Tullamore native to give lecture on history of Tullamore workhouse

A Tullamore native will present a lecture on the history of Tullamore Workhouse next week.

Martin Hoctor will deliver the lecture, entitled, ‘The Tullamore workhouse and socio-economic change in the post-Famine years’ at the Offaly Historical and Archaeological Society, on Monday, March 11, at 8pm.

This lecture will discuss how the establishment of the Workhouse in 1841 allowed Tullamore to house those families unable to maintain their dwellings through evictions and the lack of employment as the famine years caused by successive potato crop failures began to decimate the Irish population from 1845 to 1847.

Its existence was responsible for saving hundreds of lives thus ensuring a workforce for the thriving industries into the 1850s as Tullamore began the process of recovering from the disruption caused by the famine and attempting to rebuild itself as an important provincial town in the centre of Ireland. The lecture will look at the demise of the families previously influential in the town and those who replaced them with different ambitions including how the town’s infrastructure was a major priority to advance the town and the role of the Town Commissioners in using legislation to begin this process.

The speaker, Martin Joseph Hoctor, is a former student of Maynooth University, who achieved an MA in Irish History in 2023 following on from his BA History (Major) & Ancient Classics (Minor) in 2022. A native of Tullamore, Martin holds considerable experience in business from his work across the spectrum that encompassed accounting and administration. His decision to finally pursue his love of history was fuelled by his daughter, Saoirse, pursuing her interest in science in NUI Galway, and encouraged by his late father, Andy, with whom he had many lengthy discussions on Irish History, that were informative and at times heated. Martin’s return to education was facilitated by his long association with the Offaly Historical & Archaeological Society.