In a message dated 10/20/00 11:48:34 AM Eastern Daylight Time, kenheslin@prodigy.net writes: << ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jane Lyons" <jlyons1@iol.ie> To: <IRELAND-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Friday, October 20, 2000 11:23 AM Subject: [IRELAND] The Foundling Hospital - a repost. > Those who entered the workhouses were not just Catholics - they were poor > people of all religions. There was only one recognised religion in Ireland > and it has to be remembered that no matter what religion you practised if > you were not Church of Ireland you were in the same boat as the Catholics. > This is not just true of Ireland at that time, it is also true of England. > Anyone in England who was not Church of England fared as badly as did > Catholics in Ireland if they were poor to start with. > > What is written here can be compared with other parts of the world today - > India with all her poverty and other countries such as Romania where so many > children were kept in orphanages in the past. > > Here in Ireland - we have children living on the streets today - as you do > whoever you are and whatever part of the world you live in. > > Jane > ------------- > The Foundling Hospital: was part of the Dublin workhouse. It was so named in > 1730. Children received into it were foundlings and all illigitimate. > > There were not supposed to be babies amongst them, as children under the age > of 6 supposed to be cared for by their own parishes. In each parish > Churchwardens employed a woman. the 'lifter' and it was her job to go round > the Parish at night 'lifting' any babies she found lying about. She brought > them to the next Parish and dumped them! Sometimes she placed a lump of > narcotic called diacodioum in the mouth to stupify the child and stop it > from crying There were also times that the 'lifter' in the second parish > found the child and dumped it somewhere else if not back in its own. One > woman had 'lifted' 27 children one year, and 7 died in her hands. These > women knew nothing of what happened the chldren once they dumped them.... > > > Babies were brought to the Foundling Hospital in Dublin and they were fed on > Panda..(bread and milk)...At an inquiry in 1797 the matron said the diet was > unfit to sustain life! The feeding of panda to children had been carried out > for 67 years > > Ghastly happenings were reported from the Foundling Hospital: once 13 babies > bodies found buried in a pit. A workman found two dead infants wrapped in a > cloth, these were identified by the marks on their arms,. Babies were > 'branded' before being sent out of this place to nurses around the city to > be minded. > Children from all over the country were brought to this workhouse, carried > by women in baskets, just thrown into the basket, up to 8 at a time. Some > found dead on arrival or seriously injured. > > At an inquiry 1797:it was reported that corpses were thrown into a hole and > covered with quick lime. > > >From 1750-1760: 7,781 admitted; 3,797 died..and 3,932 put out to nurse. > > Mothers often tried to get their children back, usually they didn't. > > Older workhouse children were fed: > Breakfast: 1/4 lb porridge and a pint of milk > Dinner: pint of milk porridge > Supper: 1/4lb bread, spread with fresh butter > 3oz cheese twice a week > Older children still: > 1/2 pint beer & 1/4 lb bread (beer not very strong) > > Comments from inmates and experts or people who had anything to do with it > in later years. > Food always bad, cockroaches, crickets, earwigs. Stirabout thin and watery > full of lumps. Maggots in bread,, meat often stinking. > Clothes: for girls very scanty. One petticoat, which was last years frock. > Neither frocks nor coats worn by boys were lined. No waistocats. > Children in the infirmary slept on straw, thrown on the bed. One thin > underblanket and another thin blanket for covering. When a child died, it's > boots and stockings and linen weren't buried with it but passed on to other > children. > > Overcrowding was dreadful. 4-8 to one bed. The windows in the room where > children assembled in the morning were broken. > Childrens feet covered with sores, and their hands were often so swollen > that they could not draw the thread sewing. They were afflicted with the > 'itch'. (Today the 'itch' would refer to scabies which does occur on the > hands) > > The children were savagely punished at times: one boy complained about > badness of bread and he got 20 lashes with cat of 9 tails. Children were > stripped to waist and lashed, a 7-8 yr old got 8-9 lashes for being slow to > go to bed. An older offender got 60 lashes and had an iron weight tied to > his leg. > > One part of house was known as 'Bedlam'..reserved for lunatics. Children > were sent there for complaining (considered refractory): this place even > dustier, darker and more generally uncomfortable. The children dreaded > confinement in this place. > > Two old women, both infirm, minded 60 sick children under 8 years of age in > the infirmary. The beds were filthy. > > The 'dead hole' was a step or two from the infirmary door. A carpenter once > told someone that he had seen three dead children in a bed. One witness > declared that he had seen 30-35 dead children come away for burial at one > time. > > > > ==== IRELAND Mailing List ==== > De nobis fabula narratur, their story is our story > http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~ireland > A must for the serious researcher of Irish ancestors > >> all denning-dever-cogan in mass-some malone-carroll-mcguire-doherty-mcneil-piscopo-mazzola-heslin-martini-feddis-fa rley-dennen-dinan-fredricks- ____________________________________ "we go to school to learn the words of fools" bob dylan