such misery resorted, than out of it; for they must constitute a much larger proportion of the inmates of the Workhouse, than they had before borne to that class of the community from which they were taken, and their constitu- tions and those of their children must have been irretrievably impaired by the wretchedness and privations of their previous existence (377, 379). And yet the rate of mortality in the North Dublin Union Workhouse is, as compared with the rate in similar Institutions, remark- ably low. Dr. Duncan is reported to have stated in his examination before the Board of Guardians, that it is 17§- per cent., while in ten Metropolitan Workhouses the mortality as ascertained by M'Culloch in the year 1837, was 29 per cent. It is satisfactory to be able to state, that the notion of excessive mortality has not extended beyond the class of infants under two years old in the Workhouse. In a note which I received from Dr. Duncan on the 15th May, 1841, he gives his opinion respecting the children above two years old, from personal examination of them, that “ their general state of health was highly satisfactory (540),” and when questioned by me on the subject, during the recent Investigation, he stated his belief that the children from two years upwards have improved in health since their admission into the Workhouse (541). Dr. Corrigan, in a note accompanying a copy of his and Dr. Kennedy’s Report, writes thus:— “ There is a part of the Workhouse statistics we had an intention of noticing, but want of space prevented us, the state of the children from two to five years of age, who are all so remarkably healthy and fine looking.” I may here notice the opinions, recorded from time to time since the opening of the Workhouse, of the several Visiting Committees of Guardians appointed for the purpose of inspecting the Workhouse and its inmates. It is prescribed by your regulations that a series of questions referring to the condition of the Paupers, and various matters connected with the discipline and, management of the Workhouse, should be periodically answered in writing by a Committee of the Guardians, (1559 to 1561). One of these questions is, “ Are the young children properly nursed and taken care of; and do they appear in a clean and healthy state?” There are 61 answers to this question in the Visiting Committee’s Book, entered at different dates, between 29th May, 1840, and 15th December, 1841. These answers will be found in full in the Appendix to the Minutes of Evidence, No. 3, page 98. I will only state here that 40 of the answers are in the affirmative without qualification; 8 are qualified affirmatives; 5 state that there are no complaints, or no reason to think otherwise; 2 notice that the children, or some of them, are delicate in appearance ; 2 mention the prevalence of measles, and 1, the last, implies a deficiency of accommodation in the Nursery and Day-room ; 3 answers are stated not to relate to children under 2 years of age. It is impossible to give anything like a fair analysis of the evidence taken on the several points involved in this Investigation. Those persons who believed the mortality among the the infants to have been excessive, attempted, as was natural, to account for the excess by alleging numerous defects in the system, and instances of mismanagement. The over- crowding of the dormitories, the unsuitableness of the day-rooms, the scantiness of the clothing, the want of air and exercise, and other circumstances incidental to these, were adduced as the concurrent causes of the excessive mortality, which, though not proved, was assumed to have taken place. Especially it was to be expected that the Medical Officers would be anxious to show that the mortality was connected with circumstances over which they could have no control, or which'they could not control with sufficient promptness ; and thus it has occurred that their evidence appears to be somewhat criminatory of the Board of Guardians, whose peculiar province it is to govern and manage the Workhouse in all matters of detail, and to direct the Officers in the execution of their duties. Possibly the recom- mendations of the Medical Officers were not always attended to by the Guardians, as implicitly, or carried into effect as immediately, as these Officers might have considered that they should have been; but I think the evidence shows a constant desire on the part of the Board of Guardians to act upon the advice and opinion of their Medical Officers, as far as was possible, without surrendering their own opinion in matters on which they, as men of sense, were as competent to judge as Professional persons ; and from my own observation I believe the Guardians are disposed to concede to the Medical Officers, more discretionary