Begging, Charity and Religion in Pre-Famine Ireland Reappraisals in Irish History Editors Enda Delaney (University of Edinburgh) Maria Luddy (University of Warwick) Ciaran O’Neill (Trinity College Dublin) Reappraisals in Irish History offers new insights into Irish history, society and culture from 1750. Recognising the many methodologies that make up historical research, the series presents innovative and interdisciplinary work that is conceptual and interpretative, and expands and challenges the common understandings of the Irish past. It showcases new and exciting scholarship on subjects such as the history of gender, power, class, the body, landscape, memory and social and cultural change. It also reflects the diversity of Irish historical writing, since it includes titles that are empirically sophisticated together with conceptually driven synoptic studies. 1. Jonathan Jeffrey Wright, The ‘Natural Leaders’ and their World: Politics, Culture and Society in Belfast, c.1801–1832 2. Gerardine Meaney, Mary O’Dowd and Bernadette Whelan, Reading the Irish Woman: Studies in Cultural Encounters and Exchange, 1714–1960 3. Emily Mark-FitzGerald, Commemorating the Irish Famine: Memory and the Monument 4. Virginia Crossman, Poverty and the Poor Law in Ireland 1850–1914 5. Paul Taylor, Heroes or Traitors? Experiences of Southern Irish Soldiers Returning from the Great War 1919–39 6. Paul Huddie, The Crimean War and Irish Society 7. Brian Hughes, Defying the IRA? 8. Laura Kelly, Irish medical education and student culture, c.1850–1950 9. Michael Dwyer, Strangling Angel: Diphtheria and childhood immunization in Ireland 10. Carole Holohan, Reframing Irish Youth in the Sixties 11. Lindsey Flewelling, Two Irelands beyond the Sea: Ulster Unionism and America, 1880–1920 12. Kyle Hughes and Donald MacRaild, Ribbon Societies in Nineteenth-Century Ireland and its Diaspora: The Persistence of Tradition Begging, Charity and Religion in Pre-Famine Ireland CIaRáN M c CaBE Begging, Charity and Religion LIVERPOOL UNIVERsITy PREss First published 2018 by Liverpool University Press 4 Cambridge street Liverpool L69 7ZU Copyright © 2018 Ciarán McCabe The right of Ciarán McCabe to be identified as the author of this book has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents act 1988. all rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication data a British Library CIP record is available print IsBN 978-1-78694-157-2 epdf IsBN 978-1-78694-953-0 Typeset by Carnegie Book Production, Lancaster For Anne Maree There is scarcely a greater plague that can infest a society than swarms of beggars; and the inconveniences to individuals arising from them are so generally, and so severely, felt that relief from so great an evil cannot fail to produce a powerful and lasting effect upon the minds of the public. anon., Arguments in proof of the necessity and practicality of suppressing street begging in the city of Dublin ... (Dublin, 1817), p. 10 [T]he beggar is not in Ireland – as he is in England – an outcast, whose apparent misery is ascribed to imposture or vice – whose contact is degradation to the humblest labourer – and who is relieved, not so much to satisfy his wants as to get rid of his presence. The Irish cottier considers the beggar as his equal – indeed, as acting a part in the great drama of life which he may have to perform erelong himself. The beggar is not an occasional and unwelcome intruder; he makes a part, and probably not the least agreeable part, of the society of the family. He has his regular seat before the potatoe-bowl, his nook near the chimney where a chimney exists, and the corner in which he sleeps, on the straw which he has begged during the day. He brings with him news, flattery, conversation, prayers, the blessing of God, and the good-will of men. [Nassau William senior], ‘Mendicancy in Ireland’ in Edinburgh Review , lxxvii, no. 156 (apr. 1843), pp. 400–1 I trouble the gentlemen little; they do not know our miserable condition, when God has made us poor, as well as the very small farmers and labourers, who give us all they have for God’s sake; they know they may soon be in our state, and feel more for us. Mary O’Brien, ‘an old beggar-woman’, Buncrana, County Donegal, PI , Appendix A , p. 744 Contents Contents List of Figures viii List of Tables ix Acknowledgements x Abbreviations xiii Note on Editorial Conventions xv Introduction 1 I Begging and Alms-Giving: Framing the Issues 1 Defining Begging and alms-Giving 21 2 Measuring Begging and alms-Giving 64 3 Begging and alms-Giving: Perceptions and Motivations 95 II Responses I: Cross-Denominational Approaches 4 Civil Parishes’ Responses to Begging 127 5 The Mendicity society Movement and the suppression of Begging 146 III Responses II: Denominational Approaches 6 Roman Catholic approaches to Begging and alms-Giving 187 7 Protestant approaches to Begging and alms-Giving 218 Conclusion 253 Bibliography 261 Index 291 Figures Figures 1.1 Daniel Maclise, ‘an outside jaunting car in a storm’ from John Barrow, A tour round Ireland, through the sea-coast counties, in the autumn of 1835 (London, 1836) (reproduced courtesy of National Library of Ireland) 39 1.2 Chart showing previous occupations of inmates of the Dublin Mendicity society, 1826 51 1.3 ‘The first alms-begging’ from William Carleton, ‘Tubber derg: or, the red well’ (1852) (reproduced courtesy of National Library of Ireland) 60 3.1 James Malton, ‘View from Capel street, looking over Essex Bridge, Dublin’ (1797) (reproduced courtesy of National Library of Ireland) 101 5.1 Map of mendicity societies in existence in Ireland, 1809–45 157 5.2 subscriptions to the Dublin Mendicity society, 1830–48 177 6.1 Contrasting Catholic and Protestant approaches to poverty, as portrayed in a Catholic-ethos publication; from anon., People of England! ([London? early 19th cent.]) (reproduced courtesy of National Library of Ireland) 198 Tables Tables 1.1 Previous occupations of inmates of the Dublin Mendicity society, 1826 51 2.1 Numbers convicted of vagrancy in Ireland, 1805–31 83 2.2 Estimated amounts given by individual shopkeepers in alms to beggars in 1830s Ireland 87 3.1 Reports from medical practitioners across Ireland, in which the spread of disease was attributed to beggars, 1817 111 5.1 Irish cities, towns and villages where mendicity societies were founded, 1809–45 155 5.2 Categories of inmates in the Dublin Mendicity society on 25 april 1840 174 5.3 Categories of inmates in the Dublin Mendicity society on an unspecified date in June 1840 174 5.4 subscriptions and other casual income received by the Dublin Mendicity society, 1830–48 176 acknowledgements acknowledgements T his book is the result of a number of years of research, writing and reflection, and many people have helped me in countless ways during this period. While it is not feasible in this short space to thank every single person, I am delighted to take this opportunity to acknowledge the assistance and support received from the following individuals. I want to first thank my doctoral supervisor at Maynooth University, Dr Jacinta Prunty, whose kindness, generosity and encouragement have been inspirational. It was a pleasure to work closely with Jacinta and I could not have wished for a better teacher than she. During my time at Maynooth, I benefited from the knowledge and support of many colleagues: Professor Marian Lyons, Professor Jacqueline Hill, Professor Terence Dooley, Professor Raymond Gillespie and Professor Emeritus R.V. Comerford, as well as Dr Georgina Laragy, Dr Miriam Moffitt, Dr Ciarán Reilly, Dr adrian Kirwan and Dr Fiona Gallagher, among many others, while I will be eternally grateful to the late Dr Caroline Gallagher for sparking my interest in vestry minute books as source material. The efficiency and kindness of ann Donoghue and Catherine Heslin were constant sources of support and assurance. This book arises from a PhD thesis completed at Maynooth University and the revision of the original thesis into this monograph was carried out under the guidance of Dr Niall Ó Ciosáin at NUI Galway. Niall inspired me to consider and develop new approaches to my topic, and I am in no doubt that my historical understanding has been developed by his socratic method of questioning. Professor Catherine Cox and Professor Lindsey- Earner Byrne have encouraged my research since my Ma days in UCD, while Professor Peter Gray and Dr Jonathan Wright provided important and valued feedback on earlier stages of this work. as a historian, I am ever-cognisant of the saying ‘Researchers come and go; archives are forever’, which speaks of the eternal debt which researchers pay to custodians of archives. I am indebted to many archivists and librarians, and I am happy to acknowledge their assistance. I would like to thank Dr aC K N OW L E D G E M E N T s xi Raymond Refaussé, Dr susan Hood, Jennifer Murphy and Mary Furlong at the Representative Church Body Library for their assistance. Dr Brian Donnelly and his colleagues at the National archives of Ireland have been helpful, as have the staff members at the National Library of Ireland. I wish to thank Dr Bernadette Cunningham, siobhán Fitzpatrick and their colleagues in the Royal Irish academy Library, as well as Penny Woods, audrey Kinch and Barbara McCormack in the Russell Library, Maynooth; Rev. Robin Roddie and Jennifer stutt 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 Dublin; sister Marie Bernadette in the Religious sisters of Charity archive in Caritas, sandymount; Christopher Moriarty and colleagues in the Friends Historical Library, Dublin; the abbey Presbyterian Church, Dublin; Mary Guinan Darmody in Thurles Library; the staff at the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, the Linen Hall Library, Belfast, the British Library, the National archives (Kew) and the National Records of scotland. Much of this book has been researched and written in university libraries across Ireland, and I wish to thank the staff at the James Joyce Library in UCD, the John Paul II Library in Maynooth, the McClay Library in QUB, the James Hardiman Library at NUIG and the library at Trinity College Dublin. Much of the final draft of this book was compiled in the Local studies room in Mullingar Library and I am grateful to Greta Connell and her colleagues for their assistance. Facilities were also provided to me by an Foras Feasa in Maynooth University and the Moore Institute at NUI Galway. The doctoral research was carried out with the support of an Irish Research Council (IRC) Government of Ireland Postgraduate scholarship, while much of the book was written at NUIG on foot of an IRC postdoctoral fellowship, and I am most grateful to the IRC for this financial support. Raymond Gillespie and Niall Ó Ciosáin read draft chapters from this book, and their comments, which have been most valuable, greatly broadened my understanding of this period and of some of the historical dynamics at play. This book has benefited greatly from the comments of Liverpool University Press’s anonymous readers, to whom I am grateful, while alison Welsby has been a most efficient and amiable editor at LUP, with whom it has been a pleasure to work. The research and writing of this book has not been a solo project and throughout this process I have been lucky to be surrounded by loving family and friends. My parents-in-law, Tommy and Chris Jones, have proved most supportive, most practically in allowing me to stay for prolonged periods in their ‘bolt-hole’ to ‘get some writing done’. To my parents, Noel and Marian, I owe my gratitude, not only for a lifetime of love and support, but B E G G I NG , C H a R I T y a N D R E L IG I O N xii for instilling in me the confidence and self-belief to undertake postgraduate research and the commitment to write this book. I have no doubt they will be delighted that the book will see the light of day. In the course of bringing this book to completion, my wife anne Maree and I were blessed by the birth of our daughter alannah. she has enriched our lives beyond comprehension. Finally, and most appropriately, I wish to thank my wife, anne Maree, who has shared the past few years, including the early years of our marriage, with ‘idle vagrants and sturdy beggars’ from two centuries ago, and has displayed heroic levels of patience with ‘The Book’. Throughout this process, her constant support, encouragement and love have been unshakeable, for which I will always be thankful. To anne Maree, for her support, encouragement, patience, sacrifice and love, this book is dedicated. abbreviations abbreviations BL British Library BNL Belfast News-Letter CsOOP Chief secretary’s Office Official Papers, National archives of Ireland CsORP Chief secretary’s Office Registered Papers, National archives of Ireland 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, Dublin Diocesan archives DMsP Dublin Mendicity society papers, National Library of Ireland FHLD Friends Historical Library, Dublin FJ Freeman’s Journal IHS Irish Historical Studies IMC Irish Manuscripts Commission JHP John Hamilton papers, Dublin Diocesan archives 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) OSM angélique Day and Patrick McWilliams (eds), Ordnance Survey memoirs of Ireland (40 vols, Belfast, 1990–8) PI , Appendix A [ Poor Inquiry (Ireland) ], First report from His Majesty’s Commissioners for inquiring into the condition of the poorer classes in Ireland, with Appendix (A) and supplement , H.C. 1835 (369), xxxii, 1 B E G G I NG , C H a R I T y a N D R E L IG I O N xiv PI , Appendix C [ Poor Inquiry (Ireland) ], Royal Commission for inquiring into the condition of the poorer classes in Ireland: Appendix (C) – Part I. Reports on the state of the poor, and on the 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 ; The report upon vagrancy and mendicity in the City of Dublin , H.C. 1836 [C 35], xxx, 35 PRONI Public Record Office of Northern Ireland RCBL Representative Church Body Library RsCa Religious sisters of Charity archives, Caritas, sandymount TNa The National archives, Kew Note on Editorial Conventions Note on Editorial Conventions T he 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. The use of [ sic ] has been kept to a minimum. Certain contractions, such as w ch , have been silently expanded. Place names have been presented in their nineteenth-century form, with modern versions presented in round brackets in the first instance of use: for example, King’s County (County Offaly). This book refers to the city of Derry and the county of Londonderry but retains the name for the city’s mendicity charity as the Londonderry Mendicity society. sums of money are retained in the pre-decimal format (pounds (£), shillings ( s. ) and pence ( d .)), whereby: 240 d . = £1 12 d . = 1 s 20 s . = £1 Introduction Introduction B egging was a ubiquitous feature of life in pre-Famine Ireland. accounts of social conditions in the country invariably refer to the prevalence of mendicants, while travellers’ narratives inevitably present descriptions of the colourful and menacing beggars they encountered. Urban streets and country roads 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 practices 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 private and public charity in this period and deeply influenced how individuals and corporate bodies perceived and responded to begging. 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 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 suppressing public begging – in 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. B E G G I NG , C H a R I T y a N D R E L IG I O N 2 Contexts Public discourse on Ireland in the early nineteenth century was almost invariably concerned with the pervasive impoverishment of the population. Increasing inquiry into the condition of the lower classes was not unique to Ireland, and social reformers and commentators who held forth on the unremitting problem of Irish penury drew upon parallel debates and initiatives regarding poor relief in Britain, continental Europe and throughout the atlantic world. Numerous reports and social surveys were undertaken by private individuals, corporate bodies and parliamentary committees, unanimously agreeing on the exceptional extent of Ireland’s poverty and the prevalence of beggary in a society lacking a statutory system of poor relief. The century after 1750 witnessed significant levels of population growth throughout Europe, but the rate of increase in Ireland (quadrupling from c .2 million to more than 8 million) was unparalleled. This demographic growth was heavily weighted at the lower end of the social ladder, particularly among the labouring classes of rural Ireland. Furthermore, this population surge had regional patterns, being concentrated in the relatively impoverished western seaboard counties. 1 Declining access to a limited supply of land for a growing population entrenched Ireland’s structural poverty, driving many into either habitual or occasional beggary. The half century or so before the Great Famine was a period marked by immeasurable levels of mobility among the Irish population, both within and beyond the island. For large numbers of the poor in pre-Famine Ireland, mobility was a central part of their subsistence, and this was true of both the rural and urban poor. an estimated 1.5 million people emigrated permanently to Britain, Canada and america between 1815 and 1845, a scale unprecedented until that point. 2 among the factors facilitating this emigration were the cessation of the French Wars, which opened up continental Europe for travel, and also the advent of steam ships providing cheaper, quicker access to movement across the Irish sea. By the 1830s, tickets to Britain could be purchased for as little as 5 d. or 6 d ., opening up cross-channel travel to large swathes of the poorer classes. 3 seasonal migration to Britain for harvest work formed a significant part of the yearly cycle and household income for countless numbers of landless or semi-landless agricultural labourers ( spailpíní ), and during their 1 Cormac Ó Gráda, Ireland before and after the Famine: explorations in economic history, 1800–1925 (2nd edn, Manchester, 1993), p. 7. 2 Cormac Ó Gráda, ‘Malthus and the pre-Famine economy’ in Hermathena , no. 135 (Winter 1983), p. 88. 3 David Fitzpatrick, ‘“a peculiar tramping people”: the Irish in Britain, 1801–70’ in W.E. Vaughan (ed.), A new history of Ireland , vol. 5, Ireland under the Union, I, 1801–70 (Oxford, 1989), p. 626. I N T RO DUC T I O N 3 absence their wives and children wandered the Irish countryside, supporting themselves through begging. Decades before the unprecedented levels of emigration that were witnessed during the Great Famine Irish paupers constituted large proportions of the destitute classes of British towns and cities, forming an estimated one-third of London’s beggars in the 1820s. 4 Countless multitudes of non-local poor also flocked to Irish urban centres in search of work, relief or an emigrant’s ticket abroad. In a sermon in aid of the Belfast House of Industry in 1814, Presbyterian minister Rev. Henry Cooke observed that ‘To every commercial town there is a great influx of strangers and their families, seeking employment. When calamity overtakes them, they have no friend to whom they can look for comfort or relief’. 5 Port towns and cities were magnets for rural migrants, both poor and otherwise. The lax implementation of anti-vagrancy laws in Dublin, in comparison with other towns and cities, led many people to look upon the city as a sort of ‘haven’ for the idle and vagrant. a report for the year 1818 of the association for the suppression of Mendicity in Dublin 6 claims that ‘persons with large families have stated that they were induced to come to town from distant parts of the country, having heard of the good treatment which the poor received in this city and that they had ever since supported themselves by begging’. 7 a civic report from 1837 notes that ‘there is no other place where the needy, or the famishing, will be sustained’, so that ‘nearly the whole tide of wretchedness and want must of necessity pour in upon Dublin’; to one charity official, the city was ‘the derrier resort of those reduced to the lowest ebb of poverty’. 8 This influx of non-local poor was reflected in the fact that 56 per cent of the paupers in the city’s House of Industry in 1837 were not natives of Dublin city or county; in the mendicity asylum, this figure was smaller but still 4 London Mendicity society minute book, 29 apr. 1820 (BL, add. Ms 50136); ibid., 27 Feb. 1822, 26 Feb. 1823; Copy of letter, W.H. Bodkin, London Mendicity society secretary, to the Mayor of Cork, 10 May 1822 (TNa, Home Office Correspondence, HO 44/11, f. 183); Report from committee on the state of mendicity in the metropolis , pp. 6–7, H.C. 1814–15 (473), iii, 236–7. 5 Henry Cooke, A sermon, preached in the meeting-house of the Third Presbyterian Congregation, Belfast, on Sunday, the 18th December, 1814, in aid of the funds of the House of Industry (3rd edn, Belfast, 1815), pp. 21–2. 6 Hereafter referred to as the Dublin Mendicity society. 7 [First] Report of the Association for the Suppression of Mendicity in Dublin. For the year 1818 (Dublin, 1819), p. 2. 8 Quoted in Jacinta Prunty, Dublin slums, 1800–1925: a study in urban geography (Dublin, 1998), p. 211; Thomas Wright to Lord Melville, 29 Oct. 1830 (National Records of scotland, Dundas family (Viscounts Melville) papers, GD51/9/498). see also Second report of Geo. Nicholls, Esq., to Her Majesty’s Principal Secretary of State for the Home Department, on Poor Laws, Ireland , p. 17, H.C. 1837–8 [C 104], xxxviii, 673. For Cork, see Gerard O’Brien, ‘The new Poor Law in pre-Famine Ireland: a case history’ in Irish Economic and Social History , xii (1985), pp. 43–4. B E G G I NG , C H a R I T y a N D R E L IG I O N 4 significant at 35 per cent. 9 Town-dwellers experienced high levels of mobility and upheaval in their daily lives, owing to the uncertainty of their tenures. Throughout Europe many slum dwellers subsisted on short leases, oftentimes renting their lodgings by the week or even by the day. 10 The uncertainty of tenancy is reflected in the regular change of addresses of poor persons, with women and children being particularly vulnerable to domiciliary upheaval. an examination of a relief register of the Dublin strangers’ Friend society for the 1790s reveals high levels of changes of address by poor persons. 11 In both rural and urban areas lax rental arrangements were frequently aggravated by uncertain and limited employment opportunities, and in this regard women were acutely vulnerable. For such individuals begging was a natural resort as a feasible survival strategy. Economic trends in pre-Famine Ireland stood in stark contrast to those in rapidly industrialising Britain. Large-scale manufacturing was only successfully introduced into Belfast and its hinterland, while most of the island remained largely agricultural. The decline in the Irish domestic industry sector from the 1810s was aggravated by the economic downturn of the mid-1820s, when British manufacturers ‘dumped’ their superfluous goods onto the Irish market, undercutting Ireland’s already-struggling cottage industry manufacturers. Many artisans and their families, categorised by contemporaries as the industrious poor, found themselves unemployed and with little alternative but to resort to beggary, a shift reflected in the increasing proportion of former textile workers among the mendicants of Irish cities from the mid-1820s onwards. Localised downturns also impacted on rates of poverty and mendicancy. In 1809, a manufacturing collapse in Belfast and its hinterland, where 2,000 calico looms ‘were struck idle in five weeks’, led directly to the establishment of a House of Industry, a voluntarily funded charitable society designed to suppress street begging. 12 as will be discussed in Chapter 5, most of the Ulster mendicity societies were founded in the mid- to late 1820s, arising from the impact of the manufacturing decline on foot of the depression of 1825–6. The downturn, which disproportionately impacted on the textile industries, led to increased 9 Second report of Geo. Nicholls, Poor Laws, Ireland , pp. 40–1. 10 Prunty, Dublin slums , pp. 340–1; Prunty, ‘Mobility among women in nineteenth- century Dublin’ in David J. siddle (ed.), Migration, mobility and modernization (Liverpool, 2000), p. 153; Appendices B. to F. to the eighth annual report of the Poor Law Commissioners , p. 185, H.C. 1842 [C 399], xix, 197; Robert Jütte, Poverty and deviance in early modern Europe (Cambridge, 2001), pp. 62, 66. 11 strangers’ Friend society register of relief recipients, 1794–9 (Methodist Historical society of Ireland archives, Belfast, IrBe.Ms.Os42.02). 12 John Dubourdieu, Statistical survey of the county of Antrim, with observations on the means of improvement; drawn up for the consideration, and by direction of the Dublin Society (Dublin, 1812), pp. 410–11.