For those doing family history research in the Miltown Malbay / Kifarboy area of Clare, possibly the Irish Loan Fund (Reproductive Loan Fund) records held in the UK National Archives in Kew might be helpful.
See generally http://www.movinghere.org.uk/galleries/ ... eloans.htm#
According to the 22nd Annual Report of the Commissioners of the Loan Fund Board of Ireland for 1859 (published in Dublin for Her Majesty's Stationery Office in 1860), there was one loan fund extant in County Clare in 1859, in Miltown Malbay and under the local auspices of Francis Moroney, Esq., Justice of the Peace, who acted as treasurer.
This local loan fund had 1,115 loans issued in 1859, amounting to some £3,974. The average amount of each loan was £3 11 shillings.
The records at Kew should record the name and the townland of the borrower along with the names and townlands of the two statutory loan guarantors required under the statute ('An Act to consolidate and amend the Laws for the Regulation of Charitable Loan Societies in Ireland,' 6 & 7 Vict., c. 91,1843).
This could be an untapped source for some family historians. The scheme was aimed at the poorer sections of Irish society.
Miltown Malbay / Kilfarboy, 1859
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