BEGGING and ALMS-GIVING in URBAN IRELAND, 1815-1850 By
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BEGGING AND ALMS-GIVING IN URBAN IRELAND, 1815-1850 by CIARÁN MCCABE Thesis for the degree of PhD in History Department of History, National University of Ireland Maynooth HEAD OF DEPARTMENT: Professor Marian Lyons Supervisor of Research: Dr Jacinta Prunty October 2014 Table of contents Acknowledgements ii Abbreviations and note on editorial conventions iv List of contemporary illustrations, maps, v tables and figures Introduction 1 Section One Chapter One Defining begging and alms-giving 25 Chapter Two Measuring begging and alms-giving 62 Chapter Three Perceptions of begging and alms-giving 88 Section Two Chapter Four The mendicity society movement and the suppression of street begging 130 Chapter Five Roman Catholic approaches to begging and alms-giving 183 Chapter Six Church of Ireland approaches to begging and alms-giving 224 Chapter Seven Presbyterian approaches to begging and alms-giving 262 Chapter Eight Methodist approaches to begging and alms- giving 292 Chapter Nine Quaker approaches to begging and alms- giving 320 Chapter Ten Street begging and alms-giving during the Great Famine 340 Conclusion 384 Appendix 394 Bibliography 401 i Acknowledgements I would like to firstly thank my doctoral supervisor, Dr Jacinta Prunty, for her kindness, support and guidance during the past three years. Our regular meetings have always been enjoyable and instructive, and it has been a pleasure to work under such a passionate teacher. Professor Marian Lyons has provided great support and encouragement for this research, as have Professor Jacqueline Hill and Professor Terence Dooley, and this is greatly appreciated. My colleagues among the department’s postgraduates have been a constant source of assistance, advice and inspiration, and the weekly research seminars proved useful in fostering not only a shared knowledge of fascinating topics within history but also a sense of camaraderie. At various points, Dr Georgina Laragy, Dr Caroline Gallagher and Dr Ciarán Reilly, among many others, have encouraged and supported my research. As a researcher I am indebted to many archivists and librarians, and I am happy to acknowledge their assistance. Many fruitful days were spent in the Representative Church Body Library and I would like to thank Dr Raymond Refaussé, Dr Susan Hood, Jennifer Murphy and Mary Furlong for their assistance. Dr Brian Donnelly and his colleagues at the National Archives of Ireland have been helpful, as have the staff at the National Library of Ireland. I would like to thank Dr Bernadette Cunningham, Siobhán Fitzpatrick and their colleagues in the Royal Irish Academy Library, as well as Penny Woods and colleagues in the Russell Library, Maynooth; Rev. Robin Roddie in the Methodist Library and Archives in Belfast; Valerie Adams in the library of the Presbyterian Historical Society of Ireland; Noelle Dowling in the Dublin Diocesan Archives; Sister Marie Therese in the Presentation Convent, George’s Hill Archive in ii Dublin; Sister Marie in the Religious Sisters of Charity archive in Caritas, Sandymount; Christopher Moriarty and colleagues in the Friends Historical Library, Dublin; the staff at the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland; and the staff of the Linen Hall Library, Belfast. Much of this thesis has been written in the John Paul II Library, NUI Maynooth, whose staff members have always been courteous and helpful. A research desk was provided to me for two years by An Foras Feasa, for which I am greatly appreciative. I am also indebted to the Irish Research Council, who provided funding for much of the duration of this thesis. The financial security of the IRC Postgraduate Scholarship made an immeasurable difference during this doctorate and allowed me to focus solely on my research. For their unending interest in my work and for allowing me to use their ‘bolthole’ when I needed to escape, I am grateful to my parents-in-law, Tommy and Chris Jones. As always, my family has been the source of much encouragement and support, especially my parents, Noel and Marian, who have showed a loving concern for my well-being throughout this thesis. Their support for me in this endeavour has been constant and is deeply appreciated. I wish to finally thank my wife Anne Maree, who has had to share the past three years (including the first year of our marriage) with long-dead ‘idle vagrants and sturdy beggars’. This thesis would not have been brought as far as the ‘finish line’ without her backing, practical assistance and love, particularly in the final months. Anne Maree’s love, friendship and unshakable faith in my work are truly inspiring. iii List of abbreviations BNL Belfast Newsletter CSOOP Chief Secretary’s Office Official Papers CSORP Chief Secretary’s Office Registered Papers DIB James McGuire and James Quinn (eds), Dictionary of Irish biography: from the earliest times to the year 2002 (9 vols, Cambridge, 2009) DDA Dublin Diocesan Archives DMP Daniel Murray Papers DMSP Dublin Mendicity Society Papers FHLD Friends Historical Library Dublin FJ The Freeman’s Journal IHS Irish Historical Studies JHP John Hamilton Papers NAI National Archives of Ireland NLI National Library of Ireland ODNB H.C.G. Matthew and Brian Harrison (eds), Oxford dictionary of national biography, from the earliest times to the year 2000 (60 vols, Oxford, 2004) OS Memoirs Angélique Day, and Patrick McWilliams (eds), Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland (40 vols, Belfast, 1990-98) Poor Inquiry. First First report from His Majesty’s commissioners for Appendix A report, 1835, inquiring into the condition of the poorer classes in Ireland, with Appendix A appendix (A.) and supplement, Appendix A, H.C. 1835 (369), xxxii, 1 Poor Inquiry. First Poor Inquiry (Ireland). Appendix (C.)—Parts I and II. 1836, report, 1836, Appendix C, Part I. Reports on the state of the poor, and on the Appendix C charitable institutions in some of the principal towns; with supplement containing answers to queries. Part II. Report on the city of Dublin, and supplement containing answers to queries; with addenda to appendix (A.)., and communications, H.C. 1836 [C 35], xxx, 35 PRONI Public Record Office of Northern Ireland RCBL Representative Church Body Library RIA Royal Irish Academy Note on editorial conventions The italicisation of words in primary sources has been retained in quotations. Where emphasis results from editorial intervention, this is acknowledged. Interventions in editorial matter are illustrated by the use of square brackets [ ]. The spelling in primary sources has not been modernised. Certain contractions, such as w ch , have been silently expanded. iv Listing of contemporary illustrations, maps, tables and figures Contemporary Page illustrations Image 3.1 James Malton, ‘View from Capel Street, looking over Essex Bridge, Dublin’ (1797). 97 Image 3.2 Daniel Maclise ‘An outside jaunting car in a storm’, John Barrow, A Tour round Ireland, through the sea- coast counties, in the autumn of 1835 (London, 1836). 97 Image 5.1 Contrasting Catholic and Protestant approaches to poverty, as portrayed in a Catholic-ethos publication (n.d. [ c. early-nineteenth century]) 196 Maps Map 4.1 Mendicity societies in existence in Ireland, 1809-1840 140 Map 8.1 Strangers’ Friend Societies in Ireland and Britain, 1785- 1845 311 Tables Table 2.1 The numbers admitted into the House of Industry, Dublin during 1800. 82 Table 3.1 Reports from medical practitioners across Ireland, in which the spread of disease was attributed to beggars, 1817. 110 Table 4.1 Irish cities and towns where mendicity societies were founded, 1809-40. 142 Table 4.2 Subscriptions and parliamentary grants received for the House of Industry, Dublin, during the first twenty years after its establishment (1773-92). 167 Table 4.3 Categories of inmates in the Dublin Mendicity Society on 25 April 1840. 171 Table 4.4 Categories of inmates in the Dublin Mendicity Society on a unspecified date in June 1840. 171 Table. 4.5 Subscriptions and other casual income received by the Dublin Mendicity Society, 1830-48. 172 Figures Figure 1.1 Previous occupations of inmates of the Dublin Mendicity Society, year ending 1 January 1827 36 Figure 4.1 Subscriptions to the Dublin Mendicity Society, 1830-48 172 v Introduction Begging was a ubiquitous feature of life in pre-Famine Irish society. Towns and cities were frequently described as being ‘infested’ with ‘swarms’ of mendicants and the use of such language affirmed the widespread association of mendicancy with disease. Indeed, beggary was seen as a threat to society on a number of fronts. Yet, the questions of mendicancy and alms-giving were also framed by a universal sense of Christian obligation amongst all classes of society to assist those poorer than themselves. The example and teaching of Christ, as expounded in the New Testament, was intrinsic to the language of charity in this period and deeply influenced how individuals and corporate bodies perceived and responded to street begging. Nonetheless, indiscriminate charity was widely believed, especially by members of the ‘respectable’ middle classes who drove the philanthropic impulse of this period, to constitute a considerable evil, undermining industry, thrift and self-help, and encouraging idleness and pauperism. The long-held distinction between the ‘deserving’ and ‘undeserving’ poor coloured all approaches to beggary. Begging and alms-giving were central features of the public discourse on the question of the poor of Ireland and their relief. This discourse was shaped by wider social and economic factors, and in line with these fluctuating forces, societal perceptions and responses varied. The emergence of mendicity societies – charities with the specific purpose of supressing street begging – across Irish and British towns and cities in the first half of the nineteenth century arose from middle-class concerns over the extent of mendicancy and the deleterious effects of urbanisation, while also reflecting the emerging associational culture of middle-class life.