In the 19th Century in Ireland did workhouses also double up as hospitals?

[sandyRoe]

My Great Grandfather was born in a workhouse. Could his parents have been destitute, and residents there, or did it also serve as a maternity unit?

[ummmm]

Never heard of it being a hospital as well. From what I have read most babies were born at home.

[naomi24]

I've never heard of a workhouse doubling as a maternity unit. As Ummmm says, in those days, babies were generally born at home. I think if you were born in the workhouse, it was because your mother was poor and that's where she lived.

[sandyRoe]

Ummmm, that's what I was thinking too. It seems to have been a much tougher world then.

[carolegif]

Is there a father's name on the Birth Certificate? What year was it? Some workhouses had 'low rent' rooms for people who could work but not earn very much. I think either Southwark or Southall workhouse had them as a friend's great grandfather lived there at the turn of the century and he worked as a crossing sweeper - not the best job in the world!

[sandyRoe]

The father is named on the birth certificate. The birth was in 1882.

[pusskin]

very sad! i just dont know how these poor people coped, makes me want to cry x

[dothawkes31]

Most workhouses had an infirmary which was not only used by inmates but also the poor of the borough as the workhouse was all part of the same administration. The poor could not afford the fees of local MDs but an infirmary attached to a workhouse was able to offer varied levels of nursing care which would include midwifery.