.jpg)
Belfast Union Workhouse was a workhouse operated by Belfast Poor Law Union to provide statutory relief to the destitute in Belfast and the surrounding townlands allocated to it.[1] The workhouse operated from 1841 to 1948, overseen by a Board of Guardians.[2]
Conditions were harsh, with long working hours and minimal food, partly to act as a deterrent to entry.[1] It enforced strict segregation by age, gender, and capability; families who entered together were often separated. Despite various medical provisions including hospitals, there were high mortality rates during disease outbreaks.[citation needed] Conditions were cramped. By the 1901 census, the workhouse complex housed 3,359 "inmates" as well as 166 officials and their family members.[3]
- ^ a b "Welfare · 'Surviving the city': Poverty and Public Health in Belfast, 1888-1914 · Digital Exhibitions at Special Collections & Archives, Queen's University Belfast". omeka.qub.ac.uk. Queen’s University, Belfast. Retrieved 17 November 2024.
- ^ Farrell, Michael (1978). The Poor Law and the workhouse in Belfast, 1838-1948 / (PDF). Public Record Office of Northern Ireland. Retrieved 17 November 2024.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
workhouseswas invoked but never defined (see the help page).