Belfast Charitable Society

In 1752 a group of Belfast's leading merchants{{Cite web|title=Our Founding Fathers – Belfast Charitable Society|url=https://belfastcharitablesociety.org/our-founding-fathers/|access-date=2021-07-06|language=en-GB}} agreed that "a poor-house and hospital are greatly wanted in Belfast for the support of vast numbers of real objects of charity in this parish, for the employment of idle beggars who crowd to it from all parts of the North, and for the reception of infirm and diseased poor".{{Sfn|Strain|1953|p=33}}{{cite news|last=McParland|first=Conor|date=July 20, 2018|title=Former poor house is proving a rich addition to the community|url=http://belfastmediagroup.com/former-poor-house-is-proving-a-rich-addition-to-the-community/|access-date=2018-12-16}}{{Sfn|Strain|1953|p=|pp=31, 33}} The growth of the town's port and the textile industry had been drawing in poor, often destitute, labourers and their families, from the surrounding districts. The town's burgesses, the exclusive nominees of the Earls (later Marquesses), of Donegall, had made little or no provision to alleviate their frequent and chronic distress.

The society raised money through a lottery scheme and subscription and, following formal recognition by act of Parliament,{{Cite book|title=Parliamentary Papers|date=1835|publisher=H.M. Stationery Office|volume=28|pages=728|language=en|chapter=Reports from Commissioners on Municipal Corporations in Ireland|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lksSAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA728}} opened the doors of Clifton House in 1774. Erected on land donated by Arthur Chichester, the first Marquess of Donegall on the northern edge of the town, it combined 36 person poorhouse and 24 bed infirmary.

Although it was not an issue for the society, in 1786 members were divided by the attempt of two of the charity's "founding fathers", Waddell Cunningham and Thomas Greg, to float a Belfast slave-trading company.{{Cite web|last=Rolston|first=Bill|date=2003|title='A Lying Old Scoundrel'|url=https://www.historyireland.com/18th-19th-century-history/a-lying-old-scoundrel/|url-status=live|access-date=2021-07-06|website=History Ireland|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141016142333/http://www.historyireland.com:80/18th-19th-century-history/a-lying-old-scoundrel/ |archive-date=2014-10-16 }} The partners owned a sugar estate on the island of Dominica, as did the physician to the Poor House, Dr William Haliday.{{Cite web|last=House|first=Clifton|title=Black History Month: Belfast and the Slave Trade|url=https://cliftonbelfast.com/black-history-month-belfast-and-the-slave-trade/|access-date=2021-07-07|website=Clifton House|language=en-US}} The visit of the celebrated escaped slave and author, Olaudah Equiano in 1791 capped the success of the abolitionist opposition in the town, led by another of the Society's principal subscribers, Thomas McCabe.{{Cite book|last=O'Regan|first=Raymond|title=Hidden Belfast|publisher=Mercier|year=2010|isbn=9781856356831|location=Dublin|pages=139–142}}

That same year, with fellow subscribers and abolitionists, Dr William Drennan, John Campbell White, William Tennant, Robert Simms and Samuel Neilson, McCabe formed the Society of United Irishmen. Proclaiming the union of Protestant, Catholic and Dissenter it sought the overthrow of Ireland's Anglican Ascendancy (represented in Belfast by prerogatives of Lord Donegall) and the establishment in Dublin of a representative government. The resulting association of the Charitable Society with political "subversion", emboldened the government to requisition Clifden House during the 1798 rebellion as a military barracks. Society did not to recover use of the building until 1800.{{Cite web|last=House|first=Clifton|title=On This Day 1799: The Poor House is returned after the 1798 Rebellion|url=https://cliftonbelfast.com/on-this-day-1799-the-poor-house-is-returned-after-the-1798-rebellion/|access-date=2021-07-06|website=Clifton House|language=en-US}}

As a visiting physician to the poor house, in 1782 Drennan had trialled smallpox variolation, the practice of inoculating the skin of healthy people with smallpox to prevent a more serious case of the disease.{{cite journal |last1=Hayes |first1=Randal |date=May 1999 |title=William Drennan, his Medical Life |url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/8109812.pdf |journal=Ulster Medical Journal |volume=68 |issue=1 |pages=4–11 |access-date=5 October 2020 |archive-date=7 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230607103739/https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/8109812.pdf |url-status=dead }} When in 1800, the Poor House quickly filled again to full capacity, the Society permitted Haliday to conduct trial smallpox vaccination (Edward Jenner's much safer practice of using cowpox) on the Poor House children, provided the consent of parents was obtained.{{cite web|title=Clifton House, Belfast|url=https://www.workhouses.org.uk/Belfast/|publisher=workhouses.org.uk|accessdate=26 June 2013}}

In 1827, following a visit to Belfast by the social reformer Elizabeth Fry, Mary Ann McCracken (sister to the executed rebel leader, Henry Joy McCracken) formed the Ladies Committee of the Belfast Charitable Society. Thanks to the efforts of the committee, and over objections of more conservative subscribers to the society, a school and nursery were set up for the poorhouse children. McCracken insisted on teachers of high quality and special ability and on play hours in which children would have free use of their time. She and the committee also established a system of industrial apprenticeships.{{cite book|last1=McNeill|first1=Mary|title=The Life and Times of Mary Ann McCracken, 1770–1866|date=1960|publisher=Allen Figgis & Co|location=Dublin|pages=257–260, 271–274}}

The exponential growth in Victorian Belfast led to the foundation of other philanthropic bodies who also sought to address disadvantage and by 1882 the last child had left the Poor House. Through the 20th century Clifton House was a residential and nursing home. After the Belfast Charitable Society celebrated its 250th anniversary in 2002, it decided to build a new nursing home at nearby Carlisle Circus. This allowed for a redevelopment of Clifton House. The historic buildings now include a residential home and sheltered accommodation apartments (operated by Radius Housing) and a heritage and conference centre which the Society operates as a social enterprise.{{Cite web|title=About Clifton House – Belfast Charitable Society|url=https://belfastcharitablesociety.org/about-us/about-clifton-house/|access-date=2021-07-06|language=en-GB}}

• Irish Poor Laws

{{Reflist}}

• {{Cite book|last=McCabe|first=Ciarán|title=Begging, Charity and Religion in Pre-famine Ireland|date=2019|publisher=Liverpool University Press|isbn=978-1-78694-157-2|jstor=j.ctvt6rjk8|oclc=1101270031|jstor-access=free}}
• {{Cite book|last=Owen|first=David John|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofbelfast00owen/page/166/mode/1up|title=History of Belfast|date=1921|publisher=W. & G. Baird|location=Belfast|language=en|oclc=1046055401}}
• {{Cite journal|last=Strain|first=R. W. M.|date=May 1953|title=The History and Associations of the Belfast Charitable Society|journal=The Ulster Medical Journal|volume=22|issue=1|pages=31–60|issn=0041-6193|pmc=2479841|pmid=13078026}}

• [http://belfastcharitablesociety.com/ Official website]

{{Authority control}}

Category:Irish Poor Laws

Category:Organisations based in Belfast

Category:1774 establishments in Ireland

Category:Medical and health organisations based in Northern Ireland

Category:Poor law infirmaries