Harriet Wheelock / Friday 8 April 2011

The College in the Census

As this weekend is census weekend in Ireland, I thought this would be a good time to look at what the census has to say about the Royal College of Physicians in Ireland in the past. The digitisation of the 1901 and 1911 census by the National Archives of Ireland, and their free access on line, has made this kind of research much easier. Browsing the 1901 census by place, it was simple to find Number 6 Kildare Street in the Trinity Ward of Dublin.

1901 Census - Household Return form for Number 6 Kildare Street

RCPI/2/5/3 - Bond of John Ludlow

The household return shows that in 1901, 37 year old John Ludlow was living at Number 6, with his wife Annie and three young sons; Charles, Ernest and David. Ludlow was the College's Beadle, having been appointed to that post in 1899. Under the terms of his appointment bond Ludlow was to 'take due care and preservation of the property of the said College committed to his care and well and faithfully perform & discharge the duties which may devolve upon him'. As security for the performance of these tasks Ludlow had to pay a bond of £50 on his appointment, the equivalent of about £5,000 in today money. As part of his role as Beadle Ludlow, and his family, were accommodated in the flat in the basement of number six Kildare Street, now converted into offices.

RCPI/9/11/1 - Part of the plans for the Basement of Number 6

As the original designs for the building show, the front basement area of the building was a two bedroom flat with a kitchen, sitting room and larder. The flat seems to have been much the same in 1901, Ludlow records on the census that his family occupied 5 rooms.

1901 Census - Form B Buidling Return Form for Kildare Street

The census form also gives details of the size of the building as a whole. The number of rooms is given as category 5, meaning there were between 10 and 12, and together with the 9 windows to the front this meant the building was classified as the first class of house. The census also shows that the college had five outside stores.

Moving on 10 years to the 1911 census John Ludlow is still the College's Beadle. He, Annie and the same three boys, all at school, are still living in the flat and the only addition to the household is John's mother Margaret Ludlow.

NLI STP_1253 RCPI, Kildare Street, c.1860-1890