Management

During the Second World War, 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, married Frances Ash, aged 65, at Largy Road Parish Church, a short distance from Garron Tower. The ceremony was attended by residents and staff. The couple were granted permission by the Board to honeymoon [...]

We recently had the pleasure of welcoming Mirta Ramer on a tour of Clifton House and Clifton Street Cemetery. Mirta has been researching her family tree, through the McCabe line and discovered her relations were buried in Clifton Street Cemetery. The McCabe family were originally from Lurgan and Mirta has traced her family back to her 6x great grandparents Patrick McCabe married Mary Maziere. The most famous member of the family is arguably Thomas McCabe (Mirta’s 5x great granduncle). Thomas McCabe was a goldsmith and cotton manufacturer who had a business in North Street. Together with Robert Joy and Captain McCracken [...]

The Belfast Charitable Society’s archive is a unique record of the work of a key Belfast institution. However, you only have to pick out one of the volumes of our Minute Books to discover that they give a glimpse in to the wider history of Belfast city itself. On 11 August 1919 the Orderly of the old people’s home, then known as the Belfast Charitable Institution, reported that the residents thoroughly enjoyed the Peace Day Celebrations held earlier in the week. This parade marked the end of the Great War, and gave those in Belfast the opportunity to cheer on the [...]

Janet MacVicar was appointed Matron at Clifton House in 1947. At the time of her appointment she was nursing in Ayrshire. Our feline loving followers will be happy to read that Janet was an animal lover and was granted permission to bring her cats with her to her new employment. Based on our research we believe these were the first pets ever in Clifton House! As an interesting side note, in the late 1940s Matron MacVicar was interviewed along with some female residents about life in Clifton House. Janet reflected that the older ladies always got dressed up in their best [...]

On this day 1798 Henry Joy McCracken was executed for his role as commander of the County Antrim forces of the United Irishmen. After the United Irish defeat in Antrim in June of 1798, Henry Joy fled to the Belfast Hills, whilst Mary Ann arranged his escape to America. However, he was seized on the way to the ship and tried by court martial. During his trial Harry, as he was affectionately known by his family, was given the option to save his life and go into exile if he informed on the other leaders. He refused and was subsequently hanged [...]

On this day, 8 July 1770, Mary Ann McCracken was born to Captain John McCracken and his wife, Anne McCracken, née Joy. Mary Ann McCracken would go on to led one of the most remarkable lives in the history of Belfast. She was an abolitionist, social reformer and activist who fought for the rights of women and championed Belfast’s poor throughout a long life that encompassed the most turbulent years of Irish history. A key figure in the Poor House Ladies Committee, where she helped educate and secure apprenticeships for hundreds of children; she was a teacher at the Lancastrian School [...]

In August 2016, we launched a search to reunite families with portraits of their loved ones which had been painted by Tobias Everard Spence between 1940 and 1980. On Canadian Day we thought we should re-share a previous story of  a tremendous journey for one family from Canada in their quest to find out information on their great-great-uncle Thomas Hutchinson. Hilary Tompkins, from Seattle, first contacted Clifton House in December 2016. She had been working with a genealogist from Bangor who had advised her of our search for relations of those who featured in our portraits. Hilary viewed the portraits online [...]