On a number of occasions during the late nineteenth century, as numbers in the workhouse dropped but the cost of running the building increased, it was mooted that Dungannon workhouse would be a suitable place for the military to be stationed.
The Tyrone Artillery were stationed in Dungannon Workhouse in 1871 and occupied a portico of the building. The military drilled on a daily basis in a field nearby, while the workhouse also functioned as a recruitment depot for soldiers throughout this period. In 1873 a one-week training and recruitment camp again took place at the workhouse. A newspaper report in 1877 noted that the:
The officers, staff, and recruits [of the Mid Ulster Artillery] returned to their temporary quarters at Dungannon workhouse, on Saturday last, from Lough Neagh, where they had been since the previous Monday for gun practice. They had very line weather all week’.
There is evidence that in the 1880s a regiment of troops were stationed there, bringing much needed revenue for the guardians. In 1891 the master of the workhouse, Thomas Tackaberry noted in his journal that the ‘militia’ had lately occupied a portion of the Female Ward in the workhouse.
