Poor Law Unions (PLUs) were created in 1838. They were put in place to administer poor relief and put a workhouse in place. A Board of Guardians oversaw each Union. Some members to the BOG were appointed, some were elected.
The PLU became roughly coterminous with the Registration District, and for our purposes of genealogy research, are considered equivalent.
1901 Ardagh DED (Youghal) locations are misfiled under Skull in 1911.
Some townlands migrated from Rosscarbery DED (1901) to Derry DED (1911).
Several townlands in the DED of Carrigrohane Beg in the PLU of Cork are under the DED of Clonakilty in 1901. These townlands are: Ardrum, Ballyanly, Bridgestown, Carrigrohane Beg, Carrigyknaveen, Coolatanavally, Coolatubrid, Coolyduff, Currabeha, Curraleigh, Dromasmole, Faha, Garravagh, Gurteen, Knocknamarriff, Kackenshoneen, Moneyflugh, Woodside.
Townlands in Ardskeagh are recorded in Killmallock in the censuses but in Mallow in other references.
The Ireland Poor Law Act of 1838 created the Poor Law Unions (PLUs), which were created to administer relief to the poor. The PLUs were groups of District of Electoral Divisions (DEDs), which defined electoral areas for local elections. Those who could vote would elect a PLU Guardian for their DED. All the elected guardians in a PLU comprised the Board of Guardians for that Union.
DEDs show up in our genealogical research as the organizational unit of the 20th century censuses (1901 and 1911). In addition, land revision books after Griffith's Valuation are organized by DED, whereas before and up to Griffith's they were organized by barony /civil parish.
In each PLU was a workhouse (sometimes called a poorhouse) that provided shelter for the poor as a last resort. The workhouses were overrun during the famine. Overcrowding further exacerbated the famine tragedy. Workhouses were run by a Board of Guardians local to the PLU. In later years those workhouses often served as local hospitals.
One famous Poor Law Guardian was Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa. He was dismissed from his position after distributing more than the regulation amount of relief to the local poor during the famine.
Some electoral divisions may have merged with others over succeeding years or otherwise changed. In particular, the market towns of unions may have split an electoral division into a rural division and an urban division. These and other shifts over time will be noted on future revisions of this page. Also, note spelling differences. Some electoral divisions are grossly misspelled in the online censuses.
Some Poor Law Union and workhouse records have survived. Newspapers may have printed proceedings of the PLU guardians. During the Anglo-Irish war, some workhouse records were destroyed.
Usually, a Registration District coincided with a PLU of the same name, and roughly covered the same land area. They had a different function. See: Registration Districts.