§ MR. A. O'CONNOR (Donegal, E.)I beg to ask the President of the Local Government Board whether he is aware that last year a man of the name of Nicoll, whose wife (a Catholic) was dead, entered the Sheffield Workhouse with his children, a girl aged seven, and six boys aged six, nine, 10, 12, 14, and 16, respectively, and, on admission, declared himself and the children to be Catholics, and had entries made in the Register to that effect; whether he is aware that the man is now dead, and that, although all the children were for months treated as Catholics and sent to Catholic schools, the Creed Register has recently been altered, and the three younger boys treated as, and forced to be in outward form, Protestants, two of them being sent to a Protestant school; whether he is aware that the three eldest boys have refused to give up their religion, and are still registered as Catholics; and what is the object of this severance of the religious bond of the family?
§ MR. H. H. FOWLERThe facts of the case referred to were the subject of 1468 an Inquiry on oath by one of the Inspectors of the Local Government Board. Nicholl was married at a Protestant Nonconformist place of worship, and one of the children was baptised by a, minister of the Free Church of Scotland. Nicholl was at one time on the Communion Roll of a Free Church at Leith. It also appeared that some of the children at different times attended Nonconformist and Board Schools, and two of them attended a Catholic School. After the mother's death these two children were removed to Board Schools by their father. It seems to be clear from the evidence that the father was a Protestant and the mother a Roman Catholic. In 1892 the father with the younger children was admitted to the workhouse, and then stated that he was a Roman Catholic. It was alleged that this was done with a. view to himself and his children being able to leave the workhouse more frequently, and thus have the opportunity of seeing a daughter who resided in Sheffield. The man died immediately after his admission. The statement as to the three eldest boys is not in accordance with the evidence at the Inquiry. One of them stated that he attended the parish church, and that he head never been to a Roman Catholic place of worship. As the Inspector who made the local Inquiry reported that the father was a Protestant, I am advised that the children should be entered not as Roman Catholics but as Protestants. I think the case is one of great difficulty, and if any fresh evidence can be produced I shall be quite prepared to consider it.
§ MR. A. O'CONNORIs it disputed that the man registered himself as a Catholic?
§ MR. H. H. FOWLERNo, Sir.
§ MR. A. O'CONNORThen by what authority was the entry altered?
§ MR. H. H. FOWLERI am advised that the Inspector, having made inquiry, and come to the conclusion he was a Protestant, it was my duty to have the register altered so that the young children should be brought up as Protestants.
§ MR. A. O'CONNORWas the question of the man's Catholicity raised before he died?
§ MR. H. H. FOWLERNo, Sir.