Monday 30 January 2012

A sad resource: Dublin's Deserted Children 1850-1854

FindMyPast Ireland has released a set of records which may prove useful to those with orphans or adopted children in their family tree.

The Deserted Children Dublin 1850-1854 release is taken from a return made to the House of Commons in July 1854 and is a report on the all of the deserted children taken into the care of the Dublin Metropolitan Police Force in the years ending 30th June 1850 to 1854.

It delivers a unique if harrowing picture of social conditions in Dublin over a five-year period. Typical entries provide the following information:

  • Name: where known
  • Age: in general most of these were mere days or months old
  • Sex - Place or location where found: a street number is given in the majority of cases
  • Place or location where found: a street number is given in the majority of cases
  • Date overseers took charge of child
  • Sum agreed to be paid for nursing of the child
  • Name given if baptised in care of police
  • Religious denomination of Minister who baptised the children who remained in police care
  • Remarks: this is the most informative, and often the most distressing section of the report. These remarks tend to detail the fate of the child, in most cases they were either taken into the care of the parish or received into the Union Workhouse system. A minority of the children were repatriated with their mothers, who would have then been arrested.


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