The Dublin workhouses in the late 19th and early 20th centuries

As part of the Trinity Talks: Dublin’s Hidden Histories series, a new collaboration between the Trinity Long Room Hub and Near FM.

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The horror of being left with no choice but the poorhouse lingered long in the Irish psyche and in this episode we hear about the reality of death and dying in the poorhouse. To discuss this, we welcome Shelby Zimmerman, a Social Historian of Medicine, Institutions and Death.

The conversation, led by Near FM’s Ciarán Murray, will explore how by the end of the nineteenth century, the workhouse functioned as Dublin's largest and most accessible medical institution. We will examine death and dying in the South Dublin Union from 1872 to 1920 with an emphasis on the role the workhouse played in Dublin's medical landscape for the sick and dying poor. Ciarán will ask Shelby about the profile of the deceased and how the workhouse managed and mismanaged the dead. The discussion will also focus on the burial of those who died in the workhouse.

Dr Shelby Zimmerman completed her PhD with Trinity’s School of Histories and Humanities in 2024, where her research looked at the medicalisation of death in the Dublin City workhouses in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. As a social historian of medicine, institutes and death, Dr Zimmerman also was the programme coordinator for the Medical and Health Humanities Initiative at TCD.
This talk will be subsequently broadcast on Near FM. You can listen to Near FM online www.nearfm.ie/livestream or on 90.3FM.
Performances by An Góilín Traditional Singing Club.

These events and subsequent radio series are supported by Coimisiún na Meán with the Television licence fee.

Please let us know if you have any access requirements, such as ISL/English interpreting, so that we can facilitate you in attending this event. Contact: tlrh@tcd.ie