Monthly Archives: April 2021

Apprenticeship Week runs from 26 to 30 April 2021 and we thought it was the perfect opportunity to highlight some of the work of Belfast Charitable Society, both past and present. From the late 1770s children from the Poor House were apprenticed to various industries. These apprenticeships were viewed as a mechanism by which the children could learn a trade or skill which would help them find employment after leaving the Poor House. This, in turn, would allow former residents to support their own families as adults.  The first boy to be apprenticed from the Poor House went to learn the [...]

Easter has always been an important holiday, and it marked a time for family to come together and take part in the religious rituals surrounding the holiday. In preparation for Easter families would have had a ‘spring clean’ and a hearty meal was prepared for Easter Sunday, marking the end of Lent. Aspects of these Easter traditions are reflected in the Belfast Charitable Society's archive, housed in Clifton House. Easter 1775 was the first with residents in the Poor House, although it is not mentioned directly. On Easter Monday the bell and clock from the old Corporation Church were requested to [...]