Women, Radicalism and Eighteenth-Century Belfast
Clifton House 2 North Queen Street, Belfast, Northern Ireland, BelfastWhat did it mean to be radical and dissenting in eighteenth-century Belfast? Belfast’s culture of religious and political dissent encouraged female participation, but not always on equal terms. Join us at Clifton House, the home of Belfast’s oldest charity, where Dr Catriona Kennedy will discuss how radical women like Mary Ann McCracken and Martha McTier’s charitable work allowed them to participate in, and influence, Belfast’s radical public sphere. This year, as part of our 250th Anniversary celebrations, Belfast Charitable Society hope to use our talks and events to help raise funds for our ongoing philanthropic work, therefore we will be [...]
‘Doing the Needful’ Belfast Charitable Society and its Founding Fathers
Clifton House 2 North Queen Street, Belfast, Northern Ireland, BelfastThe evening of Friday 28th August 1752 was cool in Belfast. After closing their businesses and homes, a group of nineteen merchants, burgesses (councillors) and a vicar, made their way to the George Inn at the corner of North Street and John Street (now Royal Avenue). It was there in the George Inn that these gentlemen formed the Belfast Charitable Society, to tackle poverty and help the poor. Join us at Clifton House, the home of Belfast’s oldest charity, where Aaron McIntyre will discuss the formation of the Belfast Charitable Society and the men who established it. This year, as part [...]
The Life and Times of Thomas McCabe: A Belfast Radical
Clifton House 2 North Queen Street, Belfast, Northern Ireland, Belfast‘May God wither the hand and consign the name to eternal infamy of the man who will sign that document!’. These are the words exclaimed by Thomas McCabe in 1786 in response to Waddell Cunningham’s proposal to set up a slave ship company here in Belfast. His outburst influenced those gathered in the Assembly Rooms as Cunningham’s venture to establish a slaving company here in Belfast failed. Join us at Clifton House, the home of Belfast’s oldest charity, where Gerry McNamee will discuss the life and times of Thomas McCabe who is best known as an abolitionist, a radical and a [...]
‘Dearly, Departed’: Bodysnatching and Clifton Street Cemetery in 19th Century Belfast
There was a time in Belfast when the bodies of the deceased rose from their graves…but not without some help! In the 19th century body-snatchers were at large in the local cemeteries, stealing the bodies of the recently deceased for dissection by local doctors. But why did people go to such lengths? Why were these bodies needed? And how were they stopped? Join us at Clifton House, where James Cromey, Archive Coordinator of the North Belfast Heritage Cluster will discuss why body-snatchers were such a concern during the early 1800’s, with a specific look at how they impacted the decisions surrounding Clifton [...]
Belfast’s Deaf Communit(ies): Language, Education, Poverty and the Law, 1850-1920
Clifton House 2 North Queen Street, Belfast, Northern Ireland, BelfastThis talk will look at one of Ireland's indigenous language communities: the Deaf community, and the history of this emerging linguistic and cultural group as it formed and grew in Ireland (and in particular Belfast) during the nineteenth century. Dr Cormac Leonard has been a professional Irish Sign Language / English interpreter since 2005, as well as a trainer of interpreters, and also a keen genealogist and family history tutor. He has a long-standing fascination with the history of Deaf people and the historical development of Irish Sign Language, and submitted his PhD thesis, "Deaf People in Ireland: Education, Poverty, and [...]
Plots and Plotters: Clifton Street Cemetery and the 1798 Irish Rebellion
Clifton House 2 North Queen Street, Belfast, Northern Ireland, BelfastCome and learn about the origins and of the United Irishmen and the 1798 Irish rebellion, told from the perspectives of their leaders and opponents who lie in peace in Clifton Street Cemetery. This talk will be taken by Colin Shaw, one of Clifton House’s very own volunteers. Colin is a fantastic tour guide and very knowledgeable on Belfast’s early history including the 1798 Irish Rebellion in Belfast. This talk is kindly funded by the Department of Foreign Affairs Reconciliation Fund. Please click on the button below to book your in-person [...]
The Great Famine in Belfast: Exceptionalism versus Experience
Clifton House 2 North Queen Street, Belfast, Northern Ireland, BelfastThe Great Famine, An Gorta Mór, was the watershed moment of the nineteenth century, shaping Ireland and beyond through the high death toll and mass emigration. There has long been a myth that the suffering of the period 1845 - 51 did not affect Ulster, particularly its booming principal town of Belfast. However, recent research shows that Belfast was dramatically affected. This talk uncovers how and why Belfast suffered in the late 1840s and delves into the specifics of how institutions like the Belfast Poor House, hospitals and the workhouse worked together in an attempt to ease the problems facing the [...]
Belfast’s Remarkable Women
Belfast City Hall Donegall Square N, BelfastTo mark International Women’s Day, and the first anniversary of the unveiling of Mary Ann McCracken and Winnifred Carney statues, join Dr Robyn Atcheson and Dr Lauren Smyth as they tell you stories of these, and other, remarkable Belfast women at Belfast City Hall for free. Hear stories about Mary Ann McCracken who fought for the rights of the poor and took a stand against the slave trade, as well as some of the women who ended up in the Poor House. This talk will look at how women engaged with politics at a time when their voices were being deliberately [...]
The Hidden History of the Women of Clifton Street Cemetery Talk
Clifton House 2 North Queen Street, Belfast, Northern Ireland, BelfastWe often hear of the notable men who are buried in Clifton Street Cemetery, but what of the women who were laid to rest there? In this talk, discover stories of notable women such as Mary Ann McCracken, who championed for the poor and fought for the rights of many to the everyday working-class women. Learn about how women such as Martha McTier and Charlotte Sinclair founded and ran the Lying-In Hospital as well as working-class women who ended up in Belfast looking for work or poverty relief at the Poor House. This talk will be given by Dr Lauren Smyth [...]
‘The Grinning Impudence which Arises from Utter Depravity’: Spies and Informers in Belfast and Ulster in 1798.
Clifton House 2 North Queen Street, Belfast, Northern Ireland, BelfastCome and hear Ken Dawson’s latest research on the impact of spies and informers in the years leading up to the Rebellion of 1798. Ken Dawson is a recently retired teacher. He has been researching the United Irishmen for over twenty years and is the author of a number of articles on the subject. In 2017 Irish Academic Press published his biography of the leading United Irishman Samuel Neilson (The Belfast Jacobin) and he is currently researching the impact of informers in the years leading up to the Rebellion of 1798. Click on the button below to book either your [...]
BELFAST’S REMARKABLE WOMEN TALK: MARY ANN MCCRACKEN, WINIFRED CARNEY AND BARONESS MAY BLOOD
Clifton House 2 North Queen Street, Belfast, Northern Ireland, BelfastCome and hear stories of how Mary Ann McCracken fought for the rights of the poor and took a stand against the slave trade. This talk will look at how Winifred Carney and Baroness May Blood engaged with politics at a time when their voices were being deliberately silenced and how they overcame class barriers in order to achieve small victories. This talk will be given by Dr Lauren Smyth, Dr Margaret Ward and Avila Kilmurray. Dr Lauren Smyth is the Historian of Clifton House. Her specialist subject child poverty in early 19th Century Belfast and how charitable institutions, such as the [...]
Beginnings – The Opening of the Poorhouse
Clifton House 2 North Queen Street, Belfast, Northern Ireland, BelfastIn 1774 the Poorhouse opened and an Act of the Irish Parliament appointed a President and 8 Assistants to the Belfast Charitable Society. They represented landowners, public representatives and churches. Who were these individuals and how did they reflect the times? This talk will be delivered by Sir Ronnie Weatherup who was appointed President of Belfast Charitable Society in 2018. He is a law graduate of Queens University Belfast and a barrister who was appointed a judge of the High Court in 2001, a judge of the Court of Appeal in 2015 and retired in 2017. Tickets are available for both [...]