Item 10 - Report Book of the Visiting Committee

1 bound volume; c. 200pp

Volume containing pre-printed questionnaire for manual answers to be entered at each inspection of the Visiting Committee to the Birr workhouse. The questionnaire comprises 16 questions on the condition of both the workhouse premises and the residents of the institution. The Visiting Committee answers either Yes or No to each question and there is space for observations, comments and sign-off by the clerk of the union and the chairperson of the Board of Guardians. Inspections begin as monthly occurrences in 1896 but are sporadic in frequency by 1920.

Following the closure of the Birr workhouse in August 1921, during the 'Amalgamation' of the workhouses in the county, the newly constituted Board of Health opened the County Home in Tullamore workhouse. In 1938, a new visiting committee was formed and Mary K. Dunne, a member of the Visiting Committee in the 1920s, and her colleague, A. F. E. McMichael, seem to have repurposed this volume to record the inspection visits to the county home (in Tullamore). Rather than answer the pre-printed questionnaire template, written reports have been attached to the page, or the observations space is used to write a report, and it is stamped and signed by the Board of Health. The use of this re-purposed volume by the Board of Health lasted until December 1939.

Includes some loose correspondence from the Local Government Board (1905; 1911)

Due to the sensitive nature of theses records, general access to this item is by application. Please see the pdf 'Access Policy' and the accompanying application form, which is available by clicking on the pdf icon at the top of this page.

Reproduction of records under 100 years is generally not permitted due to the quantity of third-party data in the reports.

This volume was donated by Offaly Historical and Archaeological Society who acquired it in the 1990s.