Orphan Emigration from County Mayo
Over the period 1848-1850, the Famine Orphan Emigration Scheme operated 20 ships to carry 4,114 Irish orphan girls to three Australian ports: Sydney, Melbourne (Port Phillip), and Adelaide. Of these girls, 137 were from Mayo workhouses, and were sent to Sydney and Melbourne.
Ballina workhouse was the only Poor Law Union in Mayo to send girls in the first year of the Scheme, 1848, dispatching 47 girls on two ships, the Lady Kennaway to Melbourne and the Inchinnan to Sydney.
In the second year, 1849, four Mayo workhouses participated in the Scheme. These all departed on the Panama to Sydney:
Swinford workhouse did not participate in the Orphan Emigration Scheme, and unfortunately there are no surviving records for the period to ascertain their reason for not participating. A further four Mayo workhouses were built in a second phase of workhouse building from 1848-1850 (Belmullet, Claremorris, Killala, and Newport), and opened too late to participate in the Scheme.
Ballina workhouse was the only Poor Law Union in Mayo to send girls in the first year of the Scheme, 1848, dispatching 47 girls on two ships, the Lady Kennaway to Melbourne and the Inchinnan to Sydney.
In the second year, 1849, four Mayo workhouses participated in the Scheme. These all departed on the Panama to Sydney:
- Ballina sent a further 40 girls
- Ballinrobe sent 25 girls
- Castlebar sent 15 girls
- Westport sent 10 girls
Swinford workhouse did not participate in the Orphan Emigration Scheme, and unfortunately there are no surviving records for the period to ascertain their reason for not participating. A further four Mayo workhouses were built in a second phase of workhouse building from 1848-1850 (Belmullet, Claremorris, Killala, and Newport), and opened too late to participate in the Scheme.
Workhouse Records
Each Poor Law Union maintained a variety of records for the administration of the workhouse, including Board of Guardian Minute Books, relief registers, and general ledgers. Indoor relief registers recorded important information, including the names of those admitted, observations about their current condition, their townland of origin and the date of their discharge or death.
It is unfortunate that no indoor relief registers survive for County Mayo. Consequently, information on operation of the Orphan Emigration Scheme in County Mayo can only be gleaned from surviving Board of Guardian Minute Books for each of the Mayo workhouses.
Information on the general history of the workhouse in Ireland is available on Peter Higginbotham's website, www.workhouses.org.uk/Ireland.
Each Poor Law Union maintained a variety of records for the administration of the workhouse, including Board of Guardian Minute Books, relief registers, and general ledgers. Indoor relief registers recorded important information, including the names of those admitted, observations about their current condition, their townland of origin and the date of their discharge or death.
It is unfortunate that no indoor relief registers survive for County Mayo. Consequently, information on operation of the Orphan Emigration Scheme in County Mayo can only be gleaned from surviving Board of Guardian Minute Books for each of the Mayo workhouses.
Information on the general history of the workhouse in Ireland is available on Peter Higginbotham's website, www.workhouses.org.uk/Ireland.
© Barbara Barclay (2015)
