imerick in the seventeenth century was a city which, like many other places in , suffered at the hands of invading armies. Oliver Cromwell landed in in 1649. captured Drogheda, Wexford and Clonmel and having gained control of these important garrison towns, he returned to England leaving behind an army under the command of his son-in-law, Henry Ireton. Ireton and his troops attacked and the long drawn out Siege of Limerick proved to be a very bloody affair. In addition to the military causalities, over 5,000 people died of a plague which swept the city. At the end of the seventeenth century Limerick was again besieged in 1690 and 1691 during the Williamite wars. However, the interlude between the Manchester & Scotch Warehouse, 34 William Street, c.1850. Cromwellian siege of 1651 and the (Limerick Museum). Williamite sieges of 1690-1was marked by Cromwellian authorities, who feared that the arrival of more benign visitors. In 1655 their promotion of egalitarian principles the first Quaker preachers arrived in the would cause unrest amongst the troops. city, where a Cromwellian soldier, Henry Their arrival in Limerick in 1655 resulted Ingoldsby, had been installed as governor began to flock to hear Fox and his fellow in the issuing of an order that they be and mayor. preachers and by the mid-1650s they had a expelled immediately. Quakers originated in the north-east of following of at least 40,000 in England.' The perception of Quakers as being in England in a period of great upheaval at Working mostly in the north-east of collusion with Catholics led to an official the end of the English Civil War. The England at first, Fox preached that the proclamation warning anyone who intervention of Oliver Cromwell as leader route to salvation was within each entertained Quakers or Irish Papists of the army was welcomed at first in individual, needing no clergy to mediate overnight would also be banished from the England by a people weary from the and no liturgy and he objected to tithes for city. The anxiety of the Cromwellian struggle between supporters of the King the upkeep of priests and buildings. Early authorities was exacerbated by the writing and supporters of parliament. Cromwell followers called themselves Children of of Claudius Gilbert, who claimed that the recruited volunteers for his army and did Light but after a confrontation with an Quakers had convinced large numbers of not rely on men conscripted from gaols, as official, whom Fox ordered to 'tremble at soldiers and 'infected divers of our citizens had been the case in the past. Strongly the name of God', the sect was re-named. and gathered many disciples in the influenced by puritan beliefs, the army The word Quaker, hurled at him as an garris~n'.~Physical punishment, imprison- provided a forum for discussion and epithet of scorn, was to become the name ment and orders not to do business with debate. Following the execution of King by which the movement was commonly them were part of the pattern of treatment Charles I in 1649, there were large known for several hundred years. The of Quakers everywhere in the early years. numbers of men, recently discharged custom of addressing each person as Harassed by officials and ridiculed by the from the army with little or no remun- Friend led eventually to the adoption of general public at first, Quakers gradually eration for their services, who began to the title 'Religious Society of Friends'. were allowed to settle in Limerick. A challenge authority and preach in public. Gradually the movement began to spread record of seizure of furniture for non- Various groups emerged offering political southwards to London and Bristol, and payment of tithes indicates the presence of and religious solutions to the problems of later to Devon and Cornwall. William a Quaker meeting house in Limerick as a society traumatised by civil war, the Edmondson, a former Cromwellian early as 1683. In 1809 a larger meeting execution of the King and the establish- soldier, established the first Irish Quaker house was built in Cecil Street and these ment of a republic by Cromwell. Among meeting house in Lurgan, premises remained in use until the new the religious sects that emerged during Armagh, in 1654. Soon meetings were meeting house was opened in Ballinacurra this period were the Quakers. George Fox being held in other parts of Ireland. in 1997. (1624-91), the acknowledged founder of Elizabeth Fletcher and Elizabeth Smith In the early years of the eighteenth that movement, was the son of devout preached in Dublin, Robert Sandham went century there appeared to be a growing Puritan parents. Fox and his fellow to Youghal, Francis Howgill went to tolerance of Quakers in the city and preachers objected to a church which was Bandon and in 1655 he came to Limerick county. In 1725 they travelled to hierarchical and administered by a clergy with Edward Burroughs. Viewed by the Rathkeale, 'where they had a meeting who had to be supported by the labour of authorities in England as mere trouble- house among the Palatines and other^'.^ others. These objections were expressed makers, in Ireland the Quakers were This meeting could be seen as an attempt loudly in the market place, or sometimes suspected of having more sinister motives on the part of the Quakers to identify with through unruly interventions at church and were accused of being in collusion other settlers who, despite problems of services. This behaviour and their with Catholics. In reality, they had no wish language and other cultural differences, steadfast refusal to remove hats as a sign to align themselves with any religious had established a harmonious relationship of respect in church or in the presence of grouping and concentrated their efforts with their Irish neighbours. Increasingly, authority frequently resulted in arrest and among the English-speaking inhabitants of Quakers appear to have been able to go imprisonment. The public, increasingly garrison towns. Their presence in these about their business of holding meetings disenchanted with Cromwell's regime, towns was of great annoyance to the and preaching. The value of an influential patron was a lesson learned from the awareness of the problem, highlighting House of the Industry were far from ideal experience of George Fox. Attempts to the inequities of a system which treated and reform measures were sorely needed establish a following in a district was human beings like beasts of burden. The when Sir John Carr visited it in 1805. He usually preceded by a visit to an authority ultimate success of the anti-slavery found a place which had failed to provide figure within the community. In keeping movement was, in part, due to the support care for the victims of physical illness, with this practice, they visited the Earl of extended from Quakers in Pennsylvania. where the mentally ill were chained and Kerry at Linaw in 1725 before proceeding In addition, the overall planning of the where females who had fallen victim to on their journey southwards to Tralee and campaign was placed on business vice were punished by being w~ighted Dingle. It is difficult to estimate the exact lines and approached 'methodically, down by heavy logs of wood, which not size of the Irish Quaker population in the systematically with a careful recording of only impeded their movement byt also early years, but it is suggested that there their transactions and finance^'.^ While marked them out as sinnersS'to be were 'six or seven hundred families'4 in Irish Quakers were unlikely to have been subjected to verbal as well as physical Ireland at the end of the seventeenth directly involved with the slave trade, it abuse. By the time of Elizabeth Fry's visit century. This estimate would mean a was a cause that enabled them to escape in 1828, Quaker Launcelot Hill was the population of three thousand or more, from their inward-looking and anti-political superintendent and conditions appear to most of whom had settled around Dublin, stand. In Limerick too, they dutifully have improved, as Fry's brother reported in Queen's County (Laois), King's County followed the campaign, responding to that he and his sister were very pleased. (Offaly), Wexford, Waterford, , epistles and collecting funds. When the At their yearly meeting in Dublin in Limerick and in parts of . George abolition campaign got underway here, 1800, Quakers were called upon to reflect Fox visited Ireland in 1669, travelling the Benjamin C. Fisher and William on what they might do to relieve the ever country advising on structures and Alexander were appointed to collect the growing and increasingly visible problems procedures. He urged that all Quaker subscriptions at the monthly meeting.6 of the sick, poor and uneducated masses activities be recorded, including, births, Twenty copies of a document on the trade crowding into Irish cities and towns. marriages and deaths. Two meetings were had been sent from Dublin in 1821 for Measures to be adopted should include to be convened annually at national level distribution to Quaker families, an the element of self-help which would and representatives were to go to the indication, perhaps, of the presence of afford them 'the means of obtaining a annual meeting of Quakers in London. twenty Quaker households in Limerick at comfortable livelihood for themselves'.g Detailed accounts were kept of penalties this time. The contribution to the anti- Implicit in all Quaker schemes was the imposed for non-payment of tithes and for slavery campaign by the members present notion of self-help and this applied equally other transgressions such as trading on on that particular day was six pounds. The in their dealings with the poor or Christmas day. Expressing their belief dissemination of information, the distressed members of their own society that all days were holy, Quakers defied consciousness raising and the linking of as well as to those encountered in the convention and earned the disapproval of Quakers all _over the world enabled them wider community. Eliza Beale was one of civil authorities by continuing to practice to operate as a very effective pressure those Quaker members who, in 1820, was their trade or profession on days such as group. The campaign to abolish slavery obliged to appeal for assistance in Christmas or Easter Sunday. The systems brought Quakers into the mainstream of Limerick. She had left the city and gone to established from an early date provided political life for a time and for many Cork, where she found herself unable to regular contact for members of the members this was a disquieting experi- support herself and her two daughters. Quaker community from widely dispersed ence. Coinciding with this politicising The response of Limerick Quakers was to locations throughout Ireland. The sharing process was a rising tide of evangelicalism refuse her on the grounds 'that her of experiences strengthened their resolve, which was in direct contrast to their maintenance does not properly belong to boosted their morale and promoted a tradition. In the eighteenth century, this meeting'1° but they decided that they feeling of solidarity within the group. Quakers in Ireland were mainly quietist, would write to the Cork Quaker group on In addition to the national meeting, the that is, inward looking and reflective. her behalf. The case was sent for provinces of , Munster and Ulster Philanthropy was suspect because it was arbitration to the regional quarterly held meetings of members drawn from the feared that 'concern with the outside meeting and eventually an allowance was smaller local groups every six weeks. At activities could distract the individual from agreed. By 1825 an additional allowance local level there were meetings for prayer, life of the soul'.7 By the beginning of the was being paid for the tuition of her for the purpose of looking after poor nineteenth century there was a growing daughter, Maria. By then the family was members and to draw up appeals for the awareness of the problems of the poor, the on its way to becoming self-sufficient. release of members who were in prison. homeless and the oppressed, and some Quaker charity had maintained them for Spiritual advice was an important Quakers began to articulate the need to as long as necessary and they were now in component of every meeting and guidance address those problems. Their philan- a position to overcome their problems was given on how best to live daily life. thropy became more open and some, like themselves. Eliza succeeded in securing From the beginning of their movement in Elizabeth Fry, a member of a wealthy employment and her daughter's education the seventeenth century, Quakers were English Quaker family, began adopting an enabled her, too, to become independent. alert to injustice of any kind. Their own increasing number of causes, such as By 1826 the case was closed and further experience of physical punishments and schools for the poor, visiting the sick and assistance was deemed unnecessary. Eliza imprisonment led the early leaders, such healthcare. She visited prisons and set up wrote to the Limerick Quakers thanking as George Fox, to campaign and petition schools for the inmates who were given them for their assistance and now, as she Parliament for an end to the more severe instruction in sewing and knitting from herself 'being settled in business and her punishments, such as flogging, trans- materials provided by other Quaker daughters teaching school',ll the family portation and even public execution. merchants. Her plans were successfully would no longer be a burden on them. Official attitudes mellowed and such implemented in England, and in Ireland on This urge to self-sufficiency was evident extreme penalties for the transgressions of a tour to promote similar reforms, she too in the response of Limerick Quakers Quakers were no longer in force by the visited Limerick in 1828. The House of to another case brought before them by beginning of the eighteenth century. Industry had been established on the members of the sub-committee for the The anti-slavery movement was one of North Strand in 1774 to provide shelter for poor in 1824. The report that a member, the first world-wide campaigns promoted a wide cross section of people, ranging Sarah Woods, was in need of assistance by Quakers. The moral dilemma posed by from the aged and feeble poor, infants, elicited a response that was in keeping the knowledge that products might have lunatics and young females whose with their tradition of compassion for the been produced by slave labour gave rise to situation was so desperate that there was poor. The practical response offered much questioning and the campaign always the danger that even inside that would relieve her situation and allow gradually built up. The Quaker network of institution they might become the 'victims her to achieve long-term economic contacts was soon involved in raising of profligacy and vice'.8 Conditions in the independence. A decision was made to Information obtained by the Eelief Committee of the Society of Friends, Limerick, relative to Curing Fish, so successfully practised in the .

~or.i.& OPEN and clean the fish cnrcfully, cut off the head, immerse them in ?cmof I%&, and wash way all impurities. Then take aid split the fish from eud to end, leaving merely the skin, and wash in a clean mtcr ; put them in pickle for 30 rninutcs, then put them on rods in .+he smoking house; if thr house be full of fish, 24 hours will suffice; if not full, a longer time -.wll he required. L:trgn. IInddock require to be l& a longer time in the pickle. Fish thus cured will kecp 14 days. Should it be necessary to hold it n longer time, let it remain one hour in the pickle. Hardwood, is Oak, Beech, Elm, Birch, is used for smoking-turf is addcd, should the Cre become too great ; but turf causes too much dust fur general use. Pine wood imparts a bitter tst? to tht fish and is not irppro~edof,

Pack them carefully in barrels, placing salt between every Inyer, till fd; then fd~wit11 pickle to thc top; let them remain thus three days; then take them out, and wash in fresh water, and hang them up by the gills in the smoking house. Not-The lIrrrings may remain 12 mnnths in tlie barrels, before smoking, without injury; but it will be necessq to steep them in .fresh water, to remove some of the sdt, should they be my lrrrgtll of thne in pickle. The loiigtr they have renlaincd in the barreis the more steeping they will require. Great care must be t&en that the jire is not too hot, while the process of smoking goos on, as much injury may he caused in a ~ryfew minutes.-Tl~is is easily perceived by eri~minill~ the Herrings from time tu time, and if thcy heco~uesoft nrar the tails, or the fibh rises from the '-mm, or tha) drop from the rod? on which they ur suqmidecl, the Ere should he iinzniediatelJ reduced. TO CURE COD, LING, HAKE, &c.

Open and clean the fish, cut off the head, and remove the backbone, to the low crtremity uf tlic belly, then wash away all blood, &C., very mrefully, cuntinue thc cut down to the tail, close by the remaining port of the backhone, in doing this you expose to view a blood- vcsiel, mhleh slroulrl be cureiully opened; then w~sh,and remove all the black lining of the stomach, and oilier impuritirs. Pickle for a week. and dry in the sun. In Scotland large quantities of Hzddmk are cured, by clcaning and splitting a before described, and hying tlmn on the rocks, near tlie water's edge, sprinkling wlth sdt water, from time to time, till perfectly curcd, and then dried-this is done without usingany salt, except what is in the salt water. Thc Smokmg House at Melvjclt is 32 feet lung, by 14, and about 30 fcet in height, with beams across, at intewais of lour feet, on which the rock are supported ; the perpendicular dis. tmce between those beams is not more tl~~u14 ioches, Illat being more than the length of the largest IIaddodc. The first tipr of beams commence about seren feet above the &or on which the fires are. JOHN ABBI.L. IFAACW. UNTHANK. Limerick, 3d Xonth alst, 1848.

hhermen are recommended to have this i~forlnationpreserved, by pysting it in their houses. Ordnance Survey map of the Ballinacurra area, 1870, Handbill issued by the Limerick Auxiliary Committee with showing Quakers Fields and the residences of some advice to fishermen on the curing of fish, 1848. Limerick Quaker merchants. (~riends~~istoricalLibrary, Dublin). appoint two members to procure a room Ballitore, Co. Kildare, and in New Ross be sent to Parliament seeking funding for for her 'to take in children to instruct by and Edenderry. Many Quakers were a University of Limerick. Making their which means she may be enabled to make particularly interested in the study of case they wrote, ' science has now become a livelih~od'.~~Sarah would therefore be in science and botany, and George Fox and the main spring of agriculture and a position to utilise whatever skills she William Penn had advocated the garden as commerce'I5 and furthermore it would possessed and provide a service to others a practical forum for learning and only be through 'the judicious diffusion of and no longer be a burden on the instruction. Consequently, many of the knowledge amongst all classes'l6 that the community. In the early years before the great botanists associated with the vast resources of a county like Limerick, establishment of more formal structures, development of gardens at Kew in London would be fully utilised. In an effort to education was provided by a system of and Glasnevin in Dublin were of the copper-fasten the claim for the placing of private tutors, small private schools and Quaker faith. Newtown school in such a college in Limerick they stated apprenticeship. This system provided an Waterford encouraged their pupils to that, in their view, the city, with its newly opportunity for women with a modicum of pursue such studies and among its developed New Town will be 'particularly education, like Maria, daughter of Eliza students who had assembled 'a collection conducive to the health and comfort of the Beale, and Sarah Woods, to establish of minerals, shells, and other curiosities'14 inhabitants and will afford the professors small private schools. In 1825 there were in 1823 was William Harvey of Limerick. and students of the college healthful and 108 schools in Limerick with a total of William Harvey (1811-1866) was later to commodious residence'.17 5,021 pupils, but many of the schools had achieve high academic acclaim for his Irish Quakers had contributed their as few as two pupils attending.'3 The study of the flowering plants of South share to the campaign to abolish slavery, desire for denominational teaching led Africa. He also published widely on the had supported schemes for prison reform Quakers to discuss the possibility of subject of marine algae and was appointed and had assisted in the work of providing setting up a school as early as 1675 and in Professor of Botany at Trinity College, schools for the poor, but they were soon to 1677 Lawrence Routh was engaged by Dublin. (He later joined the Anglican be called on to tackle problems of a scale Quakers to teach their Church). This awareness of the value of never before encountered. Shortage of children at a fee of E16 a year and diet and the study of the sciences was evident too food had been experienced in Ireland on lodging. Three provincial schools were in the petition drawn up by James Fisher several occasions prior to 1845 when the established in Ireland, Newtown in and James Harvey along with two other potato, the principal food of the poorer Waterford for Munster pupils, Mount- members of the Limerick Chamber of classes, began to rot. The following mellick serving Leinster and Lisburn for Commerce in 1845. They were instructed summer the potato harvest looked Ulster. There were also schools in by the Chamber to prepare a document to promising until 'it pleased an over-ruling Providence that almost the whole with his cousin from Limerick, crop should be destroyed in one Auxiliary Relief Committee, Sooicty of Friends, Professor William Harvey, and both men's views are reflected in a week'.18 John Abell and William 1,imr~ick.4th \lo . ISIS. Woods of Limerick were appointed to publication entitled Charles and collect information, make contacts Josiah, or friendly conversation locally and report to the central between a Churchman and a Quaker. committee in Dublin. Again the Tlik Co~n~nittee1)clic:r-ing that ninrli Changes in the official response to poverty in Ireland were due in part to emphasis was placed on self-help and g30d ivould result by thc ~~~cou.lmpr'i~~ei~tof tlir the Quaker analysis of the problem. no gratuitous supplies of food would culture and ii~nnufn~tur~of lilns rl~~iongsttlw be given. The Quaker network of They urged that reform of the destitute as contacts in Ireland, England and poor, for their own use well as for landlord-tenant relationship b,e America was used to disseminate salr, thus nforcling rmplo)~~neutto many xroiucil undertaken as a pre-requisite to zhy information about the situation and to 1u1d childreii, aurl mrou~.sgin,rr 11;rbits of industry action which might alleviate poverty solicit subscriptions. Influential and cleaiiliners aniongst tl~ein,hnrc rolirlutled to in Ireland. The condition of the poor English Quakers such as William make grants of Flns-seed, on Loan, to approved was due, they said, to gross inequities Forester and James Tuke visited applicants for the use of tlw poor in their in the system of land tenure and until these inequities had been removed, it Ireland and reported on the ever- i.espective i~r~ighbourhoods,such applicant to IIC worsening famine situation. Soup would be wrong to blame the people ;iccountal)lc to this cwnmittre for tliroc~-fourtl~~ kitchens were established and for improvidence or want of industry. one opened in Limerick in 1846. the n~~~oiuitof tlw pint, nnd 10 br refunded eitl~cr Later in Parliament the Irish land Assistance in the form of money for in cash or well prepared flas, tlie reiii;riiiing one- question and Home Rule were often a clothing was given as well as 'the sum fourth to bc allowcd n5 u boiius to the pwwr contentious and divisive issue for of two hundred pounds to John Abell for punctual pnymcnt rvhen thc cmp is ready Quakers. At the fall of Gladstone's in Limerick for encouraging the for narke et, and at least one-half of the producc government following the failure of growth of flax and otherwise the Home Rule Bill to pass on the must be spun and made up for the use of each second reading in 1886, Quakers promoting industrial operations in the fmiily. district'.lgThe committee in Limerick 'were to be found in both lobbies'.25 had responsibility for a vast district As reforms were slowly being edged and reported that a new approach to through in Parliament, Quaker the problems encountered outside philanthropists in England continued the city was needed and that 'soup to lead the way in providing schemes kitchens are better suited to urban to improve the lot of their workers. areas than the open co~ntryside'.~~ Families such as the Rowntrees in Making the case for assistance to York and Cadburys in Birmingham Decision of the Limerick Auxiliary Committee cope with their widely dispersed built model villages, introducing to encourage the growing of flax, 1848. welfare schemes and providing territories, they described one which (Friends Historical Library, Dublin). comprised 'over eighteen thousand leisure facilities for them. In acres, with six thousand inhabitants, conjunction with the provision of the no resident gentry, the priest is the only officials, analysed the underlying causes of physical means to improve the lot of their person to whom the poor can turn for the famine and examined the case of the workers, Quakers continued to raise assistance A soup kitchen in such a landlord and the tenant. Finally, in an awareness of the situation of the poor, setting would therefore be wholly economic analysis of the situation of the researching and publishing proposals on inadequate. It is not surprising then, that country, they urged reforms which, if not ways to alleviate poverty. While much of Isaac W. Unthank and James Alexander implemented, would leave the country this debate centred on the problems wrote to the central committee in Dublin facing a bleak and uncertain future. Their associated with the large industrial informing them of their belief that few, if perceptive evaluation cited emigration as a centres of England, it was relevant also for any, of the boilers issued were in use and problem which would have a destructive cities like Limerick, where poverty on a that they were not aware of more than one influence on a nation 'whose people no large scale also existed. As early as 1807 or two soup kitchens being in operation in longer felt connected to their native Quakers felt the need to provide a hospital the Limerick district. Limerick Quakers A final report based on the accumulated for mentally ill patients in Ireland and now looked to other means to help the information was prepared by Joseph Bloomfield Hospital in Dublin was poor. Among the proposals considered Bewley and Jonathan Pim, secretaries to established to provide a centre 'where was clothing manufacture. Edward Fitt the central relief committee, with the help treatment was to be more in unison with was in favour of this suggestion as he felt of Professor Hancock of Trinity College, the ideas of friend^'^^ Bloomfield was that whole donations of clothing were a Dublin. Hancock later withdrew because modelled on another Quaker institution, short-term solution and the provision of of business pressure and was replaced by York Retreat established in 1792 to materials would be more beneficial in the Professor Wm. Hearn of Galway. Joseph provide humane care for mentally ill long run. By this means employment Bewley died in 1851 before the completion people, in a place separate from an would be provided, a skill learned and 'the of the report, but the work, Transactions of infirmary, where they might have a end result would be more satisfactory the Society of Friends during the Famine in chance of being restored to good health. A garrnenY.22 When the work of the relief Ireland, was published in 1852. proposal was made in 1829 to build a committee in Limerick finally come to an If the earlier campaign to abolish hospital in Limerick in a location near the end they had distributed 560 tons of food slavery had served as a process to older part of the city 'where accidents within Co. Limerick and 630 tons in Co. politicise the Quaker community, that generally occur and where timely Galway. The Quakers had made a major process was certainly completed in Ireland assistance is most required by the poor contribution to the relief of distress, had at the end of the famine period. Jonathon For the next one hundred and fifty years, alerted authorities to the seriousness of Pim (1806-85) became the first Irish until it's closure in 1988, that hospital the situation, organised relief schemes, Quaker Member of Parliament when he provided a health care service to the poor and had, overall, contributed 'almost was elected for the Liberal Party in 1865, and all sections of society in Limerick. £200,000 worth of assistan~e'.~~Through- and he was re-elected in 1868. He was There was Quaker involvement from the out the famine period, in addition to their active in Parliament on the question of beginning in the new hospital, named role in distributing aid, the Quaker relief land reform, the disestablishment of the Barringtons after is principal benefactor, committees at national and local level Church of Ireland and Home Rule. Sir Matthew Barrington. Henry Newson collected vast amounts of data, wrote Concerned also about the condition of the was one of the founder members and reports, corresponded with government Society of Friends, he debated publicly James Harvey was one of the governors. had isolated them at first and kept them apart from the general population. Their desire to distance themselves from the state and a church supported by tithes had forced them to be self-reliant, to undertake the care of their own poor and establish their own education system. Their desire for independence was facilitated by a network of business contacts, which was efficient and generous in its response to calls for assistance. It ensured thqt young people were placed in suitabIk environments to serve apprenticeships. Appropriate training was given in an atmosphere where high moral and religious standards were nurtured and monitored. Neglect of spiritual duties by an apprentice was notified to the local Quaker meeting and explanations were demanded. The vast majority of apprentices conformed, became imbued with Quaker values and transmitted them on to succeeding generations. Failure to attend meetings for worship usually resulted in a reprimand and the ultimate penalty of expulsion was extended, on rare occasions, only for serious offences. In Limerick in 1821, one apprentice deviated from Quaker rules and was summoned to account for his behaviour. An explanation for his absence from meetings for worship led to the revelation of a more grievous offence. He had joined the Freemasons, a move which ran totally against Quaker rules and principles.31 Joining an organisation was not part of the Quaker culture. The need to retain their independence was a constant feature of reports from the annual meetings of Quakers. Involvement with political associations also met with official disapproval, as was the case in 1824, when a warning was issued against supporting Jonathan Pim, one of the Secretaries of the Central Relief Committee. any political organisation by joining it or (Jonathan P. Vigham). by giving it financial support. Despite the best efforts of Samuel Alexander and James and William Alexander, whose received their unstinting attention. As Joseph Fisher, the apprentice who had family were members of the Quaker early as 1771 Quakers were involved in joined the Freemasons in Limerick in 1821 community in Limerick since the organizations such as the Pery Charitable refused to repent and was expelled. seventeenth century, also had close links Loan Fund, which was set up to provide Gambling and alcohol consumption were with Barringtons' Hospital. James was assistance to 'tradesmen through loans of vices totally inconsistent with the Quaker secretary to the board in 1879 when it three guineas each.'.30 Through their religion, and apprentices who indulged in convened to discuss the hospital's network of international, national and local them were summoned before a meeting of precarious financial situation. Heated contacts Quakers succeeded in carrying the local Quaker group. It must be noted, exchanges gave rise to allegations of out a major consciousness-raising exercise however, that it was only the actions of a proselytising of young patients admitted in the nineteenth century. They called for very small minority which warranted such from the city's Ragged School. James reforms which would improve the a call. Unorthodox behaviour was Alexander defused the situation by stating situation of woman prostitutes, they exceptional and the almost total absence that only one child was admitted two years demanded changes in relation to property of such cases in the records indicates the previously from the Ragged School and rights for women and an extension of power and strength of the Quaker culture the 'child was of such tender years that he voting rights for all. Their generous in maintaining moral standards. A rare could not be affected by such practice^'.^^ contributions to many philanthropic glimpse emerges from Limerick Quaker The Quaker reputation for a non-sectarian schemes acted as a catalyst for many of records of someone who deviated form the approach to the distribution of charity was the improvements in welfare which were rules, failed to attend meetings for well established during the famine. later adopted at official level and they had worship and was accused of keeping Among the early promoters of the helped change the climate of opinion unsuitable company, attending public Limerick Savings Bank were members of where poverty and indolence were no houses and spending money impr~perly.~~ the Unthank, Bennis and Fitt families. The longer synonymous. His offences were compounded by an act bank was established to encourage The shaping of the Quaker community of total defiance when he announced his 'savings belonging to trades people, in Limerick was determined by links intention of joining the army, and he had mechanics, servants, labourers and other which bound them together internally and left his masters employment for that industrious persons of either sex.'.29Other was modified by forces encountered in purpose. Admission to the army required directors were industrialists Sir Peter Tait their dealings with the wider community. the taking of an oath of allegiance to the and Colonel Maunsell. Schemes to assist Internal links were forged and maintained monarch, a procedure which was objected the poor and struggling working classes as a result of historic circumstance which to by the Quakers. Their objection was rooted in a history in which they had endeavoured to distance themselves from the apparatus of state. Also, oath taking was seen as superfluous to a Quaker, who was bound by a moral code to always speak the truth. Their exclusion from many areas of political and economic life obliged them to be independent, self- sufficient and to establish economic and social support systems almost wholly within their own religious grouping. The solidarity of the Quaker community was supported by strong family links and buttressed by a system which ensured regular contact at local, provincial and national level. Quakers were a highly literate and well-educated group and frequent exchange of letters was also part of a communication system through which social contacts were maintained. Parents wrote letters of encouragement and support to their children away at school or serving an apprenticeship, cousins, aunts and uncles sent local news to distant relatives. Descriptions of funerals and testimonials to deceased members were despatched to those unable to attend a burial. Their willingness to exchange information and the vigilance of Bill of James Harvey to Limerick Philosophical Society, 15 June, 1848. individuals who alerted each other to (Limerick Museum). business opportunities were factors contributing greatly to the overall welfare records a large tract of land named Early in the nineteenth century, the of the group. For example, in 1830 William Quakers Fields at Ballinacurra. The area demographic indicators were beginning to Newsom of Cork wrote to his cousin was favoured by Quaker families and the show trends which did not auger well for Joseph in Limerick informing him of a map shows the location of several Quaker the future of the Quaker community. An newspaper report which he had just read, homes. One such house, Richmond, was estimate of the size of that community detailing the movement of a troop of built by Joseph Fisher and it was the home before the official census of 1861 can only soldiers from Gort, Co. Galway to to which his son, James, brought his be derived from circumstantial evidence. Limeri~k.~~The arrival of new army bride, Lydia Leadbetter, in 1823. Joseph The presence of twenty Quaker house- personnel in Limerick was seen as an Massy Harvey built Summerville nearby in holds in Limerick is suggested by the event which might lead to the securing of 1786. Laurel Hill, the house which was the receipt of twenty copies of the anti-slavery a tenant for Laurel Hill House. Mindful of subject of correspondence between the document for distribution to Limerick the duty to look after the interests of their Newsom cousins, William and Joseph, was members in 1821. Vann and Eversley own, William suggested that if the sold and later became Laurel Hill convent proposed that the total Irish Quaker commander of the troops, Colonel in 1854. Summerville, now part of Mary population at its height, based on a figure Maxwell, could be secured as tenant, the Immaculate College, was leased to of 750 households, was no greater than widow now occupying part of the house Laurence Marshal1 in 1856. By 1859 the 5,000.35Calculated in a similar fashion, the would surely be happy to accept rent of property was divided between Thomas Limerick Quaker population might have forty to forty-five guineas per year. Thus Fitt, C. Gromwell and Francis Harvey. In consisted of approximately 140 people. the web of contacts ensured that they 1873, James Bannatyne was the occupier They were a small cohesive group, already were well informed, alert and ready to take and it was acquired by another Quaker linked by family ties and they judged with advantage of changing circumstances. family, the Goodbodys of Clara, County compassion cases of marriages which had From the middle of the eighteenth century Offaly in 1902. Joseph Massey Harvey, taken place contrary to their rules. in Limerick, Quakers were playing an owner of Sunville, died in 1834 and he and Marriages witnessed by clergymen of increasingly active role in the business life his wife, Rebecca, are buried in the other Protestant churches were entered of the city. Contacts with other prosperous Quaker cemetery on land which he on the records and the births of children merchants were established and main- donated to the Limerick Quakers at born to such couples were also recorded. tained on commercial bodies such as the Ballinacurra. William Newsom was also In the decade after the famine there was a Chamber of Commerce and the Harbour listed as the immediate lessor of five sharp decline of almost two-thirds in the Board. Quakers were astute and capable houses in Victoria Terrace in the same number of marriages recorded. The same in business and assisted each other to area of the ~ity.~~Thestory of Joseph downward trend was displayed in the achieve positions on the management Harvey is emblematic of the condition number of births re~orded.~eNo exact committees of such boards. Given that the of the whole Quaker community in correlation exists between the number of overall size of the Quaker community in nineteenth century Limerick. From his marriages and the number of births Limerick was never large, their strong family of ten children, one son, William recorded, as couples who married in representation on such committees is Henry, the eminent botanist, was Limerick may not have continued to live in worthy of note. disowned and joined the Anglican Church; the city. However, the data on the Despite regular warnings on the others died young and one son, Ruben, frequency of such events gives an overall dangers of attachment to worldly goods, inherited the business but because of his impression of social life within the Quaker some Limerick Quakers, from the end of marriage to his first cousin, Elizabeth, community and is an indicator of its the eighteenth century onward, began he too was expelled from the Quaker strength and vibrancy at a particular time. to mark their achievements by the community. Other substantial residences The relationship between the number of acquisition of substantial houses. Most were built by the Alexander family across recorded births and deaths presents a were located in an area south of the New the river in the area of the North Circular more direct image of the position of the Town. An Ordnance Survey map of 1870 Road. Quaker community. In the first decade of the nineteenth century, the birth rate some considerable changes evident in the John Ferrar, History of Limerick exceeded the death rate by a ratio of more list of surviving surnames." The (Limerick,1787) p.223 than two to one. From the 1820s onward, Alexander name survived in the person of Isabel Grubb, Quakers in Ireland, p. the number of recorded births began to Samuel, living at Eden Terrace. The 136 show a marked decline and the death rate Bennis family was in George's Street. The Minutes mens meeting, 10 October exceeded the birth rate in every decade Fisher name was represented by Charlotte 1820 (Friends Library, Limerick). from 1830s onwards.* at Templeville, and Edward Alexander Ibid, 13 June, 1826 (Friends Library, Fisher, whose address was listed as Limerick). Marriages Births Deaths the Provincial Bank, Newcastle West. Ibid, l1 May, 1824. Newsom, too, was a long surviving Kevin R O'Connor, Education 'in patronymic, with Henry Ridgeway Limerick 1830-60 in Old Limerich Newsom living in William Street. Other Journal, No.4 (1980) p.17 -I surnames were Goodbody, Fayle, Maurice J. Wigham, Quakers in Haughton, Davis, Martin, Neale, Scarr Natuml Histoy, and Medicine (Dublin, and Webb. There was evidence of the 1996) p.7 presence of one vibrant Quaker household Minutes Chamber of Commerce in Limerick in 1898. William John (Limerick, 14 May 1845). *Source: Registers of marriages, births Woodhouse and his wife, Annie, lived with Ibid. and deaths, (F.H.L., Dublin). their eight children in William Street. The Ibid. Harvey name was all but eliminated and Transactions of the Society of Friends In 1861, the first official census in Ireland was represented only through the middle during the Famine in Ireland. to include religion revealed that the name of Ann Harvey Jackson. The Reprinted (Dublin, 1996) p.30. number of Quakers in Limerick was 70 out downward trend continued and when the Ibid. Appendix 11, p.144 of total population of 44,448, with a next official census recording religion was Rob Goodbody, A Suitable Channel: Catholic majority of 39,124. (The taken in 1911, there were twenty-five Quaker Relief in the remainder consisted of 4,238 mem- members of the Quaker community (Dublin,1995) p.32 bers of the Established Church, 418 resident in Limerick city. A similar pattern Transnctions of the Society of Friends, Presbyterians, 344 Methodists, 170 was recorded all over Ireland and the total p.178 Independents, 13 Baptists, 1 Jew and 70 Quaker population in the country in 1900 Letter from Edward Fitt to Central others.) More than half of the Quaker was 2,609. The total in Ulster now Relief Committee (14 September, community lived in Saint Michael's parish, exceeded that of Leinster, but Dublin was 1847) National Archives ref 2506/43 an area encompassing the main the largest urban centre with 854 Mary E Daly, The Famine in Ireland commercial thoroughfare of George's members. Depletion of numbers led to a (Dublin, 1986) p.73; Street and extending out to the southern loss of momentum and the Limerick Transactions of the Society of Friends, suburbs. Out of the total Quaker Quaker community went into a near-fatal p.128b. population of 70, there were 45 in Saint decline early in the twentieth century. The Elizabeth Isichei, Victorian Quakers, Michael's parish, 9 in Saint Munchin's, 7 energy and dynamism which was the p201. in 's, 4 in Saint Nicholas', 4 in hallmark of Quaker activities in earlier Maurice J. Wigham, The Irish Saint John's and 1 in Saint Mary's. From times was kept alive in Limerick by the Quakcrs, p.75. the beginning of the nineteenth century few remaining members, such as Ernest Limem'ck Chronicle, 24 October, 1829. Quakers everywhere were uneasy about Bennis, his daughter, Emilie, and Alma Richard Ahern, The Threatened declining numbers. Traditionally they saw Fitt. Their efforts have been rewarded by a Closure 1879, in Old Limerick Journal, themselves as fulfilling the role of a renewal of interest locally and, combined (Winter 1988) p.74. 'peculiar people'37who, only by living a life with the influx of new members from Kevin Hannan, Limerick Savings separate from the rest of the world, would abroad, this has led to the re-establish- &g& in Old Limerick Journal, No.3 be granted eternal salvation. Their own ment of the movement in a new meeting (1980) p26 increased affluence accompanied by a house in Limerick in 1997. The legacy of Jim Kemmy, The siege of Lock Mills growing awareness of the problems of the Quakers is all around us in the houses in The Limerick Anthology (ed. Jim the poor led to a questioning of these which they built, the bridges and harbour Kemmy) (1996) p. teachings. An evangelical movement facilities which they had developed, and in Minutes mens meeting, 11 December, which promoted the bible above individual the mills and warehouses which they 1821, (Friends library, Limerick). inspiration as the authoritative source of operated. As well as their role in providing Ibid, 11 March 1823, (Friends library, divine wisdom also gave rise to much relief during famine, the Quaker contri- Limerick). anxious questioning. All of these debates bution to the economic, social and cultural William Newsom to Joseph, 21May created a general climate of dissatisfaction life of Limerick was considerable and of 1830, Newsom Letters (Friends which resulted in a falling-off in Quaker lasting significance. Historical Library, Dublin) membership in Britain and Ireland. For a Richard Griffith, The Primary small Quaker community like Limerick's, REFERENCES Valuation of Tenements (1850) mid-century reform of marriage rules may 1. James Walvin, Quakers, Money and Richard T. Vann and David Eversley, have come too late and increasing Morals, (London, 1997) p.11 Friends in Life and Death: The British numbers of resignations were recorded. 2. St. John D. Seymour, A Puritan and Irish Quakers in Demographic The widespread campaign of opposition to Minister in Limerick in Journal of Transition, (Cambridge, 1992) p.39. a state-supported church in the 1860s, North Munster Archaeological Society, Abstracts of marriage, birth and death culminating in the Disestablishment Act of IV, No3 (1919), p.3. registers of Limerick Quakers 1869, may have convinced many Quakers 3. Thomas Wright and John Rutty, A (Limerick Regional Archives). that, as the very basis of their dissent had History of the Rise and Progress of Maurice Wigham, The Irish Quakers, been removed, membership of the Church People Called Quakers in Ireland p.34. From the epistle to Titus (2.14): of Ireland was now an option to be (Dublin, 1751) p.309. Jesus died so that "he might redeem considered. The downward trend 4. Maurice Wigham, The Irish Quakers us all from the iniquity and purify unto continued and by 1873 the number of (Dublin, 1992), p.26. himself a peculiar people zealous for Quakers in Limerick had declined to 51, 5. James Walvin, op. cit., p.128. good works". with another 6 people regularly attending 6. Minutes mens meetings 14 August, Munster quarterly meeting report meetings, but who were not members.38In 1821 (Friends library, Limerick) 1873, (F.H.L.), Dublin). 1898 there were 38 members of the 7. Elizabeth Isichei, Victorian Quakers List of members, Munster quarterly Quaker community in Limerick, with (Oxford, 1970) p.1. meeting, 1895 (F.H.L.), Dublin.