Poor Law Commission

Poor Law Commission. When the new English poor law was first introduced to Ireland in 1838, its administration was placed under the control of the English Poor Law Commission, operating through commissioners based in Ireland. In 1847 a separate Poor Law Commission for Ireland was created comprising the chief secretary, the undersecretary, and the chief commissioner, and serviced by a staff of assistant commissioners, inspectors, and clerks. The commission supervised the election and proceedings of poor law boards, and was empowered to dissolve boards whose members were incompetent or inactive. Thirty‐nine boards were suspended during the Famine and paid officials appointed. In the decades after the Famine, the commission was made responsible for overseeing a wide range of health and welfare services, from the management of dispensaries to the appointment of sanitary inspectors. Conflict between the commission and local poor law boards, evident from the earliest days of the poor law, increased as the century continued and more particularly as representation of Catholics among poor law guardians increased. The commission was abolished in 1872, and its functions transferred to the newly constituted Local Government Board for Ireland, a clear acknowledgement of the vital role the poor law system now played in local administration.

Virginia Crossman