Nenagh Workhouse

Comments

Are there any records of people admitted to this workhouse and if so, where can they be searched.

Donie O Sullivan

Donie O Sullivan

Saturday 9th November 2019 11:26PM

I've not come across any names of inmates yet unfortunately.There are some snippets ot of general information about the poor relief and workhouse of Nenagh in the Tipperary Vindicator, which I searched online about three years ago at FindMyPast but may be in other newspaper archives too. I was searching on the name of Rody Spain, a family member (merchant and landowner) who was involved in all kinds of things in Nenagh - the gas works, the new bank, the arrival of the railway, nationalist politics, you name it, he had his finger in every pie, but he was one of a group of influential citizens/town commissioners including William Gleeson and John O'Meara amongst others. There are likely to be plenty of articles referencing the workhouse that  I missed because Mr Spain wasn't mentioned.

I summarized a few points in my journal as follows which I hope may be of interest. I'm guessing the same kinds of issues persisted over a much larger period than the three years I looked at; if anybody finds more, do please post it!

POOR RELIEF

• 11 Jul 1846 • Nenagh

  Funds so low they will have to lay off 150 men, keeping only 150 most destitute for a few days, unless people pay up. The priests and usual suspects subscribe (largest donations £2 but smaller contributions too inc. 1/- from a Mary Spain. Total £126. Tipp Vin

  October 1846 • Nenagh

  Rody Spain and Thomas Spain (the latter was the local physician) involved in organising public meeting to raise funds to supply the poor with wholesome provisions at a reasonable price ... awfully distressed condition of this district (Tipp Vin 7 Oct)

  1 Nov 1846 • Nenagh

  Tip Vind publishes a list of donors/donations. The priests and one or two others giving £10; Citizens donate up to £5.

  WORKHOUSE

  15 Nov 1848 • Nenagh

  Dublin Evening Mail reports disorder at Nenagh workhouse; Suggested penalties included that men would not get their milk ration that day. 

  January 1849 • Nenagh

  Tipperary Vindicator reports a huge row about the awful quality of the rye bread at the workhouse. Various guardians including the local priest are reported verbatim having a very lively discussion!

  Tip Vind 3 feb 1849 reports meeting of the workhouse guardians discussing sour milk, bad bread and the wine/port was of dreadful quality. A lengthy discussion of rye vs wheat bread.. And doctors' fees .

  The Kilkenny Journal and Leinster Commercial and Literary Advertiser for 3 October 1849 carries a long front-page report about a protest that went on for months at Nenagh when the Bishop decided to move the parish priest, Revd. Powers, elsewhere (the various stages in this dispute, which amongst other things involved barricading a local chapel so that the new incumbent couldn't say Mass, are reported extensively in the local press). Part of this report mentions the entire population going to hear Mass at the Union Workhouse chapel when it was heard that Rev. Power was to officiate there (and he was greeted by applause when he entered the dining hall. It goes on to say that  the replacement clergy Revd Mr Bowles said Mass at the Brewery Workhouse but that only the Master and his family stayed to hear him (all the inmates 'rushed out of the way') and Rev Mr Kenny said Mass at the gaol. Kenny and Bowles went to the Union Workhouse on the Monday to hear confessions but it is reported that all but two or three of the inmates refused to see them. [To me this suggests that the inmates had appreciated the support of the previous priest. The end of the story was that Revd Power pretty soon became assistant bishop and then bishop himself!). Part of this is also reported in the Tip.Vind.

  Kate Brett

   

   

Cornishfern

Sunday 10th November 2019 06:56PM

Thank you for such a prompt reply. I am researching my great grandfather ,Mortimer Ransford, who ststed in 1901 census that he was born in county Tipperary. I know that in the Tithe Applotment books there was only one ,a David Ransford in the county and he was farming in Ballinahinch. there is a headstone in the graveyard in Ballinahinch to a Rainsford who was likely to be a son of the earlier one. Two Rainsfords from there emigrated to USA c 1850. my Mortimer was 61 years old in 1901 therefore born c.1840 but dates then could be up to 10 years incorrect and I am assuming he is from that branch but cannot prove it. He died near Dromkeen in County Limerick and his wife was a Mary Moloney who I failed to trace.

These Ransfords/Rainsfords have been traced back to Marcus Rainsford who leased his brewery to Arthur Guinness in 1759. it is thought they bout land in Ballinahinch and Murroe as bolt holes before the 1798 rebellion broke out and were somehow implicated with the Young Irelanders and Robert Emmet.

My mother was a Rainsford from Caherconlish where my grandfather settled on his return from USA in 1916

Hoping some clue may surface.Can the records be searched in any library of archive

Regards

Donie

Donie O Sullivan

Sunday 10th November 2019 10:20PM

Regarding what records can be searched...it's pretty hit and miss but there is good advice on this site I find.

I go on ancestry.com quite a lot and when I took a quick look just now I found a tree containing Mortimer Ransford and Mary Maloney plus a daughter and three sons (but I suspect that tree is wrong because there are two sons called William and quite often I'd expect the first of them to have died in infancy or early childhood and the name to have been recycled, as the 1901 census record with the widowed Mortimer plus the two sons suggests). The younger one could possibly be the one who is 21 in the 1901 census. I'm guessing this beginning of a tree may be previous research by you (the owner name is diddydoris). Sometimes the 'suggestions' ancestry comes up with automatically are better than others; sometimes it can be prompted to narrow things down a bit more usefully by clicking on 'search' when you are in a person's record. You probably know this already!

Findmypast has got free access to a lot of records (but not newspapers) until 12 noon on Monday (tomorrow) and some matches do come up that might be worth your looking at. - they and other paid-for sites sometimes do this kind of free offer at holidays or anniversaries, which I find is worth using. If the weather is bad for gardening or sports and I am expecting to have some free time, I do sometimes sign up for a month of paid access and see how far I can get in that time. I find the FMP newspaper archive (which they run directly with the British Library) is way easier to use, and fuller for Ireland, than the ones I've been able to find at Ancestry. One totally brilliant thing that came up was an account of a family funeral reported in the local paper where all the mourners were listed: siblings, in-laws, cousins, the lot, and where they had come from, which just opened up so many avenues.  Ancestry also do a free trial for a week if you've not used them before; Findmypast offer 14 days. If you remember to cancel before the free trail is finished you dont' pay anything. Myheritage.com is another site that offers a free trial and I am sure there are lots more.

If your family in Ireland were Catholics, you can get millions of irish records completely for free now, either via some of the above sites or directly via the National library of Ireland https://www.nli.ie/en/parish-register.aspx I've found them quite useful up to a point, but it is a nuisance when an ancestor has a very common name (as several of mine do) and the large families in a particular place use the same names for cousins (all honouring the same grandparent).

I can't think of any quick and easy things to recommend now, but hope you succeed in tracking down these elusive family members. All you need is one lucky breakthrough - good luck!

 

 

 

 

Cornishfern

Monday 11th November 2019 12:05AM

Thank you for such a prompt reply. I am researching my great grandfather ,Mortimer Ransford, who ststed in 1901 census that he was born in county Tipperary. I know that in the Tithe Applotment books there was only one ,a David Ransford in the county and he was farming in Ballinahinch. there is a headstone in the graveyard in Ballinahinch to a Rainsford who was likely to be a son of the earlier one. Two Rainsfords from there emigrated to USA c 1850. my Mortimer was 61 years old in 1901 therefore born c.1840 but dates then could be up to 10 years incorrect and I am assuming he is from that branch but cannot prove it. He died near Dromkeen in County Limerick and his wife was a Mary Moloney who I failed to trace.

These Ransfords/Rainsfords have been traced back to Marcus Rainsford who leased his brewery to Arthur Guinness in 1759. it is thought they bout land in Ballinahinch and Murroe as bolt holes before the 1798 rebellion broke out and were somehow implicated with the Young Irelanders and Robert Emmet.

My mother was a Rainsford from Caherconlish where my grandfather settled on his return from USA in 1916

Hoping some clue may surface.Can the records be searched in any library of archive

Regards Donie O Sullivan

Donie O Sullivan

Wednesday 13th November 2019 06:47PM

Researching a group of 30 women who left Ireland in September 1852, traveled to Plymouth and then per Travancore to Fremantle, Western Australia arriving 13 January 1853. An article in the Galway Mercury and Connought Weekly Advertiser 18/9/1852 supports this and it is thought the women came from the Nenagh Union Workhouse. Two other groups of women were on Travancore, 30 from Limerick Workhouse and 26 from Co. Kerry. The Nenagh women were:

Burke, Margaret bc1833 Tipperary                  Burns, Marah bc1833 Co Clare                    Cane (Keane) Honora bc1833  Co Tipperary             Carroll, Mary bc1834

Cleary, Catherine bc1832           Connolly, Maria bc1831 Co Tipperary             Conway, Mary bc1832 Nenagh            Cormack, Mary bc1833 Co Tipperary

Dunne, Mary bc1831 Co Limerick          Dwyre, Sally bc1834 Co Tipperary        Flannery, Anney bc1833 Co Tipperary        Foley, Anney bc1832        Gleason, Kitty bc1831

Godfrey, Ellen bc1832          Heagney, Eliza bc1834            Hogan, Margaret bc1832             Hogan, Mary bc1832           Hogan, Nancy bc1832     Kennedy, Biddy bc1832

Kennedy, Mary bc1832        Meara, Catherine bc1834 Tipperary         Meara, Eliza bc1832 Co Tipperary           Mulcoony,Mary bc1832       Murphy, Ellen bc1832

Murphy, Mary bc1832          Quinn, Mary bc1831 Co. Clare        Ralph, Biddy bc1834     Ryan, Catherine bc1832          Spillane, Mary bc1832 Nenagh

Toohey, Anny bc1833 Nenagh

The women were sent to Western Australia to be domestic servants and to marry the convicts transported there from England.

Hope someone can help out with information,

Lorna.                    

 

Lorna

Thursday 13th May 2021 06:03AM

I have come to a roadblock in my research re my maternal 2XGGM Ann Gooley born about 1835. She came to Australia in 1850 by ship I believe as part of the Earl Grey Scheme. Her shipping record states both parents were dead -  father Phillip and mother Honora and Nenagh Tipperary is listed. Ann is listed in Trevor McClaughlin's book Barefoot and Pregnant Irish Famine Orphans oin Australia. I have records since arriving in NSW, Australia. She gained employment with Mr James Briars about 1851. Married Richard Takle in Sydney NSW in 1854. Their son Richard James Takle was born in 1855. The family then travelled to Victoria, settling in Yackandandah where the rest of their sons were born. Ann died 21 May 1906 and is buried in the Yackandandah cemetry.

Despite several years of research between my brother and myself, We have not found any records at all for her in Ireland, including on IrelandXO, Ancestry, MyHeritage, Family Search, etc as well as various search engines. I would be extremely grateful if someone somewhere can provide any information.

Jeanette 

Friday 7th July 2023 08:55AM