In 1862 a Poor Law Inquiry was held at Castlebar into two serious allegations against Dr John Carter Barrett, Medical Officer at Castlebar Workhouse. Workhouse inmate Mary Howard alleged that Barrett had unlawful sexual intercourse with her.
It was also alleged that Barrett turned up to work intoxicated. Castlebar Board of Guardians did their utmost to frustrate and downplay the Dublin-led inquiry and protect Barrett. The allegation of sexual impropriety was dismissed, but the allegation of drunkness was upheld, and Barrett lost his position.
That, however, was not the end of the matter. Barrett was also the Registrar of the Castlebar Dispensary District and was responsible for registering births and deaths. In 1864, the Poor Law Commissioners commenced an inquiry into the correctness of entries made in the register by Barrett during the quarter ended 31 March 1864. Barrett had recorded 316 births and 288 deaths in the district.
This was significantly above the expected average of 145 births and 101 deaths. The address of the informants of the births and deaths as recorded by Barrett were so vague that it was impossible to determine where births and deaths occurred.
The law required the informant to sign or place his mark on the register in the presence of the registrar. Barrett explained that he did not always have his books with him when he met informants. He used his notes to complete the record when he returned home. In these cases, he used a mark to signify the informant's signature. Of the 316 births registered, 248 informants were entered as marksmen. Of the 288 deaths, 203 were entered as marksmen.
Castlebar town was one of the samples checked by Dr King, who led the investigation. In the period, there were forty-nine deaths. Of these, eleven occurred in public institutions and were verified. Of the remaining thirty-eight deaths, only nine could be confirmed as having taken place. Patrick Cogan, Relieving Officer and Deputy Register, swore that he could not verify twenty-nine of the deaths. He had followed up with people in places where a death address was shown in the register.
The problem was not confined to Castlebar. Henry Roche, Relieving Officer for the Pontoon and Turlough Electoral Division, could only verify four of the thirty deaths registered by Barrett. There was no knowledge of the other twenty-six names in the community. It was concluded that the entries were fictitious. In the case of seven Castlebar births, Barrett recorded the father's occupation as 'mason' or 'stonecutter'. Upon inquiry, no one in Castlebar knew of masons or stonecutters with the names in question. Barrett explained that the men came to Castlebar to work on the new asylum. When an inquiry was made of Mr Boyd, foreman of the asylum works, he stated that he had never heard of the men. Several children were noted to have been born in New Antrim Street, Derreen, Sarnaght and Barradrum, but again, no one in the localities knew of them.
Of sixty Catholic births registered in the Pontoon district, only thirteen appeared in baptism registers - leading the inquiry to conclude that the remaining forty-seven entries were problematic. When checks were made at the registered addresses, no one had ever heard of the names. In Castlebar, thirty-nine births did not appear in the baptism registers of any religion.
The inquiry concluded that in the absence of other evidence, many entries made by Barrett in the register were fictitious. Barrett likely registered several hundred fictitious births and deaths during the first three months of 1864 and possibly continued the fraud up to mid-June 1864. Genealogists today should exercise caution when researching this period. The absence of a baptism record should be a red flag for anyone researching births.
On 16 June 1864, B. Banks, Chief Clerk to the Commissioners, noted that an order for the removal of Barrett as registrar would be issued. Castlebar Board of Guardians were instructed not to pay Barrett for entries that could not be substantiated.
On 11 March 1865, Barrett was convicted of fraud at Castlebar Courthouse and imprisoned. The Medical Council resolved to have his name erased from the Medical Register.
