This Thesis Has Been Submitted in Fulfilment of the Requirements for a Postgraduate Degree (E.G
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This thesis has been submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for a postgraduate degree (e.g. PhD, MPhil, DClinPsychol) at the University of Edinburgh. Please note the following terms and conditions of use: This work is protected by copyright and other intellectual property rights, which are retained by the thesis author, unless otherwise stated. A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the author. The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author. When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given. Civil Society in the Stateless Capital: Charity and Authority in Dublin and Edinburgh c.1815-c.1845. Joseph Simon Curran. PhD in Economic and Social History. The University of Edinburgh. 2017. ii Declaration of Own Work: I declare that this thesis has been composed solely by myself and that it has not been submitted, in whole or in part, in any previous application for a degree. Except where states otherwise by reference or acknowledgement, the work presented is entirely my own. Signed: Joseph Curran. iii Contents: Declaration of Own Work. ii. List of Tables and Figures. iv. Abstract. vi. Lay Summary. vii. Acknowledgements. viii. Abbreviations. ix. Introduction. 1. Chapter One. Associational Worlds. 25. Chapter Two. Rules, Structures, and Historical Authority. 63. Chapter Three. Denominational Authority: Practices and Prejudices. 101. Chapter Four. Central State Authority, Patronage, and Shins of Beef. 131. Chapter Five. Local Government, Lords Provost, and Legitimacy. 175. Chapter Six. Status, Profession, and Personal Ambition. 211. Chapter Seven. Magnificence and Misery: Philanthropy, Identity, and City Image. 247. Conclusion. 279. Appendix. 289. Bibliography. 327. iv List of Tables and Figures: Tables in Main Body: Table 1: The population of Dublin and Edinburgh. 28. Table 2: Residence and occupation in Edinburgh. 31. Table 3: Dublin charities connected with monasteries and convents. 48. Table 4: Charities appearing in the Dublin Evening Mail or Freeman’s Journal in first fourteen days of 1824 that were not listed in the Treble Almanack for the same year 51. Table 5: Charities appearing in the Edinburgh Evening Courant or Scotsman in the first three months of 1824 that were not listed in the Edinburgh Almanack for the same year. 52. Table 6: Charitable trusts operating in Edinburgh in 1845. 69. Table 7: Charitable trusts operating in Dublin in 1845. 69. Table 8: Royal Infirmary managers for 1841 (and their representative status). 81. Table 9: Illustration of the range of grants made by Parliament to charities in Dublin (1842). 138. Table 10: School management structures for Irish national schools based in Dublin. 145. Table 11: The involvement of central state officeholders in the management of Edinburgh’s charities (1845). 156. Table 12: The Lord Lieutenant and philanthropy in Dublin 161. Table 13: Presentments made by the City of Dublin Grand Jury to charities (for half year ending November 1840). 186. Table 14: Amount granted by the Edinburgh Police Commissioners to charities (for the year 1840-1841). 187. Table 15: Charities in which the Lord Mayor of Dublin was a manager (1845) 188. Table 16: Charities in which the Lord Provost of Edinburgh was a manager (1845). 189. Table 17: Charities in Dublin that received loaves or other donations of food from the Lord Mayor of the city (January 1824) 194. Tables in Appendix: Table I: Dublin’s Charitable Institutions: ‘The Almanac Record’. 289. Table II: Edinburgh’s Charitable Institutions ‘The Almanac Record’. 296. Table III: Illustration of the variety of management structures operating in Dublin in the 1820s. 301. Table IV: Illustration of the variety of management structures operating in Edinburgh in the 1820s. 306. v Table V: Illustration of parochial and congregational activity in Edinburgh (1837) 309. Table VI: Active clerical philanthropists in Edinburgh (1845) 311. Table VII: Active clerical philanthropists in Dublin (1845) 314. Table VIII: The management and funding of congregational and parochial charities in Dublin and Edinburgh 317. Table IX: Local government involvement in Edinburgh’s charities 321. Table X: Governors of the King’s Hospital, Dublin 1840 and 1842 compared. 324. Figures: Figure 1: Map of Dublin city. 33. Figure 2: Map of the Dublin Liberties. 33. Figure 3: Maps of southeast and northeast of Dublin city. 34. Figure 4: Map of Edinburgh city. 34. Figure 5: Map of Edinburgh Old Town. 35. Figure 6: Map of Edinburgh New Town. 35. Figure 7: George Heriot’s Hospital 205. Figure 8: Heriot’s Foundation School 205. Figure 9: The Rotunda Lying-In Hospital Dublin (exterior). 263. Figure 10: The Rotunda Lying-In Hospital Dublin (interior). 264 Figure 11: St Vincent’s Hospital Dublin. 266. Figure 12: The Mater Misericordiæ Hospital Dublin. 266. vi Abstract: This thesis examines middle-class social relations in nineteenth-century Dublin and Edinburgh, giving particular attention to how the cities’ inhabitants dealt with sectarian conflicts. These cities occupied an unusual position within the UK as they were both stateless capitals, towns that no longer possessed a national parliament, but still performed many of the administrative functions of a capital city. Being a stateless capital affected Dublin and Edinburgh in contrasting ways and this distinction shaped the wider character of each city and middle-class social relations within them. The thesis adopts philanthropy as a vantage point from which to explore these issues as charitable institutions occupied a unique place in nineteenth-century towns, being a junction between voluntary association and official government activity. Presbyterian Edinburgh and predominately Catholic and Anglican Dublin were both home to vibrant philanthropic associational cultures based on similar middle-class values. Contrary to older analyses, Presbyterianism did not promote a greater interest in participating in voluntary activity any more than Catholicism discouraged it. There were, however, differences between the cities. Edinburgh was a more ostensibly successful city by contemporary middle-class standards. Its organisations helped it to overcome social divisions to a greater extent than their counterparts in Dublin. The contrasting nature of state-charity relations in each city partly explains this difference. Overt central state intervention in Edinburgh’s philanthropic institutions was rare, hence Edinburgh was seen as a society trying to manage its own problems. Dublin by contrast, appeared to be a dependent city as its charities received substantial parliamentary aid. Hence, Edinburgh could present itself as a self-confident capital city whereas Dublin, although a more overt centre of power, sometimes appeared to be simply an intermediary through which London influenced the rest of Ireland. Although both cities were part of the UK mainstream associational culture, charitable activity also emphasised their Irish or Scottish characteristics. These national attributes were not perceived as equally attractive. Philanthropy associated Edinburgh with Enlightenment and education, by contrast it connected Dublin with poverty and dependency. vii Lay Summary: This thesis examines middle-class social relations in Dublin and Edinburgh between 1815 and 1845. These cities occupied a unique position within the United Kingdom. They were both stateless capitals as they no longer possessed a national parliament but performed many of the functions of a capital city. Being a stateless capital strongly shaped both cities but it did so in contrasting ways in each. This thesis uses philanthropy as a vantage point from which to explore the effects of capital status on middle-class interactions in each city. Philanthropy occupied a key junction between voluntary activity and official authority and can therefore reveal much about the identities of middle-class inhabitants and their relationship with the power structures that shaped the cities. The thesis highlights many similarities between the cities and demonstrates that philanthropic activity sometimes helped to reduce sectarian tensions in each. Yet in Dublin charitable activity often exacerbated existing religious and other social conflicts and that city was less able to manage diversity among its middle-class inhabitants than was Edinburgh where charities often highlighted the values that philanthropists shared in spite of their other differences. The thesis also reveals that philanthropy shaped the image of Dublin and Edinburgh. The methods and language used by charities in both Dublin and Edinburgh were very much within the UK mainstream, and made both cities familiar to inhabitants of other parts of the UK. Yet charity also enhanced the national characteristics of each city, making them seem more ‘Irish’ or more ‘Scottish’. Charity added to Edinburgh’s image as a centre of educational excellence. By contrast philanthropy associated Dublin with poverty and dependency, the kind of negative characteristics that British commentators often connected with Ireland. viii Acknowledgements. It is impossible to name everyone who helped me during the production of this thesis and I apologise for the many omissions. I would like to thank the staff at all