Events for June 2, 2023 - June 2, 2023

We are delighted to announce that our President’s Talk series returns each Thursday evening in November 2022. This year the talks will features an array of speakers from historical and legal fields who will explore the shared history and contested narratives tied to the Society and the developing Belfast of that time. The third talk of the series will be delivered by Professor Christine Kinealy on 'The Poor Law and Belfast’s Hidden Famine'. ** Please note Professor Christine Kinealy will be delivering her talk via zoom from America, and won't be in Clifton House in person** Professor Christine Kinealy is a [...]

We are delighted to announce that our President’s Talk series returns each Thursday evening in November 2022. This year the talks will features an array of speakers from historical and legal fields who will explore the shared history and contested narratives tied to the Society and the developing Belfast of that time. The final talk of the series will be delivered by Sir Ronnie Weatherup and guest on the ‘Marquis’s & Marriage: A Legal Case Study of the Donegall Family’ and ‘I do and I don’t – The Yelverton case’. What made a valid marriage in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries? [...]

270 years on from its establishment 'the First Great Charity of this Town', Belfast Charitable Society still strives to address disadvantage. Regrettably, poverty and disadvantage are as relevant today as they were when the Society was formed. With this in mind, our annual event for 2023 (25th January) will feature a panel of expert contributors who will discuss the impact of disadvantage on our society today. Our lively discussion panel will include BBCNI Economics & Business Editor John Campbell who will provide the current socio-economic and political context; Mary Montgomery Principal of Belfast Boys Model School, and Christine McKeown from Ashton [...]

An Iconic Belfast Institution: The Belfast Charitable Society and its Pivotal Role in the Social, Economic and Political Life of Georgian and Victorian Belfast. Belfast Charitable Society are proud to announce the return of our Reconciliation Fund supported President’s Talk Series this year marking the 270th year of The First Great Charity of this Town. The lectures will be via Room and Zoom, taking place every Thursday evening at 7pm throughout February. Each lecture will last approximately 60 minutes followed by a Q&A session. ·         Thursday 2nd February 2023 - Child Welfare and Education in the Industrialising Town of Belfast – Olwen Purdue in Conversation with Lauren [...]

Belfast Charitable Society are proud to announce the return of our Reconciliation Fund supported President’s Talk Series this year marking the 270th year of The First Great Charity of this Town. The first lecture in the series will focus on Child Welfare and Education in the Industrialising Town of Belfast, and will be delivered by Professor Olwen Purdue and Lauren Smyth. Olwen Purdue is Professor of Modern Social History at Queen’s University Belfast, where she is also Director of the Centre for Public History. An expert on the social history of nineteenth and twentieth-century Ireland, Professor Purdue is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, [...]

Belfast Charitable Society are proud to announce the return of our Reconciliation Fund supported President’s Talk Series this year marking the 270th year of The First Great Charity of this Town. The second lecture in the series will focus on: ‘Doing the Needful’: Belfast Charitable Society and its Outdoor Relief Scheme, and will be delivered by Aaron McIntyre. Aaron McIntyre has undertaken extensive research in the Belfast Charitable Society’s archive, dating back to 1752, to develop a series of unique talks, tours and seasonal events to highlight the history of the charity, its people and its role in Belfast and beyond. Tickets for [...]

Belfast Charitable Society are proud to announce the return of our Reconciliation Fund supported President’s Talk Series this year marking the 270th year of The First Great Charity of this Town. The third Thursday lecture in the series will focus on: From New Orleans to Clifton Street: slavery and freedom in nineteenth century Belfast, and will be delivered by Dr Jonathan Wright. Jonathan Wright is a lecturer in history at Maynooth University. His current research has focused on Ulster and the Atlantic World in the Age of Revolution, and his recent publications include An Ulster Slaveowner in the Revolutionary Atlantic: The Life and [...]

Belfast Charitable Society are proud to announce the return of our Reconciliation Fund supported President’s Talk Series this year marking the 270th year of The First Great Charity of this Town. The last lecture in the series will focus on: The New Burying Ground, Père Lachaise and Belfast’s forgotten cemeteries, and will be delivered by John Ó Neill. John Ó Neill is Research Manager at Irish Archaeological Consultancy Ltd and a visiting research fellow in the School of Natural and Built Environment, Queen’s University Belfast. Tickets for each talk are £6 for zoom access or £7.50 for room access (price inc complementary tea [...]