The Earl Grey Scheme and the Emigration of Girls from the Workhouses of Laois During the Great Famine, dozens of teenage girls left the workhouses of Laois bound for Australia. Their emigration was part of a British government scheme to provide the British colony with wives and domestic servants, and to rid the workhouses of ‘dead weight’. Their story is part of our local history, the story of ordinary Laois girls – neighbors, family and friends of our own ancestors five generations ago. Two years ago, 3rd year students at Portlaoise College discovered the names of 14 girl emigrants on the Laois Genealogy website. The students’ discovered that these names…