0:00:00.000,0:00:03.654
(Irish Deaf Archives - Poor-Houses/Workhouses: The Backgrounnd)

0:00:04.008,0:00:06.834
(Narrated by Shane Gilchrist)

0:00:07.246,0:00:13.106
Hello. Today I will be talking about the Poor House, or Workhouse.

0:00:13.106,0:00:24.123
“Poor House” is the old name. Today they are more commonly known as workhouses.

0:00:24.123,0:00:33.249
In Ireland they were set up back in the 1700s, for example in Dublin and Belfast.

0:00:33.249,0:00:41.070
Poorhouses then were for people who had no work and were poor.

0:00:41.070,0:00:46.080
If they came, they would have food, but would be expected to go to work.

0:00:46.080,0:00:49.989
(Something happened in 1703)

0:00:49.989,0:01:02.078
In 1703 a “House of Industry” was established in Dublin by an Act of Parliament.

0:01:02.078,0:01:07.151
This is akin to the Poor House, for poor people so they could go to work and so on.

0:01:07.151,0:01:10.898
(Ireland and England had separate Poor Law Acts.)

0:01:11.247,0:01:19.225
The government in England passed a law in 1834, which was their own law.

0:01:19.225,0:01:22.224
Ireland followed suit four years later, and passed its own legislation.

0:01:22.224,0:01:26.389
(Ireland Poor Law Act 1838)

0:01:26.833,0:01:34.158
After following the English example, in 1838,

0:01:34.158,0:01:39.190
the new law, the Irish Poor Law Act, came into force.

0:01:39.190,0:01:42.393
Before the Act was passed, there weren't many Poor Houses,

0:01:42.393,0:01:45.185
one here and one there, and so on.

0:01:45.185,0:01:47.989
However, after 1838, Poor Houses became more numerous

0:01:47.989,0:01:53.765
with about 150 or so built in places like Cork, Galway, and all around the country.

0:01:53.765,0:01:57.183
(How the Poor-Houses helped)

0:01:57.770,0:02:01.140
For example... erm...

0:02:01.140,0:02:03.226
Today Dublin County Council would provide housing and so on,

0:02:03.226,0:02:05.260
but back then they did not have this.

0:02:05.260,0:02:11.439
Now we have charities like St Vincent de Paul, that people go to if they need help.

0:02:11.439,0:02:12.185
Back then, they didn't have that.

0:02:12.185,0:02:14.316
If they needed help, they had to go to the Poor House.

0:02:14.316,0:02:18.210
(Belfast Poor-House)

0:02:18.579,0:02:23.870
In 1790, the Belfast Poor House was established and funded by local people,

0:02:23.870,0:02:26.615
without government assistance.

0:02:26.630,0:02:30.590
This Poor House was near a Deaf school.

0:02:30.621,0:02:36.566
The Poor House had a hospital, doctor, free food,

0:02:36.566,0:02:39.510
so they went to the Poor House regularly.

0:02:39.526,0:02:42.184
If a Deaf child was unwell, he would go there to the Poor House.

0:02:42.200,0:02:51.400
Our sign for Poor is this, the Poor House eventually became a hospital.

0:02:51.400,0:02:54.390
The Belfast City Hospital.

0:02:54.390,0:02:58.061
This meant that local Deaf people would eventually use

0:02:58.061,0:02:59.913
the same sign of “Poor” to mean “Hospital”.

0:02:59.913,0:03:03.531
Note the ISL sign for hospital is this, but in Belfast, it is this.

0:03:03.531,0:03:05.654
In England, it's yet again different.