Monthly Archives: February 2022

The Belfast Charitable Society’s graveyard, today known as Clifton Street Cemetery, provided an important revenue stream to help run the Poor House. Whilst some plots were set aside for the burial of the poor, the majority of burial sites were sold to individuals as private graves. On This Day (20 February) 1819 Vincenzo Guerini bought the 9th lot on the 5th platform of the ‘New Burying Ground’ as his burial place. Guerini had arrived in Belfast from Naples, first docking in  Dublin back in 1806. Guerini advertised in the Belfast Newsletter that he would teach Italian, piano, singing and ‘instruct gentlemen [...]

Happy Valentine's Day from the team at Clifton House! We all love a good love story, and it is very apt to share this particular one between two residents of Clifton House. During the Second World War, the residents of Clifton House- then known as the Belfast Charitable Institution- were evacuated from Belfast to Garron Tower on the North Coast due to the threat of air raids on the city.  It was during the stay there that the Belfast Charitable Society had the first recorded marriage between two residents in its long history. A bachelor called John Bloomer, aged 83, requested [...]

To mark Student Volunteering Week (7th-13th February) we asked Louise Mailey, who is currently an MA Public History student at Queen’s University, to write about her thoughts and experience of volunteering at Clifton House. Here is what Louise had to say about her internship: Volunteering at Clifton House Clifton House is a striking building in Belfast’s landscape, nestled just outside of the city centre. From the entrance of the grounds, the building sits atop a hill, surrounded by gardens with the symmetrical characteristics of Georgian architecture. One of the oldest buildings in Belfast, its history is just as rich. Clifton House [...]

Dr William Drennan (NMNI) Dr William Drennan was the youngest son of Rev Thomas Drennan, minister of the First Presbyterian Church Belfast, and Anne Lennox. During this period Presbyterians were impacted by the Penal Codes, and as such many ‘sons of the manse’ attended university in Scotland. William Drennan studied arts in Glasgow (1772) and completed his medical studies in Edinburgh (1778). Dr Drennan was heavily influenced by enlightenment ideas and thinking. On his return to Ireland he practised in Belfast, Newry and Dublin. Dr Drennan was the originator of the concept of what would become the United Irishmen [...]

Hannay Family Grave in Clifton Street Cemetery A hundred years ago today (2nd February) James Joyce's Ulysses was published in Paris and we have just discovered an interesting  link to the book through a family who are buried in Clifton Street Cemetery! In Episode 2  entitled Nestor, the headmaster, Mr Deasy, claims descent from Sir John Blackwood "from the Ards of Down". It is just by chance that we had an email recently concerning the Hannay family who are buried in Clifton Street Cemetery. In their research the family discovered that one of their ancestors, John Hannay, who is [...]