Resumen de Registration of the Religion of Children under the Irish Poor Law, 1838–1870
There were obvious tensions inherent in the fact that in nineteenth-century Ireland, while the majority of the population was Catholic, the state religion was Protestant. This had numerous effects on Irish political and social history, including the administration of the poor law. This article looks at one of the religious issues involved in the operation of the poor law: the registration of children (of unknown religion) on admission to the workhouse. The Irish attorney-general had ruled that they should be registered as Protestant. However, local boards of guardians often objected strongly to this. This article outlines and analyses the struggles which took place between the different interests involved.
