Quakers in Ireland

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{{Primary sources|date=February 2021}}

{{Infobox Christian denomination

|name = Religious Society of Friends

|image =

|imagewidth =

|caption =

|main_classification = Christian

|orientation = Quakers

|polity = Congregationalist polity

|leader = Changes Annually

|fellowships =

|associations = Friends World Committee for Consultation, Irish Council of Churches

|area = Ireland

|website = {{URL|https://quakers-in-ireland.ie/}}

|founder = William Edmundson

|founded_date = 1654

|founded_place = Lurgan, County Armagh

|separated_from = Britain Yearly Meeting

|parent =

|merger =

|separations =

|hospitals = 1

|nursing_homes = 1

|aid = Irish Quaker Faith in Action (IQFA), Christian Aid

|congregations = 28

|members = 1600

|ministers =

|missionaries =

|primary_schools = 3

|secondary_schools = 3

|tertiary =

|footnotes =

}}

The Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) have a long history in Ireland; their first recorded Meeting for Worship in Ireland was in 1654, at the home of William Edmundson, in Lurgan.{{cite web|url=http://www.rte.ie/tv/whodoyouthinkyouare/social_ivan1.html|title=Who do you think you are - Ivan Yeats|publisher=RTÉ}}

Quakers were known for entrepreneurship, setting up many businesses in Ireland, with many families such as the Goodbodys, Bewley's, Pims, Lambs, Jacobs, Edmundsons, Perrys, and Bells involved in milling, textiles, shipping, imports and exports, food and tobacco production, brewing, iron production and railway industries.[http://www.irishtimes.com/business/2.790/a-quaker-take-on-irish-business-history-1.473652 A Quaker take on Irish Business History] by Colm Keena, Irish Times, March 2, 2012. William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania, converted to Quakerism while dealing with his father's estates in Ireland. He attended meetings in Cork.[http://celebratingcorkpast.com/category/c29-historyheritage/c31-biographies/c27-williampenn-cat/ William Penn] Cork Past and Present. In the 1650s and 1660s Quakers were treated with some severity by the authorities, especially in Cork.

The Quakers founded the town of Mountmellick, County Laois, in 1657, led by William Edmundson. There is a Quaker burial ground in Rosenallis, Co, Laois.[http://historicgraves.com/blog/places/visiting-quaker-cemetery-rosenallis-co-laois Quaker Cemetery Rosenallis] Ballitore in County Kildare was planned as a Quaker town,[http://www.irish-genealogy-toolkit.com/Irish-Quakers.html The Quaker village of Ballitore] Irish Quakers, Irish Genealogy Toolkit. Abraham Shackleton (ancestor of the polar explorer Ernest Shackleton) founded a school there in 1726. Quakers from all over Ireland attended, as did many non-Quakers. Among the famous non-Quakers to go there were Henry Grattan, Cardinal Paul Cullen, James Napper Tandy, and Edmund Burke.

In 1692, the Quakers opened a meeting house in Sycamore Alley, off Dame Street in Dublin. These premises expanded with the purchase of property backing onto Eustace Street. The Quakers building on Eustace Street, purchased in 1817, is the former Eagle Tavern, it is where the Dublin Society of the United Irishmen was formed in 1791.[http://www.communistpartyofireland.ie/1798/russell.html Thomas Russell] Communist Party of Ireland, Website. In 1988 they sold some of their property on Eustace Street, which became the Irish Film Institute.

The Cork Street Fever Hospital, Dublin was founded by Quakers in the early 19th century. The Royal Hospital, Donnybrook in Dublin, was also originally a Quaker hospital.[http://www.quakersintheworld.org/quakers-in-action/227/Quakers-in-Ireland Quakers in Ireland] Quakers in the World. There was a Quaker graveyard in Cork Street, and one in York Street off St. Stephen's Green, which was sold for the building of the Royal College of Surgeons.[http://www.barryward.ie/news/soh15quaker/ Quaker burial ground] Summer of Heritage Programme.

The Quakers were known for setting up relief measures in their localities during the Great Famine.[http://www.historyireland.com/18th-19th-century-history/quakers-the-famine/ Quakers during the Famine] History Ireland The Quaker Society of Friends was influential in providing direct relief to those effected by the Famine. Quakers became involved primarily in Irish philanthropy at the end of 1846, becoming one of the most influential philanthropic groups to initiate alms-giving. In less than a year, the Quakers raised and distributed around 200,000 pounds across mostly the South and West of Ireland. By the end of 1847, the Society of Friends began to move away from direct aid, instead focusing on aiding the development of Ireland into a modern economy.{{cite book |last=Kinealy |first=Chrisine |date=2002 |title=The Great Irish Famine |url=https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-0-230-80247-6 |location=London |publisher=Red Globe Press London |page=68-70 |isbn=978-0-333-67773-5 |access-date=27 March 2025}}

Quakers' numbers declined due in some part due to individuals being "read out of meeting", where a member was disowned if they married a non-Quaker - this is no longer practised.[https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/movers-and-quakers-1.1234907 Movers and Quakers] The Irish Times, January 17, 2009.

The Society was one of the six religious denominations recognized by article 44.1.3 of the Irish Constitution, which was adopted by popular plebiscite in 1937.{{cite web|url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Constitution_of_Ireland_(original_text)| title=Original text of the constitution of Ireland}} This reference was deleted from the constitution via the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland in 1972 along with that of the other recognized denominations and the "special position" of the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland.