Simon Gallaher

University of Cambridge

Childhood and the public institutional care of children in Ireland, 1850-1914

My bursary award supported a six-month research trip to various national and local archives in Ireland which provided me with a substantial body of local poor law union records.  These sources provide both the basis of a statistical analysis on child welfare under the Irish Poor Law and an insight into perceptions of pauper children by Irish society.  This research led to a refinement of my thesis around the question of competing models of pauper childhood examined through themes of education, industrial training, health, and institutionalization.