Getting into Trouble at the Workhouse

In his latest Times Past column, Jonathan Smyth recalls Ralph Mulligan and his troubles at Cavan Workhouse in 1875...

Workhouses are not remembered as places of joy, and that was especially true for the ‘inmates’ behind the walls, since that is what the system of the time termed them and for that matter you soon realise that life there was not exactly a barrel of laughs for the staff charged with the responsibility of running such Dickensian institutions. The master at Cavan Workhouse soon learned this lesson well when several complaints against him came before the guardians. As in the words of a former English monarch, the year of 1875 must have been an ‘Annus horribilis’ for Ralph Mulligan.

Fr Thomas O’Reilly’s conscience was tested by the behaviour of Ralph Mulligan the workhouse master with much of the details obtained through local hearsay and personal observation. Thereby, compelling him to construct a letter citing the dreadful irregularities he had been informed of and which in their nature he deemed to be of a serious concern to how the Union Workhouse was being run. Fr O’Reilly who served as parish priest at Lavey, Stradone, penned his letter to the board of guardians at Cavan Workhouse on 2nd July 1875.

At the board meeting held on Friday 27th August 1875 Dr Burke read out O’Reilly’s letter whereby he hoped to illuminate the meeting about a few facts connected to the daily running of Cavan’s Union Workhouse. It drew attention to the issue of missing blankets and pointed out that a ‘considerable number of them’ were removed from the institution by the thieving hands of certain inmates and accomplices and this irregularity must surely, he stressed have shown ‘a want of care and inspection’, that was sorely lacking on the part of the officials, namely the master.

Next, to be discussed was the master himself, Ralph Mulligan, who in addition to his position of employment at the workhouse , held a private farm at Drumderglass in Killinkere, ‘some 12 miles distant’ from his workplace and that his ‘frequent absence’ from attending to the poor law union requirements could better be served by staying put and remaining in situ at his place of employment. The farm originally belonged to his father who was also named Ralph.

In 1875, you might have supposed that to be in the company of your family was a natural situation for a married man such as the workhouse master, and yet however, visits by his next of kin became an issue. The master’s work afforded him little time to spare to visit his wife and children at Drumderglass. So, when they called, he had sometimes permitted them to stay over which of course contravened the terms of employment of the establishment. One may wonder if the complaint against the master was just way of preventing him from having any contact with his wife and children which was highly unlikely. However, it appears that the master had allowed his children to stay over with him for weeks at a time while they attended a local school in Cavan. Another barb in the complaint hinted at him sending his children to the workhouse school, a matter which he utterly denied.

In the 1840s, Ralph Mulligan’s career began as a schoolteacher at the workhouse and in January1850 the board appointed him workhouse master in place of D.A. Gillespie; his predecessor Gillespie, had only lasted a few months having succeeded James Murphy who resigned the previous May. On 17th April 1851, Ralph married Mary Anne Hibber, a schoolmistress by profession and the wedding was in Drung Parish Church of Ireland. His bride was a daughter of Michael Hibber, a storekeeper, and the officiating clergyman was the Rev. William Wilkins. One of the witness signatures on the marriage certificate was Alexander Clemenger, the workhouse baker.

The two families, both related to each other, had been stealing the blankets to make a few pounds until they were caught and when the issue became known, it was pointed out that some of the family members were already behind bars for similar petty pilfering offences. More sentences waited for two sisters who helped carry out the thefts. Mulligan assured his superiors that he had counted the stock and if such a considerable quantity of workhouse been taken, then the records should indicate so. However, the testimony of certain people indicated that material had been removed from the workhouse over a period.

The Local Government Board’s response to Fr O’Reilly’s complaint about the master’s family was that they believed he should as a husband and father be allowed to have his family stay of occasion. As regards, the master travelling by horse and cart up to three times per week towards his farm some twelve miles from his situation at Cavan Workhouse, little was said. Regarding the third charge, the master had the permission of the board, as noted in the minute books, to attend his farm and visit his family at Drumderglass. However, Mulligan’s departure to his farm for up to five days as recorded in his journal, were most objectionable to the Local Government Board and they recommended that ‘the contents’ of their findings be communicated to the ‘Master of the Workhouse for the guidance of his future conduct’. Twenty years later, another line of questioning before the guardians may for the erstwhile master, have been the last straw.

Last straw

In 1896, consequent upon many years of service, it might be suggested that the master’s energy had depleted, leaving him lacking the zeal of former days when he first joined the institution, which was almost fifty years before the moment in which he found himself before the board on a question of bedding material. In August 1896, the master was asked to explain the lack of straw in the workhouse and rather than accept the rough remarks of ‘well, go and get some straw’, to paraphrase a guardian, Ralph was instead to place a letter on the table, and it was a short carefully scripted message announcing his retirement.

The arrogant line of questioning may have irked the master, and the straw shortage was likely the ‘last straw’ for Ralph Mulligan, and no one could blame him for wanting to take a rest from the travails of managing the Cavan Union Workhouse. His resignation in August 1896 ended a whopping forty-six years of devoted service as master. In February 1897, Mulligan was granted a pension worth £35 per year and they noted his reason for stepping was due to old age; he was seventy-four years old. He died on 12th October 1899 and was laid to rest in the Church of Ireland graveyard of St. Bartholomew’s Church, Billis. Also, interred are his wife Mary Anne, daughter Phoebe and Matilda, and son William Henry Mulligan and his wife Jane.

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