Between 1860 and 1891, over twelve thousand children between the ages of seven and sixteen spent time in Dublin’s prisons. Pastimes such as playing pitch and toss, throwing snowballs, bathing, and playing football were recast as public nuisances and crimes by the 1842 Dublin Police Act. As Dublin had no dedicated juvenile prison, children were housed among the adult population with few concessions to their age.

Examining the ‘human eco-system’ inhabited by both the children and those with an interest in policing their behaviour - family, neighbours, legislators, judiciary, penal personnel, commentators and reformers - Aoife O'Connor asks whether the Police Act, by criminalising behaviours which could be thought of as mere high jinks, created the criminal class so feared by mid-century commentators?

Aoife O Connor is known for her National Library of Ireland exhibition and book Small Lives: Photographs of Irish Childhood 1850-1970. Her Masters thesis was entitled ‘The Children of Dublin’s Prisons 1859-1891, Containment and Confinement in the City’. Aoife is Head of Data Development at Findmypast and The British Newspaper Archive.

The Expert workshops are curated by Fiona Fitzsimons, of the Irish Family History Centre (Eneclann). The talk is free but spaces are limited and should be booked on Eventbrite.