Edward Hearne: Ballinrobe Workhouse

I have been reading your website and one and two others in order to find out more about the former workhouse in Ballinrobe.

My great, great, great grandfather, Edward Hearne, was Clerk of the Board of Guardians during the Famine years.  He died from fever in March 1847 just two months after writing to the Poor Law Commissioners in Dublin highlighting the conditions in the workhouse and seeking their help in feeding the starving inmates.

Help was not forthcoming and many lives were lost through the fever that affected inmates and staff alike.

He left a young widow and three very young children.  They moved to Ballina to be closer to her family.  I would be interested to know where he was buried and whether his grave reveals any more information about him.

His brother John Hearne was Petty Sessions Clerk in the town and survived an attempt on his life in 1881.