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The Earl Grey Scheme and the Emigration of Girls from the Workhouses of Laois
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…
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Crime and Punishment in Queen’s County: Agrarian Crime of the 1830s and Famine Crime 1845 – 1849
Crime and Punishment in Queen’s County: Agrarian Crime of the 1830s and Famine Crime 1845–1849 During the famine, there was widespread fear that the suffering of famine victims would erupt into the violent crime that would threaten property and property owners. There was the widespread talk of insurrection and outrage among resident landlords, merchants and well-off farmers (Nationwide, in 1847, 131 requests for protection of individuals; 275 requests for increases in police and 157 miscellaneous calls for extra police assistance.) One sign of an increase in crime is the progressive increase in the size of the force during these years, from 9,100 in 1845 to 12,500 in 1850 and 1,265…