Belfast Charitable Society

The Belfast Charitable Society is a charitable organisation in Belfast, operating in Clifton House since it opened in 1774.

Clifton House, 2010.

History

The Society was founded by a group of industrialists and philanthropists in 1752 to build a poorhouse and hospital in Belfast.[1][2] Funding for the Society was accumulated over a period of years through lotteries, among other sources.[3] It was formally established by authority of an act of Parliament in 1773.[4] Among its founders were Thomas McCabe and Waddell Cunningham.

Some of the first recorded minutes of the Society noted that: 'a poor-house and hospital are greatly wanted in Belfast for the support of vast numbers of real objects of charity in this parish, for the employment of idle beggars who crowd to it from all parts of the North, and for the reception of infirm and diseased poor'.[5]

For a period in the 18th century, the Society was responsible for the supply of clean water in Belfast.[6] It also helped to create Belfast's first hospital and a municipal burial ground.[7]

The Society has been associated with Belfastians including Mary Ann McCracken[8] and William Drennan.

See also

Notes
  1. McParland, Conor (July 20, 2018). "Former poor house is proving a rich addition to the community". Retrieved 2018-12-16.
  2. Strain 1953, pp. 31, 33.
  3. Owen 1921, pp. 166–167.
  4. "Reports from Commissioners on Municipal Corporations in Ireland". Parliamentary Papers. 28. H.M. Stationery Office. 1835. p. 728.
  5. Strain 1953, p. 33.
  6. Owen 1921, p. 172.
  7. Marshall, Robert; Strain, R. W. M. (1962). "Belfast". The British Medical Journal. 1 (5284): 132. ISSN 0007-1447. JSTOR 20357509.
  8. McCabe 2019, p. 257.

Sources
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