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 […]

Portlaoise: Forty Historical Facts

Portlaoise: Forty Historical Facts. By John Dunne 1. The town grew up around a fort established by English settlers in 1548. In 1557 it was named Maryborough in honour of Queen Mary. 2. In October 1920, the Town Commission passed a resolution that Maryborough be renamed Portlaoise. In recent years, a local historian attributed the […]

Laois Heritage Society 2019